Good news. This has all been sorted out and the default notice has been removed. I got the confirmation e-mail on 17th January and the default was off my credit record immediately. Sorry I've not updated this sooner - I had intended to when I got home from work but seem to have forgotten to. Many thanks to Lee for sorting this out for me. It's good to know there is someone within Vodafone who can deal efficiently with those fiddly problems which fall down the cracks. Thanks as well to this forum - without finding the Vodafone threads on here I would never have found this solution, so many thanks for that.

For reference, I've now had an 'I'm on the case' e-mail from Lee:

Sorry, misunderstood the earlier message (and did wonder why the text of a generic e-mail would be of interest). The subject line in the reply from Vodafone is: Re: WRT135 Customer Action Group default thread [#5279919]

I sent an e-mail using the Vodafone website with the not-so-secret code in it, so hopefully I'll get a response sometime soon. Guessing it will take a few days with the Bank Holiday and the usual backlogs companies get at this time of year. Note: Links removed from the message as this site won't let me submit them as I'm a new user.

I'm glad I found this site as hopefully I'll finally be able to solve a problem I've been having with Vodafone their system is unable to cope with. Looking at the sticky suggests posting here and sending a link through the Vodafone website might be able to help me. In short, I'm contesting a default notice I have had placed on my account. I informed Vodafone I did not wish to continue the account and cancelled my direct debit when the contract ended, but have had a default notice added. Timewise, things occured like this. In November 2008 I bought a Mobile Broadband dongle off Vodafone's website, which I wished to use when I moved to a new address. In December 2008 I tried to use it, only to find it didn't really work. It took about 10 minutes to download the Google home page and was completely useful. Most sites didn't load at all. I tried this on two computers in my house, and my flatmate's 02 dongle, to fnd the Vodafone worked properly on neither whilst the 02 worked on both. I tried the dongle in another part of the country to make sure it wasn't a coverage issue, only to find it never worked properly there either. In December 2008 I contacted Vodafone within the 14 day web cancellation window. After 45 minutes on hold I gave up on trying to speak to someone and sent an e-mail explaining the situation and requesting to return it. This was met a couple of weeks later with an e-mail trying to sell me new packages rather than dealing with my request to cancel. At the end of December 2008 I telephoned Vodafone, only to have a customer service person try to sell me further products. When I pointed out the website stated a 14 day return policy, which I was within, there should be no question of whether I could return a product that wasn't working. I was told another department would have to get back to me, so gave my details but never heard back again. In early 2009 I had a personal problem with my back which required lots of rest and meant I had to prioritise what I was doing. Therefore, I decided to just give up on Vodafone, continue making the payment until my contract ended to avoid any more frustraitions from the customer service team. I did not use the product at all during 2009, despite meeting my payment each month. This was due to me honouring my part of the agreement, even if Vodafone did not honour their part by failing to provide the product described and failing to honour mylegitimate requests to cancel. In December 2009, as my 12-month contract had ended, I cancelled my direct debit and believed that as all I needed to do. I didn't contact customer services to check, given the earlier problems and frustriations in trying to cancel. I believed as my correspondence from Vodafone ended everything was fine. However, I later found a ton of letters at my old flat regarding an outstanding bill. I realised that the issue wasn't Vodafone failing to send any letters, but that my Royal Mail redirection had ended and I hadn't changed my address. Included in this mail was letters demanding instant payment or court action. I telephoned Vodafone at the earliest opportunity and found out that technically I hadn't cancelled so had to pay a month's rental, plus other costs. After your customer services department explained there was no way aroud it, I made a payment and was ensured all my dealings with Vodafone was over. I was not happy with being required to make a payment outside of the 12 month period, but was prepared to just to get rid of the problem. This payment seemed unfair given it was for failing to notify Vodafone I wished to cancel, when I had been doing that very thing a year earlier. This was approximately April/May 2010. However, I noticed a default notice was placed onto my credit record with Equifax. I wrote to Vodafone contesting this in June 2010, but never received a reply. I telephoned Vodafone about this in October 2010, being told it was difficult to find the correct person to speak to about a default notice and someone would call me back. They never. I telephoned Vodapfone three times in December 2010, being told on each occassion they were unable to find my account on their records. I provided my account number (the one displayed on Equifax and a solicitors letter) and my postcode but Vodafone were unable to identify my account. I was told there was nothing they could do to address the situation. Therefore, I'm hopeful this approach will work. I am contesting why a default notice has been placed on my account for three reasons. Firstly, I intended to cancel the agreement in December 2008 and was unable to due to Vodafone's inability to deal with my request. The account should have existed in December 2009/January 2010 to have been defaulted. Secondly, I dispute the fact the account was not cancelled with at least 30 days notice, whichwhy I was expected to make the payment which was defaulted. I actually give over 11 months notice since I had told Vodafone in December 2008 I wished to terminate the agreement. Thirdly, I undertook a 12 month contract with Vodafone for a service they did not provide. I made all 12 of my payments, despite not using the product for the final 11 months (something which should be confirmed by the monthly statements). I met the terms of the credit agreement despite the product not being as described. I feel providing a default notice on an account when I made the additional payment at the earliest possibility I knew about it is unjust. I am not contesting the money I have paid as I do not deny I could have complained earlier about the inability of Vodafone to cancel my account when requested. But I feel it is fair to appeal about the default notice being placed on my account, since I paid for a service I wasn't using during the lifetime of the contract. The problem would have been resolved had Vodafone held a customer services department which listened to me rather than tried to sell products and encourage me to avoid contacting them again. Therefore, I feel Vodafone are responsible for the reason the additional payment was needed, and therefore a default notice is unfair.