Vodafone charging for a pay monthly tablet they've had in their warehouse since 2019

Mallrats1992

I recently accessed my stepdads vodafone account to sort out an issue for my mother involving ordering her a new sim for an old iphone of mine that she would use ongoing. When checking the account I noticed that there was 3 plans tied to his account. One was my mothers mobile, one was my stepdads mobile and there was a third for a tablet 5gb plan. Now when clicking on the tablet it was a 24 month contract taken out in september 2018 for 24 months that had ended in 2020. When questioning my stepdad he has absolutely no recollection of ordering or possessing a tablet from vodafone. Both my parents have an iPad and I have never seen any other devices in their household. So on his behalf I spoke to vodafone live chat to find out what has happened because he has been paying £18 a month for nearly 30 months and is the best part of £550 out of pocket for a tablet he has no recollection of. 

They have records of a 30 minute phone call to my stepdads phone number where he has apparently ordered a galaxy 10 tablet and 5gb plan. Two days later they also have a record of a phone call where he has attempted to cancel the plan. After the second phone call they sent out a returns bag so that he could return the tablet. Now my stepdad is adamant he doesn't remember a phone call, receiving a tablet or sending one back. My issue here is that my stepdad is 67 and starting to go a bit senile so I don't know what to believe, i'm erring on the side of him actually ordering it and forgetting about it and sending it back, never checking his vodafone account to make sure that he had a received a refund/cancellation. After explaining my stepdad has no recollection I asked the advisor to check if it had been used at all in the last two years, he advised me he only had access to 12 months of data usage but he could see it hadn't been used, so after talking to his supervisor the advisor offered me 4 months worth of the contract (from it ending until the latest payment due) in credit. This was the best they could offer. 

After deliberating for an hour I decided to try ringing the phone number associated with the tablet plan, nobody asked as it went straight to answer phone but I left a text message to the tune of 'Just tried to ring you, could you please contact me asap'. Two minutes later I get a phone call from a landline in Birmingham from a man saying I've just tried to ring his 15 year old daughter and wanted to know what it was about. After saying I had the wrong number obviously my mind was blown. Why does a number tied to a galaxy tablet my stepdad is paying for belong to a 15 year old girl in Birmingham? My first thought was fraud and that my stepdad had had his details stolen online so I rang the vodafone fraud line.

I spoke to a very pleasant chap who confirmed alot of the above details, the phone call of my stepdad ordering a tablet from vodafone and the subsequent phone call cancelling it two days later, he also explained the reason for someone having the same number is that you can actually change your phone number by going into your settings on your mobile. After running through a few possibilities with me he decided to ring the vodafone warehouse to try and track down the tablet. After holding for 5 minutes he came back to tell me that vodafone did actually receive the tablet back in january 2019, four months after the order and subsequent cancellation. However as it wasn't received in the 14 days return window after the cancellation, they couldn't do anything with it. So it's been sat in their warehouse for two years. With my stepdad paying for it. 

I'm quite willing to accept the fact that my stepdad has probably ordered a tablet from them by accident, being upsold one from a routine phone call or whatever, it happens. I'm willing to say for argument sake he did, I have no idea if he sent it back and it got lost in royal mail for four months or if he decided for whatever reason to return it four months after receiving the returns bag. Vodafone however know they have had the tablet for the past two years. It's documented. When I asked the fraud advisor what the £18 a month was paying for, he told me the breakdown was £8.25 for the tablet and £9.53 for the internet plan/line rental. Now I understand they have lost money for on a tablet that has sat in their warehouse, so my thinking was a good compromise would be:

£540 is what my stepdad has paid roughly since september 2018
The tablet's RRP was £200 confirmed by the advisor in september 2018, this is the amount that vodafone are out of pocket for the debacle.
£340 is the balance that my stepdad has paid since for the plan on the tablet that vodafone has had in their possession since january 2019 knowing he couldn't use it.
Somewhere in the region of £250 is a reasonable amount for a refund?

Surely upon receipt of random tablets vodafone don't just throw them in a corner, surely they must have some duty to follow up and find out what's going on? If it's outside the 14 days return policy then they should have sent the tablet back to my stepdad with a 'sorry we received this too late so haven't cancelled the plan and you're still paying for it.

The advisor said all he could offer me was the 4 months that the live chat advisor already offered me but he has arranged to talk to his manager as it's not a situation he's ever dealt with and will ring me back on saturday to see if there's anything more he can offer.

I guess what I'm trying to find out is are we entitled to any kind of recourse? Is he at least entitled to the tablet back worst case scenario? He's paid for it after all. My view is they've taken advantage of an old man and they know they have had the tablet in their possession for two years, so for him to be out of pocket for it seems like daylight robbery. 

JJ_Egan

How did they know he was an old man as you put it , and going senile .

Did you have you registered him as vulnerable .

niktheguru

I would see what they say on Saturday.
To be honest I would lodge a formal complaint about it. 
Your dad has been paying for a tablet AND a SIM which he has obviously not used and doesn't have in his possession.
The slightly odd bit is that vodafone received it 4 months later. 
To make matters worse the phone number for the data sim has been reassigned to another person. (you cant just change your phone number in the settings - you wouldn't be able to call it (at least using a traditional phone, whatsapp calls etc are different). - the number will have been reused as they often are after being cancelled after some months)

At very worst I would insist that they refund you the total Sim plan cost for the duration - as your dad phoned to cancel within the 14 days (so they are easily able to remotely disconnect and stop the service) has not used any of the data and no longer has use of the number.
The tablet is another consideration. You could absorb the cost of the tablet as they received it after 4 months, or ask for it to be sent to you and you could try and sell it on for a fraction of the price. The fact its been sitting in their warehouse since 4 months after the purchase would also suggest hes been paying a monthly cost for a tablet he doesn't have.

Definitely dont just accept 4 months. Go hard and complain. Personally I would argue that he cancelled within 2 days of ordering, dont know why it took 4 months to be acknowledge to be in the warehouse, but he has been incorrectly charged for a cancelled service.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

flashg67

I'm really not sure what this means when you say that Vodafone said ' he also explained the reason for someone having the same number is that you can actually change your phone number by going into your settings on your mobile '
The number is tied to the SIM and cant be changed by the user or there would be chaos!  I suspect your Stepdad's account WAS terminated by Vodafone and the number reallocated (which happens all the time), but the system has kept taking the money/not closed of the account properly