Vodafone duplicate payments

[billy_79]

I have a business account (not sure if that affects things) with Vodafone, monthly rolling contract paid by monthly DD. In May I ordered some new PAYG handsets from via their web shop. I paid for the order by VISA business debit card, phones arrived, everything good (except that they hadn't provided a VAT receipt that I required, but I've since managed to extract that from them).

 

However, my next monthly direct debit payment also included the cost of the handsets, and then I found it shown as an outstanding amount on my latest bill. I phoned them and explained the situation, they said they couldn't find a record of the debit card payment (but admitted it was not possible to order on the website without cleared payment), and that it must have gone into one of their 'other' bank accounts.

 

I was advised to request a DD indemnity claim to recover the payment back into my bank account, which is what I did. Then I start getting letters from Vodafone about being in arrears, I have discussed this with them dozens of times by telephone and email (even emailing the CEO, fat lot of help that did). All they say is that they have no record of the payment and that I have to provide proof by sending them a copy of my bank statement. I've sent it to them 3 times, but they say that they haven't received it.

 

They blocked my numbers from outgoing calls last month, and I kicked off at them, they agreed to unblock them while they investigated (it'll take 10 days to locate the payment apparently), but I never heard back from them. I got in touch to request an update and they just requested my bank statement again.

 

Today I found that my numbers had been totally disconnected (number not in use). I phoned them (from another number), and it took them 30 minutes to even locate my account as it had been closed down! Their best suggestion was that I take my bank statement into a Vodafone shop and they could phone customer services to confirm that I had paid in the first place. My nearest Vodafone shop is a good hours drive away though.

 

In the end I've had to pay them (over the phone) again to get my account reactivated, my business is totally dependent on these numbers. I have now contacted my bank to request a charge back on the original payment, and I'm waiting for their response (Vodafone recommended all along that I didn't do this, but to wait for them to locate the payment instead).

 

Is a chargeback request likely to get me anywhere? Firstly, there appears to be 120 day limit, and the transaction is 126 days ago, but it's less time since I first found out about the problem. Do charge backs work the same with business debit cards as consumers? A charge back will require Vodafone's agreement, although since they say they can't find the transaction, I don't see how they can disagree!

 

This has cost me hours (probably days) of my time chasing, I've been disconnected twice, and lost my primary business comms, no idea if I've missed/lost orders because of it, but potentially. Now they want me to spend half a day visiting one of their shops to resolve their cock up. I issued them a notice before action on 29th July, can I just start a small claim against them now? Not sure what that would mean for my account with them.

 

I would switch to another provider, but O2 are the only other one with decent coverage round here. I used to be with them, but they kept having outages on their local cell tower (up to 10 days at a time), which they never admitted was a fault or resolved.

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi billy_79,

 

Thanks for making me aware of this.

 

If you'd like me to take a closer look at things, email me with your details via the Contact us form here and quote the code WRT135 - CAG Forum in the subject line.

 

Once sent, you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. Post back with this and I’ll check I've received it.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

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[JoeyJoeC]

Keep us updated on the outcome of this please.

[billy_79]

Mail sent to Lee, Ref no 7925480. Also, previous case numbers for this ongoing issue that might be useful to you: 7137935, 7314534, 7317195, 7512400.

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi billy_79,

 

Thanks for coming back to me.

 

I'll get back to you as quickly as possible.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

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