Discuss the Vodafone Warning guide

chrish_1283

Vodafone are the most incompetent company I have ever dealt with. Even ex-customers are involved with these phantom direct debits. I was a Pay As You Go customer briefly in 2007. In December 2015 I found out they had set up a direct debit and taken money out of a bank account, all without notifying me, making me think that I was the victim of fraud. The eventually verbally told me that it was due to a 'billing migration'.

I have an active complaint with the Information Commissioner investigating why they are retaining the bank account details of ex-customers for nine years.

As even writing to the Chief Executive did not get anybody that cared or was prepared to compensate me adequately, I took them to court. They agreed to settle but then sent the letters regarding the court action to the wrong address, despite having been told not to do this. As a result of them sending letters to the wrong address, their solicitors are trying to get £330 in legal fees out of me - £200 more than they paid me in compensation.

No one at Vodafone cares. My request in January to delete my bank account details has not even been acknowledged yet. I have a court hearing with July in front of a judge to discuss the £330 that they are trying to extract from me.

I complained to the Bacs payment council about setting up Direct Debits without notification but they lied to them telling them it was the mistake of a call centre worker.

A complete and utter shambles. I look forward to them defending sending to the letters to the wrong address in front of the judge.

bitofsaving

Thanks for the timely reminder! Based on a previous MSE email, I looked into my phone plan cost and (£15.50 with vodafone, 500MB data, 300min, unlimited text) and found I could get something similar for £7.50 on the same phone network with a different provider.
I started a chat via vodafone's webpage, saying I didn't think I got a good deal, and was offered more data and minutes for the matched price of £7.50. That was in January, and I've been happy since.

Prompted by this week's MSE email, I checked my account online today, only to find that my most recent bill lists the old plan's price again! I'm paying via direct debit, so might not have noticed until it was taken from my account. I kept a transcript of the deal I got in January, and no end date was mentioned for the discount they were giving me, and when I asked whether this would cover the next 12 months they said yes.
So, another chat on vodafone's webpage, and they have admitted their error in billing me at the old rate, have refunded my account right away and I have asked explicitly (and gotten the answer) that the new, cheaper price was an offer without an end date. So, problem averted, it seems. But without the prompt from the MSE email, I probably would have caught it much later, after the direct debit payment went through. It remains to be seen if the right amount will be debited from my bank account in a week's time, and whether the next bill will reflect the discount again.
So far, I have to say that I've had very quick resolution of my problems via the webpage chat (though of course, they shouldn't have made that billing error in the first place).

ballyblack

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/vodafone-bill-warning?utm_source=MSE_Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=07-Jun-16-v2&utm_campaign=nt-oneliners-one&utm_content=6

cablecat

I have had endless problems with Vodafone over the last year. My signal has diminished to unusable in my house even though Vodafone denies this. Ofcom's coverage checker says different.

I had a second account for my son which after 5!!! attempts at upgrading, had to be closed and I moved him to EE.

They've just added a series of fictitious charges to my account which I've had to have removed.

They are, in my opinion, the worst company operating in the UK.

Daj

I have read this thread with interest. My mother is a home phone and mobile customer. She is currently being charged line rental twice each month.

Despite three phone calls and promises of a resolution each time, it keeps happening so I have started the complaint process using Resolver. Vodafone haven't responded to my initial mail to them. So I have just today escalated my complaint to the next level.

From everything I have read I am not hopeful of an early resolution.

AnnetteG

I've been a PAYG Vodafone customer for many years, but since I don't use my phone much I've haven't had too many problems.

However, I recently spent a frustrating and stressful few days trying to find out from Vodafone how much it would cost to use my phone on holiday in Denmark. Their website gave two contradictory answers about the costs, and after speaking to three customer service representatives in Capetown and goodness knows where else, I had three more answers. So as far as I knew, the charge per minute could be anywhere between 5p and £3.

I finally went to a Vodafone shop and someone who seemed to know what he was talking about showed me the calculator on the website that he said was the most up-to-date information. It said the cost would be 5p.

I arrived in Denmark, turned on my phone.... and received a text from Vodafone saying my calls would cost 9p per minute.

The staff I spoke to all tried to help, but most of them didn't really know much. I was staggered that a major company like Vodafone could offer such a dismal service. Even the information on their telephone menu was wrong - when I selected the option for information about EuroTraveller, it said that as a PAYG customer I couldn't use EuroTraveller and it ended the call. PAYG customers can in fact now use EuroTraveller, but Vodafone haven't bothered to update the message on the phone system.

I've clearly got off relatively lightly as a Vodafone customer, but it's been useful to read all the horror stories here. I'm thinking of getting a smartphone in the next few months with a contract - but after reading this thread, I won't be signing up with Vodafone.

jjh4yb

Regrettably I think the bad publicity Vodafone is currently getting is well deserved based on my experiences.

When they moved me to the new system, apparently they needed to do a credit check on me and I failed! Despite heving been a customer for over 10 years, I was asked to go into a store with proof of ID. I asked for my expenses to be met and this request was refused. At Vodafone stores you can be guaranteed a long wait and probably many other frustrated customers to share your experiences with. I refused to go to a store and asked for a service complaint to be raised.

It was decided I didn't need to prove my ID and I was migrated to the new system. I immediately lost access to my Vodafone. When the access was restored I had a new log in and my billing archive was missing.

I then discovered that my tariff had been changed and the add-ons such as Spotify and BT Wi-fi were no longer available to me.

Then I started getting direct debits to my bank account, they appeared to be totally random and I was not getting any notificatiion. On complaining, as I felt that the direct debit guarantee was being broken repeatedly, I was advised that my Vodafone account is a "self-managed" account and as such it is my responsibility to check for forthcoming direct debits. I did lose my cool with the advisor and said "you must be joking, I consider presenting random direct debits to be a serious breach of trust" I was advised that he did not joke about these matters and it remains my responsibility to monitor. I asked for the issue to be escalated and he advised that due to the high call volume I was already in the Chief Executive's Office and there was nowhere for the complaint to go.

I gave up on the call and phoned back in th ehope of getting another adviser. This I did, the new adviser was more helpful. It turned out my bank was being debited from both the old and new accounting systems.

I think it also worthy of note that it is a result if any call to Vodafone lasts less than an hour and there is no real concern shown for this.

Incredibly, I have only summarised the key points of my experience, which took over six months to resolve and I ended up going to the ombudsman, which was also quite painful, presumably due to their increased workload.

Theriddlers

I've been a Vodafone customers for years but my problems started when they upgraded the wrong phone number on my account in January....after a long time on the phone I thought I had managed to get the error resolved. Unfortunately not, my phone was disconnected and yet again I had to contact Vodafone again, this time I was told it would take up to 48 hours to reconnect my line. After a long discussion they managed to reconnect my line. Phew I thought... Unfortunately they had reset both contract renewal dates on the contract and messed up the tariffs as well as blocking all access to my account.I think I have wasted about 9 hours trying to resolve the errors and resulted to emailing the CEO as I refused to contact customer services.
Tonight I wasted another hour and I think I have finally got acces to my account.
This is a brief summary of what has happened, but what has capped the poor customer service today is being told that if I want transcripts of all my contact since Januaty then I have to request this in writing and pay £10.
I have told Vodafone that I will be complaining to the Ombudsman.
Can I get some advice on this please, where do I stand with a complaint? Ideally I want to break my contract without paying any early termination fees.
Thanks

sfm236

So pleased to see this is finally being exposed, well done MSE.

We had a joint account, this account had three phones. After my daughter cancelled in May 15 we received a demand for payment or they would cut us off in July.. We were on holiday so to keep our connection, Paid by credit card with the promise of a full statement to resolve on our return. Have since then been trying to get an account statement. As the other contracts expired the numbers were ported away by Mac code but after repeated promises to send, no statement or invoices relating to the overdue amount and account have ever been sent. At one stage was advised the account was in credit as they had taken too much after the demand was sent.
The account holder, my daughter, now has a bad mark on her credit rating initially for outstanding payment now for late payment.

I have tried numerous times to talk with Vodafone but just get automated responses or on line chat and help line promises to send the data I need to resolve the account properly. I have documented letters and web chat transcripts. The account was originally in my daughters name but I have permission to talk to them about this account. I was prepared to pay if they can send me the unpaid invoices and statement for the period in question but they do not appear to be able to do that. I took this to the ombudsman made an official complaint and was assured I would have a reply within 10 days. Months later nothing. In the end I wrote it off as a loss I contacted Vodafone in writing asking to talk to a human to discuss the matter. A month later they called and within a few moments he said I needed to call an automated system to discuss the matter claiming he could not verify my password. I did not fall for it and kept going refusing to be transferred until he could suddenly verify my password and advised how much was owed according to them. I am still unable to view any invoices and have never received any statements as requested but to help my Daughters credit rating had to settle for what they said was owed.

My goal was to resolve the matter and stop hassle and get my daughters credit rating restored.

I would suggest:
You need to check you bills religiously
Do not fall for paperless billing they are not to be trusted
Don't fall for the we will cut you off unless you pay this scam
They will promise anything to get you off the line
Be very careful how you leave them, they will keep after you with unfounded bad debt credit reviews
When you have left you will never get access to your past bills

Vodafone do not communicate with customers they just dictate.

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

There is no other firm I hate more than Vodafone. I just got so sick of them and their promises that came to nothing suh as "we will call you back" but didn't. Letter sent to head office signed for and ignored.

I just turned off the DD and went elsewhere. Thankfully the phone was still in the name of my late husband as they hammer your credit file if you become militant and stop paying. They are still sending a bill by post for the amount (£500+) they have dreamed up as an "early termination fee".

I laugh and get a warm glow at how they will NEVER get this money as it isn't even my name on the bill! I just shred the bill every time it comes.

Vodafone are so stupid they send a bill each month to a dead man!