HELP! I hate Vodafone

JaneyFletch

Hi everyone

I'm hoping someone out there might be able to offer me some advice to resolve a problem I'm having with my mobile phone provider, Vodafone.

I've been away travelling in Latin America for the last three months and while I was in Colombia I lost my phone. I thought I'd lost it rather than it had been stolen, and on the day I lost it I was flying to Costa Rica to go and work on a farm in the middle of nowhere with no internet or phone access so was unable to cancel the phone. The phone was also broken to the point where I couldn't charge it or turn it on, so I thought it would probably be no use to anyone if they found it.

When I got back from Central America last week I discovered that someone had managed to use the phone and had kindly racked up a phone bill of £1,480. I realise I should have cancelled the phone when I lost it, but circumstances made it difficult and I genuinely thought it wouldn't have been usable if anyone found it.

My view is that Vodafone should have some responsibility to their customers to monitor this kind of unusual usage in a South American country and suspend the service when they saw this kind of activity on the account, like a bank would. I spoke to them about this and they said that they did suspend the service, but only after 10 days of this high level use of the phone, by which time it was too late and the expensive calls had already been made. They said they sent a text message to the phone to alert the user to the high charges for the phone calls being made, but obviously a text message alert is no good if I didn't actually have the phone. This policy makes no sense to me in this situation as a message to a stolen phone will never be accessible to the phone's owner. I think the fact that they suspended the service demonstrates that they acknowledge some level of responsibility to their customers to block this kind of usage, and I'm not sure why it took them ten days to do so.

I realise that I am probably liable to pay this bill, and I know that I was at fault for not cancelling my phone when I lost it, but in my view this bill is unreasonably high and as I've been a customer of Vodafone for about ten years, I thought they might value my custom enough to help me out of this situation.

As it is, the most I've been able to get out of them is for them to agree to let me pay the bill off over 6 months and reduce it by 15%. This still leaves me with a monthly bill of around £230, which I'm not even sure includes line rental. They've also said that until this bill is paid, I won't be able to get another contract or phone with them, and that I would probably struggle to get a contract with another provider owing to credit checks, which I'm not sure is true.

This obviously leaves me in a really difficult position - I don't have a permanent job at the moment, and money is going to be tight because I'm getting back on my feet, so there's no way I can afford to pay this bill, even with the 15% reduction and staggered repayment plan. I've managed to get them to delay my first repayment until mid-August and I'm wondering if I should just block the direct debit until I've got some more advice and worked out a plan of action to fight them. What do you think?

I really feel that I'm being unfairly treated by Vodafone and I want to get some advice as to what my rights are and how I can get myself out of this little pickle. On a basic level, I just feel that to a huge organisation like Vodafone, £1500 is nothing, whereas for me to have this bill hanging over me for the next six months will be financially debilitating and will have repercussions on my financial situation for some considerable time, even after it's been paid off.

I'm going to email their head office, but I wondered if there's anything that I should be aware of in terms of consumer rights that might add some leverage to my case. I was also wondering if you could provide me with the right contact to write to or email or call at Vodafone to get the ball rolling on having this issue investigated with the right person or department.

Also, should I retain my contract with them until this is resolved? My instinct is to leave them when my contract is up, which is in October, or just pay an early termination charge because I really resent paying line rental for a service I'm not receiving from a company who are being so unsympathetic to my situation. But I'm also aware that it might give me more clout with getting this sorted if I'm still a customer of theirs. So if anyone could give me some advice on that front I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer to sort this out.

Jane

chevalier

Sorry I am really not sure. But it is the SIM that is what is usable from your lost phone, they just had to put that into a working phone..

I would maybe have a chat with ofcom, or look at their website to see if there is anything there.

Ref staying with them when your contract is up, my instinct is to leave. But it is not based on anything. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will be on shortly.
chev

matttye

With a stolen credit/debit card that is subsequently used to purchase goods, you can get your money back so long as you promptly report the missing cards as soon as you become aware of the problem.

If the phone was taken from your bag then you may not have realised it had gone straight away, especially as you said the phone had no battery and you didn't think it was workable (and therefore no reason to use it).

I would imagine phone networks have a similar policy, so if you've already told them you knew it had been taken 3 months before you reported it, I doubt you'll get anywhere with this.

kai666

You are liable for all costs until the phone is reported lost or stolen. All networks are the same.

How do they know you Haven't used your phone recklessly and now trying to get out of paying.

The phone may have been Broken, but the sim card wouldn't have been. You should have made it a priority to contact Vodafone as soon as you realised the phone was missing. This is a problem of your own making by choosing not to report the phone last or stolen


And next time put a lock on the sim card so it can't be used in another phone

kazwookie

I don't see why it is vodaphones fault, you need to contact them and have a calm conversation with them, and see if they are willing to help you.

Like others have said it is up to you to report your phone lost or stolen.

Vodafone

Hi Jane,

Thanks for making me aware of this.

If you'd like me to get things 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'll take you to the Contact us form on our website. To make sure it reaches me could you also quote the code WRT135 - MSE in the subject line?

Once sent you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. Could you update the thread with this and I'll get back to you as soon as possible?

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations

Vodafone UK

DS4215

I can't advise on your problems with Vodafone, but from experience it is possible to get a contract with another provider. You get a PAYG phone and once it has been running/paid on time for several months (3-6 depending on the company) you can then upgrade it to a contract phone without a credit check.