Arguing with Vodafone - where do I stand?

sophieH

Back in November we decided it was ridiculous to keep paying £48 per month for our Virgin package (telly/phone/broadband) when we could get cheaper elsewhere. We rang up various different providers to see what they could offer and ended up on the phone to Vodafone, who I've had a mobile phone with now for about ten years.

They said they they could give us their fibre broadband for £28 per month. I asked if there was any set-up charges and was told there is normally but that she'd ask her supervisor if they could be waived as I'd been a customer for so long. She disappeared off, came back and said that yes all charges would be waived - so all I'd be paying is the £27 per month. Great.

Well fast forward two months and I get a Vodafone bill for £181. I tried to log in to see why but the website was down (big surprise) - I knew that I hadn't done anything stupid with my phone so I rang them to query it.

It turns out that there are £115.99 of set-up fees on there. I politely explained that there must be an error - I was told all charges would be waived. The girl I spoke to went off then came back and said yes, I was right, so she'd cancelled off £49 of them but the remaining amount still had to be paid as it was a charge from BT for setting up the line, which I'd apparently agreed to upon purchasing the broadband.

I explained that I had never been told about this extra charge and in fact when I asked about ANY set-up charges was told there would be none whatsoever. She went to speak to a supervisor and then said they had the original phone call on file so would go and listen to it then get back to me. Which was fine, I thought, as it would show the conversation I had and the matter would be dealt with.

Well it's 9 days later and they still haven't got back to me yet so I just spoke to them online in my lunch hour - the original call has now mysteriously been deleted, so can't be listened to, and therefore I have to pay the charges, by their logic.

Do I have a leg to stand on here? I've asked that the girl I spoke to 9 days ago or her supervisor (the ones who were supposed to be listening to the call) ring me back today as I'd like to know (1) how it has conveniently been deleted since we last spoke when she checked and they had it on file then and (2) why it's taken her 9 days to tell me that - and in fact probably longer as I was the one to contact them. God knows if she'd have actually told me if I didn't.

Obviously I don't want to pay the charges (one of the reasons we went for Vodafone as opposed to any other provider was that they promised no set-up fee) but I also don't want to risk getting a black credit note on my file by just refusing and therefore letting the bill get overdue.

This entire bloody process has been a nightmare - I also spent an hour on the phone to Virgin last week - for the third time since cancelling - as they (THREE TIMES) "forgot" to process the cancellation for our old package and thus tried to charge me for that again. Thankfully that is apparently now sorted and they've backdated the bill to cancel off the charges but still!