Vodafone owes me £900

DD2AN

Hi,

In May (3 months later...), Vodafone debited my account from about £900 by mistake. Since then, I've contacted them on 191 and consumer@help.vodafone.co.uk on 10 occasions. I've taken notes of everything that was discussed during the calls, and loooooong story short: they've acknowledge from day 1 that it was a mistake on their side, but there is absolutely no progress on reimbursement.

I've got a case opened with them, and they have committed to update me regularly on it. But obviously, in 3 months, they have never contacted me regarding this refund case.

Last week, I wrote to the Ombudsman in a desperate attempt to get things resolved. And in the meantime, my two children are sitting at home because we had to cancel their summer holiday because of Vodafone's incompetency.

Any suggestions on how to escalate this further and get my money back with some significant compensation for the family?

Best,
Denis

Silk

DD2AN wrote: »

Hi,

In May (3 months later...), Vodafone debited my account from about £900 by mistake.

Why didn't you get on to the bank to reclaim the payment whilst Vodafone sorted it out if it was a mistake ?

DD2AN

Because I never thought I should involve the bank since the mistake came from my Mobile provider. But that's a good point. I can imagine what the bank will say though...

Silk

DD2AN wrote: »

Because I never thought I should involve the bank since the mistake came from my Mobile provider. But that's a good point. I can imagine what the bank will say though...

It doesn't matter what the bank says .......... http://www.directdebit.co.uk/DirectDebitExplained/Pages/DirectDebitGuarantee.aspx

DD2AN

Silk, thank you so much for your advice: my bank is now claiming back the money that Vodafone can't seem able to refund me - should be with me within 48 hours. Wow!! If only I had known...

Thanks Silk.

B19JON

£900 and it's been 3 months!?!?! That is ridiculous.

For it to be taking this long, it must be something quite serious they are investigating.

simax

What will now happen is Vodafone's systems will block any lines you have and may issue a default on your credit file.

This of course can be removed once Vodafone fix the problem... but therein lies the problem... getting a sensible answer from Vodafone

macman

I'm surprised that the bank were prepared to do a chargeback under the DD guarantee as long as 3 months after the event.

Silk

macman wrote: »

I'm surprised that the bank were prepared to do a chargeback under the DD guarantee as long as 3 months after the event.

There's no time limit to the guarantee though and 3 months is quite common, esp. since a lot banks started doing quarterly statements.
You would struggle if it was over 3 years since you were notified of the payment though and certainly after 6 years would be very hard to achieve.

DD2AN

I've got the money back... not from Vodafone though, but from the bank. So I don't expect it to be the end of it: I'll have to call Vodafone tomorrow to explain the situation to their useless customer care services and try to close the case. I'm almost considering not asking for compensation: it's been such a battle, I don't want to hear about it anymore.

"Based on your last experience, how likely are you to recommend Vodafone? (0: very unlikely - 9: very likely)"
Oh... That's a difficult one... Let me think...

Vodafone

Hi Denis,

Thanks for making me aware of this.

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Kind regards,

Lee

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