Vodafone charging for non-existant contract

Johnnypanic_2

Received 2 letters from Vodafone, before Christmas, to alter me that 2 mobile phone accounts I had, would be changing terms & conditions.

I immediately wrote to Vodafone, informing them that I have never had a mobile account with them and to cancel both accounts immediately. I recieved 2 letters confirming cancellation.

Then, near the end of January, I recieved another 2 letters stating that I owned £10.56 on each account. I've since sent a recorded delivery letter, to the person identified on the letters, Tracey Swenne, Head of Commmerical delivery outsource & strategy. In the letter I demanded she cancel the accounts and contact me (email address provided) to confirm.

No contact from Vodafone. Now I receive 2 letters stating that I have outstanding payments!

What would be the best course of action to take? Contact Ofcom?

Thanks,

John

Buzby

No. OFCOM do not deal with customer complaints. Because you asked for the accounts to be closed, the did as you asked, and the follow up letters are simply automatically generated. The next (in case of non payment) will be a default on your credit file.

The first think I would do is check this - a IS there an account showing each month? If not, then you can safely ignore it. If there is - then you need to contact them to seek an explanation what the contracts were for - which you should have done in the first place.

Has a family member noticed their phone has stopped working? Or you you have an active DD payable to them?

Johnnypanic_2

Buzby wrote: »

No. OFCOM do not deal with customer complaints. Because you asked for the accounts to be closed, the did as you asked, and the follow up letters are simply automatically generated. The next (in case of non payment) will be a default on your credit file.

The first think I would do is check this - a IS there an account showing each month? If not, then you can safely ignore it. If there is - then you need to contact them to seek an explanation what the contracts were for - which you should have done in the first place.

Has a family member noticed their phone has stopped working? Or you you have an active DD payable to them?

Thanks for the reply. As stated previously, have never had a Vodafone mobile account! I may, years ago, requested some free sims, but never activiated / used.

You mention checking if there is an account showing each month, how do I do this?

I would have thought, given that I contacted them as soon as I received the original letters, that they should have at the very least cancelled the contracts and no fee would be payable.

Also concerned, that given that I sent a recorded delivery letter, they did not response.

Surely there must be someone I can contact to ensure my credit rating is not affected! Seems amazing that this company can just charge me out of the blue.

Silk

Johnnypanic wrote: »

Surely there must be someone I can contact to ensure my credit rating is not affected! Seems amazing that this company can just charge me out of the blue.

Lee the Voda rep will probably be in touch but to save time follow the instructions in this post ... http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=64652816&postcount=6

He will then get back to you probably on here when he's picked it up

Johnnypanic_2

Brillant. Will sort this out in the morning.

mobilejunkie

Definitely do NOT "ignore it" as was suggested - regardless of whether you had the accounts or not. It needs to be sorted properly; Silk's advice is the best way to do that. If it isn't guaranteed NOT to affect your credit file, lodge a formal written complaint, wait 8 weeks and if it's not sorted complain to CISAS. I doubt you'd need to do that once the WRT are involved, but having written assurance that NO adverse entries will be made on any of your credit files is the really important thing.

MataNui

A mobile phone account is classed as a credit account. It will show on your credit file that a credit account has been opened by vodafone. You can check online at creditexpert or request a paper copy of your credit report from experian etc. If no accounts show then vodafone obviously cant damage your credit file. This is why Buzby suggested you can ignore it and i agree. The absolute worst thing they can do to you is trash your credit file. They can t do this if you dont have any credit agreements logged with them. Beyond that all they can do is send you nasty letters or get a debt collection company to send you nasty letters.

Obviously do a bit to try and get it sorted. If you can get in touch with the vodafone rep on here (Lee) then that should do the trick. Otherwise you could end up creating a lot more work and stress trying to deal with vodafone than simply ignoring them.

Vodafone

Hi John,

Thanks for making me aware of your concerns.

Once you've emailed me you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. To make sure it reaches me, could you update the thread with this and I'll get back to you as soon as I can?

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations

Vodafone UK

Johnnypanic_2

Thanks Lee, email sent and reference number received -

WRT135 - MSE [#6152447]

Hopefully you'll be able to sort this issue out.

Vodafone

Hi John,

Thanks for coming back to me.

I've got your email and will get back to you as quickly as possible.

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations

Vodafone UK

Johnnypanic_2

Quick update -

received letter from Vodafone apologising for inconvenience and closing account. Another letter stating that balance outstanding and the usual threads of referral to credit reference agency.

Have updated Lee, who hopefully, will get this sorted.