Vodafone - Misleading

Barryjohnwebb1947

During June / July this year I had a lot of issues with the above Mobile phone, the phone would not log on to the Wi-Fi router at our Spanish hone or even the Sure Signal box that I have purchased from Vodafone for my UK home address.
The Wi-Fi Button “Greys Out “ (i.e., will not switch on) thereby limiting services available to me and of course vastly increasing my costs of using the phone.

I have received numerous attempts’ to resolve the technical issues through your 191
Customer services department.
None has being successful.
I was then asked to go to the local Vodafone shop in ********* who then advised me to take the phone to Apple, who were already aware of the “Greying Out “ issues, and they would repair or swop the phone,

I contacted Apple technical services, which explained they were fully aware of the issues of “ Greys Out “, but because I had purchased the phone from Vodafone they were not legally obliged to do anything.

They also explained that if, I had purchased the phone directly from Apple they would have exchanged it for a period of up to two years ( 24 months ) from date of purchased.
I then received an email from apple confirming their position.

I went to the Vodafone shop again in ********** on Sunday 22nd and was informed that Vodafone only offers a 12 month warranty on Apple Phones, and consequentially I would have to agree to a repair charge of £150:00. I explained that I would not agree to paying any charge, also that Vodafone position was illegal, under statue law both here within the UK and EEC Law

I asked the Manager to confirm that and she typed out a letter to that effect.
I might add that she was extremely nice and very pleasant.

I am absolutely astounded that your company encourages and even “ Instructs “ its staff to completely ignore basic consumer law.

I know for fact that here is NO provision in law, so would you please identify to me, where in any statute law, your company has the right to make a charge ( any charge) to the consumer, When you have ( maybe unwittingly ) supplied goods that do not reach a satisfactory quality standard,
Then you / your staff assert you have NO legal responsibility.

Your responsibly in law are simple.
1. Repair equal to as new
2. Replace the goods with a suitable device
3. Refund the purchase

The Sales of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) is very specific in your responsibility and the remedies open to you.
The EEC Directive 1999/44 (01-01-2002)

Your company has known as early as June 2012 of the “Greying Out “ issue
Yet you offer your customers no recall & repair
You seen determined on a course of blatant prevarication and total disregard to the any law.

Under my legal rights I am requesting that you remedy the fault inherent within the phone that your company supplied to me without cost or delay.

As of this morning, I have spent another three hours talking to various people on the your 191 customer services line, to absolutely no avail.

This stance by your staff “ It’s Vodafone’s Terms & Conditions “
Is not tenable in law, I refer you to

The Unfair Contracts Act 1977

The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Act 1999.[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](1) A contractual term which has not been individually negotiated shall be regarded as unfair if, contrary to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot](2) A term shall always be regarded as not having been individually negotiated where it has been drafted in advance and the consumer has therefore not been able to influence the substance of the term.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]E[/FONT]EC Directive 93/13/EEC Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts.[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Article 3[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1. A contractual term which has not been individually negotiated shall be regarded as unfair if, contrary[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]to the requirement of good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2. A term shall always be regarded as not individually negotiated where it has been drafted in advance[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]and the consumer has therefore not been able to influence the substance of the term, particularly in the[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]context of a pre-formulated standard contract.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The Directive also requires contract terms to be drafted in plain and intelligible language and states that ambiguities will be interpreted in favour of consumers.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]

I have already collated a vast amount of information on this subject, which will fully substantiate my position if you force me to sue you through the courts.
This includes word verbatim from your staff.

If I do NOT have a positive response from you with 14 days of the date of this letter
I will without further recourse:

1. Purchase a replacement phone from your company
2. Then Sue you for a full refund of that amount.
3. Together with all legal court cost’s
4. I will ask the judge to award a level of compensation for
the extra costs that I have occurred in not being able to use the Wi-Fi service
that is not available due to a faulty device

If in my attempt to purchase a replacement phone from yourselves, I am met with resistance from members of your staff.
I will get three quotations from competitors ( one of which will be apple )
I will then choose one of those quotation’s buy a replacement device of the same / similar specification, and then sue you for the cost I have incurred.

Prior to any litigation, I will assert my rights to ask you for a copy of all recordings in relation to myself and Vodafone. I am aware the charge of providing this information may be £10:00

wealdroam

Barryjohnwebb1947, you appear to have copied a letter that you have written to someone.
Why have you done that?

What is 'the above Mobile phone'?

Are you seeking any help with this from this forum?

If this is just a rant, it would be better placed on the Praise, Vent & Warnings board.

bris

They are not ignoring basic consumer law. First you must prove to them you have a case by getting a report from a qualified person to state the phone has a manufacturing defect that would have been present at day of purchase (inherent fault).

Before you proceed with any claims please know your rights first, as it's over 6 months since you have had the phone you need to prove your case, not the other way about.

DevCoder

Great threatening letter...

Will get their backs up and make them dig their heels in and even more so since you don't seem to have a great grasp of what your rights are and the relevant laws and/or rights that trump over laws/rights.

SuperHan

Oh, it's almost cute.

The ones where they quote the bit of law that suits and ignore the other bits are my favourite.

As bris has said, Vodafone are in no way ignoring consumer law, they are just not explaining it to you (which as customer service and not lawyers, is perfectly okay).

You need to get yourself an independent report to say the phone is inherently faulty. You will need to pay for this. When it says this is the case, you can take the phone and the report back to Voda for a repair, refund or exchange which is pretty much at their discretion.

Also, the EEC 'law' you talk about is a directive. That means its advice the EU give to constituent contries about how the minimum requirements of their law. You cannot take someone to a UK court on this EEC 'law'. You need to refer back to the Sales of Goods Act, of which you haven't met your side.

You also may want to check your grammar, because it always makes you look less intelligent, even if what you are saying were correct, when you use it the way you have

tinkerbell28

1. Purchase a replacement phone from your company
2. Then Sue you for a full refund of that amount.
3. Together with all legal court cost’s
4. I will ask the judge to award a level of compensation for
the extra costs that I have occurred in not being able to use the Wi-Fi service
that is not available due to a faulty device

NEVER EVER EVER threaten legal action like that, unless you are 100% sure of your rights, which you aren't. Or you are 100% prepared to back it up and go the whole hog, costs and all.

They would be within their rights now to just chuck your complaint over to an in-house solicitor.

WTFH

He's also got at least one technical fault in his comments...
Vodafone Sure Signal is a 3G booster, not a wifi system. If he is trying to use it to connect, the phone will be using 3G, not wifi. Not the phone's fault, not Vodafone's fault. It's the user not knowing what he's bought.
http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/mobile-accessories/sure-signal