Vodafone not honouring contract

newtonbase

My wife's phone stopped working so she returned it to Vodafone and they replaced it with a refurbished version of the same phone (HTC Desire) which, unfortunately, also did not work. She has called their customer services many times. On various occasions she has been told that she will be called back which hasn't happened, she's been told they will contact her when the phone comes back in stock which they don't.

Today, 5 months on, she's been told that the phone has been discontinued and they have offered her replacement phones. All the phones they have suggested are worth around half the value of the original phone. She wants to cancel the contract as they are not fulfilling their end but they want to charge her around £200. She thought that she has finally been offered a workaround when they said they would upgrade her but when she was passed on to get this done they said it would cost £195. She hung up in tears.

She is currently trying to put a complaint in writing as every call takes hours of being passed from person to person but their website is malfunctioning.

How can a company get away with such apalling service? Any idea what we can do now. Should we contact offcom or maybe take legal advice?

teffers

Some things to keep in mind:

The handset and the airtime agreement are completely separate.

If Vodafone supplied the handset they have to honour the warranty as stipulated in UK Consumer law.

If the phone is faulty and they can't swop like for like they can offer a handset that is of the same, or very similar specification - not necessarily the same value. Keep in mind handsets drop in value very fast.

Hope you get it sorted but please, don't ring customer service anymore, you will go around in circles, do eveything by letter. I know it's slower but you're very much more likely to obtain a better result and you/your wife won't get so upset.

I know from bitter experience how frustrating these companies can be.

Good luck, hope it's sorted soon.

Annie._2

When you agree a contract, it comes in two parts, the handset and the airtime contract, both of which are separate. The handset is your responsibility, if the phone breaks down or is lost, you still carry on paying the contract.

The usual policy is you have the Vodafone warranty for the duration of the contract and will get offered a free repair. Your Wife has been offered a replacement phone which she will be able to use for the duration of the contract.

Ofcom will be unable to help, they are a service regulator, and do not deal with individual complaints. If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you have to go through the correct procedure, you can find this information on your bill.

amcg100

I would guess that the phone is supplied to you on a contract which is covered by the consumer credit act, which means you are entitled to your money back if the supplier fails to deliver.

Failing that, you also have protection under the sale of goods act which provides that goods must be of satisfactory quality and that they last a length of time that a consumer would reasonably expect. In this case, that length of time would easily be established as the duration of the contract.

Writing to vodafone and threatening to sue should do the trick!

Guys_Dad

Contact HTC direct. They are good about repairing handsets.

Vodafone

newtonbase wrote: »

My wife's phone stopped working so she returned it to Vodafone and they replaced it with a refurbished version of the same phone (HTC Desire) which, unfortunately, also did not work. She has called their customer services many times. On various occasions she has been told that she will be called back which hasn't happened, she's been told they will contact her when the phone comes back in stock which they don't.

Today, 5 months on, she's been told that the phone has been discontinued and they have offered her replacement phones. All the phones they have suggested are worth around half the value of the original phone. She wants to cancel the contract as they are not fulfilling their end but they want to charge her around £200. She thought that she has finally been offered a workaround when they said they would upgrade her but when she was passed on to get this done they said it would cost £195. She hung up in tears.

She is currently trying to put a complaint in writing as every call takes hours of being passed from person to person but their website is malfunctioning.

How can a company get away with such apalling service? Any idea what we can do now. Should we contact offcom or maybe take legal advice?

Hi newtonbase,

It's disappointing to read about your wife's experience but thanks for making me aware of it.

To enable me to assist her further could you ask her to email me with her details via the link in our profile here?

All she needs to do is copy and paste the link into her web browser and it will take her to the Contact us form on our website.

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

Thanks,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK