Vodafone unsympathetic

scaredmum

Hi I am new to this site and just wondered if anyone can help me. My son has been in dispute with Vodafone for the last 3 months and after numerous phone calls each time talking to someone different and several letters we are getting nowhere. My son suffers from mental health. He had a contract with Vodafone averaging £50 a month. Then in March he got a bill for £1600 mainly due to gambling and purchasing sites. On mentioning this to his care worker she said it sounded like mania. On further investigation both by myself and his psychiatrist we found that a side affect of medication he had recently been put on is that it reduces peoples ability to control their impulses and causes excessive gambling and shopping. My sons psychiatrist wrote a letter to Vodafone and included documentation to prove this. She also said it is affecting my sons mental health but they don't want to know and insist my son pays this and also the rest of his contract which amounts to £2000. My argument is that yes my son ran up this bill, he also offered to pay them back £30 a week but they insisted on £80 a week which is not feasible. Also why, if this was unusual activity on my sons account, did Vodafone not put a cap on it. Also we have proof that this is down to medication then why will Vodafone take no notice of it. I have written to the financial ombudsman but not received a reply yet. I asked Vodafone to put a hold on the account until we get a reply but they have now referred it to a debt collection agency.My son is self harming due to this and I am so scared that all this worry will cause him to harm himself even more. Please can someone help me.

mobilejunkie

Try the Web Relations team; send a message vis their website with "WRT135 - MSE" in the heading. No-one else there gives a damn.

Unless they are helpful your son has no real case. It's not Vodafone's responsibility to check with his pychiatrist before he enters a contract, nor to warn customers who notch up large bills. The basic answer is that he shouldn't have a contract in the first place. It is more the person's fault who prescribed the medication without warning of the side-effects than it is Vodafone's.

Hopefully the Web Relations team can help, but the Ombudsman is unlikely to since Vodafone haven't actually (THIS time) done anything wrong (and in any case won't even look at it until it's been through Vodafone's complaints proceedure or it's been 8 weeks since the original complaint.

grumbler

Well, in this condition it's good for your son not to have any access to any credit. A trashed credit history can only help with this, and it's ruined already anyway.
Don't pay and ignore debt collectors.
Get the phone unlocked and use it on PAYG, or sell it and buy a cheap replacement.

SeduLOUs

grumbler wrote: »

Get the phone unlocked and use it on PAYG, or sell it and buy a cheap replacement.

Don't really have any advice as it sounds like Vodafone haven't really done anything wrong, but hopefully pleading with them will result in a good-will gesture.

I just wanted to comment that if the phone is barred, you probably won't just be able to 'unlock' it and might waste money trying to do so. As far as I understood it, the IMEI itself is barred, and the only way to use the phone again is in a different country.

Buzby

Hopefully the contract is in his name? There will be an advantage to this in that following a default his options to get credit will be seriously restricted. I'm not sure who you expect to pay this bill...?

It is not up to VF to restrict a consumers service simply because then use it. If the bills are paid on presentation, then clearly the user is to be trusted. If they are not, then it would be up to their careers ( or family ) to look out for them - which appears to have failed, so vigilance in future is required.

That said, a PAYG SIM would be the best way forward, and to terminate the existing contract as soon as possible.

scaredmum

Thank you all for your reply's. I just thought Vodafone should have stepped in when someone's bill has been £50 for six months and all of a sudden it leaps to £1600. Even the staff in my local Vodafone shop have agreed that something should have been done.
The side affect of the medication is quite rare and therefore not something we or the psychiatrist were aware of until we researched it.
As I said my son offered to pay this off at £30 a week but Vodafone insisted it was £80 a week or nothing. I will contact the web relations team thank you for that advice.


Buzby, I came on here for advice not to have someone imply that I have failed my son. Obviously you don't know what it is like living with someone with mental health problems.

SeduLOUs

I'd be very surprised if Vodafone don't end up wiping all of the charges.

My boss ran up a £4,000 bill with O2 recently, and after a single polite call from me to find out what had happened (she had been tethering her PC to work from home) they admitted that they should have stopped the data sooner and wiped the entire bill to my shock.

The problem could be that you are just speaking to the wrong people - the staff in the call centres simply don't have the authority to do anything for you, and certainly do not have any training around the issues you are facing. Push higher, and I think you'll be successful, although I doubt they will allow him to continue to have a contract phone once the reasons are explained, and this is probably for the best.

scaredmum

Thanks Sedulous I have made numerous phone calls and sent letters including one from the psychiatrist and printouts to support the fact that this was down to medication. I sent the letters to the head of customer services.
The phone has been disconnected and the amount has been passed on to debt collectors.
Who else would I be able to contact at Vodafone about this.
I would just like to add that my son has now been off the medication for four weeks and no longer has the urge to gamble, which is also proof that it was the medication.

Anoneemoose

Vodafone cannot insist on anything...if he can only afford £30 a week (or less), then that is what he should pay. He will, of course, probably not be able to continue using the contract and it might be passed to debt collectors but that probably wouldn't be a bad thing because he would not be able to run up bills.

Also, in fairness to vodafone, their t&c's (as most network's do) stipulate that they cannot cap charges, so they were probably unaware of his usage. When I worked for Orange, the system used to flag anything was completely random unless in the first few months when monitoring was more likely due to potential for fraud. In addition, particularly with the gambling charges, VF will still be billed for these and although it is an unfortunate situation, is not their fault either.

SeduLOUs

scaredmum wrote: »

Thanks Sedulous I have made numerous phone calls and sent letters including one from the psychiatrist and printouts to support the fact that this was down to medication. I sent the letters to the head of customer services.
The phone has been disconnected and the amount has been passed on to debt collectors.
Who else would I be able to contact at Vodafone about this.
I would just like to add that my son has now been off the medication for four weeks and no longer has the urge to gamble, which is also proof that it was the medication.

It sounds like you've done all you can but it's worth keeping trying.

There's no guarantee you'll 'get away' with the charges though, so alternatively you may find the Debt collectors are easier to negotiate with - you could offer a settlement figure with them if you have enough money to offer them 50% of the total due? They may be more willing to accept your lower weekly payment offer also.

Buzby

So you think you have a special case that somehow merits a waiver? We are all responsible for our actions. If your son was capable of entering into a legally binding contract, then it is your duty as parent or guardian to protect him from himself. Your expectation that he should be treated as a special needs customer will be met providing he stays within the terms of his agreement. If he cannot or is incapable of understanding then it remains your duty to ensure he is protected.

If you cannot see how the default may prevent you bring placed in a similar situation again (for 6 years) as an advantage for your son you may be in line for other shocks that you cannot control. With PAYG, you all stay in control and have no need to beg for charitable dispositions.