Vodafone

[cavey01uk]

I'm having a problem with Vodafone at the moment and could really do with some advice as to what I can do about it.

 

Since April I've been off work through sickness and I'm struggling to make ends meet, I was unable to keep up my monthly charges but I haven't and I'm not unwilling to pay them. I've emailed Vodafone on several occasions to let them know my situation, but I'm not getting anywhere at all.

 

I wrote to Vodafone querying the amount that I owe on my bills and another asking for some help and again letting them know my situation being off work and pointing out that if they had some sort of protection available (quote from my letter "It also looks like, when a customer falls behind with the monthly line rental etc, through no fault of their own (sickness in my case), there seems to be no one willing to help, I enquired to see if the phone insurance covered sickness, but I were informed that it only covers the phone and line rental, if such a cover was in place, this situation that I’m in right now, wouldn’t have happened."), still no reply.

 

I received a letter from Vodafone stating that it still wasn't too late to reconnect my phone and to contact them asap.

 

I then wrote to Vodafone again, this is what I wrote.

I received a notice of default today, it also stated that it still wasn’t too late to re-establish full service, which is what I had hoped for, I was hoping that it would be possible to come to some sort of arrangement to clear the arrears off, as I’ve mentioned in earlier emails, I’m currently off work due to sickness and this is the reason that this situation has arisen.

I’ll look forward to hearing from you, and with the hope that we can somehow resolve this situation in such a way that both myself and you are happy with.

I’ve enclosed copies of the last letter that I sent to you.

 

Still no reply, then I received a letter from their debt collection agency Capquest, so I then wrote to Vodafone again, this is what I wrote this time.

Today I received a letter from a debt collection company acting on your behalf, I don’t understand why this has happened, I’ve wrote to you previously, to try and sort out the problem that I have with my account, I was trying to prevent this situation.

For whatever reason, you don’t appear to have received my previous letters, so I’ve enclosed copies of the last 2 letters that I sent to you.

 

I finally received a letter from Vodafone, stating that there wasn't anything that they could do, because my account has been closed and they would pass my letters onto Capquest.

 

I believe that it would also be Vodafone's interest to come to an arrangement as there isn't any way what so ever that I can pay them the £400 + what they are asking for, but if an arrangement were in place, then they would get their money, still have a long-time customer (since May 1996) and I wouldn't be paying for the line rental for the duration of my contract without being able to use it. I would prefer to get my mobile account back and come to an arrangement to pay off the arrears and hopefully carry on as usual.

[buzby]

The days of ANY firm taking a caring view of a customer in similar situations are long gone. It is a sausage machine, the money goes in and the service comes out - neatly packaged (in your case, mobile phone service). The trend now is not to enter into arrangements for staged payments because so many of them usually just delay the default by a few months. So the nett result is they don't bother, the computers take over and automatically pass the debt to external agencies for collection after pulling the rug from underneath you. Sorry to be so pessimistic - but it is often better to avoid any such contracts and go for PAYG. It may cost a little more, but it saves a lot of hassle.

[cavey01uk]

Vodafone has passed my letters on to Capquest, but everything that I wrote in them letters, seems to have fallen upon deaf ears.

 

I've now got a letter from Capquest's solicitors, stating that if I don't come to an agreement over the outstanding balance, they will proceed with taking me to court and also adding an extra £100 to what I owe.

 

Has anybody got any advice as to what I can do please, as I'm off on long term sick and I'm struggling to make ends meet at the moment?

 

Thanks, Dean.

[buzby]

If you don't dispute the ORIGINAL debt, then deal with Capquest. Ask them for a breakdown on the amount they say is owing, along with a copy of any agreement you may have signed to back up their claim. If this is provided, go through their charges/additions to work out what they have added. If this is unreasonable, challenge it. If the debt is genuine, making staged payments helps you with more leverage than if you don't pay at all.