Vodafone Billing Error - need way of escalating

JInSuffolk

In February 2018 I set up a Sim Only Contracts with Vodafone for a price with a discount for 12 months and I got an order confirmation saying this and a web order number.

The first month I was wrongly billed as the discount was not applied. I phoned them and I was called a liar and that I took the contract out at higher rate per month and they refused to look the order number up for confirmation. After hours on the phone the only way I could resolve it was by taking a copy of my contract and opening my email in a Vodafone store to prove I was not lying. They then spoke to the customer care team who claimed to fix the issue.

Everything worked fine for the next 2 months and my bills were correct, I had some issues in my life so I was not checking my bills for a six month period and assumed them to be correct, In February 2019 I then noticed that for the previous 8 months again the discount disappeared so I had to call Vodafone again.

I then spent 4 hours on the phone trying to resolve the issue and put through to 10 different people and had the whole same argument that I had in the first month again. One person finally understood and recognised the problem but did not have the access to fix it. She put me through to someone who could, who then disagreed with the person who diagnosed the problem. Eventually with the help of the store it was said to be fixed.

I looked at my most recent bill in March and I only got the discount for 5 of the months credited back rather than the 8 months that I was overcharged for. I phoned Vodafone who said that I was paying the higher rate and they don't see why I got any money credited back and that it is very wrong of me to lie about my contract agreed rate in order to save money. The same old story of customer blaming. At this stage I cancelled my direct debit as the contract was out and they were unable to bill me correctly.

I've since been on to Vodafone many times who say they cannot analyse my problem as my initial order is on a system that is now out of use that they cannot access, and my billing is spread over three systems that only one team has access to each one, so to analyse the problem is very tough as nobody has access to all the systems they need to see in order to understand the full problem.

At this stage it is clear that this has to go to a high level to be resolved as they are now talking about recovering the outstanding balance which will Effect my credit rating and by Vodafones own admission, they 'cannot look into the issue due to the complexity of it and the numbers of teams and systems involved' but are still asking me to pay anyway.

Where do I go from here?

mobilejunkie

You're in a messy situation. Firstly, your contract wasn't "out" unless you gave 30 day's notice OR asked for and exercised a PAC at the end of the minimum term. If not, it continued and by cancelling the direct debit you were in breach of contract and your credit files will be wrecked for the next 6 years. I would regard that as worse than not receiving the discount consistently (something easier and possible to fix - this is worse and unlikely to be fixed since it was your mistake).

As for the discount, you could:-

1) Follow the advice on the main Vodafone complaints thread on here (which is put at the top of the list just for that) and contact the WRT as instructed (though it looks like you have and they may now have disappeared off the face of the earth, unfortunately).

2) Make a formal complaint and (unless you get a deadlock letter) 8 weeks later go to the Ombudsman.

3) Send a LBA and then go via the small claims court.

2 & 3 will require proof - he said/she said isn't. In the absence of written proof of the original and subsequent agreements/promises, the fact they did give the discount for some months more than once may be the best you have (but could be explained in other ways by the usually dishonest Vodafone). Unless you have a strong case - i.e. bombproof written evidence - I'd try 1, then 2. IF the proof is there (not wisdhful thinking) I'd go 1 & 3.

JInSuffolk

mobilejunkie wrote: »

You're in a messy situation. Firstly, your contract wasn't "out" unless you gave 30 day's notice OR asked for and exercised a PAC at the end of the minimum term. If not, it continued and by cancelling the direct debit you were in breach of contract and your credit files will be wrecked for the next 6 years.

I know how contracts worked - I cancelled it because Vodafone were unable to bill me correctly and the amount that they overcharged me is far more than the money I owe them and I have spent 8 hours on the phone to them in the last month alone. Everybody says they want to help but some calls can last for well over an hour and it's not uncommon I speak to half a dozen different teams.

I would regard that as worse than not receiving the discount consistently (something easier and possible to fix

Well it should be easy and possible to fix, but I'm now on spending over 30 hours trying to resolve the issue altogether and have been called a liar and everything under the sun. I have been called dishonest, I have been called a chancer and I've even been told that if there is paperwork saying things I claim it may be forged.

2 & 3 will require proof - he said/she said isn't. In the absence of written proof of the original and subsequent agreements/promises, the fact they did give the discount for some months more than once may be the best you have (but could be explained in other ways by the usually dishonest Vodafone). Unless you have a strong case - i.e. bombproof written evidence - I'd try 1, then 2. IF the proof is there (not wisdhful thinking) I'd go 1 & 3.

I have excellent evidence
- A copy of my order confirmation, along with an order number showing I agreed a certain price and that price is valid for 12 months
- A copy of every single bill for the last 12 months where I was incorrectly billed.

Vodafone simply appear to be saying that they cannot see the initial order number because it's on a system that they do not have access to. And arguing about the bills being incorrect is totally tough, because everyone I speak to, no matter what team they are in, can only see some of my bills, because I have been told that my bills are over three different system.

This is the merry circle I have
Team A - can see my first 3 bills
Team B - can see my next 6 bills
Team C - can see my next 4 bills
Team D - is the Sales team who have access to order records
Team E - Is the billing team who can look into billing issues but only see what Team B and C see but not team A. They also cannot see what team D sees.

None of the people in each of those teams can see what each other sees. What happens is that I get passed from team to team and whilst each team can see different parts of my account to the other, nobody in any of those teams has access to everything to see the bigger picture, which they really need to both understand and solve the problem.

What strikes me the most is that I can login to My Vodafone and see all my bills for the last 12 months. Not a single employee in Vodafone is able to see that so far, because each of them is in a team which can only see SOME of that because what must be overly complicated access restrictions to their employees to a ridiculous level.

mobilejunkie

What you actually said was that you cancelled your direct debit - not the contract. That means it didn't cancel - and if you didn't cancel but didn't pay you now do have a legal debt.

You could sue to recover the overcharge since you have proof it wasn't owed, but money owed by you after you cancelled the direct debit is now your problem. Even if you told them you were cancelling you would need to pay for the next 30 days from that point plus any excess use outside your bundle. But, since you know how contracts work you must know all that. You must also know how to enforce them - and that goes back to my first post.

forgotmyname

Had issues with Vodafone removing all the discounts or adding on that net protect or whatever its called.

A quick call and they apologise and the 2nd time they did it, money off the next bill. 3rd time overcharged "this is a joke now...." even more money of the next bill.

This months bill is £3 more than normal, need to check later and see why.

Seems they now remove the discounts when contracts end, previously you stayed on the same price. Just makes me push the monthly plan down further.

They add 50p or £1 over the plan and at renewal I haggle it down £2.