Vodafone - never disconnected old phone!!

[litchfield]

Hi

I wonder if anyone has come across anything similar and had any success?

I have just found out that Vodafone did not disconnect my old number when requested by letter in October last year and even though they acknowledge that they phone hasn't been in use, they have been charging me £20 per month for it since then (so now up to £180) and are refusing to credit my account with any of this amount - they said the best they could offer was to waive the NEXT months charges and disconnect the phone immediately!!

I've sent them a letter as follows:

Further to a disappointing telephone call with your customer service department earlier this morning I am writing to make a formal complaint about Vodafone services in connection with the above mentioned accounts.

It has come to my attention that you have been taking direct debit payments each month for BOTH telephone numbers mentioned above. With regards to the number xxxxx xxxxxx, I wrote to you in October of last year requesting that you cancelled this account. I expected to be charged for a further 1-2 month minimum contract fee for this number but ceased use of the mobile number with immediate effect.

It has since come to my attention that you have not disconnected this number and have been charging me for the full monthly contract value ever since.

With regards to this matter I would like to point out the following:

1. You would have been able to see that I have not used this number since the new number has been in use and yet you still have charged me without question.

2. When I requested that some compensation be levied against my account with regards to this mistake, I was informed that the only waiver that would be made was that the number would be disconnected with immediate effect, and no notice period charges applied.

Considering these points I am disgusted to find out that you have taken an extra £20 per month from my bank account since November of last year.

I have been a loyal customer of Vodafone for nearly ten years and do not expect to be treated so callously, I very rarely use my full allocation of free minutes and texts and pay in the region of £45 per month for your services.


I have refrained from migrating to any other network as I believed that Vodafone was a fair and honest service provider with integrity and a sympathetic approach towards their customers. Subsequently, I am very disappointed in the way in which this matter has been handled and dependent on the outcome of these discussions and a prompt and satisfactory resolution of this matter, I feel that I may be forced to review my sue of your services.

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise.

I consider that your repeated representations that this charge is fair and reasonable are deceptive and that you have deceived me into agreeing to pay them.

I am writing to ask you to refund to me the additional charges which you have levied from my account since November of last year - I calculate that you have taken an additional £160.00 to date.

I was informed that the number xxxxx xxxxxx has been disconnected with immediate effect. If this has been done successfully, and with no additional charges being levied, I am prepared to accept the above mentioned refund in the form of vouchers and/or reduced charges over the following six months.

Subject to the above, if you reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment, I will not make any claim for compensation or interest whilst this money has been missing from my account.

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment. I believe that this is more than sufficient time for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments to deal with this matter.

If you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall be seeking further legal advice in connection with this matter and regarding any legal action that may be appropriate.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course.



Yours faithfully

Perhaps they could argue it was my fault for not checking my bills but I pay by DD and to be honest they weren't too over the top so just assumed I was using the phone too much. I've always found Vodafone to be very helpful and easy to deal with in the past, their attitude over this (or perhaps it was the woman I spoke to) has really left me with a lot less faith in them - they've had money for nothing for 9 months and wont even acknowledge it!

[buzby]

Well, as much as I like network bashing, they're really blameless in this. They didn;t follow your instructions, but then you had 9 months to notice that the DD was being taken and did nothing about it. You already abdicated responsibility for the bills by giving them a DD, so this means you have to be extra vigilant that only the payments you approve get through - yet you let nine of them pass without challenge!

At the very least it would have been advisable to ensure that your phoned at least went offline during the month after disconnection, so there's a second and non-bank related issue that would have alerted you not all was well. Thirdly, Vodafone did not acknowledge cessation of service, would this not have alerted you that if you hadn't heard from them, they might not have received your instructions?

With so many errors on your side, I can't see how Vodafone could usefully be held accountable for anything. If your tariff allowed for inclusive minutes, I would hope that Vodafone might rebate you at least some of these, but this would only be a goodwill gesture as they certainly aren't liable. The lesson is even if you only have a single DD being taken from your bank account, CHECK EACH STATEMENT as the only person you can realistically trust is yourself!

[litchfield]

Wow - today is the first time I've posted on this site - thanks for the friendly, sorry frosty, reception!? Think it will be my last.

They added the charges to my new number which is why I didn't notice it.

You'll have to just excuse my tardiness - some of us have things like 2 full time jobs, sick family members, dogs, horses, houses to run, etc, to keep us distracted from sly additions to phone bills or forgetting to notice we haven't had acknowledgement letters, or assuming that formal written notice of cancellation of a contract was correct practice seeing as thats all they said I had to do when I asked!

[buzby]

Sorry you feel that way - however there's no 'frostiness' and if I could have provided a more positive approach I would have, but if all you can do is make excuses, then you can't seriously expect much else when firms play fast and loose when consumers DO play by the rules?

But surely the issue was they were charging you at all, not just 'sly additions'? If you cancelled the contract, then after the final bill that would be it - no more payments. If the company didn't send you monthly bills telling you of what they were taking you could possible get a few of those refunded under the DD guarantee - but if they did and you ignored them, again - they've done nothing wrong. It might be easier (and cheaper) to avoid DDs and regain full control of your finances.

[litchfield]

Apology and full refund received on 5th August.

They added the charges to my new number/account, so it was not suspicious that they were taking money as the DD stayed in place for the number. I don't have time to manually process all my bill payments every month, DD makes my life much easier.

As for my 'excuses', think what you like but from where I'm standing they're pretty valid and actual reasons and in the main very important aspects of my life so I would thank you kindly not to dismiss things you don't know anything about.

[buzby]

Don't shoot the messenger. As for not having time to 'manually process' you bill payments - but that sounds like a continuing recipe for more angst in the months to come. Do you REALLY trust folk you don't know with your financial security?