Vodafone issues

Darcydog · 19th March 2021, 10:21

I had been with Vodafone on a business plan since 2012 and left them to go to a different provider last year.

Out of the blue, just before Christmas I received a letter from Themis Debt Recovery telling me I owed £15 and if I didn’t pay Bailiffs will be sent and my credit rating will be “pants” (my description)

No bill to prove the amount - just a threat.

So an email and phone call got me nowhere - (amazing for a communications company how bad they are at enabling people to talk to them)

So in desperation I sent Subject Access Request to get their attention. They didn’t like that and took longer than the required 30 days to respond and then only to say they wanted ID.

This I sent and they then wrongly stated that the date of the subject access request was now in January, not December. I pointed out they were wrong - but hey!! - at least they were at last talking to me.

They then sent a load of communication data from their SIEBEL ACCOUNT NOTES.

This proved very interesting.

It showed that in 2014 I upgraded and took advantage of a “Free” Samsung Tablet that came with its own Roaming Internet mobile number costing just over £6 a month.

In 2016 I upgraded again and went over to iPhones (I had a Blackberry before) and cancelled the Samsung Roaming mobile number but took out another iPhone for my wife. So the Samsung roaming contract should have been cancelled but wasn’t.

In fact this extra £6 odd was actually hidden within my bill - and I have to confess that as it was a business account I didn’t really look at it.

So when I cancelled my Vodafone contract for the two phones after I retired - Vodafone continued to charge me this £6 every month - but sent no letters nor rang me to say they had a problem.

If they had - I would have no doubt just paid up thinking it was a carry over from my old contract.

But their lack of communication- and then a Debt Collection Letter from Themis Recovery REALLY pi**ed me off.

So armed with the information from their own data (which had been available to them all this time) I complained and this resulted in them being forced to admit their mistake and refund me the wrongly charged amounts dating right back to November 2016.

So yesterday they paid in just over £420 to my account.

So this is another example of just how lucky we are in the U.K. to have the Data Protection Act and within it the ability to submit a Subject Access Request.

I am due a phone call today from Vodafone to confirm my receipt of my refund and for them to confirm that they have removed any negative result on my Credit Score.

Hopefully they will learn from this, very expensive for them, appalling action on their part to check their facts before pressing the Debt Collection Button.

But I doubt it as they rely on people’s fear and lack of knowledge as to what they can do to check the issue out.

I would be interested if anyone else has an issue with Vodafone as their SIEBEL Account Notes throws up some issues that may require referral to the Information Commissioner - for example - my phone call to Vodafone to cancel my contract is correctly listed right down to the date and time of the call and the type of call is “face to face”.

However - the SIEBEL data shows many other “face to face” calls all at very early in the morning times - like 0500 and 0600 hours where apparently I had conversations with Vodafone personnel.

There are “Letter sent” listings as well but no letters were received.

I queried this with the chap I was dealing with via the Subject Access Request but his response was that these inputs are computer generated -

- as if that explained it all.

So if anyone else has had issues? I would be interested.

trikey · 19th March 2021, 12:44

Yes! I have a default on my credit score (which I found out last night) from Vodafone for the sum of £101

I cancelled our contracts with Vodafone over three years ago, everything was paid in full and I wet to BT as the area we were moving to has zero coverage through Vodafone.

Interesting to read your issues, I think I’ll be going down the same route!

macafee2 · 19th March 2021, 13:56

I recall reading something some years ago by someone also threatened with debt recovery. He wrote to the person that had signed the letter pointing out that he had assumed this person had checked all the information before signing anything threatening. He went on to advise that he would be suing this person personally, not the company due to this person making threats such as court action or debt collection because the person or rather the company were in the wrong. Apparently once he threatened to sue the individual it all went away.

love stories like yours and the one I refer to.
I find it amusing when people put stuff (accusations) in writing that is/are not true, they are then so stuffed.

macafee2

SCP440 · 19th March 2021, 17:02

6 months ago I received a letter for non payment of an outstanding electricity bill for my Industrial unit from EON, I only use the lights for a maximum of an hour a day and the bill including charges is £8 a month, this comes out of my business account on a direct debit just for ease.

The amount outstanding was £0.50p

The letter with the stamp must have cost more than that and when I rung to query the letter with no other communication I was told it was sent in error. The following month I had a letter from a debt collection agency, the amount had increased to £16 plus the £0.50p. I was on the phone again and some one obviously working from home said I needed to pay it and then it would go no further.

Eventually after another phone call I got put through to a manager who was mystified as my direct debit was too much and it should be reduced by £0.50 a month. She did her thing and said it had all be sorted.

Several days later I was home and two men arrived at my front door to collect the debt. Luckily I was able to get hold of EON on the phone and it was sorted out, since then I have had a letter from EON saying it was a mistake but NO apology in any form but just blaming it on an error.

I have since changed my electricity supplier and they had the guts to ring me to ask why? When I told the person on the phone he had been told the same reason by several other customers that day.

I have since checked my credit history and it has not affected it.

WillyHeckaslike · 19th March 2021, 20:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCP440

The following month I had a letter from a debt collection agency.

Harassment, fraud and obtaining by deception are criminal matters in the UK, despite what some might like to claim otherwise on this site. They are not civil matters. Anyone or any outfit can make an allegation, but without a court order of proof they are on the wrong side of the law if they claim otherwise.

RPWC · 19th March 2021, 21:11

Been with them for about 5 years,no problems. Moved to them as the only network that has signal in one of the villages I work in. Wife is also with them and we have broadband + them too.

solarsailor · 20th March 2021, 10:19

On the flip side I had a different experience when changing mobile network. I tend to do the 'comparison' game when contracts expire (be that phone, utilities, insurance etc) although I do take into account customer service levels and whether the price difference outweighs the hassle before committing to a move.

About six years ago I spotted a great phone deal so I dumped EE in favour of Virgin, and I have to say that since then I've been well looked after with offers each time my contract comes up for renewal - my current plan is 1,000 minutes, unlimited texts and 125Gb of data per month, all for £10.

Earlier this month I received a letter with the EE logo on the envelope which I assumed to be advertising bumf, but I was wrong. Inside was a letter informing me that my account had been closed, along with a cheque for the £1 credit that had been sitting there for years. EE certainly takes its time to complete a switch!

skellum · 20th March 2021, 13:35

Vodafone may not be the worst company in the world, but they are most certainly the worst I've ever dealt with. Our family at one time had 4 Vodafone contracts active. The last finishes on April 4th, and we will consider ourselves well rid.
Mis-selling, over-charging, and utterly inept call centre staff. Even been lied to by a couple of them.
However, on a positive note-

well, nothing actually.

19th March 2021, 10:21	#1
Darcydog This is my second home Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 5,428 Thanks: 3,123 Thanked 3,170 Times in 2,096 Posts	Vodafone issues I had been with Vodafone on a business plan since 2012 and left them to go to a different provider last year. Out of the blue, just before Christmas I received a letter from Themis Debt Recovery telling me I owed £15 and if I didn’t pay Bailiffs will be sent and my credit rating will be “pants” (my description) No bill to prove the amount - just a threat. So an email and phone call got me nowhere - (amazing for a communications company how bad they are at enabling people to talk to them) So in desperation I sent Subject Access Request to get their attention. They didn’t like that and took longer than the required 30 days to respond and then only to say they wanted ID. This I sent and they then wrongly stated that the date of the subject access request was now in January, not December. I pointed out they were wrong - but hey!! - at least they were at last talking to me. They then sent a load of communication data from their SIEBEL ACCOUNT NOTES. This proved very interesting. It showed that in 2014 I upgraded and took advantage of a “Free” Samsung Tablet that came with its own Roaming Internet mobile number costing just over £6 a month. In 2016 I upgraded again and went over to iPhones (I had a Blackberry before) and cancelled the Samsung Roaming mobile number but took out another iPhone for my wife. So the Samsung roaming contract should have been cancelled but wasn’t. In fact this extra £6 odd was actually hidden within my bill - and I have to confess that as it was a business account I didn’t really look at it. So when I cancelled my Vodafone contract for the two phones after I retired - Vodafone continued to charge me this £6 every month - but sent no letters nor rang me to say they had a problem. If they had - I would have no doubt just paid up thinking it was a carry over from my old contract. But their lack of communication- and then a Debt Collection Letter from Themis Recovery REALLY pi**ed me off. So armed with the information from their own data (which had been available to them all this time) I complained and this resulted in them being forced to admit their mistake and refund me the wrongly charged amounts dating right back to November 2016. So yesterday they paid in just over £420 to my account. So this is another example of just how lucky we are in the U.K. to have the Data Protection Act and within it the ability to submit a Subject Access Request. I am due a phone call today from Vodafone to confirm my receipt of my refund and for them to confirm that they have removed any negative result on my Credit Score. Hopefully they will learn from this, very expensive for them, appalling action on their part to check their facts before pressing the Debt Collection Button. But I doubt it as they rely on people’s fear and lack of knowledge as to what they can do to check the issue out. I would be interested if anyone else has an issue with Vodafone as their SIEBEL Account Notes throws up some issues that may require referral to the Information Commissioner - for example - my phone call to Vodafone to cancel my contract is correctly listed right down to the date and time of the call and the type of call is “face to face”. However - the SIEBEL data shows many other “face to face” calls all at very early in the morning times - like 0500 and 0600 hours where apparently I had conversations with Vodafone personnel. There are “Letter sent” listings as well but no letters were received. I queried this with the chap I was dealing with via the Subject Access Request but his response was that these inputs are computer generated - - as if that explained it all. So if anyone else has had issues? I would be interested.

19th March 2021, 12:44	#2
trikey Premium Trader Rover 75 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Devon Posts: 33,766 Thanks: 8,837 Thanked 14,831 Times in 8,030 Posts	Yes! I have a default on my credit score (which I found out last night) from Vodafone for the sum of £101 I cancelled our contracts with Vodafone over three years ago, everything was paid in full and I wet to BT as the area we were moving to has zero coverage through Vodafone. Interesting to read your issues, I think I’ll be going down the same route! __________________ Lest we forget..

19th March 2021, 21:11	#6
RPWC This is my second home 75 model car Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Newcastle upon Tyne Posts: 20,177 Thanks: 4,008 Thanked 5,083 Times in 3,114 Posts	Been with them for about 5 years,no problems. Moved to them as the only network that has signal in one of the villages I work in. Wife is also with them and we have broadband + them too. __________________ Cheers. Rich…

20th March 2021, 10:19	#7
solarsailor Posted a thing or two 75 Saloon 1.8T Club SE Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: Colchester Posts: 1,225 Thanks: 87 Thanked 653 Times in 344 Posts	On the flip side I had a different experience when changing mobile network. I tend to do the 'comparison' game when contracts expire (be that phone, utilities, insurance etc) although I do take into account customer service levels and whether the price difference outweighs the hassle before committing to a move. About six years ago I spotted a great phone deal so I dumped EE in favour of Virgin, and I have to say that since then I've been well looked after with offers each time my contract comes up for renewal - my current plan is 1,000 minutes, unlimited texts and 125Gb of data per month, all for £10. Earlier this month I received a letter with the EE logo on the envelope which I assumed to be advertising bumf, but I was wrong. Inside was a letter informing me that my account had been closed, along with a cheque for the £1 credit that had been sitting there for years. EE certainly takes its time to complete a switch! __________________ This vehicle was born on Wednesday June 4th 2003 @ 08:24:38 This vehicle was the 73,905th 75 to run off the production line, out of 112,381 This vehicle was the 1,862nd 75 1.8 T Club SE to be made out of 3,980 This vehicle was the 6,856th 75 in Wedgewood Blue to be made out of 7,515 Wedgewood Blue 75s

19th March 2021, 13:56	#3
macafee2 This is my second home Rover 75 Saloon & Tourer Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Lincoln Posts: 14,925 Thanks: 1,630 Thanked 3,032 Times in 2,181 Posts	I recall reading something some years ago by someone also threatened with debt recovery. He wrote to the person that had signed the letter pointing out that he had assumed this person had checked all the information before signing anything threatening. He went on to advise that he would be suing this person personally, not the company due to this person making threats such as court action or debt collection because the person or rather the company were in the wrong. Apparently once he threatened to sue the individual it all went away. love stories like yours and the one I refer to. I find it amusing when people put stuff (accusations) in writing that is/are not true, they are then so stuffed. macafee2

19th March 2021, 17:02	#4
SCP440 I really should get out more....... MG ZT-T 260 Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Witney Posts: 2,504 Thanks: 6 Thanked 910 Times in 571 Posts	6 months ago I received a letter for non payment of an outstanding electricity bill for my Industrial unit from EON, I only use the lights for a maximum of an hour a day and the bill including charges is £8 a month, this comes out of my business account on a direct debit just for ease. The amount outstanding was £0.50p The letter with the stamp must have cost more than that and when I rung to query the letter with no other communication I was told it was sent in error. The following month I had a letter from a debt collection agency, the amount had increased to £16 plus the £0.50p. I was on the phone again and some one obviously working from home said I needed to pay it and then it would go no further. Eventually after another phone call I got put through to a manager who was mystified as my direct debit was too much and it should be reduced by £0.50 a month. She did her thing and said it had all be sorted. Several days later I was home and two men arrived at my front door to collect the debt. Luckily I was able to get hold of EON on the phone and it was sorted out, since then I have had a letter from EON saying it was a mistake but NO apology in any form but just blaming it on an error. I have since changed my electricity supplier and they had the guts to ring me to ask why? When I told the person on the phone he had been told the same reason by several other customers that day. I have since checked my credit history and it has not affected it.

20th March 2021, 13:35	#8
skellum Avid contributor MG ZT Join Date: Mar 2020 Location: Stornoway Posts: 115 Thanks: 17 Thanked 41 Times in 27 Posts	Vodafone may not be the worst company in the world, but they are most certainly the worst I've ever dealt with. Our family at one time had 4 Vodafone contracts active. The last finishes on April 4th, and we will consider ourselves well rid. Mis-selling, over-charging, and utterly inept call centre staff. Even been lied to by a couple of them. However, on a positive note- well, nothing actually.