Unable to get a mortgage due to a Vodafone default i wasnt aware I had

[Lucyboo]

Today, after finding the perfect house my partner and I had always dreamed about bringing up a family in I found myself in the awful position of not being allowed to apply for a mortgage as I painfully discovered that Vodafone had put a default on my credit score making me ineligible to apply for a money loan.

 

 

I had been a loyal customer with Vodafone for many years and always paid my bill on time via direct debit. I decided a few months ago to change my mobile provider to match that of my partner to save on our bills, I phoned Vodafone to cancel my contract with them and was advised that I should cancel my direct debit payments on an agreed date, which I did and thought my account was now settled.

 

 

Now I wasn’t even aware that I still owed Vodafone money but apparently after I phoned their customer support to discuss why they had defaulted me, I was told that I owed them £16. I paid them immediately over the phone and asked for them to remove the default from my credit score and they told me there was nothing they could do about it and that it would stay with me for the next 6 years!

 

 

Apparently they sent me three letters to chase me for the £16 but I never received them! Why oh why did they not even bother to call me on my mobile as I kept the same number which they recorded down when they closed my account!

 

 

If I had known I still owed them money I would have paid them at the time, now my life has been ruined because of this poor communication by Vodaphone, this is completely unacceptable, unjust and has caused my partner and I a great deal of stress.

 

 

I have literally been brought to tears by Vodaphone.

[locutus]

1st 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 at [email protected] quoting ‘WRT135 – CAG Forum’ in the subject line to ensure that it reaches the Web Relations Team.

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.

 

You are not the only person to have this exact same thing happen, and I think it is disgusting behavior by vodafone. Lee is the only positive thing I can say about vodafone. If you follow the advice that I quoted, I'm sure Lee will get on the case.

[dx100uk]

i'm sure lee will be able to resolve this silly matter of £16 scuppering a happy future.

 

can i suggest you do the following:

 

....................

 

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 at [email protected] quoting ‘WRT135 – CAG Forum’ in the subject line.

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.

Many thanks

 

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK.

 

 

 

................

 

reposted by dx

 

dx

[Lucyboo]

Personal info post deleted

Edited May 4, 2012 by Lucyboo

[Lucyboo]

Hi guys, thankyou so much for taking the time to read and reply to my post, it realy means a lot. I have contacted Lee as advised above and am awaiting a reply. Heres what I emailed about my situation:

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

VODAFONE CUSTOMER REF NUMBER: XXXXXXXXX

 

I am writing in hope that you may be able to assist me with the removal of aDefault on my pre-existing Vodafone Account. The account was defaulted inJanuary 2012, but I was only ever made aware that any payment wasoverdue/defaulted on the 23rd April when I accessed my Experian Credit report.I immediately contacted Vodafone to settle the balance and discuss my case.

It appears the payment had been due since summer 2011 however because I hadmoved house I never did receive any bill or any notice to default. I had up untilthat point always paid my bills on time via direct debit.

Vodafone only have my previous address details of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I believe this situation arose because I had two phone contracts with Vodafone,one for myself and one for my ex-partner. My main phone contract (numberXXXXXXX- which had moved over to my new provider virgin) ended with vodafone in2010, however my second mobile contract was due to expire in the summer 2011(after its 24 month contract had run its course). I had separated from myex-partner at the beginning of 2010 and so I no longer required the secondmobile so I contacted Vodafone during the summer 2010 to arrange for them toreduce the monthly contract tariff down to the minimal as the phone/sim was notin use any longer but I understood I had to keep paying the direct debitpayments until the 24 month contract had completed. I asked vodafone to informme of the date when this contract would be due to expire and for them to put anote on my account for the account to be closed on this date, Vodafone informedme that my contract would expire on the 20th July and that I was to call backat this time to ask for account closure.

 

In February 2011 I moved address to my current address at XXXXXXXXXXXXXX and asfar as I was aware my vodafone account for this contract was just going to endand expire in July 2011 when I was to call them to close the account andarrange cancelling of the direct debits. I can only assume that because I nolonger classed vodafone as my mobile providers as my personal mobile contractwas now with Virgin, and the phone/sim I had with vodafone was no longer used,I did not think to inform them immediately of my change of address. However;vodafone did still have my mobile number and email contact details at thispoint.

 

On 20th July 2011 I called vodafone to I discuss what date I should cancel thedirect debit payment to vodafone to ensure that I didn’t miss any payments andensure that vodafone did not continue to take payments from my account.Vodafone informed me to close down my direct debits on the 20th August and so Iput a note to this effect in my diary.

 

As instructed during the telephone conversation I cancelled my vodafone directdebit on the 20th August 2011 and as far as I was aware both of my vodafoneaccounts were now closed with no outstanding balance.

 

Myself and my Fiancé are genuine hard working people, who always pay our billson time and have never missed a payment or defaulted on any loan/credit orstore card in our lives. We have been looking into buying a home together now,as we are to marry in December, and we are hoping to start trying for a familyearly next year as I have a medical condition which doctors have warned megreatly increase my risk of suffering form premature menopause and fertilitycomplications. We are trying to be good responsible people and own our own homebefore starting a family. We have found a house we have fallen in love with andwe have had an offer accepted, we then spoke with a mortgage adviser whoadvised us to just check our credit score history on experian although we didntforesee any issues we thought we would just check.

 

To my horror when I checked my report it showed a Default vodafone had loggedin January 2012 after chasing me for a £16.00 payment for some period after thedate the direct debit was closed down. It was only on this date the 23rd Aprilthat I was ever aware that I owed vodafone any money or that it was going todefault. I f I had ever been aware I had owed any money I would have paid it immediatelyas I did every other bill. As soon as I was aware of the default payment Icalled vodaone and settled the bill.

 

What I assume happened is that vodafone sent out the debt letters to myprevious address and so I never did receive them even though i gave my oldlandlords a forwarding address for any mail in order to prevent any mail beingmissed.

 

I have always paid all my bills on time or in advance all my life, havingseveral credit and store cards .I have had excellent credit until this defaultand now this default it is now stopping us form being accepted for a mortgage,which we are desperate to get sorted so that we can start trying for ourfamily.

 

I completely accept that it was my error not to forward vodafone my new address,but in the chaos of the move and me starting a new job it was an honest sincereerror that got overlooked, I am truly sorry for this. When I called them on the20th July we only discussed what date I should close the direct debit down, wedid not discuss my address (as at this time I would have been at my new currentaddress), I can only assume that I was thinking i had already informed them ofthe address change at the same time as i wrote to all my othercontacts/providers when we moved in February.

 

I pray from my heart that vodafone may be able to assess this case as anindividual, taking into consideration the fact that I was a loyal and reliablecustomer for many years, and taking into consideration that this small £16.00payment may have a huge impact on our future as if we are not able to get ahomeof our own, we may not be able to have children for many years, at which pointI may no longer be able to have children.

 

I urge you to review this case carefully, as when cancelling my direct debitpayment I only acted on the instruction of vodafone, cancelling it on theinstructed date, also they were aware that I had my main mobile numbertransferred across to my new virgin contract and they could have contacted meat any point on this number, thirdly they also had my email contact throughout.

 

Kind Regards

[2Grumpy]

I would be more inclined to put my faith in the vodaphone rep here than that letter that any cs person won't bother reading past the second paragraph. (See posts 2 & 3)

 

In any event, you followed vodaphone instructions regarding termination and stopping the direct debit so clearly they have screwed you over and should put the credit record right before you lose the house and you sue them for a mast or few

[2Grumpy]

Hi guys, thankyou so much for taking the time to read and reply to my post, it realy means a lot. I have contacted Lee as advised above and am awaiting a reply. Heres what I emailed about my situation:

 

 

You need to post the reference number here for Lee to be able to look for your message

[locutus]

Lee will find this. If Lucyboo returns before lee, post your reference number here and it will help speed Lee up.

[Lucyboo]

Thankyou again for continuing to post on this thread.

My Reference Number is : 2XXXXXXXX

[Lucyboo]

The reason I posted the letter on here was incase Lee saw this site thread prior to my email reaching him.

[locutus]

Sorry, I was not clear, when you sent the email, you get an automated reply. This has a 7 digit reference number. If you could post that here Lee can track down your email and get to work from that point.

[silverfox1961]

Hi

Again we see this. It cannot be that you did get the default letter Vodafone allege they send out otherwise you would have paid this pitiful amount.

 

I contacted the Information Commissioner over this particular issue and this is their response

 

However, where the amount owed is relatively small and the lender has not taken steps to inform the individual that there was still an outstanding amount owed (i.e. the individual is likely to have immediately paid the debt had they been made aware of it), it is arguable that the default is unfair, as it does not accurately reflect the individual’s credit worthiness.

 

In this case it is obviously not a lender but the principle is the same.

 

Vodafone should remove the default immediately

[locutus]

SF can you edit post 9 and remove Lucyboo's account number? (I assume that is what it is, as the automated reference numbers are 7 digits)

 

Lucyboo, I'm only requesting this because this thread is available for the world to see, and with identity theft being such a nasty crime to deal with, this website errs on the side of caution.

[silverfox1961]

It didn't look like a web response number which is why it is wise to remove for now.

 

If it transpires that the number you placed IS the automated reference number, I'll put it back

[Lucyboo]

Hi there,

Apologies I am very new to all this, heres the accurate refrence number. I have had a lady called Heidi reply. Should I specifically ask for Lee?

 

[#8979773]

 

Thanks

 

Lu

[silverfox1961]

Ignore all correspondence from their 'customer services' and wait for Lee to see this. He does come on regularly (not here ATM) so it may be sooner rather than later

[Lucyboo]

Thankyou so much, its realy help lift my spirits that I there may be hope to get this resolved if we keep this thread live so Lee will see it

 

 

Waiting, ever hopeful...

 

Lu

[silverfox1961]

If I am right, Lee does a search for Vodafone issues. This shows new threads that he hasn't replied to so here's hoping.

[Durkin]

Lee will probably sort this for you.

 

Why not claim £5K in the small claims court though?

 

Quote Durkin v DSG & HFC (General loss of credit).

 

You should also ask the court to force the removal of the default.

 

Lee is quick, but sometimes his colleagues drag things out and the court might just beat him to it and award £5K!

 

Process is quite simple. It should take about a month unless Vodafone defend (maliciously drag it out).

 

Let your MP know about this. Vodafone aren't learning from their mistakes.

 

Good luck.

[locutus]

In a race I would expect Lee to win, and as there is a dream house on the line, my opinion is Lee is the best option.

 

Any other supplier and I'd suggest that route.

[Lucyboo]

Im worried that because Heidi from the Vodafone Web Relations team has picked up and replied to my email, that this case may not be passed onto Lee? What do you guys think? Im crossing all my fingers and toes that Lee sees the thread soon so action can be taken as every hour that passes we are at increased risk of loosing the house.....and I cant bear think of that right now

 

Thankyou again to each and every one of your replies.....im so so grateful

 

Lu

[locutus]

I believe Heidi has been on these boards before, and is probably getting the ball rolling to correct this for you ASAP

[Lucyboo]

Phew! Thats a glimmer of hope Thankyou

[Lucyboo]

Still waiting and hoping to hear from Lee or Heidi soon, realy dont want to keep the estate agents and current house owners waiting too long but we cant move forward with anything until we get this sorted. Feeling so disheartened this evening as we know going into a Bank Holiday weekend that its likely to be three or four days before we can move forward with this . It is causing a huge amount of stress but we are trying to stay calm and strong.

 

Everyone posting on here is being a huge comfort, so thankyou again.

[Lucyboo]

Re: FW: WRT135 – CAG Heidi [#8975971]