Have you had a wrongful mobile phone default?

jojo9239

JOY! Ive had my default removed! Proves the little people can win! x

izools

Vodafone_company_representative wrote: »

Hi izools,

You're correct in saying that any customer who is registered for online billing isn't reverted to paper billing once their account has been cancelled.

However, we still email them with a bill notification when their final bill is ready.

If a customer has cancelled their Direct Debit before payment of this has been taken then we would send a reminder letter if payment hasn't been made via an alternative method.

In the event that payment has still not been received then a default notice letter would then be sent.

In regard to the actual recording of the default I can confirm that this would only happen once the balance was overdue by at least four months. Prior to this the relevant late payment status codes would be recorded.

Hope this clarifies things for you.

Lee

Web Relations

Vodafone UK

Thank you Lee.

So you confirm that billing doesn't revert to paper automatically.

Your system stops people from viewing online bills when their line is stopped

You confirm your customers are emailed to advise their final bill is ready.

but they can't view or pay it because their online access has been stopped by then

You confirm a direct debit shouldn't be stopped until a subsequent bill is generated and taken

Then your staff need to be retrained and a change of process needs to be implemented - as your staff currently tell customers they have no outstanding balance and that customers are OK to cancel their DD. Your staff have no understanding of the fact that whilst a customer's account balance might at that time be £0, a subsequent bill will be generated. They certainly fail to communicate this to the customers

fermi

Amazing the number of threads on this. From vodafone, Orange/t-mobile, O2 etc etc. They are all at it.

Tessie_Balloon_Juice

This happened to my brother. He attempted to cancel his mobile phone contract and was told that everything had been successfully cancelled, he lost the ability to view his account online and had absolutely no idea about any outstanding balance until several months later when a debt collection company started calling the house.

The company seemed to think that somewhere along the line he had built up a debt of around £300. To this day we're not sure how they came to that figure as he still hasn't received any bills or paperwork to show how this debt was accrued.

Unfortunately, he didn't tell anyone about this at the time. He was only 19 and obviously very concerned by the thought of baliffs showing up at our parents house. He couldn't afford to pay the outstanding amount but agreed to pay 50%.

Recently he's been experiencing some financial difficulty and applied for credit to consolidate some debts but was refused. When we checked his credit reports it's the "default" from the mobile phone company that's causing the problem.

He called them straight away but was told that because he'd agreed to partially pay the debt he'd already admitted liability and they wouldn't amend the entry on his report.

I've suggested he gets some support from Citizen's advice. I feel that he was a young person bullied into accepting liability for a debt he knew nothing about with threats of baliffs and legal action. Completely unfair.

Vodafone

Hi izools,

While customers who have left us will be unable to view their accounts online they are still able to contact us to request a copy of their final bill and make payment of it via alternative means.

Our staff are aware that they should only be advising customers to cancel their Direct Debits once their final payment has been made.

Naturally in instances where incorrect has advice have been given we'd address this internally.

Tessie_Balloon_Juice wrote: »

This happened to my brother. He attempted to cancel his mobile phone contract and was told that everything had been successfully cancelled, he lost the ability to view his account online and had absolutely no idea about any outstanding balance until several months later when a debt collection company started calling the house.

The company seemed to think that somewhere along the line he had built up a debt of around £300. To this day we're not sure how they came to that figure as he still hasn't received any bills or paperwork to show how this debt was accrued.

Unfortunately, he didn't tell anyone about this at the time. He was only 19 and obviously very concerned by the thought of baliffs showing up at our parents house. He couldn't afford to pay the outstanding amount but agreed to pay 50%.

Recently he's been experiencing some financial difficulty and applied for credit to consolidate some debts but was refused. When we checked his credit reports it's the "default" from the mobile phone company that's causing the problem.

He called them straight away but was told that because he'd agreed to partially pay the debt he'd already admitted liability and they wouldn't amend the entry on his report.

I've suggested he gets some support from Citizen's advice. I feel that he was a young person bullied into accepting liability for a debt he knew nothing about with threats of baliffs and legal action. Completely unfair.

Hi Tessie_Balloon_Juice,

If this matter relates to an account with us could you ask your brother to email me as per the details provided in post 5 above?

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations

Vodafone UK

izools

Vodafone_company_representative wrote: »

Hi izools,

While customers who have left us will be unable to view their accounts online they are still able to contact us to request a copy of their final bill and make payment of it via alternative means.

Our staff are aware that they should only be advising customers to cancel their Direct Debits once their final payment has been made.

Lee, this isn't something that can be explained away.

You agree that the way for a customer to view and pay their final bill is to call and request it and make payment via alternate means?

Lee, that is absolutely ridiculous. It's a joke. The litany of threads on these forums alone proves that this is a gross failing in your processes and the process needs to be changed.

On the issue of direct debits, your staff should be aware that they should only be advising customers to cancel their DD when final payment has been made but that isn't what they tell people - what actually happens is the CSA sees the customer has a £0 balance and takes this as the customer having no final bill left to pay.

Retraining needs to be delivered in this area.

Thank you for taking the time to keep me up to date with your thoughts on my suggestions, I hope we can turn this into an effective move in the right direction for Vodafone and its customers alike

You certainly seem to be head and shoulders above EE in one respect - you actually bother to reply :beer:

izools

Lee, another story proving the importance behind the points I've raised and the necessity of changing your processes and retraining your staff:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4736687

Vodafone

Hi izools,

I'm aware of the perception of our processes from the threads which can be viewed online.

However, not all these cases relate to instances where the customer has cancelled their Direct Debit before paying their final bill.

I've handled several cases where a Direct Debit has been cancelled before the final payment has been made despite us advising the customer to only cancel this after the payment has been taken.

As I've said before, where there's clear evidence of an error on our part we can and would take action to correct this.

izools wrote: »

Lee, another story proving the importance behind the points I've raised and the necessity of changing your processes and retraining your staff:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4736687

I'll be replying to this thread in a moment.

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations

Vodafone UK

fermi

Still getting a steady stream of these.