Discuss the Vodafone Warning guide

mobilejunkie

Must be a wind-up. Either that or you must have tons of other bad debts accumulating from elswhere. Closing your eyes doesn't make bad things go away - they just get bigger and bigger until you open wide.

nomywell

Oh. My. God.

Like many others, I had a nightmare with this bunch of idiots back in December and posted my issues on the original Vodafone complaints thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/295048. In the end, Lee from the Social Media Operations did resolve the issue which I posted here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5393903

Nightmare over yes? No!

Yesterday I was checking my bank online and noticed a payment of £170.14 to Vodafone instead of the usual £19.50. Their website appears down again if I try and log on, so I call them up again (After spending nearly 20 hours of my life on the phone to them in December I really thought that was the end). Turns out the extra money they took off me was for £12, £4.94, £4.94, £28.94, £12, £16.94, £53.94 and £16.94. What the hell? The CS was as mystified as me but said the payments appeared to be related to the debacle that happened in December and that it was surely an error.

She has sent the information to the dreaded 'back office' (read - black hole) and the money should be back in my Vodafone account by 29th June, then will get credited to my bank at some unknown point in the future. Not good enough. This is £150 here that's effectively been stolen from my account. I want my money back now.

So 6 months after resolution via Lee from Social Media Operations, it's all coming back to haunt me. I feel that having to wait another two weeks whilst they look into it is unacceptable as I fear I will be making another call in two weeks only to go through the same thing. So in view of that, I think I'll now go straight to OFCOM and the Ombudsman.

Do you think that's reasonable?

This company is disgusting.

mobilejunkie

They won't look at it yet. Lee worked before; nothing has changed.

nomywell

You don't think the Ombudsman will look at it? If not, why not? It's not like it's a new complaint exactly, more like the second coming. Besides, this is very much related to the MSE warning.

Addicks_forever

Ever since I renewed my account last August and added home phone and broadband barely a month has gone by without a billing problem. The latest was in April, I was charged £3.00 including VAT for caller display which is a free service on the home phone package I have. When I pursued it via their customer services section (I use that term loosely) they said that it was a system error and would be credited back to the account. They did not credit it back to the account, neither did they include it as a credit in May and a letter has so far only resulted in a promise of repayment. Whilst it is not cost effective to pursue the repayment of small amounts those small amounts would soon add up.

The thing is how many other home phone users were charged because of this particular system error and did not notice or were promised a credit and did not check they had received it?

I have also had my account suspended twice as they failed to apply for the direct debit. When they do this they threaten to terminate agreements and charge up to the minimum term. In view of their attitude to alleged breach of contract I am currently pursuing a policy of what is good for the goose is good for the gander and seeking termination and a compensatory payment similar to what they would charge me for cancelling the contract. I expect it will end up with the Ombusdman.

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

Addicks_forever wrote: »

Ever since I renewed my account last August and added home phone and broadband barely a month has gone by without a billing problem. The latest was in April, I was charged £3.00 including VAT for caller display which is a free service on the home phone package I have. When I pursued it via their customer services section (I use that term loosely) they said that it was a system error and would be credited back to the account. They did not credit it back to the account, neither did they include it as a credit in May and a letter has so far only resulted in a promise of repayment. Whilst it is not cost effective to pursue the repayment of small amounts those small amounts would soon add up.

The thing is how many other home phone users were charged because of this particular system error and did not notice or were promised a credit and did not check they had received it?

I have also had my account suspended twice as they failed to apply for the direct debit. When they do this they threaten to terminate agreements and charge up to the minimum term. In view of their attitude to alleged breach of contract I am currently pursuing a policy of what is good for the goose is good for the gander and seeking termination and a compensatory payment similar to what they would charge me for cancelling the contract. I expect it will end up with the Ombusdman.

And you will find the Ombudsman is a waste of time. Vodafone royally screwed up my Neice's mobile phone by failing to port a number and in fact losing the number. It took 14 weeks for Vodafone to sort it and that was through Ombudsman intervention. My Neice quite rightly wanted to temrinate her agreement with Vodafone (24 month) on the basis of failing to do something fundamental - which it states in the contract is a get out. The Ombudsman would not allow that to happen but simply made Vodafone put things right with no compensation for inconvenience.

She asked the Ombudsman how bad the service must get before the "fail to do something fundamental" clause actually applies. The Ombudsman rep couldn't answer.

I personally think the only way to get Vodafone on the "fail lto do something fundamental" clause - in her case port a number in a timely manner and provide adequate customer service levels - would be to pay the Early termination Fee and then go to the Small Claims Court to claim it back citing the fact they failed to do something fundamental.

mobilejunkie

nomywell wrote: »

You don't think the Ombudsman will look at it? If not, why not? It's not like it's a new complaint exactly, more like the second coming. Besides, this is very much related to the MSE warning.

Because it's a separate complaint. Why waste time going to an Ombudsman who has proven to be less than helpful, can't consider it for at least 8 weeks without a deadlock letter from Vodafone (good luck getting one of those) and is likely to be a worse and longer outcome than the WRT?

nomywell

mobilejunkie wrote: »

Because it's a separate complaint. Why waste time going to an Ombudsman who has proven to be less than helpful, can't consider it for at least 8 weeks without a deadlock letter from Vodafone (good luck getting one of those) and is likely to be a worse and longer outcome than the WRT?

I don't think this is a separate complaint. It relates fully to my previous issues as the charges they are incorrectly applying to my account appear directly related. The resolution that was agreed has failed, therefor it's related. I applied for the deadlock letter originally (which was ignored), so in my mind, they've more than had their 8 weeks.

Anyway, I get what your saying. The Ombudsman route is likely to be more long winded and full of even more stress. I'll make a fresh WRT and see what happens.

Addicks_forever

Had a phone call from Customer Relations in the UK today in response to my ongoing billing issues (see post Vodafone billing 15 June 2016)
They offered to cancel my home phone and broadbank service early and pay me £50.00 but refused to cancel the mobile.
Told them this was not acceptable as I want the whole lot cancelled and a substantially increased amount of compensation. I have asked for a deadlock letter so that I can take it to the Ombudsman.

I asked them to guarantee in the meantime that they would issue accurate bills and take my direct debit on time each month. They said that this was not possible and all they could do was ring me before each bill was due to be paid and check that it was accurate - how much time do they think their customers have got. Even then they would not guarantee that they would take my direct debit each month.

They seem to think that they can behave badly and suffer no meaningful penalties.

SandraHB

As a result of your posting, I have discovered that I have been given a bad credit rating from Vodafone for money that I never owed them in the first place!! Since November I have had nothing but problems from Vodafone and have written a so many complaints that I know send them directly to Mr Hoencamp, marked private etc. It makes no difference, I still only get calls from their off-shore call centre. The majority of the problems are Vodafone's inability to take money by direct debit. I have checked with my bank, 1st Direct and they have no problems at there end. I know have a number of direct debits sitting there as Vodafone cancels the previous month's and sets up a new one - which of course will work next month!!! To compound their error, I received a text to say I owed £198. I knew my bill was at zero. I have no idea where this figure came from and despite their call assuring me that it was a mistake, there was no explanation as to where the figure came from. And I had been classed bad creditor - something I have never been in my life. I can't understand why a national newspaper is not championing this I can't understand - Vodafone's name should be mud. Thank you guys so much for what you are doing. It's fantastic.