Vodafone not taken payment

tilly2484

Hi Everyone,

Bit of background - my financial circumstances have changed drastically this year due to the ending of my 15 year relationship. Gone from a a very high income household due to my partners job and I've only really worked part time since having our first child 8 years ago. I'm now trying to juggle all the bills in our large home (he pays his half of mortgage still and child maintenance but still a struggle and I'm not getting help with the household part from UC as it's mortgaged. Due to all of this I'm now on a strict budget and sorting all my finances out. Doing this I have noticed that my vodafone account they haven't sent me a bill or collected my direct debit since October 2022. It's about £79 a month. I'm now out of contract and changed to to sim only for £20 but are they going to chase me for this money? Technically there isn't anything to pay though as they haven't generated the invoices. The last invoice on my account was Sept bill.

Just wondering where I stand on this? If they want 4 lots of £79 that's going to be nearly impossible for me. It's just not in my budget.

Thanks

HampshireH

Have you completed the payments on the phone part and now moved onto the SIM only part?

I would suggest phoning them and checking what's happened 

Technically there is something to pay if you have a contract specifying you should be etc

tilly2484

It's always been a DD ever since I had the phone about 20 years. For some reason they stopped creating a bill in October. I only noticed today they haven't been creating a bill or taking the DD. 

There was nothing to pay with my sim only and did that via my online account and got the email confirmation for the 12 month sim only contract. I'll have to call them monday. My worry is that they are going to want immediate payment of 4x£79 as I absolutely cannot do that. 

savergrant

Hi. In your online account can you see any payment history and registered cards etc? You say you are out of contract, when did your handset contract end and have they communicated to you that you have finished paying for your handset? Do you have paperwork to say the last payment date will be...? Until tecently have you had one bill or has it been split between handset and airtime? How much do you expect to pay sim only and is it possible that is being paid some other way? It is also possible that if they were bundling the two contracts into one dd they have accidentally forgotten to charge you the remaining contract. What does your contract say regarding paying for the handset?

eDicky

tilly2484 said:

There was nothing to pay with my sim only and did that via my online account and got the email confirmation for the 12 month sim only contract.

When did you convert to a new SIM-only contract, in October or more recently? Why is/was there nothing to pay for it?

tilly2484

Hi sorry for the delay. My contract ended 18th Jan 2023 so changed it 19th jan.

The last generated a bill on my online account in Sept for payment via DD in oct which went out. For some reason they just stopped doing bills and taking the DD (assuming because there was no bill).

I can see all my payment history is fine up until the Oct bill. It just says October bill will be created 21st oct. In my billing section it has the direct debit still set up with the correct details. I've had this vodafone account for 20 years. The handset i got was 2 years ago on a 24 month contract which is now up. It was always one bill.

The sim only I don't pay for a handset as I'm not having one. It's just a sim contract and paying £25 a month for the plan. But it doesn't even show this on my account that it's now on a £25 a month plan. But I did get the email confirmation that I changed to sim only on the 19th Jan. It's all very confusing. 

Brie

Contact them and let them know that you are in financial difficulties.  That's the first step.  Agree to pay what's owed and hopefully they will agree a payment plan for what's outstanding.  If necessary invoke a "breathing space" as that's an official thing to give you 30 days to start getting things sorted.  Mention that they haven't been billing or collecting DDs - not your fault and you are willing to get things sorted but need time.  

Don't forget to breathe.  It's stressful but not insurmontable.  

Just for info - why are you paying £25 a month for sim only??  Lots of plans are under £10.  Ask them to change it to something more affordable.  (fyi - I'm with EE and pay £7.99 a month)

savergrant

What is the sim only contract you signed up to?

It looks to me like it might be the 30 day red 1gb on their website which is terrible value. If the vodafone signal is best where you live try lebara or even asdamobile would be much better value. If you can end your contract please do it. If you text pac to 65075 vodafone should reply with your pac but also useful info on any termination charges or credit balance. Might be a useful way to get the ball rolling. Texting pac does not commit you to anything, if it will cost you too much just delete the text.

Are you sure there is nothing in your sim only email like them setting up a new account number?

Assuming your plan didn't change automatically when did you first request to move to sim only?