Vodafone Error in my favour? I think not

[Woofalong]

Hi All - So here's my story... Pretty sure I have a legal case but please add any additional info you may all have?

 

I am on a 2 year contract with Vodafone and generally very happy. Unfortunately I don't really get on well with my phone and decided to order an Iphone 4s. I did this on the 15th October and paid £599.99 for it.

 

However, 2 days later I get a text saying my bill is out and I have been credited £579 (£599.99 - Monthly bill). So I phoned up customer services confirming this is a mistake and to get it rectified. I explained to her that I bought the phone on one card and that for some reason they have refunded my direct debit account with Vodafone. However she said that this was not a mistake and the refund had been added intentionally. I confirmed with her this several times and she confirmed that essentially they have given the phone to me for free. I couldn't believe my ears and being the skeptic that I am I asked her if this could possibly be reversed in the future? I.e. they could suddenly decide they didn't want me to have this free phone. She categorically said 'no' and told me that I was very lucky indeed to get a new phone like that for free.

 

I went away and thought that it wasn't entirely impossible - In the past my phone broke and instead of repairing it they just gave me a brand spanking new phone which was top of the range. Several times this has happened etc. Add to this good timing as the mechanic came to fix my car and instead of the £80 job i anticipated - it has turned out to be £500+. Luckily I now knew I could pay this due to Vodafones generosity.

 

I phoned up again in the morning to get this in writing just in case there were any issues earlier down the line and after 20 minutes of talking and being put on hold the guy on the phone tells me that it was a mistake and they would be taking the £600 out of my account next month. I explained to him that the girl had confirmed several times that this was a free phone and that there was no possible way I would be charged for it. No joy as he simply said she had given me the wrong info - and he has started an internal investigation to find out how this happened.

 

From the point of the law - I'm hoping that a verbal (recorded) conversation with this representative will offer me legal support that she confirmed there was no possible way I would be charged in the future. I wouldn't contest it had I not just spend 500 quid on the car and don't have enough money to cover the phone too. I do appreciate that this was an error, but it is an error they made which is going to make life very difficult for me over the next few months as I would have not given the go-ahead to fix the car if I had known this bill was going to come through.

 

Any ideas?

Edited October 18, 2011 by Woofalong

[locutus]

You say "recorded"... did you record the call?

 

I personally don't know if you can hold this as binding, but I would expect Vodafone to at least change the billing date or spread the cost of this in acknowledgment of their error.

 

Follow this advice

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.

 

and let the webteam look at this. See if they can offer some assistance.

[Woofalong]

Thanks for the reply

 

The guy I spoke to referred to recordings of the conversations I had and said that he will speak to his supervisor who has access to them so I think they must have.

 

With regards to what she said being binding... From my point of view, and from friends/family in law - she was acting as a paid representative of Vodafone giving me advice/looking after my account. Therefore, she is representing the company etc meaning what she said is technically legally binding as I asked her outright is there any way I could be charged for this in the future.

 

The consensus at home is that I don't legally have to pay a dime for this phone now since that phone call but I thought it would be useful to get advice from here before I put up any official legal challenges.

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi Woofalong,

 

Thanks for your time on the phone yesterday.

 

As discussed, I'll get this investigated further and as soon as I have an update I'll get back in touch with you.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK