Does a company need to try and contact you first before putting a black mark on your credit record?

nedsmanks

I had an alert from Experian the other day, to say that Vodafone had recorded a missed payment. This came as a shock because my Vodafone account was closed in March, settled in full, and I've never heard from them since.

Bit of background to explain why I don't believe I owe them anything (tl;dr they screwed up my number port which auto-cancelled the account, I'd paid all my bills in full and it was a SIM-only deal with no handset, but they want an early termination fee for THEIR screw-up):

• 17th February: I asked Vodafone for a PAC at the end of my contract. I used the code to sign up with EE. Vodafone retentions team called me the same day with a good SIM-only deal, so I said I'd stay with Vodafone. Called up EE the next working day to cancel the switch, their porting team called me a few days later to confirm it was all cancelled.

• 17th March: My mobile service stopped working, 1 month into my new 12 month contract. But it had been in the news that several mobile networks were having issues, so I left it.

• 19th March: Still no service. I spent a lot of time on the phone that day - Vodafone said it was because I'd ported out of their network, which had auto-triggered account cancellation. EE insisted they'd cancelled the port, and my number never reached their network. Those 4 hours on the phone cost me £300 in lost revenue.
• 20th March: Went to the Vodafone store in my nearest city, another £300 in lost revenue. They said my account was closed and my mobile number was now lost, but that I'd already paid my final bill so I should just cancel direct debits to be on the safe side.

• 21st March: I took out a brand new contract with a new number, with EE.

• 24th March-8th July: NOTHING AT ALL.

• 9th July: Notified by Experian that Vodafone had claimed I'd missed a payment. After 90 mins on the phone to 4 different people at Vodafone yesterday, they insisted I owe them a £124 early termination fee for porting out of their network...

Vodafone have never contacted me to claim the termination fee (which I would strongly dispute anyway) despite having my home address, email address and landline number on file. They may well have tried to call me on my old mobile number, but that number is no longer in use due to the porting screw-up mentioned above, which ought to be detailed in my account notes. I haven't been able to log on to the Vodafone website since they closed the account in March to look at my account details. So how would they reasonably expect me to know that I (supposedly) owe them money, when they've not sent me a bill?

I don't know how to begin sorting this out, both Vodafone and EE are denying responsibility. Until this week I had a credit score of 999 and an unblemished record, and in about 6 months time I'll be looking to remortgage so I want to sort it ASAP. But I also don't want to pay £124 for someone else's mistake, when it's already cost me so much time and money. And there's still no guarantee they'd remove it from my credit record.

[Deleted User]

No, if you miss a payment, it will automatically be recorded, in line with the terms and conditions.

One missed payment will have little impact on your mortgage application in 6 months, if you have a good history. 

adamp87

For what it’s worth you could try contacting Vodafone complain see if they’ll remove the marker for payment. You do have a point in you’d expect them to contact you (Not a legal requirement tho I don’t think), likewise it’s for you to ensure they have your correct details.

worst they can do is reject it

Sandtree

When did they attempt to bill you for the early termination?

Your only real possible argument is about your conversation in store on the 20 March where you state they had said you were fully settled and advised you to cancel the direct debit. Obviously the problem is going to be that this was done in store several months ago and so you will be simply asking them to trust you that you are telling the truth.

When you speak to them again you need to be clear what exactly you are disputing and why... eg are you disputing the need to pay the early termination fee or just the down stream impacts its had?

I'd always suggest speaking to retention teams before using transfer codes etc.

phillw

nedsmanks said:

And there's still no guarantee they'd remove it from my credit record.

Well if you can get them to agree to write off the debt because it was their mistake, then they should also remove the marker to say you didn't pay the debt that they hadn't told you about.
So you need to make a formal complaint to vodafone, but that is going to take time. You are probably going to have to go to the ombudsman.
For the future, I don't recommend cancelling direct debits. That would have notified you that they wanted money by them taking money. You could then complain to vodafone and get it sorted without it affecting your credit file. The money can be clawed back by the bank within 24 hours using DD guarantee once they agree.

nedsmanks

adamp87 said:

For what it’s worth you could try contacting Vodafone complain see if they’ll remove the marker for payment.

phillw said:

So you need to make a formal complaint to vodafone, but that is going to take time. You are probably going to have to go to the ombudsman.

Sandtree said:

When you speak to them again you need to be clear what exactly you are disputing and why... eg are you disputing the need to pay the early termination fee or just the down stream impacts its had?

I've been given the complaints number now (0808 004 4900), whereas so far I've been dealing with billing and collections. I'm going to call them tomorrow and state my case - if they concede that I'm in the right then great, and if they don't then I'll pay the fee and decide if it's worth investing my time in taking it to the ombudsman to get it back. Either way, I'll also request that they remove the marker.

m-holland

I may be wrong, but it reads to me like you agreed a new 12 month contract with Vodafone, EE then ported your number, this caused your new 12 month contract with Vodafone to end early, triggering the early termination fees. If that is the case then it might be better complaining to EE.

I may be wrong in this though

nedsmanks

m-holland said:

I may be wrong, but it reads to me like you agreed a new 12 month contract with Vodafone, EE then ported your number, this caused your new 12 month contract with Vodafone to end early, triggering the early termination fees. If that is the case then it might be better complaining to EE.

I may be wrong in this though

Sorry, I seem to have notifications switched off.
Seems you're right - thus far I've had to pay the termination fee just to get the credit mark removed, and I've written to EE to claim it back.