Vodafone sending a huge bill we cant afford

elgunner

Hi all, can anyone help here?

In March my Mother in Law had a fall and we were calling Ireland a fair bit to check up on progress. Now we have received a £400 phone bill! We had Vodafone Passport on the account so when we went over to Ireland the calls weren't too expensive, but it seems to be the calls made from the UK that have built it up. Thing is, last year my boyfriend asked to put a cap on the account, or to at least be notified if the bill was reaching £100, which was agreed at the time, but we received no notice during this period, and now - not surprisingly - theyre saying they have no record of the request!

We have since asked for the pac code, and have moved provider already, but this bill hangs over us AND theyve just sent one that has increased to £540 to close the account! If we were simply being reckless with the phone we'd pay it, but they were supposed to contact us when it reached a certain level so we could make a decision whether to carrying on using it! Any spare cash we had went on emergency flight over, and we dont want a black mark on his credit rating, which they are threatening within 14 days!

grumbler

elgunner wrote: »

...and we dont want a black mark on his credit rating, which they are threatening within 14 days!

The only way to avoid this is to pay. Transferring the number to another provider was a wrong decision that just increased the bill.

Next time you ask the provider about something request a confirmation by a mail or e-mail and keep the proof. It's not that I am saying that Voda would have sent you such confirmation as AFAIK they don't do caps on spending. Neither do they warnings.

And next time you need to use your mobile to call abroad use http://callchecker.moneysavingexpert.com/intcallchecker/ireland/mobile/all
Calls to Ireland landlines cost as little as 5p for a call (yes, 0p/min) on the top of calling to UK landline.

Annie._2

Vodafone do not cap a monthly contract.

It is up to the customer to monitor their own charges and this is easily done through the online account which gives up to date usage from the previous evening or through the 44555 text which give an accurance account balance.

The charges for calling an Irish number from the UK are on the website. If you had added Vodafone International, you could have called the Republic of Ireland at a cost of 5p per minute to landlines and 25p per minute to mobiles.

If you ported the number to a different network, this would have cancelled the contract and you would have been charged for early termination.

bbfc

grumbler wrote: »

The only way to avoid this is to pay. Transferring the number to another provider was a wrong decision that just increased the bill.

Agreed.

You need to pay it or they will mark it on your credit report and as said above, transferring your number to another provider was probably a bad decision.

I could be wrong here, but if you had stayed with them they may of been more likely to set-up repayment plan but since you have terminated your contract, this is unlikely.

McKneff

Your bill, your responsibility I'm afraid.

I have to disagree with one of your points. I would say racking up a bill of £400 is pretty reckless.

You dont have any choice but to pay it. Ask them for a payment plan.

There will be one big black mark on his credit file in the shape of a default if he doesnt deal with it
and then no credit for the next 6 years or so.

NFH

elgunner wrote: »

Thing is, last year my boyfriend asked to put a cap on the account, or to at least be notified if the bill was reaching £100, which was agreed at the time, but we received no notice during this period, and now - not surprisingly - theyre saying they have no record of the request!

And I assume your boyfriend does have a record of the request, e.g. date and time of call, staff member's name? Unless at least one party keeps a record of an agreement, it's hard to enforce.

elgunner wrote: »

We have since asked for the pac code, and have moved provider already

You're not showing Vodafone any goodwill by doing this, so you are unlikely to receive any goodwill in return.

sparky93

goodwill on the op was being a customer in the first place.....

billa_champion

Firstly, I have also never heard about Vodafone capping monthly contracts! Maybe I'm being harsh here but surely the onus is on the customer to monitor their usage? The mobile phone companies are not a babysitting service that should text/call/remind you that you are near a limit. To be fair their whole business revolves around people using their service and if people go over their monthly allowance/rack up a big bill then its even better as far as they are concerned.

Better_Off_1983

I think the reason why Voda are asking for £540 is because it is a disconnection fee, I am assuming as well that you want to end the contract well before it is due.

wantmemoney

elgunner wrote:

Thing is, last year my boyfriend asked to put a cap on the account, or to at least be notified if the bill was reaching £100, which was agreed at the time

billa_champion wrote:

Maybe I'm being harsh here but surely the onus is on the customer to monitor their usage? The mobile phone companies are not a babysitting service that should text/call/remind you that you are near a limit

yes and that is what Vodafone should have told the OP instead of misleading them into believing there was some kind of spending cap or warning flag on the account.

The fact that it is written near or in the Terms and Conditions does not mean it's OK to mislead or lie to people on the phone.

This is not the first time people have complained on this forum about these 'misleading' tactics promising non-existent spending caps from customer service staff.

Vodafone

Hi elgunner,

I appreciate that to get this kind of bill is certainly worrying when you are not expecting it.

As Ann S has advised, you can monitor your usage by dialing 44555 from the handset or by going online to My Account.

If you would like to discuss this with me in more detail, you can contact me via the address here with WRT135 FAO Heidi in the subject.

Many thanks,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK