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Fraud and only being offered half the money back
Twentiesgirl
Posts: 69 Forumite
in Mobiles
This is long and I do apologise for that but as I am at the end of my tether with Vodafone I thought that I would post on here and see if this provides me with any clarity! I should add that I have rounded up/down my figures for ease of the post and I hope it makes sense.
I had an internet dongle with Vodafone and when I moved to my current house I set up a virgin media account thus making my dongle redundant so I went to cancel it. This was September 2011 and so I went into my local store and was told they couldn't cancel it and I had to go onto their website and do it through there. I thus did this asking that it be transferred to PAYG.
With the stress of moving and beginning to have a relapse of my illness I confess that I forgot to check my emails to see if I had a response from them until to late and as it would of gone to my junk email which regularly gets deleted I didn't think about it.
I got admitted to hospital in November 2011 and was there for a month during which time I used the dongle thinking it was PAYG. On discharge (just before Christmas) I went to stay with my family.
January 2012 I checked my bank statement at the bank and saw that vodafone had withdrawn £80 from my accounts shocked I went to my local store and asked them to look into the huge amount. I had details of the bill but that was it as my stuff was still in boxes and Vodafone hadn't sent me a paper bill in years. The store could find no record of me and concluded that my account had been transferred to PAYG and that was that. Stupidly I didnt chase it up and took them at their word.
From then until November 2012 I didn't think anything of it until again I checked my statement to find Vodafone had taken 50 pounds off me and when checking with the bank we realised that this was a monthly direct debit. So off I trotted to my local Vodafone store who spent ages trying to find me and again couldn't so I went home and eventually unearthed some correspondance from vodafone and went back to the store. We then discovered that my account had been the victim of fraud with a lady upgrading my account to an Iphone and that afternoon changing my address to one in hull hence the reason that no one had been able to find me.
I was thus informed that Fraud had been notified and would get back in touch with me.
In January no one had been in touch although I had recieved two letters saying that my account was being reimbursed £250 fed up of waiting I rang them and the first lady I spoke to said that my account had never been cancelled but when talking her through the process I went through she agreed it sounded like I had cancelled it.
I was then transferrred to billing who consistently accused me of lying but eventually this gentleman looking through my account decided I was owed just shy of £800 pounds back and told me Fraud would be in touch.
Yet again I heard nothing so phoned up Vodafone again where yet again I was accused of lying and being complicit in the Fraud (he was rude to the point he had me in tears) I eventually got transferred to the person I spoke to in the above paragraph who again thought that fraud had got the money i was owed wrong and promised to either call me or get fraud to call me back. (I should add I spent over an hour and a half on my 02 mobile calling their 084 number)
This time I did get a phone call back but the gentlemans tone had changed saying I was only owed £450 back as the fraud was an upgrade and I would thus have to foot the bill for the remainder. I decided at this point to escalate this into a complaint.
The following day a manager phoned me up but I failed the security screening and was told I had to go into the store with proof of my identity. I asked her to call me back and as it stands I am still waiting for this call back nearly a fortnight later and I can thus see yet another expensive call happening to get someone to finally speak to me.
On going into the store I found that despite my account being closed my address had been changed by the fraudsters to Hatfield and there had been numerous conversations that werent by me to vodafone. It took the store assistant over 40 minutes to change the details on my account as customer services couldn't understand why I would want this to be done.
Okay that was really long but this saga has been going on for months now!
So my thoughts
The only part of my identity that has been compromised is vodafone and I believe that they sent me a letter in September 2011 as I don't see how the fraudsters would be aware that I had an account otherwise - they categorically deny this.
I have been told that as my account was an upgrade my dongle shouldn't have worked as it would of been cancelled yet it did work for the entire time I was in hospital months after the fraud had been started and thus I wasn't alerted to it which I would of been had the upgrade happened officially and thus the money coming out of my account would have been a red flag. When the store couldn't find my details they said it was due to my account being changed to a PAYG one. So again I didn't think anything of it and just resolved not to use it again due to the cost.
I can provide proof that I set up Virgin Media, that I was in hospital and so on I just can't prove that I cancelled my dongle/visited the store due to the time elapsing. I have spent hours and hours chasing vodafone up and I am still awaiting a call from the fraud team and the manager re. my complaint this has cost me money that I can't afford.
But I guess what I'm wondering is do I have a leg to stand on as I feel if my dongle had been cancelled I would have realised that my account had been a victim of fraud by the December and thus the money I would of owed would have been £60 rather than £240 pounds and I wouldn't of wasted hours and at least 20 pounds phoning them.
I had an internet dongle with Vodafone and when I moved to my current house I set up a virgin media account thus making my dongle redundant so I went to cancel it. This was September 2011 and so I went into my local store and was told they couldn't cancel it and I had to go onto their website and do it through there. I thus did this asking that it be transferred to PAYG.
With the stress of moving and beginning to have a relapse of my illness I confess that I forgot to check my emails to see if I had a response from them until to late and as it would of gone to my junk email which regularly gets deleted I didn't think about it.
I got admitted to hospital in November 2011 and was there for a month during which time I used the dongle thinking it was PAYG. On discharge (just before Christmas) I went to stay with my family.
January 2012 I checked my bank statement at the bank and saw that vodafone had withdrawn £80 from my accounts shocked I went to my local store and asked them to look into the huge amount. I had details of the bill but that was it as my stuff was still in boxes and Vodafone hadn't sent me a paper bill in years. The store could find no record of me and concluded that my account had been transferred to PAYG and that was that. Stupidly I didnt chase it up and took them at their word.
From then until November 2012 I didn't think anything of it until again I checked my statement to find Vodafone had taken 50 pounds off me and when checking with the bank we realised that this was a monthly direct debit. So off I trotted to my local Vodafone store who spent ages trying to find me and again couldn't so I went home and eventually unearthed some correspondance from vodafone and went back to the store. We then discovered that my account had been the victim of fraud with a lady upgrading my account to an Iphone and that afternoon changing my address to one in hull hence the reason that no one had been able to find me.
I was thus informed that Fraud had been notified and would get back in touch with me.
In January no one had been in touch although I had recieved two letters saying that my account was being reimbursed £250 fed up of waiting I rang them and the first lady I spoke to said that my account had never been cancelled but when talking her through the process I went through she agreed it sounded like I had cancelled it.
I was then transferrred to billing who consistently accused me of lying but eventually this gentleman looking through my account decided I was owed just shy of £800 pounds back and told me Fraud would be in touch.
Yet again I heard nothing so phoned up Vodafone again where yet again I was accused of lying and being complicit in the Fraud (he was rude to the point he had me in tears) I eventually got transferred to the person I spoke to in the above paragraph who again thought that fraud had got the money i was owed wrong and promised to either call me or get fraud to call me back. (I should add I spent over an hour and a half on my 02 mobile calling their 084 number)
This time I did get a phone call back but the gentlemans tone had changed saying I was only owed £450 back as the fraud was an upgrade and I would thus have to foot the bill for the remainder. I decided at this point to escalate this into a complaint.
The following day a manager phoned me up but I failed the security screening and was told I had to go into the store with proof of my identity. I asked her to call me back and as it stands I am still waiting for this call back nearly a fortnight later and I can thus see yet another expensive call happening to get someone to finally speak to me.
On going into the store I found that despite my account being closed my address had been changed by the fraudsters to Hatfield and there had been numerous conversations that werent by me to vodafone. It took the store assistant over 40 minutes to change the details on my account as customer services couldn't understand why I would want this to be done.
Okay that was really long but this saga has been going on for months now!
So my thoughts
The only part of my identity that has been compromised is vodafone and I believe that they sent me a letter in September 2011 as I don't see how the fraudsters would be aware that I had an account otherwise - they categorically deny this.
I have been told that as my account was an upgrade my dongle shouldn't have worked as it would of been cancelled yet it did work for the entire time I was in hospital months after the fraud had been started and thus I wasn't alerted to it which I would of been had the upgrade happened officially and thus the money coming out of my account would have been a red flag. When the store couldn't find my details they said it was due to my account being changed to a PAYG one. So again I didn't think anything of it and just resolved not to use it again due to the cost.
I can provide proof that I set up Virgin Media, that I was in hospital and so on I just can't prove that I cancelled my dongle/visited the store due to the time elapsing. I have spent hours and hours chasing vodafone up and I am still awaiting a call from the fraud team and the manager re. my complaint this has cost me money that I can't afford.
But I guess what I'm wondering is do I have a leg to stand on as I feel if my dongle had been cancelled I would have realised that my account had been a victim of fraud by the December and thus the money I would of owed would have been £60 rather than £240 pounds and I wouldn't of wasted hours and at least 20 pounds phoning them.
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Comments
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I got admitted to hospital in November 2011 and was there for a month during which time I used the dongle thinking it was PAYG.
Did you ever top up the SIM in the modem with credit?? If not, how could you use it thinking that it was PAYG?
You claim that you cancelled the contract in September 2011, but used the modem without topping up in November 2011...then later you claim that the fraud began months before you were in hospital.
So the fraud began months before November 2011, but you noticed only two strange payments to Vodafone; one in January 2012 for £80(for which you claim to have a bill) and another in November 2012 for £50.
So you claim that you didn't even think about the money they had taken in January until ten months later when they billed you again for £50.
At the end of your post you claim that the money you would have owed would have been £60 instead of £240.....how so?
The £60 would be for what exactly? Ditto the £240.
Is the £240 for the contracted monthly modem costs for a year or more?
In addition, your title claims that you are only being offered half of the money back, but in the body of your it is written that they claim that you are owed £450 along with your claim that they say you owe £240.
So half of what exactly?
You post is an awful jumble. The problem is not that it is long, but that it doesn't appear to make much sense.
As for your wasting money to call them.... there are free and/or geographical numbers that can be used to call them. See Say No to 0870.0 -
You post is an awful jumble. The problem is not that it is long, but that it doesn't appear to make much sense.
As above, no wonder you don't get anywhere with customer services if you ramble like this when your phoning them.
You need to be clear and concise and not add in irrelevant information.
For example, you have appeared to let the problem drag on by not following up the problem immediately, it is irrelevant if you were ill or in hospital, that is of no interest to them and is not an excuse for lack of action.
Set aside a full day to get this sorted once and for all, keep at them but be courteous and polite and do not make excuses for your own lack of action.
Good luck.0 -
Definitely too much info in your post but I think I get it.
I'm not sure how it works with VF but when I worked for Orange - any upgrades didn't get registered until you phoned up so technically you could use the old SIM indefinitely which may be why you will have been able to continue using your old one in the dongle.
Re: the fraud. AFAIK, anything identified officially as fraud would be wiped/reversed so that you would be put back in the position you would have been if it had not occured. if you have been using the dongle then I believe you are liable to be charged for any costs involved in that.
I think your best bet would be to stop phoning and write to them. I would also stress that you keep it to the point so they can understand. Advise them that you did not request the so called upgrade. Also advise that you would be happy to provide proof of addresses etc if they needed.
I agree with nifty, I find it a bit confusing that you could have thought it was PAYG when you hadn't actually topped it up?0 -
You would have needed to give 30 days notice to cancel a pay monthly contract dongle. This would be able to be done by following the information on how to cancel a contract which is available from the Ofcom website. If you did not cancel and receive confirmation that the contract was concelled, it would have carried on rolling over on a month to month basis.
It would not be possible to use a previous contract dongle on a PAYG basis.
The reason for this is that the software inside the contract dongle does not support topping up for you to use it on PAYG. The APN settings would also be different although these could be configured to PAYG.0 -
Thank you, sorry it was so long and rambling. I should add that the fraudsters took out an Iphone contract not an internet contract.NiftyDigits wrote: »Did you ever top up the SIM in the modem with credit?? If not, how could you use it thinking that it was PAYG?
I thought it was linked to my bank account - I got messages saying that I had used x amount of data which I didn't have before (I had forgotten about this).
So the fraud began months before November 2011, but you noticed only two strange payments to Vodafone; one in January 2012 for £80(for which you claim to have a bill) and another in November 2012 for £50.
So you claim that you didn't even think about the money they had taken in January until ten months later when they billed you again for £50.
No I went to Vodane in January 2012 but they couldn't find any details of me or the payment and I was told by the store that they thought it was due to me using the dongle in hospital as PAYG.
At the end of your post you claim that the money you would have owed would have been £60 instead of £240.....how so?
The £60 would be for what exactly? Ditto the £240.
Is the £240 for the contracted monthly modem costs for a year or more?
Sorry - Because nothing was done when I went to the store in January 2012 (at no point did they suggest fraud) and that I had been able to use my dongle (which vodafone say should have been cancelled in the upgrade) it took another 11/12 months till the fraud was noticed and the amount that they say I owe is 22.00 a month.
In addition, your title claims that you are only being offered half of the money back, but in the body of your it is written that they claim that you are owed £450 along with your claim that they say you owe £240.
So half of what exactly?
Sorry the total amount taken was £800 and vodafone are paying £450 back so it's £350 that I am arguing over.
As for your wasting money to call them.... there are free and/or geographical numbers that can be used to call them. See Say No to 0870.
Thanks for this what do I need to do?oopsadaisydoddle wrote: »I'm not sure how it works with VF but when I worked for Orange - any upgrades didn't get registered until you phoned up so technically you could use the old SIM indefinitely which may be why you will have been able to continue using your old one in the dongle.
Fair enough Vodafone have said it should have been cancelled but I'll bear that in mind
Re: the fraud. AFAIK, anything identified officially as fraud would be wiped/reversed so that you would be put back in the position you would have been if it had not occured. if you have been using the dongle then I believe you are liable to be charged for any costs involved in that.
I agree it's just frustrating as the dongle wasn't cancelled, the fraudsterrs changed my address, the store didn't help when I went to them with the mysterious 80 pounds and so on
I agree with nifty, I find it a bit confusing that you could have thought it was PAYG when you hadn't actually topped it up?
As I say I just thought it would come out of my bank account and that's what the store and I thought the £80 was. Ive never done PAYG before so didn't think anything of it.
It would not be possible to use a previous contract dongle on a PAYG basis.
The reason for this is that the software inside the contract dongle does not support topping up for you to use it on PAYG. The APN settings would also be different although these could be configured to PAYG.
At no point has anyone told me this if they had again I feel that the fraud would of been identified far earlier.0 -
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Hi Twentiesgirl,
Thanks for making me aware of your concerns.
To enable me to get them looked into 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?
Kind regards,
Lee
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK“Official Company Representative
I am the official company representative of Vodafone. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"0 -
Vodafone, Orange both joined 3 in India customer services and fraud starts...see a pattern anyone?SO... now England its the Scots turn to say dont leave the UK, stay in Europe with us in the UK, dont let the tories fool you like they did us with empty lies... You will be leaving the UK aswell as Europe
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Sorry I am not on MSE very much and have just seen this.
I have thus sent the email and will post the link when I get it.0 -
The link is WRT135 - MSE [#11316024]
I just realised I didn't include my mobile number in it but did include my email - should I re email?
Camilla0
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