Vodafone breach contract then issue default notice!

Surfmonkey77

Hi all

A year ago I signed up to a 12 month contract with Vodafone.
I set up my account online as all billing and account info plus extras are accessed this way. From that first time onwards I had no further access to my online account. Issues were raised with Vodafone, countless emails back and forth each time they promised to have it resolved but each time to no avail.
This went on for 3 months, I had no access to my bills, data restriction for internet browsing or countless other features that formed part of my contract, and as with every correspondence they assured me it was resolved no alternative was offered.
As of April I wrote them a final letter stating that they breached section 11b of their terms and conditions and that I was porting my number and ending my contract with 30 days notice.
First of all a collection agency was instructed, but then after a call from Vodafone concerning the T&C breach they were withdrawn and I was told that due to the circumstances nothing more need be done.
Everything was fine until November when I checked my credit report to find a default notice from Vodafone for £199!
From a procedural point of view I didn't even receive warning or notification of the default.

After trying to speak to someone to get any kind of answers or resolution I just keep hitting brick walls with nobody at Vodafone even understanding the situation let alone prepared to do something with it.

So as it stands I am looking to take legal action to uphold the breach of contract made by Vodafone and have the default removed.

As this has been going on for nearly a year it has also affected my credit card/mortgage options and interest rates, this is potentially something else I would add to the court claim as damages.

Question: is this now my only option? and why do Vodafone feel they are beyond a conversation to resolve, any empathy or the fact that they feel they can breach their own Ts & Cs.....?

The section I quoted is:


Terms & Conditions:
11. Ending this agreement
a) Either you or us may end this agreement by giving the other 30 days’ notice in writing. Your notice must include your mobile number and the signature or appropriate security details of the account holder. You must pay the charges during the notice period.
b) You may end this agreement by writing to us if:
- we don’t do something fundamental that we should have done under this agreement (for example, if there is a complete failure of the network for 7 days in a row due to something we have done), within 7 days of you asking us in writing;

As indicated above in Vodafones Terms & Conditions I am able to end this agreement if Vodafone do not do something fundamental under this agreement.

Seeing as I have not had a bill and I have been unable to access my online bill or account in anyway for 3 months, this is fundamental to the agreement.


Any advice or shall I just complete the N1 and leave it to the legal process?

Thanks

Surfmonkey77

Just to add, it wasn't the initial problem that caused me to cancel the contract as I don't want to seem over the top about the situation, it was the fact that after 3 months of phonecalls and emails they had still not resolved it!

Guys_Dad

Hopefully the Vodafone rep will be along sometime soon. They have a good reputation on here.

You might want to search for any posts from them and contact them as per their instructions on another thread.

See here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4389477

Silk

Surfmonkey77 wrote: »

Any advice or shall I just complete the N1 and leave it to the legal process?

As GD says rep should help you with this
Meanwhile you need to to do a LBA before filling in the N1 if it gets that far

Surfmonkey77

Thanks Silk, I have already sent a LBA and have a recorded delivery pod for it, but they still wont do anything denying any wrongdoing on their part. I was just hoping to avoid going all the way with legal action for something that is extremely easy to rectify if only they would accept they failed to provide me with a contractual service (again!).

Mrs_Ryan

I've had no access to my Orange online account and no bills for 17 months.... I;ve been telling them this for 17 months and they couldnt care less!! (saying that though, they have reduced one of my tarriffs from £45 to £15 when they should have only reduced it to £41..)

Vodafone

Hi Surfmonkey77,

Thanks for making me aware of this.

To enable me to review matters further could you email me with your details via the link in our profile here?

All you need to do is copy and paste the link into your web browser and it will take you to the Contact us form on our website.

To ensure that it reaches me could you also quote the code WRT135 - MSE in the subject line and once our automated reply arrives update the thread with your email reference number and I'll get back to you as soon as possible?

Thanks,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

Quentin

You missed that they have to make a "fundamental" contract breach for you to be able to cancel without paying an early termination fee. You may be mistaken over their breach being fundamental breaches.

As you have gone public, maybe they will make a goodwill gesture, but do get advice on this if they ignore your lba and before you spend any money over issuing proceedings.

Surfmonkey77

Thanks for the replies guys.

Although not a huge issue at first I do feel that 3-4 months of continual emails and phone calls to get the problem resolved is ample time and that my decision to cancel was not taken on a whim.
Accurate billing, access to data restrictions and other online account access is fundamental to the service and is part of the contract. I work away and online access was part of the reason I joined Vodafone at that time.

Hopefully it can be resolved without too much silliness now as the opportunity was missed by Vodafone Customer Services back before I cancelled.

Lee - The reference is WRT135 - MSE [#10964669]

Thanks

Quentin

Surfmonkey77 wrote: »

Accurate billing, access to data restrictions and other online account access is fundamental to the service and is part of the contract.......

The point you are missing is that a "fundamental breach of contract" (which allows the innocent side to consider the contract ended) is a separate legal entity to a "breach of contract"!

If you get nowhere on the goodwull front, get some legal advice on your chances of winning the "fundamental breach" you want to claim before moving on to court action. If you lose in court, you will have had to pay all the court costs and will also be ordered to pay the winners allowable costs.

Surfmonkey77

Thanks for the advice, I understand that and already have that information from the CAB which is why I am happy to go through with the small claims court.
Billing is contractual and they did not provide that service.

Lets see what happens.

Cheers