Vodafone to Change Prices from 11 Oct 2011

enigma368

Really pleased you've got a result, but fuming that Vodafone have this "one rule for one, one rule for another" policy. I'm phoning the ombudsman this afternoon to demand an answer on whether they can deal with this or not. If not, I'm paying my termination and taking them to court.

End. Of. My. Tether.

From what I understand, you should definitely win in court(im fact I would bet my life that they will settle beforehand). Unless they can somehow prove that the price increases are not to a material detriment to you but I don't see how.

I personally wouldnt pay the termination fee and wait for them to chase me, but then the risk of having your credit history damaged is a concern.

The whole situation is a joke. Vodafone deserve to be punished for this. I will send OfCom an email.

Warrick

I've just come off the phone to the Ombudsman. They've said that whilst this appears to be a 'Commercial Issue', they are prepared to take the case on as they are 'concerned' about the issues being raised, particularly the inconsistant information being given by the CS staff.

I'll give the Ombudsman a few weeks to have a go, I think. If nothing comes of it, or I think heels are being dragged, I'll go to court.

fox2319

I just had an email from OfCom (Had already tried the Ombudsman route but got a letter saying they wouldn't be taking on my case as this was a commercial issue).

The email from the ombudsman was pretty clear though, "these are the terms laid down in GC9.6" but their suggestions of chasing the Vodafone complaints process followed by ADR are less than helpful. I've already done that.

Anyhoo - I've written back to both OfCom and the Ombudsman, suggesting that they might want to talk to each other and will give it a little bit longer before I launch a small claims case.

musical_norwich

fox2319 wrote: »

I just had an email from OfCom (Had already tried the Ombudsman route but got a letter saying they wouldn't be taking on my case as this was a commercial issue).

The email from the ombudsman was pretty clear though, "these are the terms laid down in GC9.6" but their suggestions of chasing the Vodafone complaints process followed by ADR are less than helpful. I've already done that.

Anyhoo - I've written back to both OfCom and the Ombudsman, suggesting that they might want to talk to each other and will give it a little bit longer before I launch a small claims case.

What use is an ombudsman which ignores the general conditions? Is the ombudsman really proposing that vodafone can break its license conditions and eu law and consumers have no redress? How can OFCOM justify this as a valid ADR scheme for the implementation of the EU directive. Perplexing.

Yes, checked, and the General Conditions were modified in September of this year, and now 9.3 is 9.6. But the situation is the same: if a change is likely to be of material detriment, the provider has to tell the consumer, and tell the consumer they can cancel. I personally don't believe the text from Vodafone satisfies 9.6 because it does not say price increase, does not say users can cancel, did not provide details of price rises and did not give 30 days notice.

On OFCOM, make sure it realises you are complaining about it, and get it to open a formal complaint and to send details of its complaints procedure. Ofcom knows this stinks, and has known for at least two years but does nothing. Disgraceful. Your MP can give OFCOM a kick up the backside.

diamonds

musical_norwich wrote: »

What use is an ombudsman which ignores the general conditions? Your MP can give OFCOM a kick up the backside.

The Ombusman thats a private company !

Indeed - Ofcon is what replaced Oftel

Warrick

musical_norwich wrote: »

On OFCOM, make sure it realises you are complaining about it, and get it to open a formal complaint and to send details of its complaints procedure. Ofcom knows this stinks, and has known for at least two years but does nothing. Disgraceful. Your MP can give OFCOM a kick up the backside.

My MP got back to me and said if I hadn't heard back from Ofcom in 2 weeks I could get back to him and he'll get involved.

I'm fortunate that my MP is fairly pro active, and doesn't mind going against the grain if he thinks it's the right thing to do.

TBH, I think whatever the outcome for me personally on this issue, I'm still going to ask my MP to try and do something about Ofcom.

Yolina

enigma368 wrote: »

Success! they had initially just checked everyone's August statement for the 10% thing because they felt people were deliberately increasing their September bill to qualify.

Or more likely they used the August statements because that's when most people will go on holidays and are therefore far less likely to use more than their inclusive allowance Funny that, but when they had the data FUP debacle last year, they also worked it so that the August statements would be used... Coincidence?

fox2319

I'll keep people posted on here but the email from OfCom came in late on Friday, I replied but they've not really had much time to get back to me.

I've also written to my MP but I have yet to hear back from him and he's been a bit less than impressive of late.

As for the ombudsman, I got my 'not our problem' letter from them and tried to phone them to discuss but they are almost impossible to get through to whilst actually holding down a full time job.

satchef1

I have finally hit a stalemate with Vodafone. They've admitted that the increase in charges is detrimental to me and have told me that if I had written to them before 10th October then they could have cancelled my account without charge. Unfortunately, because I didn't do this they won't be cancelling my account unless I pay them £245. They won't comment on why I didn't receive the text about the charges. I presume there is some way for them to check this, but nobody wants to do it (or at the very least nobody wants to tell me whether I was sent it or not).

I'm actually not bothered enough about the charges to press forward. However, Vodafone's blatant disregard for the law and even it's own T&Cs is definitely worth fighting over. It's utterly disgraceful.

sanfly

satchef1 wrote: »

They won't comment on why I didn't receive the text about the charges. I presume there is some way for them to check this, but nobody wants to do it (or at the very least nobody wants to tell me whether I was sent it or not).

Snap...had the same conversation with Vodafone about these so called text messages that neither myself or my wife recieved about the charges going up, only got 3 months to go on contract so gave up with them.

Will change back to o2, who seem to keep better records, they never sent me a text about my broadband price and topping up my payg mobile, they were able to check and confirmed they did not send it so did not have to pay full charge ...