Vodafone - backdated charges

scottishminnie

Looking for some advice here as I'm getting nowhere with Vodafone.

I have a monthly contract with inclusive minutes and texts so the only time I pay any more than the contract is when I've used the phone in the US.(twice, three times a year).

Anyway just looked at my most recent bill and was surprised to find I had £2.45 plus vat in charges. On further investigation it appeared to be 7 text messages (inwards and outwards) on September 20th.
I called Vodafone and their response was they had only just picked up the texts now and had applied them as soon as they could. They sat there is no time limit for them doing this.

Now I was in the US on Sept 20th and I could well have sent/received messages that day but my query is how long can Vodafone hold on to charges before they apply them?

I know it's only less than £3 but I'm astonished that they can apply charges at any point in the future. What's more when I asked if they could confirm if I had paid all charges for texts made to/from the US in January they said they had no idea!

Has anyone else experienced this?

Jon_01

It not that Voda have been late applying the charge, it that the network you used in the US have taken this long to send through the charge to Voda, who in turn have charged you.

Some networks can take an age to send through their billing data, that's why there's no time limit.

spiro

Technically under law they could take 6 years to bill you.

scottishminnie

What I find really odd is that it wasn't the first/last day of my trip and it was the same US network as Sept 19th and 21st so I can't understand how they can just lose a day in the middle for 5 months.

I did ask Vodafone when they received the notification of this (to try and work out where the delay occured) but they say they can't tell and don't see the relevance anyway. They suggested anyone using their phone abroad should be recording every call and text anyway to compare with their bills. Doesn't say much for their accuracy if that's the suggestion.

Ah well, another one chalked up to experience.

Jon_01

The front line staff won't have access to that kind of billing info, they don't deal with the incoming files from roaming networks. that's all done by backroom staff.

It's possible that the US network you roamed on has a problem on that day (something which Voda would know nothing about). But, yes, it is a little odd that, that one day took so long to filter through !

tazdevil01985

Jon_01 wrote: »

The front line staff won't have access to that kind of billing info, they don't deal with the incoming files from roaming networks. that's all done by backroom staff.

It's possible that the US network you roamed on has a problem on that day (something which Voda would know nothing about). But, yes, it is a little odd that, that one day took so long to filter through !

TAP files can be processed upto 90 days in arrears so allow upto three months for charges to be applied. I would challenge Vodafone regarding this.