Vodaphone - Trying To Remove Default

[emanevs]

Hi

 

I am trying to get my defaults removed with vodaphone.

 

I made CCA request, and had a reply from vodaphone that the contract is not a reguluated product for the purposes of the CCA 1974. Vodaphone has said they are not obliged to send me the requested documenst requested. Furthermore, Vodaphone will not provide the documents I have asked for, nor are they bound by the timeframes that I have sent out.

 

I was thinking of making a SAR request, with a tenner. (do I have to do it for each mobile phone account??)

 

Anyone with any guidance or help as to how I get me default/deliquent balance removed would be most appreciated.

 

many thanks,

[WelshMam2009]

Phone contracts are not covered by CCA Emanevs.

 

What info are you hoping to obtain with the SAR and what grounds do you believe you have for removal of the default?

 

You only need to send off one SAR to Vodaphone, just ensure that you list all of the accounts/telephone nos.

[emanevs]

never had the default notice

[emanevs]

or was delinquent

[locutus]

I'm guessing you checked your credit report and there is adverse information from Vodafone? What information do you want from them?

 

If they've put incorrect data on your credit file, Try contacting them either via this forum http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/telecoms-mobile-fixed/213340-vodafone-webteam-customers-problems.html or follow their code of practice :-

 

 

This section of our Code of Practice sets out how to make a complaint and your rights to refer a dispute to an independent ombudsman.

If you’re not happy with our service and would like to make a complaint, please contact us first by calling 191 from your mobile, and one of our advisors will try to sort out the problem. Calls are free from a pay-monthly phone, or 25 pence per minute from a Pay as you go phone (this price is correct at the time of going to print). Or, you can call us from a landline on 08700 700 191 for contract customers, 08700 776 655 for Pay as you go customers – the call charge will be at the operator’s standard rate. You can write to us at:

Vodafone Ltd

Correspondence Management

Post Room, Balliol House

Banbury

Oxon OX17 3NS

You can also e-mail us from the website at www.vodafone.co.uk/contact.

If you’d like to talk to us face to face, you can visit any of our stores.

If you are still not satisfied, we’ll refer you to our team manager or customer services manager. Remember, if you use a service provider, you should contact them first.

If after eight weeks we still can’t sort the problem out for you, or if we have written to you explaining that we have reached deadlock, you can then refer the issue to Otelo (the ombudsman service) for independent resolution. They will provide a free, independent service to investigate your complaint, provided it falls within their terms of reference, though you must have gone through our own complaints procedure first before they can help you.

You can find out more on their website at www.otelo.org.uk or e-mail them at

[email protected]

or, you can write to them at:

Otelo

P O Box 730

Warrington WA4 6HL

Phone: 01925 430049 or 0845 050 1614

Fax: 01925 430059

Alternatively, your local Citizens’ Advice Bureau or trading standards office may be able to help – please contact them direct.

[buzby]

Your ONLY route to successful removal is based on accuracy - that the default did not occur, or was imposed on your account as part of an earlier error. If it is accurate that they placed your account in default for non payment, then it doesn't matter that they hadn;t notified you, as it wasn;t a CCA issue - which you would have discovered if you read this forum's 'sticky' on the matter.

 

A SAR is expensive at £10 and if it only tells you what you already know, is no solution to removal, only when you need to verify what they hold to challenge them.

[emanevs]

can you explain?, I have default on my credit file want removing

[Human Writes]

never had the default notice

 

As its not a credit agreement they are not legally obliged to provide you with a formal notice of default in the same way that a lender under the CCA would be.

 

Busby is correct, what are your grounds for seeking removal of the default?

 

If you genuinley didn't pay your bills, with no underlying cause other than you didn't want to or couldn't afford to Voda are well within their rights to default you and you've got very little chance of having the default removed.

[emanevs]

i included my outstanding bill in my iva. never had a default.

[locutus]

When you sign up to a mobile contract, you give them authority to record the payment history on your credit file. If the information is correct they are well within their rights to say you missed payments and were in "default" of your contracted agreement to pay them.

[Human Writes]

From what little know of IVA's don't they remain on your credit file for six years anyway...which is exactly the same as a default anyway.

 

Your best bet is to probably contact the person/company who arranged the IVA for you and ask their advice on the default.

 

I don't know whether the IVA restricts your creditors rights to update your credit file.

[emanevs]

why do mobile companies report this information to the CRA if its unregulated and not a credit agreement?

 

can they do this?

[buzby]

Yes - but only because you agreed that they could.

 

The use of the terminology is misleading insofar as its liknk with 'credit' is a misnomer for most. Initially these firms only recorded credit-based information, but expanded to include identity checks, electoral register tracking and of course risk assessment of consumers.

 

In return for their 'risk' in accepting you as a customer, the reference agencies tell the mobile network what your financial dealings have been for 6 years, but in retirn for this, the reference agencies ask the networks to tell them what you are like as a customer - do you pay up on time? This is why your contract explicity asks you to give permission for this data to be shared. You did do, and got the phone. Your dealings are now passed on until the contracts ends, and then remains until time barred.

 

You cannot remove it because you don't like what's there - you do this by opting out at the start, and many companies will then decide NOT to have you as a customer.

[emanevs]

what about the fact that I never received the default notice?

 

surely that matters?

[locutus]

It's not a financial "Default" but stating you "defaulted" on the contract. Basically if it's a true fact about how you ran the mobile contract they can put it onto your credit file.

[emanevs]

on my credit file, in january it said I defaulted, and in february I settled the account.

 

My understanding is that they cannot do this.

 

Under contract law, Normally when a default is issued the lender is required by law to send a pre-default warning letter. This gives the customer a final 30 days to pay up, and also explains exactly what a default is and how it might affect access to credit in the future.

clearly, I was late paying in january, but actually settled in February.

Any ideas on letter templates - am I correct???

[locutus]

As I said, it's not a financial "Default", it states you "defaulted" on the contract. In contract terms Default is defined as "The failure to live up to the terms of a contract." and you gave them the right to record this information.

[emanevs]

contract law??

[Powlo1]

What the guys are trying to tell you is; that they didn't lend you money, they provided you a service.

 

And that service came with a service agreement NOT a Credit Agreement, So it doesn't fall under the scope of what your reading about. In that service agreement you agreed to Vodafone sharing details of the contract your had with Credit reference agencies.

 

The default you are thinking of is the kind that you would get had you defaulted on a loan etc, because its a service agreement its a different kind. Basically one that says you didn't keep to the agreement, they DON'T have to give you any notice or warnings.

[emanevs]

i understand the service part, but the information is clearly incorrect.

 

Late paying in january, settled in february.

 

what can I do about that - nothing?

[buzby]

It's their rules. However it would show as a late payment, not a default - unless it was the end of a long line of similaar delays in the past and they decided to terminate the account by demanding it be paid up an closed. Only by clearing each and every bill by the due date ensures there is no adverse data recorded, and it has been like this since the start of reporting to the CRA's (mid-1980's).

 

As noted at the start - IF there's an error, you can challenge on accuracy - but not because you don't like it.

[spitfire650]

i understand the service part, but the information is clearly incorrect.

 

Late paying in january, settled in february.

 

what can I do about that - nothing?

 

If as you concede you were late paying in January that is a "default" of the contract terms under which you contracted to pay charges on a specific time scale. The fact that you paid the overdue charges in February does not undo the default, it simply clears the liability, and does not mean Vodafone has to remove the entry for January which is correct.

[buzby]

You mean paid in February? So there's a late flag for January? That'll be accurate. You can only challenge when the data is wrong. From what you say, it isn't. So the answer is 'No'.

[emanevs]

default issued in january (should have been marked as late!) paid up and settled on february.

[buzby]

If you were defaulted in January, then this will stay for 6 years. You might me able to argue that you should not have been, but as you hadn;t paid, this might be difficult to do. They could easily argue that the whole point of defaulting you was to make you pay up, which you did. BUT, this does not mean the default disappears, but it should show as settled.