Possible misleading of elderly customer by Vodafone?

touchstone

Hello everyone,

I hope I'm posting this in the right place.  Board guides, please let me know if I need to post elsewhere.

My father recently died of coronavirus at the age of 74 and my siblings and I are helping our mother sort through his finances.

It transpires that he was paying £90 per month for a 'business account' with Vodafone, the latest iteration of which contract dates to March 2020, and which covered both his and our mother's mobiles.  We don't know how long this particular account had been in operation - he was self-employed for the last 25 years, but effectively retired in the last five years.  Both he and our mother had relatively old phones (an iPhone 6s and iPhone 5 respectively), so the large monthly bill wasn't paying for any new technology.  

Not only is it proving nigh on impossible to pin Vodafone down to sort this out, but we are also very concerned that our father was missold a very pricey business contract, which is surely not something Vodafone could genuinely believe a 73 year old (as he was at time of renewal) would need.

Would anyone with any knowledge of how Vodafone works be able to advise?

Thanks very much in advance.

matelodave

It's sad to hear about his illness but plenty of people running their businesses at ages older than 73 so there's no reason for Vodafone to query why he has taken on his contract.

It's not up to Vodafone to decide when someone is too old or even the wrong sex or religion to have a mobile phone,or a certain type of contract, if they did then it would be considered to be the worst sort of discrimination. You cannot accuse or even suggest that Vodafone misled him just because he was 73

One assumes that if he was astute enough to run his own business then he'd be astute enough to sort out the sort of contract that suited him and his business and whether it need revision when he retired.  When does the present contract run out, did he sign or take on a new one last year or is it just a rolling contract which can stop when ever he wanted to.

I'd guess that if he's no longer around then it's not everso difficult to terminate the agreement - you'd need to check the T&C's

eDicky

There are third party mobile contract suppliers pushing expensive 3-year business contacts, often with Vodafone, which some people sign up for unwittingly. Could this be the case with your father..?

Phones4Chris

So sorry to hear of your loss. What is the current position with the contract, I hope Vodafone aren't trying to suggest it has to continue?
I'd get a PAC for your mother's mobile and get her on the most suitable tariff with whichever is the best supplier (making sure you can get a good signal for which ever network you're looking at) and then if you find there is any grounds for mis-selling pursue that separately.

Exemplar

A neighbour of ours (80, retired) has several Voda business accounts. He likes the personal service he gets from them and the upgrade/ replacement path he gets.

touchstone

Thanks for the suggestions, and thank you to Phones4Chris for your kind condolences.  Whilst we remain fairly sure that Dad had a pricey business account he didn't need, we realise it could have been an indulgence on his part (as Exemplar suggests), so I have taken on board the words of matelodave and we are no longer pursuing a case of misselling.  

My mother has taken a cheap SIM-only deal with Vodafone and bought herself a very swanky new iPhone separately - I suspect she'll be quite giddy after years on an iPhone 5!

Thanks for your advice.