Vodafone took over contract from Dot mobile

markhunter

My little brother is a student and had a contract with a company called Dot Mobile. Dot only deal with students and did actually have some really good tariffs.

A few months back, Dot went bust, my brother was notified by text message that his service would not be changed and that he should continue to pay his bills as normal. Shortly after this, he lost his phone. He needed a new sim from Dot but the only way he knew how to call them was to dial 268268 from his Dot mobile. He checked their website for an 0870 number but the website just advised that they had gone into recievership.

As he couldnt get hold of them, he cancelled his direct debit, he figured that they have his home number so if they call him then maybe he can get a new sim. They didnt call.

On Friday he got a bill from vodafone for £202. £171 was previously owed to Dot and voda were now charging him £35 a month for a tariff that gave him far less than he got from Dot for the same price. He called them and was told that any Dot customer not happy with the new tariff could in fact cancel without penalty, but this didnt apply to him as he owed £171. He says he could pay it over maybe 2 months but in the meantime, voda want to continue charging him £35 per month which will turn his debt from £171 to £285. Surely they cant treat you differently just because you are in arrears? Can anyone offer any advise on this?

breezybobs_2

My daughter has just been talking to Vodafone, as she also had a good contract with Dot Mobile (700txt+350mins). Vodafone only offering 100txts and 500mins. She spoke to a very unhelpful and rude woman on the Vodafone helpline, who told her if she didn't like it she could cancel her contract at a charge of £188. Why should she do this when it is Dot Mobile and now Vodafone that has broken the agreement. Like you I don't see why the student should be penalised! Any advice greatly appreciated.

markhunter

I have a friend who works for the CAB so gonna speak to her tomorrow. Let you know any advice I recieve

agsnu

To be honest, cancelling a DD and expecting them to call you is probably not going to hold much muster. There was always an 08xx number (IIRC their web site was still semi-functioning for some time after they went bust, e.g. all their billing was still done through it), and they always responded to customer service enquiries via e-mail.

The exact message regarding termination due to not being on a reasonable price plan appears to be that if Vodafone's replacement tariff will cause you to spend more than 10% above what you were beforehand, you will be able to leave without penalty as per your terms and conditions. I think the process they were advocating was to stay on for a month, if your bill was higher than normal then phone up and they'd let you go.

Of course, if he's suspended and in arrears it's unlikely this will work.

I'd suggest kicking up a fuss here and in their own eForum. That will get the attention of a customer services department (called the Forum Intervention Team) which is far better than normal CS and well aware of the Dot Mobile problems.

Incisor

breezybobs wrote: »

My daughter has just been talking to Vodafone, as she also had a good contract with Dot Mobile (700txt+350mins). Vodafone only offering 100txts and 500mins. She spoke to a very unhelpful and rude woman on the Vodafone helpline, who told her if she didn't like it she could cancel her contract at a charge of £188. Why should she do this when it is Dot Mobile and now Vodafone that has broken the agreement. Like you I don't see why the student should be penalised! Any advice greatly appreciated.

AFAICS, if vodaphone take over receiving the payments, then they are bound to provide the same service. They are not obliged to provide the same service, but if they don't then they have not taken over performance of the contract and therefore cannot gain the payments. They can only apply penalty or exit charges if they are fulfilling the original contract to the letter.

Give 'em hell.

blade33

vodafone has in effect taken over the whole ownership of the contract that you had from Dot Mobile, and yes if there has been a price/price plan change that doesn't appear to be what was offered before then you can cancel the agreement. The general problem comes when you call up one of our lovely call centres, imagine the range of questions put to the operator on a daily basis, the only way for them to be able to answer the question accurately is
1/ they've had the question before
2/the HELP script system has it as a stores/faq question
3/somebody near them has the answer

this isn't perfect but normally when Vodafone takes over a contract all parties are given a helpline number,so converse only with that team or email vodafone via it's website and ask them to responsed.

hope this helps

blade33

jem609

Hi,
I was with dot mobile, now with vodafone. I was having my first 6 months half price with dot, so rather than £45 it was £22.50, but I wanted to down grade after my 6th month to a £25 contract. I rang up vodafone who offered me 50 txts and 100 mins for £25!!!!!!! I rang again, with a "firm" voice, told them what I was getting with dot and that I wasnt pleased with the contract offered to me. As a result of my second call vodafone have given me unlimited txts, 900 mins for £22.50 a month for the rest of my contract!!!
The key is to keep ringing up and eventually you can get a good deal for your money!
Just wanted to let everyone know that there is hope, dont stand for having a bad deal.
Hope this helps.

had_2

agsnu wrote: »

To be honest, cancelling a DD and expecting them to call you is probably not going to hold much muster. There was always an 08xx number (IIRC their web site was still semi-functioning for some time after they went bust, e.g. all their billing was still done through it), and they always responded to customer service enquiries via e-mail.

The exact message regarding termination due to not being on a reasonable price plan appears to be that if Vodafone's replacement tariff will cause you to spend more than 10% above what you were beforehand, you will be able to leave without penalty as per your terms and conditions. I think the process they were advocating was to stay on for a month, if your bill was higher than normal then phone up and they'd let you go.

Of course, if he's suspended and in arrears it's unlikely this will work.

I'd suggest kicking up a fuss here and in their own eForum. That will get the attention of a customer services department (called the Forum Intervention Team) which is far better than normal CS and well aware of the Dot Mobile problems.

I emailed Vodafone via the eforum like you suggested and they phoned me today and sorted out everything, I now have an amazing contract of unlimited texts and 600 minutes and they're paying all the money back into my account which has been overcharged due to the rubbish tariff I was originally put on after being moved to Vodafone. The man I spoke to was excellent and knew exactly what he was talking about unlike the normal customer services. Thank you for the advice!