I joined Vodaphone taking a phone for myself and one for my wife. We both got the free spotify on a 24 month contract.

My wife has been charged £9.99 for spotify every month since March 2015 despite this being a included free option.

Basically Vodaphone shop where I got the phone investgated and advised that when the data inputter put the contract on their main system they did not tick the box for free spotify! They would arrange for a refund to be automatically made each month.

The first month this worked, then it did not again. I complained around 6 months later when I noticed the bill was for the incorrect amount (could finally check online after several months, assumed my wife has been sending pics home to her parents who live in Europe, hence the higher bill). Vodaphone sent a new link, we reloaded spotify, and they said they would refund the monies taken.

A few months later, I checked the bills again, same problem, charged £9.99 each month for wife's spotify. Vodaphone said we must have done something wrong on our side. I did not think so but we went through the process again, but this time I went to the Vodaphone shop where the person set it all up on my wifes phone for us, to ensure no mistakes.

Problem persisted... went through the same rigmarole again in April this year, 3rd attempt. Vodaphone assured us the monies would be refunded, the problem would be fixed. Also for all of my trouble, they would give me one month for free. Nothing changed, still same problem ,still same overbilling for spotify, £9.99 each month.

I cancelled my direct debit, so currently owe Vodaphone for the June payment 4 days overdue now) . I spoke to them today, went through the long winded process, got bumped up to a higher complaint handler level, same promises etc.

Here we are 15 months later, same problem. I have been overbilled £119.96, I asked Vodaphone to return the money, they said they would, less the outstanding bill. I suggested actually they have owed my that money cumulatively ocer the last 15 months, and i owed them money only for the last few days, so send me my full overcharge back, and I will pay the bill immediately. They said they couldnt do that, I suggested they could do that, but simply wouldnt.

I told them I wished to cancel the contract as I have been complaining about the same problem for 15 months and they have not fixed it...for over a YEAR!!

I was told there would be a penalty payment for cancelling my contract early (it expires March 2017) . I suggested by failing to fix the problem for 15 months, overcharging me each an every month, that they are in breach of contract, so they cannot charge me early cancellation penalty as there is no contract!

UI am awaiting a call back from Vodaphone to resolve this, but I do not hold out any hope of the slightest satisfaction, they are a resolution avoidance machine, who design the whole procedure based on the fact people will just give up.

I am very happy to go to small claims court or county court. I have no issue with them trashing my credit rating as I do not need any credit. I have been fortunate/lucky/successful in life so have no mortgage or need for one, plenty of savings to last me and mine, and happy to spend a few thousand pounds on a lawyer to take Vodaphone to court on a matter of principle, the principle being this company is acting as a bully and the customer service is stunningly bad. Just a review on google shows an incredible number of complaints over so many years it is mind boggling

I would appreciate any feedback from people who hve had the same problem, I have seen the Vodaphone/Spotify/Overbilling issue via google with hundreds of people, so any current people having the same issue let me know

Thank you

Hi and welcome to CAG

Firstly. Pay your bill! If you fail to do so, VF will screw over your credit file and that will take ages to remove.

Secondly, stop phoning them unless you can record the call

If you have any live chat correspondence, make multiple copies, especially if they have admitted the problem in writing.

Next, Formal Complaint. If you haven't done this, you should. Send this by snail mail to the head office and by signed for delivery. Make sure the letter is headed 'Formal Complaint' so that VF cannot wriggle out of doing something this time. They have 8 weeks to resolve this before you can go to the Telecoms Ombudsman.

You could instigate legal action. To do so, you would need to send a Letter Before Action giving them 14 days to rectify this problem or you will take court action. Don't threaten if you don't intend to follow through.

Welcome To CAG Mark

Its time to start pushing it up the chain. Vodafone have had major issues in the last year migrating to a new platform which i think is your issue. Hell Ive got a £12000 bill with them im still trying to sort after they messed up and my new account with them was subject to billing issues where they didnt charge us correctly for 5 months.

I am happy to work with you on this if you need further support. Once you have complained, arm yourself with a SAR Request. Also if you have seen the news you may have seen an article bye MSE Guru Mr MArtin Lewis.

Its a good read and hopefully will also give you some good pointers.

I'm very sorry to say that once again Vodafone are proving themselves to be completely hopeless. There are the most complained about mobile phone provider in the country.

Our own experience on this forum shows that they are appalling in the customer service and I think that your first post sums up very nicely. They used to have a customer service presence on this forum but they abused the hospitality because their presence became very sporadic and they started disappearing unless we complained about them. They freeload on us and other forums and we have told them that we won't put up with it anymore. We have told them that we will require a fee if they want to come back onto the forum and also there will have to be some other proposals. We feel that this is the only way that they will start to value the facility that we offer them here.

They have refused to pay a fee and this suggests to me that really then not very interested in customer service because it's not an area where they make obvious profits.

I think that you should certainly send an SAR. I agree that they will very likely blight your credit file – even though your account is in dispute and even though this is contrary to information Commissioner guidelines. They do this routinely and they don't really seem to care about breaking the data protection rules. If you find that your credit file has been interfered with by them, then write them a very clear formal letter informing them that they are in breach of the information Commissioner guidelines about entering information while there is a valid dispute in progress. Also write a formal letter of complaint to the information Commissioner.

It may well be that the only way to solve this is by bringing a County Court action. Start reading up on bringing small claims in the County Court and understand the procedure – which is very simple. We will be happy to advise you. Start assessing whether this is the kind of action that you would be prepared to take and if you decide it is, we will be happy to help you.

Even though Vodafone don't like it, and even though Vodafone don't like the kind of advice that we are currently giving against them on this forum, is actually Vodafone themselves which would benefit enormously from some direct customer action against them. It is only this kind of thing that will make them start to look more closely at their systems and attempt to get them right.

I have had the same problems , they failed to reply to a SAR request initially but following an email to Nick Jeffery stating I was about to report them to the ICO I was sent bills by email . They donnot hold copies of any contracts with tariffs on have refered me to their terms and conditions Iand have affected by credit file on two occasions. I have been a customer for 15 years with exceptionally high bills.

I have to say that I've spoken to Vodafone customer support on Twitter and they've been more than helpful. They do want to help customers out (believe me, they've helped me to the extreme) - You just have to give them the opportunity to.

@Bankfodder - To say they aren't interested isn't fair I don't think. If I was Vodafone, I wouldn't pay to offer support on a site that isn't theirs either, when there are so many other free areas available.

To ask them to pay a fee and restrict them from posting on your page shows that you aren't interested in getting customer issues resolved either

Hi and welcome to CAG

Since VF got stung with the huge fine, their customer service has got better but during a two year period the service was appalling. The excuse made at the time was that they had migrated their old computer systems to a new one which was patently obvious that it was not fit for purpose. This screwed many people who came to CAG for help and you would imagine that for every one person that came to CAG, approximately 5 others dealt with their issues without our assistance.

When Lee was here, he did as much as he could in the open but when threads suddenly stopped being updated, we were concerned about VF taking matters up off forum. Whether this was VF agreeing with the poster not to update or whether it was the posters decision we will never know. All we do know is that a few threads started to be left in limbo.

CAG runs on a shoestring and asking companies to pay a fee to interact with their customers was a decision I had no involvement so I am unable to comment.

What I do know is that Vodafone would not accept they were at fault and made entries on peoples credit files which had the effect of people not being able to get a mortgage at a reasonable rate-if at all.

VF sent debt collectors after debts that didn't exist

VF say they sent letters to people but this did not happen. (The computer says it did so that MUST be true!!!)

VF sold non existent debts to companies who tried to take court action.

It was only due to the persistence of people on CAG and a few other websites that VF started accepting there was something wrong. The worrying thing is that people had to take legal action against VF to get them to listen,

As I said, they have got better but they are still a long way away from how they used to be.

 

When Lee was here, he did as much as he could in the open but when threads suddenly stopped being updated, we were concerned about VF taking matters up off forum. Whether this was VF agreeing with the poster not to update or whether it was the posters decision we will never know. All we do know is that a few threads started to be left in limbo.

 

Surely it'd be a breach of Data protection to update a public forum with actions taken? I know I wouldn't want my own account details being publicised. As mentioned, my own account was dealt with over Twitter, but direct message rather than public. I'd have thought the same process would have had to happen over here?

Surely it'd be a breach of Data protection to update a public forum with actions taken? I know I wouldn't want my own account details being publicised. As mentioned, my own account was dealt with over Twitter, but direct message rather than public. I'd have thought the same process would have had to happen over here?

You are correct but that is not what I was saying. For VF to post up personal details would be a breach. What wouldn't be a breach was an explanation as to why something went wrong. They didn't need to give out personal data. More importantly, threads by the original poster stopped being updated. Why? Personal reasons? Outside influence? You do the 'math'

Please realise that no two customers have the same exact problem but over the years of being on CAG, I think I have seen them all.