Vodafone misunderstanding ruining my life!!

[xx-miss-limber-xx]

After reading so many posts that people have shared, I hope someone can help me with my Vodafone default problems. Any help or advice anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated

 

It all started when I took out an 18 month contract with Vodafone and got a Blackberry phone with 900 mins and unlimited texts. However coming to the end of my contract (after about 16 months of having it) I broke the blackberry and rather than getting it fixed (as I wanted to get an Iphone when the contract ended in 2 months) I took out a new contract and had two running for the last 2 months of the vodafone contract. I have always paid on time and never defaulted even a day overdue as I paid by direct debit and never worried about missing a payment.

 

I recieved phone bills from Vodafone, but as they came straight out of my bank on pay day I never opened the statements as I was always under my mins/texts and it was always £45 a month. I wasnt using the phone/any mins or texts for the last 2 months of the contract and I just left the simcard in a pot on my desk. After the two months had finished I assumed the contract terminated and I just had one contract. However I recieved a phone call from a company claiming to be a debt collection agency who wanted my bank account details to set up a payment plan. I thought they were a [problem] company and told them to go away.

 

Then they started ringing every day so I contacted Vodafone to ask them if they knew who this company was and if they had other customers being called trying to be scammed. But Vodafone advised me that they had been issuing me with default notices for months (during my contract) as it hadnt been paid for the last 5 months of the contract. I thought this couldnt be right, so I got in touch with my bank and when studying my statements I discovered that Vodafone was right and the bill hadnt been coming out by direct debit as I thought it had been, and for some reason the direct debit had been stopped after 13 months of being paid without any problems?!

 

Because Vodafone had passed the debt on (after I hadnt responded to the letters that I hadnt opened as I thought they were bills that would be paid by direct debit) I couldnt pay Vodafone and was advised that I had to go through the debt collection company. So I rang threm up and as I couldnt afford to pay the 5 months of bills unpaid and the charges that were put on top, I set up a payment plan for 3 payments of £90 over 3 months until the debt was paid.

 

I know I am at fault for not opening the letters, but I really had no reason to think that the payments wernt coming straight out of the bank on pay day as they had been for 13 months perfectly. The bank advise me that it wasnt them that cancelled the direct debit and that it could only be Vodafone who cancelled it, but Vodafone do not accept this. I am paying off the debt by direct debit to the collection agency who contacted me on behalf of Vodafone. I am just worried as I want to apply for a mortgage soon and I have a big red DEFAULT 8 on my credit file from Vodafone which will affect me being able to get a mortgage.

 

I am told by the debt collection agency that the default will be removed once I have paid in full but I dont think this is the case as the credit file says it is kept for 6 years paid or not.

 

Does anyone think that it would be worth asking Vodafone to remove the default early once the amount has been paid in full? I have never ever missed a payment for anything else and as soon as I found out I owed this money I set up a payment plan straight away. I dont want a silly mistake to ruin my chances of owning a home

 

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.

 

Katie

[citizenB]

Hello Miss Limber,

 

Have flagged your query for site team. I think there is also a Vodaphone rep on the forums who has been exceptionally helpful and knowledgeable.. I will try and contact him for you, see if he can answer your query.

[xx-miss-limber-xx]

Thank you so much citizenB. Im at melt down point now I appreciate any advice/help so much.

[citizenB]

No problem, I am sure someone will pop in as soon as they can.

[locutus]

Hi

CAG

members,

 

We thought it would be nice to introduce ourselves and to assure you all that our presence on

CAG

is with the very best of intentions.

vodafone

UK has recently introduced a dedicated Web Relations Team which is keen to seek out customers who’re having difficulties with their accounts and feel that they have no other place to turn to than CAG and other consumer forums and blogs.

Naturally, it’s not possible for us to help directly with account specific queries on CAG and as such we would encourage those members who feel we can help them to contact us privately and securely using the ‘Contact us’ form on the Vodafone website with your account details.

https://help.vodafone.co.uk/system/s...PARTITION_ID=1

 

When emailing us we would also ask that you either provide us with a link to your post or thread – if you’ve posted in another member’s thread please also provide your CAG username so that we can check what your query is – and state the code WRT135 within the body of your email to make sure it comes through to us.As soon as we’ve received your email we’ll endeavour to get back to you as quickly as possible.

 

Many thanks

 

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

.

CAG members contacting us, add the code WRT135 in the subject line in order ensure that email gets routed into our queue.

 

Follow that advice, update your thread with the reference you recieve and the webteam will take a look ASAP I'm sure

[MARTIN3030]

Welcome to the site.

Lets look at whats happened and try to give some opinion.

Its unlikely that Vodafone cancelled the DD mandate-it would not have been in their interest to do that.

If we assume that the bank did it,then there is still a question as to why you did not notice that payments were not being taken ?

Its also unusual that Vodafone did not contact you by phone to ask why these payments had stopped.

So even if the bank did stop the direct debits,its reasonable to assume that over such a long period in which no payments were taken that you should have noticed.

You say that you did not open the letters,which may have alerted the situation to you early on,obviously no one can be blamed for that but yourself.

Looks like the account was passed for collection after repeated attempts were made to discover why payments had stopped without any response from you.

If the bank IS responsible for this,then you need to get some evidence,I would suggest a Subject Access Request and be asking for activity screenshots and logs from the periods in question.

Which bank is it just out of interest ?

The immediate issues are the repayments,can you say what the original arrears were,and how much has been added in charges ?

How have you been corresponding with the debt collector-have you got things in writing ?

Your offers and intent to clear these arrears by way of a structured repayment plan demonstrate that you have co operated and are not avoiding the debt.

The Vodafone webteam will no doubt advise and deal with your issues reported here.

Look in the stickied threads at the top of the forum to start a complaint via the links there.

[MARTIN3030]

Can you say who is showing as updating your credit file also ?

This will show as the ones you need to contact if you have a querie there.

[xx-miss-limber-xx]

Hi Martin3030,

 

Thank you for your reply Il try and answer your questions the best I can...

 

I agree it is unlikely that Vodafone cancelled the direct debit, but I have challenged the bank and they are adament that they had no part in cancelling the direct debit. What can I do

 

I didnt notice the payments wernt being taken because the direct debit always came out on pay day. I chose that day as the payment day so I would never see the money to spend it before the bill came out. It had worked perfectly for over a year, I had no reason to assume it wasnt working.

 

Vodafone didnt contact me by phone. Im not sure if they have my home number, and as I said I broke the blackberry so for the last 2 months of the contract they wouldnt have been able to contact me on that number if they did try?

 

It is reasonable to assume that normally someone should notice that money isnt being debited from their account, but my personal circumstances meant that I honestly didnt notice that it wasnt being paid. If im honest I dont open bank statements either as I have a well paid job and if I need to transfer money eg. to savings account, I do it online. £45 not being taken from a large salary I honestly did not notice. One thing that this whole experience has taught me is to open letters!!

 

I know I cannot blame anyone but myself for not opening the letters, im not trying to blame anyone else I accept full responsibility, it was my mistake.

 

I bank with Natwest. Nothing like this has ever happened before, I have multiple direct debits coming out of my account and no other problems have arisen.

 

Vodafone have advised that 5 months of the 18 month contract were unpaid. (£45 a month) which means I would owe £225. However with charges added by vodafone/debt collection company the total is £280 which I am paying in 3 installments of just over £90. I am not arguing about the charges, I accept the additional money that I need to pay due to my own error. Its just the default on my credit file I am worrying about as I am applying for a mortgage within the next year and this being the only bad note on my credit file it has dragged my credit score right down

 

I recieved no letters from the debt collection company hence me thinking that the debt collector was a sc@m after the first phone call. But once I realised what had happened and I had liased with them by phone I requested a letter stating the amount etc to be sent to me which they did and I rang back to set up a direct debit with them.

 

Thank you for your help. Just knowing that there are people willing to advise me and help me is a massive relief.

[MARTIN3030]

Ok understood.

I think that you should put something in writing to Natwest,asking them to confirm to you in writing that they were not any party to the direct debits being cancelled,nor are they able to offer any explanation as to how it happened,who DID cancel,and on what dates.

I do not believe their systems are incapable of retrieving this information.

Once you have this response we can take it from there.

I think equally you should demand the same understaking from Vodafone.

The reasons for these 2 requests are that you can then have a case to demonstrate that you were denied the chance to make the repayments as agreed contractually,and as due.

This is clearly a breach of duty of care,and would also be something maybe could be challenged under the banks lending codes.

Being able to prove this was not your fault is materially important to any decisions that will need to be taken later,in respect of your credit reporting.

If it can be proved that Natwest were to blame for the mandate being stopped then I think there is a cause of action,although any recompense will have to take into account your ignoring of letters.

Others I am sure will add their thoughts,but in the first instance I think the immediate needs are for the Webteam to be looking at things and liase with you.

[MARTIN3030]

One more thing-I suggest that you contact the CRA and request that you are allowed to add a notice of correction to the adverse entries.

You are within your rights to do this.

I suggest something like;

"The subject is awaiting response from the above,and believes that the circumstances surrounding the lead up to default are highly questionable"

 

Now the CRA wont like this-but it is your right and costs nothing-it will show potential lenders that there is a dispute.

[JO1010]

hey just had a read through your post and am a little bit confused:|

 

You say you have a rather high salary and dont notice payments leaving your account!

 

You the say that you could not afford to pay the debt collection agency £280 in 1 go so you agreed £90 a month for 3 month

 

Do people with large salaries not save so that you have cash for a rainy day as they say!

 

Not that i am a major fan of vodafone but in there defence you didnt pay so they defaulted you and know you want a mortgage you action all this.

 

How long ago did the 18 month contract end?

When did you access your credit file and see this default?

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi Katie,

 

It's good to see that you've had some assistance overnight while I've been away.

 

Although I can understand your concerns I'm afraid that without accessing the account in question it's difficult to determine what has happened here.

 

In order for me to take a closer look at this could you follow the advice which locutus posted yesterday evening to send your details across via email?

 

Once sent you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. So I can make sure it reaches us could you update the thread with this and I'll come back to you as quickly as possible?

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK