Vodaphone dispute

[denovo18]

Please help me!

 

I went away on operational duty to Afghanistan. Mobile phones are not to be switched on due to security. I took my phone with me as I made regular trips to Cyprus. I had recently upgraded my contract with vodaphone and cancelled an old one which my brother had been using.

 

On my first trip to Cyprus, I noticed I could not make calls or texts but could receive them. I emailed vodaphone to enquire. I was informed that my upgrade was in fact an earlŷ upgrade and I had a fee of £54 or there abouts which had not been paid. II knew about this fee, however, I assumed this would be added to my bill and taken with my direct debit payments. Luckily I had left some blank cheques with a friend who agreed to go to the bank and pay I for me.

 

The next trip to Cyprus, my phone still was not working and by this point, I could not receive and calls or texts! So I emailed them again. I was informed that I had an unpaid bill on my account of nearly £400. I asked where this bill had come from, as I had been in Afghanistan for some time and not been able to use my phone. And I also asked them that as there is a direct debit set up on my account, and there always has been, why had my bill not just been paid in this way.

 

The reply informed me that the bill was from the contract I had cancelled, (out of the contractual agree,met so there was no cancellation fee) and if I wished to discuss the bill further then I needed to ring customer services and that there was no direct debit set up on my account! I quickly informed them that I was unable to ring customer services due to my circumstances in a war zone! I told them that there has always been a direct debit on my account and that the mobile number in question could not have run up such a bill as it had been cancelled well before I left the uk, and as such I was not impressed with the lies they were telling me!

 

Prior to returning to the uk aft over 4 months, I decided to pay the bill as I required a phone and thought I could dispute it a later date. I asked my friend again, to visit vodaphone and pay the outstanding bill. Vodaphone refused to deal with her as the account had now gone to agency!

 

When I finally returned to the uk, I checked my mail, only to find ONE letter from vodaphone informing me that I had an outstanding bill, which included a termination fee and if it was not paid by a certain date, my account would be passed to an agency. I had not received any other letters giving an explanation of the bill, or requesting payment! I obviously was not back in the uk in time to resolve the issue, as my account was passed to agency. I have not received any correspondence from this agency up until now!

 

Can vodaphone refuse to deal with me? Surely they have to give me some explanation of the bill? I am unable to log on to my online account as they have suspended it and they haven't sent me an itemised bill of any kind. I have received no letters asking for payment, and even my last email was not replied to. How can they refer my account to an agency without giving me any opportunity to pay the bill? I informed vodaphone prior to me leaving the uk that I would be in Afghanistan for 4 months and so any correspondence would have to be via email.

[ims21]

Hi and welcome to CAG

 

I've moved your thread to the relevant forum. We have a Vodafone rep on here and he will pick up your post I'm sure

 

Regards

 

ims

[silverfox1961]

Hi and welcome to CAG

 

If you follow this link

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?213340-Vodafone-Webteam-for-Customers-With-Problems-**UPDATED-jANUARY-2012**&p=3683706&viewfull=1#post3683706

 

aand follow the instructions fully then post on this thread the automated reply number, Lee, the VF rep should be able to find you.

 

Lee has had some success on the forum and if there is a resolution to this he will try.

[pooky2483]

Hope you can get this sorted, Lee has helped me out before and is very helpful.

You guys deserve to be treated better than you currently are and they should come up with a special contract for Serving personnel.

Keep up the good work and stay safe.

 

Pete.

[2Grumpy]

Vodaphone would like to refuse to deal with its customers, but is that a realistic option for them?

 

Presumably they are refusing to talk to you because they want you to pay the DCA charges

 

This sounds like they ****ed up your upgrade, lost your DD details and are now penalising you for it

 

How can this be resolved if they won't talk to you?

 

You need your bills & you need to know what happened to the direct debits

 

(I'm presuming that you paid the previous contract via DD)

 

I have been in mobile phone shops when they are arranging contracts for people in the services - giving all sorts of promises about continued service while overseas & not ****ing you over

 

I suspect that Vodaphone are using their favourite method of debt collection - mess with your credit file then send to a debt collector to add their charges (are they really in the T&Cs?)

 

They probably believe that this behavior is justified and it's your fault for not fixing their mistake in the first place

 

If they have messed up your credit file, beware of them taking your money, not listening to you & leaving it trashed. They will probably say they cant talk to you without you paying the bill & penalties first - even if they shouldn't be paid. Most likely there is a termination fee included that would be unenforceable anyway.

 

I'm sure that Lee from Vodaphone will do his best to try to sort this, so wait for him to see this.

 

If that takes too long, you could try calling & telling them that you need to speak to someone who can sort their mess out...

 

I have the feeling that this isn't going to be resolved very quickly, in the short term I would check your credit file to see if Vodaphone have updated it adversely. That might make getting a replacement from a different supplier more difficult - you can sign up for 1 month free trial of Experian online (but remember to cancel within the month or they will charge for the continued access)

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Please help me!

 

I went away on operational duty to Afghanistan. Mobile phones are not to be switched on due to security. I took my phone with me as I made regular trips to Cyprus. I had recently upgraded my contract with vodaphone and cancelled an old one which my brother had been using.

 

On my first trip to Cyprus, I noticed I could not make calls or texts but could receive them. I emailed vodaphone to enquire. I was informed that my upgrade was in fact an earlŷ upgrade and I had a fee of £54 or there abouts which had not been paid. II knew about this fee, however, I assumed this would be added to my bill and taken with my direct debit payments. Luckily I had left some blank cheques with a friend who agreed to go to the bank and pay I for me.

 

The next trip to Cyprus, my phone still was not working and by this point, I could not receive and calls or texts! So I emailed them again. I was informed that I had an unpaid bill on my account of nearly £400. I asked where this bill had come from, as I had been in Afghanistan for some time and not been able to use my phone. And I also asked them that as there is a direct debit set up on my account, and there always has been, why had my bill not just been paid in this way.

 

The reply informed me that the bill was from the contract I had cancelled, (out of the contractual agree,met so there was no cancellation fee) and if I wished to discuss the bill further then I needed to ring customer services and that there was no direct debit set up on my account! I quickly informed them that I was unable to ring customer services due to my circumstances in a war zone! I told them that there has always been a direct debit on my account and that the mobile number in question could not have run up such a bill as it had been cancelled well before I left the uk, and as such I was not impressed with the lies they were telling me!

 

Prior to returning to the uk aft over 4 months, I decided to pay the bill as I required a phone and thought I could dispute it a later date. I asked my friend again, to visit vodaphone and pay the outstanding bill. Vodaphone refused to deal with her as the account had now gone to agency!

 

When I finally returned to the uk, I checked my mail, only to find ONE letter from vodaphone informing me that I had an outstanding bill, which included a termination fee and if it was not paid by a certain date, my account would be passed to an agency. I had not received any other letters giving an explanation of the bill, or requesting payment! I obviously was not back in the uk in time to resolve the issue, as my account was passed to agency. I have not received any correspondence from this agency up until now!

 

Can vodaphone refuse to deal with me? Surely they have to give me some explanation of the bill? I am unable to log on to my online account as they have suspended it and they haven't sent me an itemised bill of any kind. I have received no letters asking for payment, and even my last email was not replied to. How can they refer my account to an agency without giving me any opportunity to pay the bill? I informed vodaphone prior to me leaving the uk that I would be in Afghanistan for 4 months and so any correspondence would have to be via email.

 

Hi denovo18,

 

Just to update this thread to confirm that I've received your email in reply to mine and as such I'll try to get back to you again as soon as I can.

 

In regard to the concerns you've raised I can certainly understand the frustration these events have caused.

 

However, you can be assured that I'll do my best to assist you as much as I can.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK