vodafone ruined my credit score

life_ruined

I am absolutely devastated that Vodafone have ruined my life. I embarked on my 3rd 18 month contract in March 2010 over the telephone. I had originally called to cancel my second contract as the term had come to an end and I had found a better 18 month deal elsewhere. I was transferred to the retention team who matched the deal and I ended up agreeing to take out a further 18 month contract. A 24 month contract was not discussed and I certainly did not agree to one. My contract ended Sep 2011 and I decided to leave. I requested my Pac code and ported my number in Dec having taken their online advice for how to cancel a 30 day rolling contract. Then I started getting letters saying I owed an ETF (because my contract was 24months), months of upset ensued, letters back and forth, they passed it on to debt recovery service. I spoke to them, explained what had happened and they returned the debt to Vodafone, more letters ensued with Vodafone and when I heard no more, I assumed the nightmare was finally over. . .WRONG!! I went for a mortgage to buy my ex-husband out, he isn’t working and I don’t want to lose my kid’s home. My world fell apart when they did a credit check and I was told that I had defaulted on a contract - Vodafone have played God with my life and I cannot get a mortgage now for 6 years. The only contract details I have ever had from them was when I first joined them, no contract details are on the on-line account, they say I agreed to a 24 month contract but cannot prove/disprove this as they do not hold telephone records for long enough to listen to me agreeing to an 18month one. I asked for written proof of the 24 month contract from Vodafone which they were unable to supply. However, they did send me a letter which had a different mobile number on to mine asking that I took that letter as a copy of my contract!! They say on screen it says 24 months. .and as far as they are concerned that’s that. . Well either someone has made a mistake (human error-does happen) or it’s a standard trick played by sales to get commission, or make more money when people cancel, then bang an ETF charge out. I have since sent numerous e-mails to ‘customer service’ with no joy, I have asked them to remove this from my credit rating- as I have been told by my bank this is the only way I can proceed. All I have had back is and I quote: “apologize for inconveniences,’’ “I understand that this is frustration,” “absolutely not the way Vodafone believes in serving its customers,” “thank you for been a Vodafone customer” and “ I hope you enjoy all that Vodafone has to offer.” Right now all they are offering is misery, life destroying tactics, appalling customer service, and no help whatsoever. What can I do?? I’m dealing with a faceless brick wall. I have never felt so frustrated or helpless. These are people’s lives they are messing with. I know that I am not the only person that this has happened to.

CKhalvashi

It's your responsibility to check all contractual paperwork that would have been sent by the phone company, and used the correct cancellation period if you didn't like the terms.

CK

gjchester

life_ruined wrote: »

. Then I started getting letters saying I owed an ETF (because my contract was 24months), months of upset ensued, letters back and forth, they passed it on to debt recovery service. .

Vodafone will always send a final bill, did you not get that?

What happened when these letters arrived from Vodafone before debt collectors got involved? Vodafone will chase a debt before selling it on, did you disregard these letters or do you have copies of letters sent by you to Vodafone and any replies they sent you.

life_ruined wrote: »

My world fell apart when they did a credit check and I was told that I had defaulted on a contract - Vodafone have played God with my life and I cannot get a mortgage now for 6 years..

Repeating the earlier point what happened before the debt was sold on?

Try another lender, usually the "real" building societies will often look at the cause not simply the file, whereas the bigger lender will simply reject you because of the one issue. That said a small default (and this will likely be a few £100 or so) are often not a problem. It's possible there are other issues that were the cause of rejection too.

life_ruined wrote: »

I have asked them to remove this from my credit rating- as I have been told by my bank this is the only way I can proceed. .

This may not be what you want to hear but unless you can get to the bottom of the issue they may not remove the entry. A credit record is simply a list of your credit events, if your contract was not paid then you get the entry on your file.

Your credit rating is what each lender calculated by there own internal criteria when assessing you for credit.

What you need to get to the bottom of is the length of the contract was it 18 or 24 months.
If you can show it's 18 months you have a case, if it turns out it was 24 months then unfortunately you did leave early, a early termination fee was due and the default is correct.

Good Luck...

IanR2012

life_ruined wrote: »

What can I do??

Tackle the highest priority first, which is resolving your credit rating issue so that your mortgage application will get approved.

The quickest way is to pay the debt. Try to negotiate with VF to at least loose any additional charges so that the debt is at most the costs for cancelling the contract early.

Tell VF that you are repaying the debt under duress and you will later attempt to recover those costs.

Once the dept is paid chase VF to correct your credit history.

Once your credit history is correct make a formal complaint, in writing, to VF. Tell them you are claiming back the monies you paid under duress.

If the VF salesman was matching an offer from another provider that was an 18 month contract, then provide the details of that offer.

If you get no where with VF then request a dead-lock letter from them. Once you have the dead-lock letter, or if they don't provide it then after the complaint has remained unresolved for 8 weeks submit the complaint to the Ombudsman Services.

http://www.ombudsman-services.org/communications.html

It will cost you nothing except time. To win, you will need to prove that VF have failed in their duty of care, so you will need evidence that you requested an 18 month plan.

gjchester

IanR2012 wrote: »

Once your credit history is correct make a formal complaint, in writing, to VF. Tell them you are claiming back the monies you paid under duress..

With respect the root of the issue is over the contract length.

If it was a 24 month contract then the credit default is unfortunately correct. That has to be determined first, along with what happened before the debt was sold on.

The debt is over a year old, and Vodafone has already sold it on, they will have very little interest in negotiating as they have written it off and assigned it to the debt collectors. Vodafone will have also written informing the OP it was being passed on, again if the OP did not get this that's one thing it could be ruled invalid, if it was ignored that's another case entirely.

IanR2012

gjchester wrote: »

With respect the root of the issue is over the contract length.

It maybe the root of the issue, but not what has "ruined the life" of the OP.

For me the highest priority is to resolve the Credit Rating, such that the mortgage will be Approved and a life is no longer ruined.

In perspective, the debt is 6 months of a phone plan. Probably negligible in relation to the value of the mortgage that has been denied.

life_ruined

Hi, thanks for your replies. They did contact me requesting that i pay the etf and did notify me that they may take further action should i not pay. But from my side i do not owe them any money so i refused to pay, i did not see why i should. It is less than £100 that they say i owe. I contacted them several times before they passed the debt on and just face a brick wall each time. I cannot prove the contract length as i agreed over the phone, and neither can they as they do not have the recorded conversation or evidence. The bank said i could pay the outstanding amount, but it would still cause me a problem with a mortgage, because the only solution as far as they are concerned is for vodafone to remove it.

Cycrow

IanR2012 wrote: »

It maybe the root of the issue, but not what has "ruined the life" of the OP.

But isn't it always better to treat the root cause of the problem, not the symptoms?

you cant really solve the credit rating problem without solving the root cause. In thier eyes, the default is perfectly valid, and they wont remove it simply because someone believes thier life is ruined. Especially as the default is factually correct (until proved otherwise).

If you want to remove the entries from your file, you need to show that they were added incorrectly. To do that you need to show that the debt was not valid, and to do that, you need to prove that it should have been an 18month contract

gjchester

IanR2012 wrote: »

It maybe the root of the issue, but not what has "ruined the life" of the OP.

I agree and said so before, but there's no guarantee that was the only factor in the rejection.

No lender will tell you exactly why an application has been rejected, to do so would negate the point of their credit scoring.

Cycrow

life_ruined wrote: »

Hi, thanks for your replies. They did contact me requesting that i pay the etf and did notify me that they may take further action should i not pay. But from my side i do not owe them any money so i refused to pay, i did not see why i should. It is less than £100 that they say i owe. I contacted them several times before they passed the debt on and just face a brick wall each time. I cannot prove the contract length as i agreed over the phone, and neither can they as they do not have the recorded conversation or evidence. The bank said i could pay the outstanding amount, but it would still cause me a problem with a mortgage, because the only solution as far as they are concerned is for vodafone to remove it.

What does it say in your contract ?
if it says 24 months, then they can prove it, as you signed for it.
If you cant prove otherwise, then you will be held to what ever the contract states

Simply refusing to pay is not the best approach as you have found out

IanR2012

Cycrow wrote: »

But isn't it always better to treat the root cause of the problem, not the symptoms?

You've quoted me so I assume that's aimed at me.

Yes, and in my post I suggest how I would go about it. I'm just prioritising the mortgage application over the "is the debt actually owed" argument.

Thought I made that clear in my post, but apparently not.