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Vodafone 4g breach of contract
TheOnlyPaulV
Posts: 1 Newbie
in Mobiles
Hi fellow forum members!
Long time reader, first time poster. Like most ive been banging my head against a brick wall with Vodafone, all i want is a simple correction of my contract but they dont seem to be able to understand after 2 months of battling them and them over charging, i am hoping someone has a brain, and is able to finally see sense. In the meantime Vodafone have finally drawn the issue to a close after I completed all the required steps to resolve this myself with them, so I am going to follow legal action from here on out for refusing my breach of contract claim so others can use my work .
This affects anybody whos recently upgraded to 4g from Vodafone and especially those who had any add ons before they were upgraded.
Basically I got a Vodafone 12 month contract @ £52 per month with a HTC One after being sold this as a 4g capable phone, no need to switch phones, just get 4g when it comes out. Mid way through the contract i breached my 2GB allowance and so was offered a 1GB add on for a month to see me through and I cancelled this once my data allowance reset. Around this time i was offered, like many of you, an upgrade by Vodafone to 4g with double data and sky sports/Spotify with a letter in the post explaining the new terms and conditions as well as a crucial 7 day cooling off period; all this was in writing. I accepted this and was told my 2GB contract allowance was to be upgraded to 4GB and my new contract charge would be £57 per month excluding the add-on which had been due to run out as i had cancelled it.
Vodafone however had instead put me on the most expensive tariff possible at £62 and 8GB of data. I contacted vodafone in writing and said this was wrong and i wanted to be in 4GB and £57 as promised with my data add on canceled as i requested which had not been removed from my account yet. Vodafone refused this in writing so i asked to use my cooling off period (i was on my first day of this 7 day period) and Vodafone refused this also, in writing. I wrote a new, more formal letter to the complaints and head office, as well as customer services, and customer services got back to me and said I was not allowed to downgrade and had no right to a 7 day cooling off period, despite the cooling off period being given to me in writing.
With Vodafone taking money out of my account via direct debit in a few days and money being tight i could not afford a protracted battle with Vodafone whilst they were taking out the increased line rental and add on each month. I set out to get the account stable and then continue with Vodafone after that.
I camped out at my local Vodafone store where the manager finally by-passed the standard customer services, got through to a customer care team and they saw the mistake straight away and set the contract back to £52 and 2GB of data and promised an investigation into why i was refused this in the first place. I got no reply and so i contacted Vodafone again who launched a fraud case on the account to see where the problems had come from, again i did not even get the decency of a reply as promised.
Doing my own investigations at a store, looking at my account on a screen i found out the following.
When the upgrade was promised originally to all vodafone customers, a SQL query was run which looked at the customers current tariff and an automated, mail merged, message sent out offering them double data 7 days, sky sports etc which gave Vodafone a list of people who wanted to accept this. Vodafone were then supposed to add a 4g add on to the account which gave the customer the new additions and this add on would increase the contract to the next 'tier' in pricing. What happened instead however was many customers had their contracts varied instead and their line rental increased to the next 'tier' on the contract scale. In my case because the bolt on made my monthly line rental 'appear' to be £57, the person upgraded my contract to £62 which was the next 'tier' up from £57, despite my contract actually being £52 with a ‘supposed to be‘ removed add on. Secondly, because a mistake was made by Vodafone and the line rental was increased and NOT the add on added, a different set of rules are put in place and this meant that to the customer services team it looked as though i had requested a line rental upgrade and thus I had no right to cancel which, if i actually had requested an upgrade to £62 per month, I would not.
I again explained all this to Vodafone in writing and they refused this as well saying simply that I had phoned Vodafone to request the upgrade and i had no right to cancel it. They also could not rule out that my contract would not be extended as i had requested to increase my line rental as in effect i had restarted a new contract and my continued use of the phone and thus the new terms contract represented an acceptance of these new terms. When i asked them to provide the details of a single call between me and vodafone around that time or the date and time when i requested this upgrade, Vodafone refused to reply to the letter, seemingly ignoring it.
To finish i wrote a legal letter to Vodafone explaining:
1) my line rental was increased/varied by more than the price of inflation (pursuant to 11b.2 and 11.3)
2) this was done without my permission (Pursuant Section 7a of my contract).
3) this was done without written forewarning (Pursuant Section 7a of my contract).
either 14 days before or within a reasonable time afterwards.
4) I was refused on 2 separate occasions, in writing, the right to cancel the variation (Pursuant contract made at the time)
5) the changes made to my contract were seriously detrimental to me. (Pursuant Section 7b.4 of my contract).
Whilst Vodafone may dispute one or two if the points above, as is their right, any one of these points is a breach of contract and I had all of these breaches, in writing, from Vodafone. I explained this enables me to cancel the contract without paying out my minimum period (pursuant 11d.3) and I understood i may have to make a payment towards the cost of equipment, as per 11d of the contract, and they will write to me to ask for this. I did not have to provide this until asked.
Vodafone again refused this, in writing, but not saying why. I wrote again that in order to refuse this they must explain why and asked if the person i was communicating with was authorised to make this decision. The reply stated that my contract was as it was and i had no right of cancellation to use even one of the points i detailed above as he said i had to pay an early termination fee. Basically, Vodafone are refusing to honour their own contract.
I am now proceeding with legal proceedings as Vodafone have confirmed they are satisfied with their actions and I have no rights under the contract, which is what i needed to proceed to the next step.
In summary, and for every one else, when you accepted the upgrade from Vodafone some of you may have been put on an in-correct tariff and you did not agree to Vodafone increasing your contract to that amount. Even if Vodafone put you on the correct tariff, at the time of the contract being agreed upon (which consists solely of what vodafone send you at the time) you will have been offered a 7 day cooling off period, but you cannot use this and will be refused the right to use this by Vodafone, thus not allowing you to refuse the increase Vodafone put on your account which you did not agree too. This is because one arm of Vodafone is not talking to the other arm and the contract variations are being put onto your account as line rental increases which may also extend the length of your contract. You are also not able to refuse this as well as the use of your phone, and thus contract, constitutes an acceptance of the lengthening of the contract despite Vodafone not being able to tell you if this would result in a variation of your contract.
I hope someone from Vodafone reads this and can set this straight as i believe once people look into their accounts, this will have happened to a lot more people and the more people look into this, the more people can be set straight.
I still hope Vodafone can sort this out as i like Vodafone and i love my phone, but i cannot accept a massive contract increase which i did not ask for and the use of my phone meaning ive accepted a new 12 month contract.
Long time reader, first time poster. Like most ive been banging my head against a brick wall with Vodafone, all i want is a simple correction of my contract but they dont seem to be able to understand after 2 months of battling them and them over charging, i am hoping someone has a brain, and is able to finally see sense. In the meantime Vodafone have finally drawn the issue to a close after I completed all the required steps to resolve this myself with them, so I am going to follow legal action from here on out for refusing my breach of contract claim so others can use my work .
This affects anybody whos recently upgraded to 4g from Vodafone and especially those who had any add ons before they were upgraded.
Basically I got a Vodafone 12 month contract @ £52 per month with a HTC One after being sold this as a 4g capable phone, no need to switch phones, just get 4g when it comes out. Mid way through the contract i breached my 2GB allowance and so was offered a 1GB add on for a month to see me through and I cancelled this once my data allowance reset. Around this time i was offered, like many of you, an upgrade by Vodafone to 4g with double data and sky sports/Spotify with a letter in the post explaining the new terms and conditions as well as a crucial 7 day cooling off period; all this was in writing. I accepted this and was told my 2GB contract allowance was to be upgraded to 4GB and my new contract charge would be £57 per month excluding the add-on which had been due to run out as i had cancelled it.
Vodafone however had instead put me on the most expensive tariff possible at £62 and 8GB of data. I contacted vodafone in writing and said this was wrong and i wanted to be in 4GB and £57 as promised with my data add on canceled as i requested which had not been removed from my account yet. Vodafone refused this in writing so i asked to use my cooling off period (i was on my first day of this 7 day period) and Vodafone refused this also, in writing. I wrote a new, more formal letter to the complaints and head office, as well as customer services, and customer services got back to me and said I was not allowed to downgrade and had no right to a 7 day cooling off period, despite the cooling off period being given to me in writing.
With Vodafone taking money out of my account via direct debit in a few days and money being tight i could not afford a protracted battle with Vodafone whilst they were taking out the increased line rental and add on each month. I set out to get the account stable and then continue with Vodafone after that.
I camped out at my local Vodafone store where the manager finally by-passed the standard customer services, got through to a customer care team and they saw the mistake straight away and set the contract back to £52 and 2GB of data and promised an investigation into why i was refused this in the first place. I got no reply and so i contacted Vodafone again who launched a fraud case on the account to see where the problems had come from, again i did not even get the decency of a reply as promised.
Doing my own investigations at a store, looking at my account on a screen i found out the following.
When the upgrade was promised originally to all vodafone customers, a SQL query was run which looked at the customers current tariff and an automated, mail merged, message sent out offering them double data 7 days, sky sports etc which gave Vodafone a list of people who wanted to accept this. Vodafone were then supposed to add a 4g add on to the account which gave the customer the new additions and this add on would increase the contract to the next 'tier' in pricing. What happened instead however was many customers had their contracts varied instead and their line rental increased to the next 'tier' on the contract scale. In my case because the bolt on made my monthly line rental 'appear' to be £57, the person upgraded my contract to £62 which was the next 'tier' up from £57, despite my contract actually being £52 with a ‘supposed to be‘ removed add on. Secondly, because a mistake was made by Vodafone and the line rental was increased and NOT the add on added, a different set of rules are put in place and this meant that to the customer services team it looked as though i had requested a line rental upgrade and thus I had no right to cancel which, if i actually had requested an upgrade to £62 per month, I would not.
I again explained all this to Vodafone in writing and they refused this as well saying simply that I had phoned Vodafone to request the upgrade and i had no right to cancel it. They also could not rule out that my contract would not be extended as i had requested to increase my line rental as in effect i had restarted a new contract and my continued use of the phone and thus the new terms contract represented an acceptance of these new terms. When i asked them to provide the details of a single call between me and vodafone around that time or the date and time when i requested this upgrade, Vodafone refused to reply to the letter, seemingly ignoring it.
To finish i wrote a legal letter to Vodafone explaining:
1) my line rental was increased/varied by more than the price of inflation (pursuant to 11b.2 and 11.3)
2) this was done without my permission (Pursuant Section 7a of my contract).
3) this was done without written forewarning (Pursuant Section 7a of my contract).
either 14 days before or within a reasonable time afterwards.
4) I was refused on 2 separate occasions, in writing, the right to cancel the variation (Pursuant contract made at the time)
5) the changes made to my contract were seriously detrimental to me. (Pursuant Section 7b.4 of my contract).
Whilst Vodafone may dispute one or two if the points above, as is their right, any one of these points is a breach of contract and I had all of these breaches, in writing, from Vodafone. I explained this enables me to cancel the contract without paying out my minimum period (pursuant 11d.3) and I understood i may have to make a payment towards the cost of equipment, as per 11d of the contract, and they will write to me to ask for this. I did not have to provide this until asked.
Vodafone again refused this, in writing, but not saying why. I wrote again that in order to refuse this they must explain why and asked if the person i was communicating with was authorised to make this decision. The reply stated that my contract was as it was and i had no right of cancellation to use even one of the points i detailed above as he said i had to pay an early termination fee. Basically, Vodafone are refusing to honour their own contract.
I am now proceeding with legal proceedings as Vodafone have confirmed they are satisfied with their actions and I have no rights under the contract, which is what i needed to proceed to the next step.
In summary, and for every one else, when you accepted the upgrade from Vodafone some of you may have been put on an in-correct tariff and you did not agree to Vodafone increasing your contract to that amount. Even if Vodafone put you on the correct tariff, at the time of the contract being agreed upon (which consists solely of what vodafone send you at the time) you will have been offered a 7 day cooling off period, but you cannot use this and will be refused the right to use this by Vodafone, thus not allowing you to refuse the increase Vodafone put on your account which you did not agree too. This is because one arm of Vodafone is not talking to the other arm and the contract variations are being put onto your account as line rental increases which may also extend the length of your contract. You are also not able to refuse this as well as the use of your phone, and thus contract, constitutes an acceptance of the lengthening of the contract despite Vodafone not being able to tell you if this would result in a variation of your contract.
I hope someone from Vodafone reads this and can set this straight as i believe once people look into their accounts, this will have happened to a lot more people and the more people look into this, the more people can be set straight.
I still hope Vodafone can sort this out as i like Vodafone and i love my phone, but i cannot accept a massive contract increase which i did not ask for and the use of my phone meaning ive accepted a new 12 month contract.
0
Comments
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too long, not enough time in the world to read.0
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As above.
Can you do bullet points or edit the post?
I gather you are not happy with Vodafone but no idea why.0 -
Hi TheOnlyPaulV,
Thanks for making me aware of this.
If you'd like me to take a closer at things 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. So I can make sure I've got it 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“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
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