Vodafone overcharged me £140 and refused to produce itemised statement
rrodrigues1
Posts: 5 Forumite
in Mobiles
I just came across a thread regarding Vodafone overcharging costumers in 2015-2016 and I have been a victim also, can please someone advise what is the procedure with the Ombudsman and the contact details to open a claim to recover my money?
Here's my story: I joined Vodafone for first time as a 12-month SIM ONLY plan back in early summer 2015. In July I received a call from costumer services alerting that I had 'unusual activity' on my phone and my internet bill had reached £98. I was gobsmacked! I have internet for basic use only (whatsapp/ email/ facebook) no gaming, no calls, no roaming, and not that often because I'm usually at work all day 6 days a week.
I asked them to please stop it running and block it because my phone most likely has been hacked! The adviser said 'HE CAN NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT BECAUSE THE BILL WAS STILL RUNNING!' (whatever that means, doesn't make sense to me).
I turned off the call and switched off the internet, roaming, everything on my iphone 4 and called the agent back to ask if it had stopped running. Surprise, he said no it hasn't, and it's still charging and the bill was going up.
I was very alarmed and raised security concerns and said to him vodafone needs to do something about it! I decided to stop using my sim as a prevention.
In just a week or two a letter demanding payment of £140 arrived.
I contacted Vodafone many many times explaining my issue and requested a itemised bill many many times, which they failed to provide. It was a never-ending circle of calls to different departments and all not helpful. Itemised bill never sent, but plenty payment demands!
Finally I was told to pay the bill and try claim it back. This seemed totally absurd, I was confident it was not my charges why should I pay if they don't produce evidence of usage through an itemised bill?? Letters still came every week with threats, and then finally I had enough with them and went to the shop and ordered my 12 month contract to be terminated with immediate effect. I told the shop assistant to destroy my sim and charge my direct debit for the remaining outstanding months.
They stopped contacting me for a few months, I thought they finally realised their billing mistake and moved on.
Meanwhile I moved from London to Reading in December 2015 and didn't think more about it.
In May 2016 I applied for a mortgage together with my fiance. Surprise surprise, I found out I had a DEFAULT from Vodafone on my credit report!
My debt had been sold to LLOWEL Portfolio debt collectors and was now close to £350.
I spent weeks in despair going through this over and over again with lot's different people both in Llowel, Vodafone, my bank, my mortgage advisor, credit expert etc.
I requested LLowel Portfolio to ask Vodafone for an itemised bill. I waited 2 weeks and they never done anything. I called Vodafone Complaints department, all sorts departments and the department responsible for collecting debts. I was told by Vodafone they are unable to produce itemised bills, which to me it's a load of crap.
We were on the verge of losing our dream home and have no mortgage offer. My mortgage adviser advised that I should pay off the debt to get the mortgage in place and then take it with Vodafone. So I did it. I called Llowel and asked to pay £350 but still would like the itemised bill.
They never sent one.
My mortgage got approved at an extortionate rate plus loads of penalties due to my credit default. I called Llowel back asking the whereabouts of my itemised bill as I would like to dispute it.
They answered I could not have one and I could not dispute it because THE MOMENT I HAVE PAID I HAD ASSUMED THE FAULT AND THE DEBT. This is !!!!!!!!!
All these years I despise Vodafone, I don't recommend them, and I believe I have been conned and left cornered with no way out because their customer service just doesn't work.
I have opened a dispute complaint with RESOLVER which of course Vodafone never responded and lead nowhere. That was my last drop.
Seeing this thread now that there are many people out there who had the same problem as me, made me have hope for justice and finally resolve this!
Please I need your advice and guidance how to proceed! Thank you so much!
Here's my story: I joined Vodafone for first time as a 12-month SIM ONLY plan back in early summer 2015. In July I received a call from costumer services alerting that I had 'unusual activity' on my phone and my internet bill had reached £98. I was gobsmacked! I have internet for basic use only (whatsapp/ email/ facebook) no gaming, no calls, no roaming, and not that often because I'm usually at work all day 6 days a week.
I asked them to please stop it running and block it because my phone most likely has been hacked! The adviser said 'HE CAN NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT BECAUSE THE BILL WAS STILL RUNNING!' (whatever that means, doesn't make sense to me).
I turned off the call and switched off the internet, roaming, everything on my iphone 4 and called the agent back to ask if it had stopped running. Surprise, he said no it hasn't, and it's still charging and the bill was going up.
I was very alarmed and raised security concerns and said to him vodafone needs to do something about it! I decided to stop using my sim as a prevention.
In just a week or two a letter demanding payment of £140 arrived.
I contacted Vodafone many many times explaining my issue and requested a itemised bill many many times, which they failed to provide. It was a never-ending circle of calls to different departments and all not helpful. Itemised bill never sent, but plenty payment demands!
Finally I was told to pay the bill and try claim it back. This seemed totally absurd, I was confident it was not my charges why should I pay if they don't produce evidence of usage through an itemised bill?? Letters still came every week with threats, and then finally I had enough with them and went to the shop and ordered my 12 month contract to be terminated with immediate effect. I told the shop assistant to destroy my sim and charge my direct debit for the remaining outstanding months.
They stopped contacting me for a few months, I thought they finally realised their billing mistake and moved on.
Meanwhile I moved from London to Reading in December 2015 and didn't think more about it.
In May 2016 I applied for a mortgage together with my fiance. Surprise surprise, I found out I had a DEFAULT from Vodafone on my credit report!
My debt had been sold to LLOWEL Portfolio debt collectors and was now close to £350.
I spent weeks in despair going through this over and over again with lot's different people both in Llowel, Vodafone, my bank, my mortgage advisor, credit expert etc.
I requested LLowel Portfolio to ask Vodafone for an itemised bill. I waited 2 weeks and they never done anything. I called Vodafone Complaints department, all sorts departments and the department responsible for collecting debts. I was told by Vodafone they are unable to produce itemised bills, which to me it's a load of crap.
We were on the verge of losing our dream home and have no mortgage offer. My mortgage adviser advised that I should pay off the debt to get the mortgage in place and then take it with Vodafone. So I did it. I called Llowel and asked to pay £350 but still would like the itemised bill.
They never sent one.
My mortgage got approved at an extortionate rate plus loads of penalties due to my credit default. I called Llowel back asking the whereabouts of my itemised bill as I would like to dispute it.
They answered I could not have one and I could not dispute it because THE MOMENT I HAVE PAID I HAD ASSUMED THE FAULT AND THE DEBT. This is !!!!!!!!!
All these years I despise Vodafone, I don't recommend them, and I believe I have been conned and left cornered with no way out because their customer service just doesn't work.
I have opened a dispute complaint with RESOLVER which of course Vodafone never responded and lead nowhere. That was my last drop.
Seeing this thread now that there are many people out there who had the same problem as me, made me have hope for justice and finally resolve this!
Please I need your advice and guidance how to proceed! Thank you so much!
0
Comments
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Theres a few things at play here.
You absolutely must pay bills like the one vodafone gave you and contest later. If you dont, as youve found, they get a default for non payment applied to your credit file which can be hugely detrimental if you need to borrow money.
The second thing is you dont pay lowells or a default debt if you dont agree with it. By paying it, you accept the debt.
Youve got a big challenge ahead of you here to be able to do anything about it. Largely because everyone will try and palm you off because for all intents and purposes its resolved by you paying.
You need to find out if the bill from vodafone is accurate and or their evidence of it. If the debt never shouldve existed you should be able to then chase lowells (With vodafone communicating with them as well) to get the default removed.
None of this is going to help get your interest rate changed on your mortgage though and fortunately youve been given one.
You need to question the debt with vodafone and get a final answer and then speak to lowells. Lowells have little to do with the debt (Apart from buying it and applying the default) they just know/think you had a debt with vodafone which youve paid.0 -
Thank you!
I have read that this happened to a lot of costumers because Vodafone had a new billing system in place that was not working properly and costumers are being urged to contact Ombudsman for a claim.
I can not find the exact contact details for this procedure.
The default is not a problem for me now, but all the money I wasted because of their mistake yes.
I tried thousands of times to get a itemised bill from vodafone, their staff was not helpful and not interested. Finally I was told by their debt recovery department that 'they could not produce one' and also because they had passed the debt to Llowel they couldn't deal with it. It was a frustrating circle with no way out. I was literally forced to pay or I would lose my home.0 -
The Consumer Rights board may be more appropriate for this:-
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1730 -
thanks I have moved it there!0
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rrodrigues1 wrote: »The default is not a problem for me now
You think? Come back and say that after 6 years have passed, because that's how long the adverse entries will stay on your external credit files - inless Vodafone accept they made a mistake and remove them (good luck with that!).0 -
Youre really going to struggle to tackle the adverse effect of having the default on your account. Realitically the best outcome for you in this is going to be vodafone accepting the debt shouldntve been there, them informing lowells of this and lowells removing the default from your credit file.
Its going to be incredibly unlikely that youll be given any money/compensation for this. But you should be able to prevent it having a detrimental effect going forward.
Like i said, you need to convince or prove to vodafone that the default and debt shouldnt have existed from that you can make progress. Until you do that no matter who you contact theyre unlikely to be able to help you because vodafone will simply say, there is a debt that hasnt been paid.0
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