Vodafone and Zinc

Ste1990

Hello,

In December last year I cancelled my Vodafone contract over the phone due to an im.going dispute we had over the fact they mis sold me items and I was paying around £80 per month for multiple lines that I had never agreed to, after several months we ended with a deadlock letter.

So in December when I cancelled they informed me there would be a cancellation fee and it would be taken out of my direct debit. Over the phone the call taker assured me that there would be no more direct debits taken after February 3rd and all remaining monies would be paid to them (my contract was due to end at the end of March anyway so I only cancelled a few months early).

In March of this year I noticed that there was another payment taken out of account so after that payment I cancelled the direct debit as I had been informed that the last payment should have been February.

Around June time I received a call from the zinc debt recovery agency asking me for money that I allegedly owe Vodafone. I believe it was in the region of £40/£50. I had never received any correspondence from Vodafone.

I told zinc what Vodafone had informed me over the phone my last payment should have been February and that I paid an extra direct debit in March so they placed my recovery on hold.

I then contact Vodafone who told me that I did infact owe money and that I should not have been told otherwise and that there was nothing they could do now that they had passed the debt on. I asked for a copy of the call that was made in December when I was originally informed that my last payment was February and they told me that they only keep calls recorded for 2 months.

Zinc are now contacting me again asking for the debt and more.

Has anyone had any similar dealings or got any advice about this type of debt and how it was handled?

Thanks

sourcrates

Hi,

You are liable for all bills until the end of your contract, plus your 30 days cancellation/notice period, that’s standard practice on mobile contracts.

You admit you cancelled “a few months early” so you will still owe money unfortunately.

Ste1990

Ye I get that and I was told the cancellation fees would be paid through the January and February direct debits which I paid up until March, so it seems unreasonable to ask for more money which I told was already paid

sourcrates

Ste1990 wrote: »

Ye I get that and I was told the cancellation fees would be paid through the January and February direct debits which I paid up until March, so it seems unreasonable to ask for more money which I told was already paid

Call handlers for these companies are seldom correct in my experience, they normally work off a script with information that is not always up to date.

All I can suggest is that if you dispute the debt, you should write to zinc and explain why you dispute it, and on what grounds etc.

If you want to write to Vodafone and ask for a breakdown of costs, that may help, as they added the charge in the first place, they should resolve your issue for you.

National_Debtline

Hi Ste


Were you told how much the cancellation fees would be? And did these tally with the payments taken in January, February and March?


You can try and make a complaint although it may be hard to argue if the call cannot be checked and there are no notes on your record about it. You could make a subject access request to Vodafone, meaning they will have to provide all information they hold on you within 30 days.


If you make a complaint you should raise it with Vodafone and Zinc, ask them to put recovery of the debt on hold until it's been investigated. You can take a complaint about Vodafone on to the Communications Ombudsman if you're still not happy (https://www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/communications).


Good luck with it all


Susie
@natdebtline

Ste1990

Thanks for the help.

In short I already have an ongoing complaint with the ombudsmen as Vodafone mis sold me a line without my knowledge in 2016 (that's a whole other story) well it appears that the debt they passed over to the collection agency where for like rental on that line (as they refused to cancel the line due to us being at deadlock).

I called Vodafone and they have cancelled the charges so hopefully that will.be the end of it

Vodafone

Hi Ste1990,

So we can make sure the action agreed on 9 September has been taken, please get in touch with us via the form here.

To access the form you'll need to enter the code WRT135.

As well as stating your query in the question box, please also quote "MSE Forum".

Once sent, you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. Post it on here and I'll check it's been received.

Kind regards,

Lee

Vodafone Social Media