Vodafone Incorrect Default *WON-out of court settlement*

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi philharg, I can understand your dissatisfaction with the level of service you've received in relation to this matter and would certainly like to assist you with getting this resolved. Having checked our emails I can confirm that I've got yours and so you can rest assured that I'll be getting back to you as soon as I can. Kind regards, Lee Web Relations Team Vodafone UK

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Just updating to let everyone know that the incorrect default was removed from my account today a whole 18 months since it went onto my account.

 

Thanks to Lee for helping to resolve this.

 

Will update again when offered compensation by Vodafone for damage to my ability to obtain credit!

 

Hi philharg,

 

Thanks for returning to the thread to provide an update on this.

 

As promised in my emails last week I'll come back to you again as soon as I have further news on the other aspects of your case.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

So a new update to this thread everyone....

 

Go to just re-check my credit report yesterday having recently had changes to my bank accounts and Vodafone have sprung a nice suprise by putting it back onto my impeccable credit report and low and behold my score has crashed again.

 

Yet again Vodafone showing their incompetance.

 

The case is not closed... it now continues with much anger.

 

philharg

 

Hi philharg,

 

Whilst I'm not sure what has happened here I'll get this flagged this morning and will reply to your email from yesterday as soon as I have an update.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

So to update everyone again... The incorrect default was removed from my account yesterday and my credit history was updated for the second time.Go back on today... low and behold it has returned with a file update date of 25/05/2010, back to a crashed credit score again. WONDERFUL!!!!!Just when im applying for a new rental property. Thanks Vodafone again

 

Hi philharg,

 

Just to update this thread.

 

As you're aware from my last emails we are investigating this in conjunction with the CRA.

 

Whilst I have no new information at the moment as soon as I do I'll come back to you again.

 

Thanks,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Just to update the thread the Vodafone Default is currently off my credit report again and hopefully never re-appears!

 

philharg

 

Hi philharg,

 

Thanks for updating me on the status of your credit file - it would seem that the problems which had been previously been experienced here have now been ironed out.

 

As previously stated I'll come back to you on the other aspects of your case as soon as I'm able to.

 

Best wishes,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

 

 

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Just to update:Was offered a goodwill gesture by Vodafone at the eleventh hour of the 8 week deadline yesterday which seriously under-values the cost of compensation I feel is due. Vodafone also offered no apology or no acceptance of fault in the matter.Have now emailed them back giving them 3 days to re-consider their goodwill gesture before I take the case to Otelo or pursue it through court myself.philharg

 

Hi philharg,

 

As per my email yesterday I'll be coming back to you by Tuesday next week in regard to this.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Sooo get a letter back today from Vodafone's privacy team with regards to my subject access request. Apparantly I didn't provide them with enough information even though I met everything on their form...

 

O Yeah... Except for the mobile phone number of course because their isn't one!!

 

Plus they added 4 days onto the apparant date they received my request, even though I have a royal mail recorded signed for delivery confirmation.

 

Now have to post them everything back again.

 

Hi philharg,

 

Further to my update last week you should now have received an email from me as promised.

 

Although I wasn't aware that you'd submitted a SAR I'm happy to liaise with our Privacy Team should there be any further problems with this. Just let me know if you'd like me to do this on your behalf.

I think I can safely say that once you have jumped through VFs hoops they still won't send you everything so be prepared for a slog.

 

My formal complaint was received by VF on 1/6 and they are still to acknowledge the complaint. The clock's ticking

 

Hi Silverfox,

 

Thanks for the update on this.

 

On the basis that it was received nearly two weeks ago I would've expected a reply to be received by now.

 

If you'd like me to follow up on this just let me know.

 

Kind regards to you both.

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Great stuff Silverfox - thanks for keeping me up to speed.

 

I look forward to hearing the latest developments in due course.

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi philharg and all,

 

Following receipt of your email from Saturday I'll consult with our Privacy and Legal Teams again and will come back to you as soon as I can.

 

In the meantime, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to comment any further on any disclosed specifics of this case but I would like to provide some clarity on a couple of points raised during the weekend.

 

I understand that Vodafone prefers its email to its customers to remain private but when that privacy is used to hide this kind of misinformation then I think that it is better for all of us if the material is put out in public.

 

If Vodafone believes that its best interests lie with the best interests of its customers then I expect that you will agree.

 

From time to time we may ask that specific details of a resolution not be disclosed so as not to potentially prejudice any other cases we handle. As you can appreciate, all cases are reviewed on their individual merits and so outcomes may differ from case to case.

 

This said, in the event that our conclusion isn't in the customer's favour we've never dissuaded any customer from seeking further advice should they remain unhappy and wish to pursue matters further.

Yes one part of the account history specifically says "DCA1 Default Notice DCA"

 

Do you know what the following codes mean then? "CTN, BAN, WAS, BDR, ADDACS, CDTN,"

 

Would be a great help for my de-coding

 

Whilst I raise the absence of a coding glossary I can confirm that Martin has correctly confirmed the meaning of CTN and BAN and I can confirm that although I'm not sure on the others ADDACS stands for Automated Direct Debit Amendment and Cancellation Service.

 

Also, I have to add that it is not the function of any customer representative to attempt to give legal advice to customers ...

 

I entirely agree. My remit here is to represent Vodafone and assist those we are experiencing difficulties with us as much as possible.

 

Like a lot of people who contribute to consumer forums most of what I know has been picked up through the experience of dealing with a wide variety of situations.

 

While I'm here I feel that it's important to clarify that my last email to philharg did follow consultation with our legal areas and is certainly not intended to come across as my own personal opinion.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

To respond in particular to your point about the legal advice which you present to the OP in this case. It is not Vodafone's place to offer legal advice either. I cannot accept that Vodafone does not have a conflict of interest when it comes to trying to deal with errors which have been caused by Vodafone. If your advice was really after consultation with your legal department then I can only say that whoever gave you the advice is not operating according to professional standards and that the advice was calculated to persuade your customer to give up his complaint and to allow Vodafone to get off lightly. Why Vodafone employees at any level feel that they are doing their company a favour by saving them an insignificant sum of money really beats me.

 

As for not disclosing settlement discussions, I'm sorry but I don't see that anyone can possibly suffer by open, honest discussion - anyone other than Vodafone, or course. It is in Vodafone's interest that no one else sees what other people are getting when Vodafone does a bad job. This is effectively depriving people of market information and it is not acceptable.

We will always encourage people to disclose everything that is going on in the background to us. One thing that you can be certain is that the CAG has your interests at heart and it is the sharing of information which gives you as part of a consumer community the power to deal with the Vodafones and other of this world.

The suppression of information seems not to be limited to Vodafone. I have noticed in it Libya and Syria as well.

 

If Vodafone wants to re-assess whether they want a rep on this forum, that is up to them. However if they withdrew their web-rep, I think that we could all take it as evidence of bad faith.

 

Finally, Vodafone's internal filing and communication structure worries me. We are getting quite a few instances of people reporting that Vodafone is failing to keep proper records and improper or abusive use of the Credit Reference Agencies.

Another example as just cropped up here: - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?310006-VODAFONE-Account-settled-according-to-agent-now-debt-collection-agency-sent-out

 

I expect that there are lots more that never get here at all. I think that Vodafone should have a serious look at the way that it handles people's accounts and how it handles people's data in relation to the CRAs.

Also, I think that Vodafone has a serious structural problem as to how it listens to problems which are reported to it by its customers. It seems to me that Vodafone suffers from a culture of suspicion and disbelief. This really needs to be addressed. I am sure that Vodafone has the resources to do this but do they have the will?

 

In the meantime, Lee, I can tell you that we will be suggesting to the OP that he gives you a very short time to make a sensible settlement failing which the matter is likely to be put before a County Court.

 

Hi BankFodder,

 

I feel that there's been a misunderstanding in regard to the context of my email of 13th June 2011. Rather than actual advice my email to philharg was in reply to his email of 9th June 2011 at 09:26 and was intended to set out our position in regard to his claim.

 

I appreciate that there is disagreement over our proposal, and the case overall, but we do of course remain in dialogue with philharg in order to attempt to agree upon a satisfactory conclusion.

 

In regard to my comments on Monday concerning the non-disclosure of specific details of agreed resolutions I would like to clarify that I can only recall one case where we asked the customer to only confirm that a resolution had been agreed upon and that they were happy with this. In this instance we took a discretionary decision on a goodwill gesture basis in order to assist a customer with a difficult matter which involved another party.

 

It's also worth noting that the case I recall was completely unrelated to debt recovery or credit file reporting matters and I can confirm that there had been no wrong doing on our part.

 

Additionally, I would say that we have never asked a customer to not update their thread on the progress being made with their case. In fact, I wish more would take the time to do this as I know many cases have either been resolved or are in progress without updates having been provided. In addition, we have never asked that our email contact with customers remain private - if a customer wishes to disclose contact they've had with us then this would be at their discretion.

 

In terms of our internal processes I would point out that where I see instances where these have failed, and these are very few, these are raised with the relevant areas for further review. From what has been posted about the case you've linked to it would appear that human error has occurred there rather than an actual process breakdown; however, I'll reply in that thread later this afternoon as well as hopefully getting the opportunity to take a look at what has happened before going back to the customer.

 

On the topic of our presence on CAG we have always sought to be as helpful as possible and hopefully you'll agree that many of your members have benefited from our involvement with their cases and have been happy with the outcomes reached and I sincerely hope that this continues to be the case in the future.

For the sake of keeping everything transparent and recorded for all those who could require help in a similar situation:

 

"Dear Sir,

 

This letter is firstly to again address the £100 goodwill gesture offer from Vodafone which I received via Lee from your web relations team. As already stated via emailI am writing to formally reject this offer of £100. I do not feel it does my case any justice and is an incredibly insulting offer given the damage, stress, time and money your inaccuracies have caused me for the past 20 months.

 

Via email I had previously suggested a figure of £500 may have been adequate to cover damages caused. In light of recent evidence I no longer feel this is actually adequate to cover the loss and damage caused to my good name. I will be coming back to you shortly when I have a better picture of the situation. A full review of all information contained in the SAR and further information which I am still awaiting is needed first.

 

In the meantime I would like to know what steps Vodafone is proposing to completely clean up my credit file. I require you to address ;

 

1. In particular the credit search by O2 which produced a rejected application. This was caused completely by the negligence of Vodafone. Had Vodafone not processed an untrue and unauthorised personal data file onto my credit file this rejected application would not have occurred. How do you propose to correct this inaccuracy as it may well have a negative effect on my future credit applications.

2. I would also like to know what action you have taken to ensure that all data held about me by your debt collection agencies has been destroyed? I could not see any communication with these agencies in particular “Arvato Agency” post the removal of the airtime balance due from my account in the SAR information. If no action has been taken then why not? If not when do you propose to do so? This also applies to my parents XXXX address which became registered with the Arvato Agency.

3. If Vodafone do not take satisfactory action undo every trace of the damage caused to my credit history then I will have no other option than to ask a court to order it and also compensate myself.

4. I will also be requiring a certificate of destruction from your data controller and from the data controller of every organisation which you have unlawfully involved. This includes O2 and Arvato Agency.

 

I require a specific answer to all of the above questions raised within 7 days of delivery of this letter.

 

I look forward to your proposals and evidence.

 

Yours sincerely"

 

Hi philharg,

 

Thanks for updating us on the correspondence you've sent.

 

You can be sure that I'll get points one to four addressed and get back to you as soon as possible.

 

Kind regards to you both.

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi philharg,

 

Apologies for the delay with getting back to you.

 

I can confirm that we have replied to your previous letter which you will receive through the post shortly.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi philharg,

 

Although I'm not in the office next week I've flagged this with my colleagues so that it gets picked up and dealt with as soon as possible.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

 

 

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi philharg,

 

Thanks for updating your thread to confirm that you've received our reply of 7th July.

 

In regard to my letter of 30th June I can confirm that I posted a copy to you yesterday afternoon.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi philharg,

 

Whilst I appreciate your continued feelings and dissatisfaction over this I'm afraid there's no further information we can provide here.

 

Hopefully, the information you'll receive in reply to your SAR to Experian will include further details and/or an explanation in regard to how the default reappeared on the two occasions after we initially removed it.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK