Vodafone contract help

Chelsea91 · 16 February 2017 at 4:54PM

Warning - this post is going to be a long one.

I initially had two contracts open with Vodafone, one ending sooner than the other. When the two years were up, I contacted Vodafone to close down the first account. A month later, I received a bill asking for more than the contract was due - because they were still asking for both bills. They took it via direct debit, and this is where all my problems began. I had so much trouble just trying to get the refund I was due for this extra payment. I spoke to people via the live chat, and also via phone calls. I was told time and time again that the money would be added to my account. I'm not sure how many attempts it took in the end to get the refund, but I did get there eventually. It was this faff that wound me up no end, so I decided enough is enough, when my next contract is up - I'm leaving Vodafone.
So, i contacted them asking when the date was, so I could give them the month warning they as for - I even marked it on my calendar. When the date came around, I went onto live chat and said to them, right !!!!!! off I want to leave (not those words but you get the drift). They said that was fine, asked the usual why you want to leave blah blah, and said the account would close a month from this date. I thought yay, I can finally go onto a new network and looked for a new phone contract.
A month passed, I had a new contract in place, I got rid of the old phone and the old sim.
I get sent a bill, and the money was taken out of my bank account Well that's not right, I'm not even using the phone, not to mention I told them I've left. I contacted them, told them what was what - which was only overly confused by having the other contract. I contacted them so many times, explaining the situation again and again because they are so bloody useless they don't have what happened on file or something. I closed the direct debit, which in all Fairness I should have done before the charge. This went on for months. It is still going on. I am getting sent bills each month, for a phone they know I'm not using, and they know I have left.
I am at my wits end. I put in a complaint to Vodafone, and I kept getting a call from a foreign man. I refused to speak to him, despite how many messages he left due to knowing I would get no where. I have a friend working in Vodafone, and she told me the likelihood of talking to a English person is so unlikely, and that I will talk to people in Egypt who don't actually know what they are doing - therefore not being able to help this case.
I ended up trying out resolver, whereby it escalated through all the channels, and ended up being sent to the ombudsmen as Vodafone were refusing to contact us. I have not heard anything however, since the beginning of December. Since then, I have received a final notice, and a letter from a debt collection agency.
I don't know hat to do at this point. Surely they know I have not used the phone at all since the contract ended, have recordings of phone calls and also any live chat conversations. They are asking for over £200 and I point blank refuse to pay. I have never been so frustrated in my life - Me and my husband have been planning to move house - he had to have the mortgage solely in his name because this has ruined my credit score, which I worked hard at getting up and has now gone down nearly 100 points, also meaning we could not borrow as much as we could have done beforehand - not to mention I was pregnant through most of this ordeal and the stress did us no good at all.

I'm sorry for the long thread, but this is why I am so frustrated, having put up with this since May last year. If anyone has any tips whilst I'm waiting to see if an ombudsman can help I would be truly grateful. I'm worried that if it ends up in court, I don't have a leg to stand on because I don't actually have proof of conversations - only that I asked when the contract was due to end.

d123 · 16 February 2017 at 6:45PM

Did you notice the official Vodafone complaint thread stickied at the top of the page?

mobilejunkie · 16 February 2017 at 6:48PM

Which repeatedly spells out the thing to do.

Chelsea91 · 18 February 2017 at 2:59AM

I have not seen this, where do I look? I'm new to the site so I may have missed it! I did go onto the Vodafone site and complain via their system but unfortunately I didn't get anywhere. Thank you for your reply!