@vodafoneuk Vodafone ruining my credit file**Settled out of court**

[kevthebruce]

I have written to Vodafone numerous times to resolve a dispute on my credit report

but they have now issued a letter of deadlock that states they will not alter their reporting to the credit agencies.

 

 

I have also been through the ombudsman service and they have sided with Vodafone.

I am wondering what else I can do to get them to rectify this error?

 

 

I cancelled my account with Vodafone on 5 March 2013 as I moved to the USA in February 2013.

When I called to cancel on 5 March 2013 I made a payment of £112.89 to settle my account

and reconfirmed by e-mail that my account was settled.

 

 

I received an e-mail from Vodafone customer services that there was a credit on the account for £65.65

and therefore assumed everything was in order until

 

 

I requested a UK credit report in 2014 that showed that Vodafone were reporting me as in default for £47.

I immediately called and settled the amount even though I did not understand why I owed them money

despite them saying I had a credit on my account before I left.

 

 

Apparently Vodafone sent me letters telling me I owed them additional funds.

However, they knew that I would not receive them as I told customer services that I had left the country.

They had my e-mail address and could have contacted me by e-mail to ask for additional payment but they did not.

 

 

Instead they reported me as in default without making a reasonable effort to contact me knowing that I had left the country.

I have therefore never received notification that I owed them additional funds,

I have never received a notice that they were about to report me as in default

and I only discovered an issue when I checked my credit report.

 

 

Vodafone are now reporting my account as once in default but now satisfied.

 

 

In resolution I would like Vodafone to reflect the true underlying status of my account,

which was flawless until this misunderstanding due to a misleading e-mail from their customer services representative (attached).

If Vodafone agreed to reinstate my credit history to show no default then this would be a fair resolution to this misunderstanding.

 

 

Failure to do so is unfair as I would never have let my credit report fall into default for such a small amount

that is now impacting my ability to apply for a mortgage now that I have returned to the UK .

 

 

The ombudsman suggested talking to Vodafone again (they refuse to talk about it) or the courts.

 

 

Does anyone know how I would even start a court proceeding?

 

 

Thanks in advance!

Kevin

 

 

Attahed email from Vodafone:

 

 

From: "Vodafone Customer Services"

Date: Mar 8, 2013 4:59 AM

Subject: Re: Cancellation [#]

 

 

To: Cc:

 

 

Hello Kevin,

Thank you for writing us back with regards to bill on your account.

 

 

I understand that you are not happy with our customer services.

 

 

I apologies for the inconvenience caused to you.

I regret the level of service you received as this is not the way Vodafone believes in serving its customers.

 

 

The incident you have highlighted will not only assist us in improving the service we provide in the future

but it will also be used to further develop and improve our ongoing training program.

 

 

As informed you earlier, your number ....has been cancelled on 05/03/2013 and online account has been deactivated upon cancellation of this number.

 

 

Furthermore, I would like to inform you that you will receive the final bill post the cancellation of your account as per your bill date.

This bill will consist of the line rental on pro rata basis, ETF and usage (if any) till the last day.

 

 

I can see that billing cycle on your account is from 4th to 3rd every month.

I would like to inform you that as your number has been cancelled already so final bill will be generated as per the billing cycle on your account.

 

 

Moreover, I can see that we have 1received the payment of £112.89 on 05/03/2013 by credit card,

which got adjusted towards this month’s bill which is generated on 07/03/2013 for £47.24.

 

 

I also can see that there is credit of £65.65 on your account.

I would like to inform you that if final bill on your account will be less than £65.65, so we will return rest of the amount to you.

 

 

Also, I have sent last 3 bills on your email address ‘......to give you clear picture about your account.

 

 

With regards to complain, In order to resolve any customer issues we follow an internal escalation procedure.

Once you have emailed us we endeavor to resolve your query in the first instance.

If you’re not happy with our reply, the query would then be escalated to a Manager in the Email Contact Centre.

 

 

I trust this information helps.

 

 

Kind regards,

Vismay Pathak

Vodafone Customer Services

 

 

We hope you have found our Email Customer Service helpful and convenient.

To contact us please click 'here'.Thank you for being a Vodafone customer and I hope you enjoy all that Vodafone has to offer.

[p3t3r]

hi,

your post is difficult to read, maybe you can edit it, put some white space / paragraphs? also edit out your email address / number?

 

what i understand from your post is that you have sufficient evidence from vodafone to show that the credit file is wrong.

 

there are many posts on CAG showing Vodafones awful customer service. There is a vodafone rep on CAG who tries to sort out peoples problems but the rep is limited to what can be done.

 

if you follow other vodafone posts, you will see a link to write vodafone rep an email, you will then receive an automated email back from vodafone with a reference number. if you post that reference number in this thread, then it will help the CAG Vodafone rep to help you. though, maybe that advice is wrong since you have already had a letter of deadlock from vodafone!

 

hopefully someone else can advise you in relation to legal proceedings against vodafone

[Bazooka Boo]

Yeah, I only read two lines and couldn't read the rest.

 

If you're wanting a default removed from your credit file, and you have evidence that it's being reported incorrectly, then as well as adding

a 'notice of correction' along side the adverse data, you could give Voda and the CRA 7 or 14 days in which to remove the incorrect data,

or you will bring about a claim to have them remove the incorrect data and sue them for defamation in the process.

 

The damages claim is around four figures, however unless you're willing to go through with it, then don't threaten it.

But wait for Lee the Voda rep drop in and take a look first, he should be able to help out.

[kevthebruce]

Thanks, I think the post looks a bit better now? I am not interested in damages, I just want them to update the credit report with the true underlying performance, i.e. perfect, not one missed payment. Is that something I can go to the courts to pursue?

[kevthebruce]

No surprise to me that Vodafone rep hasn't been in touch. Vodafone customer service is close to non-existent, how do they have any customers left? Can anyone please help me?

[silverfox1961]

Hi

As you haven't followed this as yet

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?213340-Vodafone-Webteam-for-Customers-With-Problems-**UPDATED-November-2014**&p=2343766&viewfull=1#post2343766

 

please do so and post up the automated reply number on this thread so that the VF rep can find you.

 

In the meantime, I suggest sending VF a SAR to get all the account info but don't expect a copy of the contract as they have no proper filing policy with these.

 

It seems very odd that they have defaulted your account when apparently you were in credit.

 

With the Ombudsman, how long ago was the adjudication and was it completed by an adjudicator or by the full ombudsman?

 

If you are still within the time frame and the complaint was handled by the adjudicator then you should escalate higher.

 

The only other option is to take VF to court. Do not threaten this unless you are prepared to follow through.

 

See if the VF rep can help first though.

[kevthebruce]

Thanks for your reply, that is very helpful. The automated reply number I received from Vodafone is #10122203. It was Ombudsman Services that adjudicated in March 15, not the Financial Ombudsman Service. I really hope the Vodafone rep can help. My account was clear for years with Vodafone until this mixup and hope they agree to restate my credit history with the agencies to reflect this.

[kevthebruce]

The Vodafone rep replied to me that he cannot help because they have issued a letter of deadlock. I therefore need to take Vodafone to court. All I want is for them to restate my credit history, I am not interested in damages. Is it possible to take them to court only to restate credit history?

[Bazooka Boo]

Escalate it to the ICO to have a look at, if Voda have issued a deadlock letter, then it should tell you who you're able to escalate it to..

[kevthebruce]

The deadlock letter told me to escalate with Ombudsman Services. They sided with Vodafone because they say that they sent me a final bill that said I owed them something. Only problem is that I had moved out of the country, and had told Vodafone that, so did not receive any notice that I owed them anything. I don't know why they sided with Vodafone and they have Ombudsman Services have not explained properly.

[p3t3r]

you say that you have not received any bills by email and vodafone say that they have sent you bills.. maybe a SAR would help you resolve this argument with vodafone.

 

to get a SAR from vodafone, it is Vodafone policy that you need fill out their SAR form otherwise your SAR is ignored. (Vodafone SAR policy goes against UK law as confirmed to me by ICO last week).

 

it seems that court action is the only way you can pursue this? if so, then there are many people who can help (im being helped in another thread)

 

good luck!

[kevthebruce]

Thanks for your tip on the SAR, I was about to send the letter, which would have been a waste. Hopefully someone can help with the court action as I need to get this fixed somehow. Thanks!

[Bazooka Boo]

Slowly slowly catchy monkey, less haste more speed!

 

And all that jazz, take your time, and don't leave anything to chance, it'll come right in the end.

[p3t3r]

if you write a letter before action and post it here, then others can advise you on your LBA before you send it to vodafone. be prepared to take vodafone to court because my own personal experience tells me that vodafone also ignore letters before action

[kevthebruce]

I have now received the SAR from Vodafone which shows:- I cancelled my account and confirmed by e-mail that I have moved abroad to the US and I specifically asked if they were going to bill me again because I did not want a black mark on my credit report- The email response from Vodafone was that there was a credit on my account- They did send me a final bill that asked for additional £47 payment but they only sent this to my old UK address. As I did obviously not receive this, I didn't pay them. I didn't receive any further contact by e-mail asking for payment. They reported me in default and will not change their minds because they say they sent me a final bill. My argument is that they knew I wasn't living at the UK address, the notes on the account from Vodafone employees mention me emigrating a few times. They could have contacted me by email but didn't, they didn't send me any notice that I was going to default. Is it possible to start court action to adjust credit report only? I'm not interested in any financial amounts. What do you think my letter before action would look like?Thanks again for all of your help.

[Bazooka Boo]

Now you have the evidence, have you contacted the CEO?

[kevthebruce]

I have contacted the CEO, I just got the response that they have issued a letter of deadlock and will not be changing their view. Very frustrating.

[Bazooka Boo]

I would fire off another email to the CEO with the evidence telling him that they knew you were emigrating

but deliberately used your UK address to send a final bill too, knowing that you would be unable to receive it

let alone pay it, and therefore creating a debt of their own due to their maladministration, as such, you want the

default removed immediately, failing which you will seek legal advice with a view of taking legal action in order

to have the default removed and damages paid for defamation.

[kevthebruce]

I have now tried that again and got the usual response that the letter of deadlock has been issued and the ombudsman ruled in their favour so they won't discuss it further. I have contacted the ombudsman again to ask if they will reconsider. Their ruling on Vodafone's side was that they sent me a generic email saying a bill had been generated. However, this email had no amounts mentioned that I owed them and when I tried to login to my account online their website said there was no account, because it was closed. I was in the US at the time. So they knew I wouldn't receive their letters and they closed my online account. So how was I supposed to know I owed them more money? They said that I should keep my direct debit open just in case but doesn't the direct debit guarantee state that they must inform me of charges in advance of requesting payment? They never did this so doesn't seem reasonable. I cancelled the direct debit when I left the country based on the fact that I had called them and settled up over the phone. I have also sent a complaint to the ICO because they could not provide any records of any calls that I've made to customer services, of which there were many, and no record of incoming calls because they only keep 12 months of records. The fact that they did not email me to say, can you please pay us £47, before sending my details to a debt collector also irks me, it wouldn't have taken much effort to get in touch by e-mail but they didn't do this. Any ideas welcome as always, very grateful for comments so far. Thanks

[Bazooka Boo]

You can place a notice of correction against the disputed entry on your files.

 

Send your story to BBC Watchdog, they might run a piece on it?

And the only other thing I can suggest is, if your credit file is something you care about? is to issue a claim via the small claims track to order it be removed and be awarded damages for defamation.

[kevthebruce]

I tried going back to Ombudsman Services but they will not even reconsider the case and won't answer any of my questions. It seems as though a Telecoms company can ruin a person's credit file and be answerable to no-one. I looked into adding a note to my credit file but the advice I received was not to, lenders just see it as excuses and it actually complicates matters.

[Bazooka Boo]

I looked into adding a note to my credit file but the advice I received was not to, lenders just see it as excuses and it actually complicates matters.

 

I don't know who gave you that advice?

 

But IMO there is absolutely nothing wrong in adding a notice of correction to YOUR file, that way then if you're ever refused credit,

you simply tell them to do a manual intervention and physically view the file instead of some computer.

 

If you're unhappy with the ombudsman's service, NOT the outcome of your complaint, then of course they have to look into it.

it is possibly the way you worded your complaint, that they seem to think you're unhappy with the outcome.

 

But if you tell them, that the outcome is a side issue, and you're actually complaining about how they investigated your complaint, if they did indeed do so, then IMO there would be more mileage in your complaint.

 

It's taken me over three years to not only defeat the DWP, but I am now at the stage of having the ICE investigate the complaint, before I am then able to escalate it to the parliamentary health ombudsman. A completely different scenario I agree, but you have to keep hammering away at them otherwise nothing will ever change.

[kevthebruce]

I would like to thank you all for your advice, it was invaluable. I raised a small claim against vodafone and they settled with me after further investigation. It is quite worrying that this is what it takes to get action but I just wanted to update in case anyone else reads this. It costs a minimal amount to raise a small claim and is quite simple to do online, don't be afraid of it. I have since complained to Ombudsman Services and they have apologised for their level of service and I will complain about ICO as well, it is not right that they side with the large corporate in general and the consumer has to fight in the courts to get recognised. I now have my credit file restated, which is all I ever wanted out of this situation. Phew, what a fight!

[silverfox1961]

That is brilliant news. Well done for starting a claim. Many people threaten this and not follow through which makes them look silly and the companies can then carry on screwing their customers

 

I will mark your thread 'settled out of court'

[Bazooka Boo]

Ruddy hell, that is unheard of, well done!!