Vodafone - Direct Debit

aflyaway

Hi guys.
I took over my contract with Vodafone back in January since then they have set up a direct debit and have been debiting my account.
Only today did I get a letter through from my bank to say they would be charging me for a failed payment to Vodafone! Since January Vodafone have changed the date they take payment 4 times without telling me why or when it will be changing!
Are they allowed to do this?

grumbler

aflyaway wrote: »

Hi guys.
I took over my contract with Vodafone back in January since then they have set up a direct debit and have been debiting my account.
Only today did I get a letter through from my bank to say they would be charging me for a failed payment to Vodafone! Since January Vodafone have changed the date they take payment 4 times without telling me why or when it will be changing!

Arrogance is the top trait of Vodafone.

Are they allowed to do this?

No, they are not:

The Direct Debit Guarantee applies to all Direct Debits. It protects you in the rare event that anything goes wrong.
Direct Debit Guarantee

• The Guarantee is offered by all banks and building societies that accept instruction to pay Direct Debits
• If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit the organisation will notify you (normally 10 working days) in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. If you request the organisation to collect a payment, confirmation of the amount and date will be given to you at the time of the request
• If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society.
  • If you receive a refund you are not entitled to, you must pay it back when the organisation asks you to
• You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by simply contacting your bank or building society. Written confirmation may be required. Please also notify the organisation.

I guess that nothing 'otherwise' was agreed.

• Call your bank
• Quote DD guarantee
• Demand the the refund of the the incorrect DD(s) (if any) and cancellation/refund of the charge(s).

Then contact Vodafone and discuss this with them.

aflyaway

Thank you I will be calling both my bank and Vodafone tomorrow.
I am shocked that they are allowed to do this.
Having checked through my statements I can see they took a payment a week and two days after they had took a previous payment! Will be calling tomorrow and making sure they sort this or I will be cancelling my contract.
(this is my first bill of any type and have learned for the future to keep a good eye on what the companies are doing)

grumbler

Have you not taken the second contract by any chance? They are notorious for changing all the dates if an existing customer takes a new contract.

BTW, I think you can phone your bank straight away.

mobilejunkie

They've been messing me around for a few months - ever since I took out a new contract. Again, without bothering to inform their customers they change the bundle (not just the statement) dates AND charge for the additional amounts on the changeover. Now they have also charged the wriong amounts in future months, failed to take two direct debits properly and still get their figures wrong. Even though can't explain where some of their own figures (which bear no relation to what appears on the bills) come from. I have wasted a few hours on the phone so far - always promises it won't happen again; but it does.

Any honest and caring organisation would bend over backwards to treat existing customers properly. As far as Vodafone are concerned, customers are totally unimportant cannon fodder to be left at the mercy of utterly incompetent systems (which have BEEN incompetent for YEARS). Oh well; at least I make a profit from my contracts and T-Mobile are even worse. Pity Orange are merging with the latter; that only leaves O2 and I have less recent experience with them!

aflyaway

It's only one contract, I took it over from my ex when we split.
I don't know how its fair policy that they can change it to when they want without calling me to ask if that is ok!

mobilejunkie

Why would they; they routinely suddenly take higher payments from peoples' accounts for their own convenience when they decide to arbitrarily change their bundle cycles without telling their customers. Once they mess up their administration (as with you for some different reason) it's a nightmare getting it sorted.

When you "took it over" I assume it meant changing the details with Vodafone (assuming you can do that - not sure you can). If so, that would trigger a change in the bundle date and (therefore) next bill amount. Once they upset a perfectly good system it seems to lead to other unanticipated problems. Speaking with a manager is like getting blood out of a stone. The complaints department is as bad as the rest of the organisation - last time I tried that route I ended up complaining about them more than the original !!!!-up.

All you can do is keep having a go with them - but easy and fair it ain't!

Note;

I've now had two "failed" direct debit payments - both 100% their fault and a complete timewaster for me. It's obviously their "system" again. You need to ensure this doesn't affect your credit rating - either internally or externally or your current problems will seem like nothing.

Whenever you make a change on an existing account - or as in my case add another contract - it triggers this wonderful new billing system (which they don't bother telling you about). My "bouncing" direct debits stem from that as well. Mine isn't resolved either.