Vodafone case ref: WRT135 [#10937250]

This is a bit long winded so bear with me my fellow Forumites.

On 12th June I decided to get a 12 months contract with Vodafone.

I went online and chose Samsung Galaxy Note 4 for which I paid £149.00 upfront fee.

However, within an hour I changed my mind and used their Chat facility to inform them I needed to change the phone to iPhone 6 64GB.

I was told I'd have to cancel the contract and take a new one.

I asked them to cancel the contract.

I was told I'd receive an email within an hour confirming this.

After 2 hours I called them as no email was sent and was told that the contract had not been cancelled.

I explained everything to them again over the phone.

I was told everything was sorted.

Within an hour I got an email informing me the phone (Samsung) was dispatched!

I called the yet again as I got really angry as they unnecessarily sent the phone that I'd have to return anyway.

A lady managed to contact the delivery company and the phone was delivered back to their warehouse.

I thought that was that

on 13 June I took a new contract with them with the iPhone.

I waited a few days and on 24 June I called them to check whether the £149 upfront fee and £59.00 contract fee that I was charged had been refunded.

I was told nothing had been actioned.

I was assured it'd be sorted immediately

on the same day I got a txt message to say that the refund of the aforementioned fees was processed.

I waited the 10 working days I was told it would take

when I got no refund into my account I called them again.

I was told that even though there were notes on my system that the refund was to be processed it wasn't.

YET another person assured me it was going to be solved.

A few weeks later, on 12 July, I got a bill for £569.20!!!!!!,

which included the fee of £59.00 (the expected contractual monthly fee)

AND the full value of the Samsung phone that I had never received!

When I called them they didn't know why instead of getting a refund of £149.00+£59.00

I was being charged for the phone that I'd never had in my hands!

After half an hour I was told the bill was changed to the correct fee of £59.00

and that the £149.00 was going to be refunded back to my account

and the other £59.00 was to be credited to my vodafone account, which I ok'd.

2 days later, on 14th July I just called them to check if the bill had actually been amended because if it hadn't

and If they were to take such a large amount out of my account I'd be in trouble (I'd go out of my agreed overdraft limit).

Guess what, I was told this wasn't processed.

It took me another half an hour to explain and

I demanded a text confirming that the refund was going to be processed

and that the bill was amended - I received the text.

Today, 21 July, I receive a weekly statement from my bank and see Vodafone have just taken £569.20

(£59.00 of which was for the monthly contract, which I shouldn't have been charged if it had been, as they said,

credited into my Vodafone account!) out of my account and no sign of the refund!

I was also informed by my bank that I would now be charged £5.00 for overdrawn day!

I called them again this morning at 8.30 and yet again they didn't know anything about the refunds

or why I was charged this amount! I was supposed to receive a call by 1pm and it 3.23pm and no call from them.

I don't know what to do but I'm thinking of going to the police to see if theft charges could be made!

Could anyone help please and Vodafone are just useless!

Thank you!

Yet another display of poor customer service by Vodafone. Why do people bother with this joke of an organisation.

Hassle them to death and get back as much in charges/costs as you can.

Not much help from me but there is a Vodafone rep, Lee, that comes on here and apparently helps out!

Have you rung your bank and initiated a Direct Debit Guarantee Indemnity claim for the £569.20 ? Do that first to stop anymore bank charges.

Then get in touch with Lee the Vodafone rep and see if he can sort this mess out. Don't forget you want any bank charges reimbursing too.

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your replies! CrappoMan - thank you for this tip, never heard of it.

I've just called the bank and told them I wanted to do that and they simply refunded the whole vodafone charge!

It took me no more than 2 mins!

At least I don't have to stress I have nothing in my account till the end of the month!

Someone will pay for vodafone's crap service and I won't stop until they do!

As you have found out speaking to them in the phone they do not care

You are wasting their time and they say whatever you want to hear and fail to act on it

Keep a paper trail everything in writing from now on unless you can record phone calls

I expect vodaphone will trash your credit file over this if it is not sorted soon

Any charges that you have incurred due to them can be reclaimed bank charges ect

Check credit file

Noodle is free!

hi ttheli,

Vodafone are incompetent in dealing with their customers.

Only advice I can give is to keep everything in writing. Refuse to deal with any manager or web relation team by phone and insist on using letters or email only. Email would be ideal...

If you follow this link: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?213340-Vodafone-Webteam-for-Customers-With-Problems-**UPDATED-APRIL-2015-**

then the Vodafone reps using this forum will be able to help you, although don't expect your problem to be resolved instantly, even the vodafone reps are faced with the slowness and incompetence of the rest of the company.

I hope you get your money back soon. Also, now you have experienced vodafone customer service I also hope you do not remain their customer and cancel your other contract and move to a reputable network / company other than vodafail.

Since Vodafone took nearly £600 from you account when they shouldn't have, has this caused you any financial loss? Bank fees? Inability to pay credit cards or other bills?

Any financial loss should ideally be claimed back from vodafone.

Good luck dealing with this company.

Hi,

Now that you are aware of Vodafones incompetence there is something else to be aware of. Your credit file. VF are notoriously quick to slap on a default but slow to remove it.

Have a check to see if they have done anything and if so, come back here for more assistance.

In the meantime, follow the advice given above but the let us know the automated reply number so we can add it to your thread title to make it easier for the VF rep (usually Lee) to find.

Hi Guys,

Thank you for all your replies. So much useful information I wasn't aware of!

Didn't realise they can take my money out of my account (I assume it can be classed as illegal surely!)

and then put a mark on my credit file!

I will definitely check Noddle (one of the new things I've learned about on here - cheers for this!).

I did call my bank yesterday and they cancelled the whole vodafone charge, which was a relief!

I'm still waiting for their promised call back!

I'm pretty sure they will not bother.

And I will definitely insist on an email communication from now on.

I will keep you updated should anything change.

Thank you so much again!

With the vodafone team (especially Lee) you can talk to them on the phone as they will also follow up with an email detailing what has been agreed. I have done so with Lee a few times and he is true to his word.

The main problem for the webteam is that they frequent other forums as well as CAG so it can feel painfully slow at times.

IF there is a direct debit on your account for Vodafone have a word with your bank to see if they can help in the future should VF try to take out stupid amounts again.

Hi Guys,

An update - I got a call from the very Lee (I've read so many good things about him I felt a bit star struck ).

As I was at work I couldn't answer so he emailed me asking when was the best time for him to call.

He then called again at the time suggested by me.

He wasn't aware of this thread so had to explain everything to him over the phone, which took me ages, but he listened patiently.

He was really helpful.

My vodafone balance is now £0, as it should be.

My other line (the one associated with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 phone) will be closed soon too.

He will get back to me on the £149.00 refund later, which I'm sure he will.

This is really dragging but at least I finally spoke with someone that knew what they were doing!

Thanks Lee and I'm looking forward to you getting back to me on the refund issue.

Thank you for letting us know.

Please keep us updated when this is resolved. It is always good to hear how things get solved

One last thing check your credit file

Noodle is free

Update no.2

Hi Guys,

I got a mini statement from my bank by text today and guess what - the £569.20 was taken out of my account yet again! I guess even our powerful Lee from vodafone cannot solve this for me! I'm losing the will to live! Had to call my bank again and make a DD indemnity claim! Thankfully they wiped the fee out and cancelled the direct debit!

I just can't believe this can happen!

Update no.2

 

Hi Guys,

 

I got a mini statement from my bank by text today and guess what - the £569.20 was taken out of my account yet again! I guess even our powerful Lee from vodafone cannot solve this for me! I'm losing the will to live! Had to call my bank again and make a DD indemnity claim! Thankfully they wiped the fee out and cancelled the direct debit!

 

I just can't believe this can happen!

Simply cancelling DD's do not prevent companies from taking money from your account.

You can instruct the bank to block companies from your account which should prevent it, but as well as preventing any money being DD'd from you account by them for any reasons (so beware if you have a legitimate DD with them as well) also prevents them refunding into your account.

I've done this with 3 and npower.

Hi tobyjugg2,

Wow - didn't know that! The bank only told me I could cancel the DD and said I should call vodafone. Will call them again. I've emailed vodafone too as I want to keep everything in writing now. Cheers for the tip!

Common mechanism appears to be that a company just effectively re-presents the DD effectively reinstating it.

Been happening for years. One cheeky bar-steward at 3 told me they would after I told them I was cancelling the DD when they repeatedly failed to cancel my contract with them after the first year - which originally alerted me to it.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2006/may/16/consumernews.consumeraffairs

Beware, some banks apparently claim they don't/can't do this and imply its all your fault for giving out your details.

ALWAYS recharge through the DD mandate if it occurs and complain in writing.

Hi ttheli,

To make sure everything is resolved for you, I'll check your account again later today.

Kind regards,

Lee

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