Vodafone Debt Collection Agency letter out of the blue
My wife had a pay monthly contract with Vodafone for over 20 years, generally upgrading her phone every 2 years. In that time she never missed a single direct debit payment.
In mid Dec 2018 she took out a new 2 year contract with a new Samsung phone. The “minimum commitment date” on the contract was until the 17 Dec 2020.
After almost 2 years of her contract and as her existing phone was still sufficient for her needs, she decided to switch to a Sim only deal with another network in early Dec 2020. A PAC code was obtained from Vodafone and the switch went smoothly around the 1st week in December.
Prior to this, we had looked at her bank account to see that the usual monthly direct debit had been taken out around 20th Nov. We then looked at her Vodafone account, which we are 99% sure said that this Nov payment included advance payment for the month ending 24 December. So, in our minds, she had already paid in advance past the minimum contact commitment date of 17 Dec.
We heard nothing more from Vodafone until today, when a letter arrived advising that there was a balance outstanding of c£30 on her account which remains unpaid and the matter has been passed to a Debt Collection Agency. No prior correspondence, no emails, no chasers of any description prior to this letter. It does look like the actual amount owed was originally half the amount now stated but that fees have been added onto the initial sum.
We have been able to log on to her Vodafone account and I must say are confused by what we are seeing. For example, the 20 Nov d/d that we were so sure said it was payment to 24 Dec, now appears to indicate that it is for the period from 25 Oct to 24 Nov. Is that really how Vodafone operates in that the direct debit is effectively for 3 weeks previous use and only one week in advance? Are there any existing Vodafone customers who can shed light on the matter via their own billing cycle?
If we’ve made a mistake then so be it, but what we really can’t get over is the lack of communication from Vodafone in chasing up such a minor debt prior to the rather abrupt letter received today . A simple chaser letter from them would have prompted an immediate response on our part.
Does anybody have any thoughts/observations that might be of use here?
Replies
Rather than PHK's experience, for my current Vodafone Pay Monthly contract I pay the bundle charge monthly in advance and any extras in arrears. so my last bill was generated on 15/6, shows bundle charge from 15/6 to 14/7 and "extras" incurred 15/5 to 14/6. DD taken on 24/6. This billing cycle also used on my partner's contract with another network.
It does seem strange that your first communication from them about an outstanding amount was a debt collection letter. Did you elect to receive your monthly bills from them by email? Did you get a final bill? Did you receive marketing emails from them?
We've just logged onto her Vodafone account. What is a little odd is that back in Dec 2018 she terminated her contract with Vodafone ( she was out of contract at that time and they weren't able to match the price she'd been quoted by an online 3rd party for the new Samsung phone she wanted). So she took out a new contract via the 3rd party and by coincidence the deal with 3rd party connected her to the Vodafone network, albeit with a new mobile number. The email address she submitted to the 3rd party was a personal one and she has an email record from them to this personal address, confirming her contract details and order being processed. However the email address on her Vodafone account is a work email address that she hasn't had access to for several years. It's as though Vodafone have received the details of a new contract taken out via the 3rd party but as her details have been 'matched' to an existing customer, they haven't thought to check for any details that may have changed. In which case it is possible that Vodafone could have been sending monthly bills to her old work email address.
One aside that might be relevant, Vodafone shut down online access to cancelled accounts after six months. Not sure if this is true if account showing as outstanding.
However the daft thing was they actually owed me £15 and it took an age to get this back.
several months later by chance I found out I had a black mark on my credit file due to a missed payment.
a quick letter to O2 (C.E.O) got it sorted and removed within 48 hours.
I learnt my lesson there, NEVER cancel a direct debit.
even O2 staff have told me to do this since the above happened much to anger.