Vodafone - Suspending account, sending charges and referring to collections *accidentally*

joseph2020

Hi all,

Hoping I can get some good advise. 

I have never had any problems with my mobile phone provider Vodafone and their support has always been quick and helpful, but this past week has been a nightmare. 



Background:

Back in January, I took out an additional plan on my Vodafone account for my partner as she was ending her contract elsewhere, we ported over etc as planned.
Soon after this I requested the billing to be split because all payments were coming out of my account by direct debit and we would rather have direct debits each instead of just one under my name.

I spoke to the live chat which then said they had actioned this. They took my partners billing info for a direct debit setup and said it was all done.
The month after, we noticed ALL payments were still coming out of my account and not split as requested.
Once again I got in touch and the rep told me it had not been split, but they could then do it for me, so again, I provided all the correct info needed to set up the direct debit billing on her own bank account.

Fast forward to this week, I log into my online Vodafone account (which I rarely do, as we have ALWAYS paid direct debit) and see a large warning stating I have unpaid bills and they will disconnect me if I do not pay.

Confused, of course as I always pay direct debit and have never asked to pay one off bills (nor was I ever asked to), I get in touch asking what was happening because I always pay direct debit. 
This rep says it looks like a technical error and I have 'accidentally' been referred to collections, that this is their fault and they will sort.
They say they have requested for it to be reverted.

In the meantime, I send a formal complaint because, why not. I also don't want anything added to my credit report 'accidentally' too, which is likely if it has been referred to collections. 

The complaints team call to explain it was likely giving me that message because I haven't made payment for the other plan, even though the instruction was direct debit (and mind you, my partner has seen a transaction go to Vodafone on their account). But that they will investigate and get back to me next week because they are now on leave.
After this I got a separate message saying I am now also being fined for late payments.

I can cope with waiting till next week, however today it got worse.

Around noon I got a text from Vodafone saying they are now completely disconnecting my service. Confused I get back in touch and this rep on live chat also says theres been some technical error and they have 'escalated' it. They say they have also removed my suspension, which up to now, has not been true. I still cannot access the network.

Further to this, around an hour ago, my partner (on the separate plan) has received the same disconnection notice and can also no longer access the network due to this 'glitch'.
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Is there anything I can do? I use my phone for work and now cannot text/call etc. The same for my partner. I can't just wait for my complaint handler to come back from leave.
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It may also be interesting to add that when speaking to the live chat today they accidentally sent me someone else's number and info about amounts owed, not mine. They followed up saying "please ignore that".

PHK

(Removed by Forum Team)

I agree with this, it's complicated.  What they would have needed to do would be to disconnect and manually reconnect one of the lines to an account set up in your partner's name as if they do  a transfer of ownership then all your lines would have transferred to her. This is where the accidentally would come in. 



Personally, I would either have let her set up her own account or let her pay you each month. 

As it stands I think you can only complain and let them unwind matters.