Vodafone Default Removal

[gwarner]

Hi, new to this so please bear with me!...

My partner had a Vodafone account over 18 months ago now for quite a few years. He decided that he no longer wished to be with Vodafone as the upgrade options weren't very good. He sent a letter to cancel his contract within 30 days. After this he received 2 further bills from them, one of which he thought may have been a mix up as he had cancelled his contract with them. He continued to argue this for a while over numerous telephone conversations but each time they said that he did owe the money. They sent a letter out during this time, which he disputed again. He then received a letter from a debt agency demanding the money owed. (I havent checked whether this states it is a default notice) He paid the amount straight away, realising that his credit may be affected. The amount wasn't very big but he felt that Vodafone were trying to get money out of him that he didn't in fact owe. We both feel that Vodafone may of been in breach of contract under the data protection act, as he had ended his contract with them and should not have sent any further info relating to his account. The letters demanding the payment, were received long after the 30 days. I need some advice as to whether anyone feels this is the case or not and whether we should write a letter demanding the default notice and whether he should go to the Information Commissioners Office to hear their views on the situation.


I would be grateful for any advice.

Thanks

[buzby]

There will be no Data Protection Act issue, so the Information Commissioners Office will not be of much use. IF Vodafone trhink an account is overedue, they refer it for collection automatically, and the contract you have allowed them to do this.

A more pertinent issue is to find out if there has been an overpayment, and to get it back. From the end of the notice period, what further charges were added to the account? The 30 days notice normally refers to your actuall BIlling date, so in some cases it may be 45 days you're stuck with having to pay. Also remember calls are billed in ARREARS and it can take up to 60 days (especially for roamed calls or permium texts) to be applied and the account closed. If none of these were mentioned on your last bill, it is worth complaining.

[androobe]

I had a very similar issue with Voda over £37! Basically they claim they never received my letter giving a month's notice, even though I had recorded delivery proof that they did. It went on for months, passed to a debt collection agency (who were VERY persistant for the sake of £37!), in the end I got totally fed up and paid the bill to save the stress. A month or so later I checked and the default was still the same, I wrote to them and asked them to remove it, as the account was always in dispute so should never have been marked as defaulted. They declined but marked it as satisfied - thankfully I think mainly because it was such a small amount - it didn't stop me getting credit. Anyway, about 6 months later I got another credit report and the default had just disappeared! Don't know whether it was an error or whether they had a change of heart, but you may be lucky!