Vodafone, breach of DPA

[Doorcloser]

Here goes, long painful story.........

 

At the beginning of June, I upgraded my account with Vodafone and paid an early upgrade fee. My new phone was duly delivered within a few days.

 

I logged into my account a few days later and was offered a further upgrade. I thought that this was odd as I'd just upgraded, however the website stated I could upgrade again - for free. I contacted Vodafone (upgrade dept) who confirmed to me that indeed I could upgrade again. I did not do anything about this at the time. A few days later, I received a call from vodafone sales department wondering why I hadn't gone with the upgrade. I told the advisor that I was still thinking about it. About a week later I logged into my account and the offer to upgrade free of charge was still there. I telephoned the upgrade department to take advantage of this and the order was put through and I was advised that the new phone would be delivered to my work address 2 days later. The phone did not arrive. I phoned your vodafone upgrades and was advised that the order was stuck in the system and that someone would sort this out and the phone would be delivered within a few days. This did not happen.

 

After about 2 weeks of me contacting vodafone and speaking to numerous advisors and the complaints department I was told that my complaint had been logged and I should receive the new phone within a few days. I made in excess of 7 or 8 calls to vodafone offices regarding this and still did not receive the phone.

 

On Thursday 2nd July around 4pm - my phone stopped working. It said 'NO SERVICE'. I telephoned Vodafone to be advised that I needed to do a SIM swap and that this needed to be done in a shop. My local shop had closed at 5.30pm so I then travelled to Manchester (8 miles away), to do this - I cannot be without my phone as I use it for work. I was very angry about this but travelled to Manchester to arrange the SIM swap. After speaking to an assistant at the shop, he did not wish to do the SIM swap due to 'too many outstanding orders and issues on my account'. He gave me a PAYG SIM with a small amount of credit so that I could contact vodafone customer relations office to get this sorted. I rang back at approximately 8pm that evening and after spending over an hour on the phone was told that my issue would be sorted the next day and I would receive a call back at 1130am the following day. This did not happen.

 

So now no-one can contact me as my number is out of use. I've lost clients as they could not contact me. Numerous family and friends had been trying to contact me and were unsuccessful as my number was not working. Around 2pm on Friday 3rd July, my son's phone rang from my number, he answered the call only to be told by the caller (Mr Davies) - I don't know anyone called Mr Davies, that he had been given my phone number by the Vodafone upgrade department! I was absolutely speechless as you can imagine and enraged! Mr Davies had contacted my son as he'd had so many missed calls from my son (who is ill!) and wondered who it was. Mr Davies had also given my number out to his family and friends also!

 

I telephoned vodafone complaints department and after spending nearly 2 hours on the phone in my works time, was told that it would be sorted that day. This did not happen. Mr Davies had also received text alerts from my bank and credit card giving sensitive information and account balances. Surely, This is a MAJOR DPA breach. It is vodafones duty to protect my data and they have failed! Mr Davies received numerous calls and text from my contacts wanting to know who the hell he was and where was I???!!!!!!!

 

Having got nowhere with vodafone customer relations department, I went into the Vodafone store in Stockport to speak to someone who I foolishly thought could help me. I was advised by the shop assistant 'there are too many issues on your account and we can't deal with it'. He told me to call customer again. Which I did.

 

 

After a further 2 and a half hours on the phone distressed, upset and very angry I was promised that this had been passed to a manager and someone would call me back before 9pm. I was also told they would block the number This did not happen!

 

I then phoned Vodafone again and got through to an Egyptian call centre worker to told me that he would block my account. This did not happen until midnight on 3rd July!

 

I received a call from an operator on 4 July to be advised that my complaint is being dealt with and I would receive my number back and my account would be closed and I would also receive compensation for the DPA breach, breach of privacy, inconvenience and also for the 15plus hours I've spent trying to sort this out with their call centres around the world! I have not managed to speak to the same person twice - It's ridiculous!

 

I've been advised by vodafone customer relations today that if I send my phone back then they will cancel my account. They've offered me nothing else. I want my account cancelling, a full apology, a full investigation, copies of all of the phone recordings theyhave as well as a data subject access request and also financial recompense for the DPA breach, breach of privacy, massive inconvenience they have caused me by having to change my phone number and mobile provider

 

 

I am outraged that they can just transfer my number to a random stranger and not even apologise. I am also outraged that despite on several occasions vodafone admitting that there's been a DPA breach and breach of privacy they have not offered me a mutually satisfactory resolution I've lost work clients and have had a major inconvenience as I've had to change my number. The upset, stress and inconvenience vodafone have caused is incomprehensible!

 

I've been advised by iCO that I do have a good case but any further advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!!

[p3t3r]

There is no nice way of saying this: Vodafone do not seem to care for their obligations under the Data Protection Act. I've a thread here showing their repeated failings in this spanning around 6 months, from their customer services right through to the top of the CEO department. Shocking.

 

I think that Vodafone will not offer you compensation. They may probably offer you a derisory sum of £25 as a goodwill gesture.

 

To obtain your subject access request from Vodafone, you need to fill in a Vodafone specific form for this. Please note that this is not a legal requirement for you to do this, however, Vodafone CEO office have informed me in recorded phone call that SAR without the specific vodafone form are not processed. Vodafone CEO office also confirmed this by way of letter.

 

So, to get your SAR, you need to fill in their documents / specific form.

 

To receive adequate compensation, I feel that you would need to take legal action against this company since their customer service is so abysmal. There are many people here who will advise you on that.

[Doorcloser]

There is no nice way of saying this: Vodafone do not seem to care for their obligations under the Data Protection Act. I've a thread here showing their repeated failings in this spanning around 6 months, from their customer services right through to the top of the CEO department. Shocking.

 

I think that Vodafone will not offer you compensation. They may probably offer you a derisory sum of £25 as a goodwill gesture.

 

To obtain your subject access request from Vodafone, you need to fill in a Vodafone specific form for this. Please note that this is not a legal requirement for you to do this, however, Vodafone CEO office have informed me in recorded phone call that SAR without the specific vodafone form are not processed. Vodafone CEO office also confirmed this by way of letter.

 

So, to get your SAR, you need to fill in their documents / specific form.

 

To receive adequate compensation, I feel that you would need to take legal action against this company since their customer service is so abysmal. There are many people here who will advise you on that.

 

 

Vodacrap phoned me this morning and they're issuing a deadlock letter. Now the fun begins! Has anyone taken them to the ombudsman before?

[Doorcloser]

Can I use the ico as well as the ombudsman?

[p3t3r]

Yes, you can use both

 

To make ICO complaint you need to download their form, complete and return it.

https://ico.org.uk/concerns/