Vodafone- 4th contract and no phone?

Huddo

Greetings

I started a pay monthly contract with Vodafone in December 2014. I had recently been given a hand me down mobile from a family member which was still fairly recent so I wasn’t particularly bothered about a handset at the time. (Not smart I know).

This contract has been auto renewed (without my agreement) 3 times. 2014-16, 2016-18, 2018-20 & has recently renewed. The first was £18 a month, then has steadily increased and is now £36 a month. I know I didn’t speak to them to each time to say I didn’t want to renew as well. 

So essentially I have never had a handset from Vodafone & I have reached the point where £36 a month for a contract with no phone is unacceptable. 

I telephoned their complaints dept. Today to voice my concerns over this. After 90 mins of horrendous hold times the lady spoke to her supervisor & came back with an offer of £100. I replied by saying I didn’t think this was enough considering I’ve paid them over £1000 over the years but never had a handset from them. I was then passed to the manager who stated they had done nothing wrong and it was very normal. I asked why then I had been offered £100 compensation if they had done nothing wrong? He stated that it was because I was a valued customer for years and it was a gratuity offer. I didn’t accept and he’s opened an official complaint. My major gripe here is surely you’re paying a monthly fee for the line rental/minutes/data & phone? 

My questions to you fine folks being ...

1. Do I have a leg to stand on trying to claim back anything? (Was thinking they would at least offer a new handset)
2. Is no response from an emailed offer (of new contract) sufficient for them to roll over the contract?
3. Anyone had similar situation?

Im aware I should have been more on the ball at the time but alas was always put off by waiting 30mins in a call queue every time I tried to contact them.

Any help or advice much appreciated. Regards

flaneurs_lobster

Not sure what contract you think you had with Vodafone. Did your original contract include a phone or was it sim-only? 

On price, £36/month for a Vodafone contract (without a phone) is on the high end of the scale but not unfeasible. 

Huddo

None of the contracts were sim only, all had inclusive date, calls, texts.
I took out the contract in a high street Vodafone store, think the attendant just took advantage of the fact my sister had just given me her old iPhone. 

flaneurs_lobster

My contract with Vodafone has inclusive data, calls & texts and is sim-only. 

What phone were you expecting to receive?  Why does the fact that you had just been given a second-hand phone have anything to do with your contract with Vodafone? 

Huddo

As I said I took out the contract in a Vodafone store. I was offered 2 choices at point of sale

1. Sim only £10 per month
2. Normal phone contract £19.99 per month

Once these were offered (at the desk in the store) it was at this point my sister offered her Old iPhone (she was stood with me at the desk ) as it was a lot better phone than what they were offering at the time. The attendant just giggled and said ok. So essentially I didn’t receive a phone with my first contract. Or any of the contracts they rolled over.

flaneurs_lobster

So you had a choice: £10/month for sim-only or £20/month for sim and phone and you chose the latter but declined the phone?  

elsien

It is standard with mobile contracts that at the end of a fix term your contract carries on running until you either cancel it or negotiate a better deal. 

Did you do either of these things or contact them at any point to ask what was going on? 

7 years is a long time to completely ignore that your monthly payment was on the up. Personal responsibility?

Huddo

I was very young and naive at that point, please get over it. 

Yes there’s a large amount of personal responsibility I accept that completely. I’m just tired of being fobbed off in store and work a very busy job so never had the time to wait half an hour on hold on the upgrade line.

I was more curious about the legal side of things and what my rights were now. 

The fact they offered me £100 hush money on the very first call peaked my interest, from what I’ve read about Vodafone on here they do not offer such things if they they think they can get away with it.

J_B

Huddo said:

My questions to you fine folks being ...

1. Do I have a leg to stand on trying to claim back anything? (Was thinking they would at least offer a new handset)
2. Is no response from an emailed offer (of new contract) sufficient for them to roll over the contract?
3. Anyone had similar situation?

1. Not realy - you should have accepted the offer of hundred quid

2. Are you sure you are still on a fixed term 'contract' or are you just on a rolling monthly one? There's a code you can text to that tells you, maybe someone here can advise?

3. Probably many have, not that that's any comfort to you.

Huddo said:

None of the contracts were sim only, all had inclusive date, calls, texts.

That's what's meant by sim only - just a sim with inclusive stuff and no phone included

giraffe69

Huddo said:

I was very young and naive at that point, please get over it. 

I'm not sure why we have to "get over it" The point is you allowed this situation to go on for 7 years and did nothing. Even at an extra £10 per month that would be £800+ over time. The action to be taken now is
1. Bite their hand off for the £100 offer
2. Move to a SIM only contract either with Vodafone or, if your confidence in them is ended, another supplier

Vodafone have an app where you can see your contract, your bills and all sorts of detail. If you are out of contract you can give 30 days notice and move using a PAC code to take your number of you want it.

[Deleted User]

Huddo said:

 I’ve paid them over £1000....

....was always put off by waiting 30mins in a call queue every time I tried to contact them.

30 mins to save a big chunk out of £1,000+ is a no brainer. I'd happy book the day off work and spend all day on the phone to save that much money.

I know it is a harsh lesson but money saving is about being pro-active rather than retrospective and hopefully this lesson will be the trigger will mean you will save a lot of money going forwards now in life, especially with the help of the MSE Forums.