About Vodafone and Ombudsman

Wael

Hi everyone
I need some help please.
I am currently having an issue with Vodafone which is in the hand of Ombudsman as well. The company cancelled my home broadband account without prior confirmation with me claiming that another provider asked to take over. I was left without internet for three weeks and Vodafone offered some money (£110) as a compensation. However, because I did not have internet I had to turn down a job and lost the income accordingly. Ombudsman has reviewed the case and decided in favour of Vodafone and the recommendation (which I have received today) is to pay me £75 only because Vodafone claimed that it offered me in one of phone calls a MIFI device as a temporary solution but that was not true. I asked Vodafone to provide evidence but the representative disappeared and stopped replying to me emails. I asked Ombudsman to look into these calls because Vodafone was lying about that. Obdudsman stated that Vodafone did not provide these calls and even if the calls were recorded, the system would delete them after 60 days. Because Ombudsman could not check my calls with Vodafone, it ruled in favour of the company assuming the company claim was to be trusted but not mine and offered again £75.

I wonder if ombudsman has used the same argument with others that phone calls between telecommunication providers and customers could not be checked given the 60-day rule?

I am interested to know this because Ombudsman refuses to look into complaints before 8 weeks have passed from the date of the problem. This means almost 60 days where telecommunication companies can then claim that the calls have already been deleted automatically and the evidence is then buried. I am trying to understand more about the process because I will take my case to the court with all evidence I have.
Thank you for sharing and help.

pmduk

The Ombudsman deals with questions of contract, rather than fairness and this one, OS:C, is rarely to be seen as consumer friendly.

Before spending money on a court case carefully consider whether you have sufficient to persuade a judge to overturn the Ombudsman's decision.

Remember, if you win, you wil be compensated only for the loss of service. Ay consequential loss will almost certainly not be considered.

Most telecom companies' calls are recorded for training and quality purposes only. Not all are recorded and they are not used to confirm the contents of a call, The agent's contemporaneous notes are used for that,

Wael

Thank you for your advice pmduk. I will check the court option carefully before going there. I am sure all phone calls in my case were recorded and reviewed by the internal complaint team who offered the initial compensation but later they claimed to Ombudsman they these calls were deleted automatically after 60 days as the rules allow. I am sure they are lying and I just want to know whether Ombudsman through its 8-week rule to look into complaints, directly or indirectly, gives a chance to companies to delete calls so that they cannot be used against them. I will be very disappointed if that is the case.

[Deleted User]

Wael wrote: »

...because I will take my case to the court with all evidence I have.

Perhaps I'm missing something here (or in the other thread you've duplicated your post in...) but what 'evidence'? Your word? That's not evidence anywhere I'm afraid. You seem to be missing the point that companies are not required to record calls in the first place and certainly not required to retain them. You keep accusing Vodafone of lying with no proof or evidence to back it up.

BTW how exactly did this lose you a job? Are you totally unavailable without your home broadband?

Wael

Hi Colin

I do not usually waste my time with claims I cannot prove. I have a series of emails from the customer relation department which apologised and explained clearly how the company failed me on several occasions. The ombudsman report also agrees that the company failed to provide the required service as per our contract and in both cases I was offered some money which is evidence of my claim against Vodafone. However, I am not satisfied with the amount they have offered because it does not cover the loss incurred. I am not a business but I have a job which requires extensive use of internet on a daily basis. I have an email proving that I had to turn down an offer because I did not have internet for three weeks and this email was shared with Ombudsman. In short, I have emails and reports from Vodafone and Ombudsman proving the fault of Vodafone.

In relation to phone calls, I understand companies are not required to record but in my case I had the problem in Sep 2017 and in Nov 2017 I was contacted by the customer relation through an email which explains how calls were reviewed and then they concluded that Vodafone failed me. If the phone calls were not recorded, how were they reviewed then?

[Deleted User]

in both cases I was offered some money which is evidence of my claim against Vodafone

That's not evidence that Vodafone have done anything wrong though, the Vodafone offer could be seen as purely a goodwill gesture.

I am not a business but I have a job which requires extensive use of internet on a daily basis.

If you're using your home internet for work/business uses then you have no comeback whatsoever.

I had to turn down an offer because I did not have internet for three weeks

That's not true surely? There's other ways to access the internet and given what you say about your job you must have a smart phone at least (I notice you skipped that question earlier).

If the phone calls were not recorded, how were they reviewed then?

I never said they weren't recorded did I?

onomatopoeia99

Wael wrote: »

I am not a business but I have a job which requires extensive use of internet on a daily basis.

In that case, in all seriousness, look at using a business supplier, since a domestic connection is not designed to be something of a grade suitable for maintaining your livelihood. You don't have to be a limited company to use one, you can usually be self employed, home office or even a domestic customer wanting a service with better fault turnaround

Also, investigate redundancy, so a backup connection in case the first one fails.

You will find pretty much everyone excludes compensation for consequential losses, since those are not quantifiable. If you want consequential loss cover, be prepared to pay an awful lot more, or take out insurance of your own.

auntie_prawn

Hi Wael -
Im interested in your case because Talk Talk cancelled my contract some years ago claiming I had instructed another supplier had taken over hte line, which was not true. I am 3 years in to fighting this and they have never admitted this was a mistake . Can you tell me how you were able to prove that no other supplier had been instructed to take over the line and get Vodaphone to admit fault?
Thanks,
Lorna