Vodaphone Credit File Default - How do I get them to remove it

[Andrewbucks]

Hi Guys, Good evening.

THis is my first time on the forum so appologies if I dont make anything clear here.

 

I was wondering if someone could advise me on how to get Vodaphone to remove a default from my credit file

that they have put there totally unfairly.

 

I had a mobile broadband account with them that I opened in 2006 and paid for monthly at £16.

I then closed this account with them in 2010.

 

At the time there appears to have been some confusion as to the end date of the contract.

I was told that the last payment would go out and I could cancel the direct debit.

I did this but for some reason Vodaphonbe continued to try to take the DD the following month.

 

Unfortunatly I had moved house and the account was still registered at the old address

and hence I did not hear anything form Vodaphone.

 

Once I realised the problem via my bank, I then contacted vodaphone on the phone ironically.

After some debate I accepted the extra charge and payed the amount outstanding being £50 in full.

I then forgot about it and moved on as you do.

 

I am now trying to buy a house

only to discover that Vodaphone have placed a default on my account listing the balance etc ven though I have paid this off.

It is preventing me getting a mortgage even though I have a really good credit rating in all other respects.

I am desparate to get it removed.

 

I have written a letter to Vodaphone customer services stating my case

and asking for them to action some form of removal or even send me a letter explaining what had happened

but all I have had is an email saying they have recieved my letter in effect.

 

I have also tried a number of time to talk to someone at customer services

and they say they have escalated it to the 'quality assurance team'. and that it will take 5 days to action.

 

They wont tell me any more than this, and even though I ring almost daily,

all I ever get is an answer that it is being looked in to and it will take 5 days to get back to me.

It has been weeks now.

 

At this stage I am absolutely at a lost as to what to do next and I am desparate to fid a way to fix this.

 

I really feel as I am sure others on the forum have felt that I am being treated unfairly for somehting that was a simple mistake/confusion.

 

Any help that anyone can give would be greatfully appreciated.

 

Thanks a load

 

Andrew

[havinastella]

Hi and welcome to CAG, I have moved your thread to the correct forum.

[havinastella]

Hi CAG members,

We thought it would be nice to introduce ourselves and to assure you all that our presence on CAG is with the very best of intentions.

vodafone UK has recently introduced a dedicated Web Relations Team which is keen to seek out customers who’re having difficulties with their accounts and feel that they have no other place to turn to than CAG and other consumer forums and blogs.

Naturally, it’s not possible for us to help directly with account specific queries on CAG and as such we would encourage those members who feel we can help them to contact us privately at customer.care@help.vodafo ne.co.uk quoting ‘WRT135 – CAG Forum’ in the subject line to ensure that it reaches the Web Relations Team.

When emailing us we would also ask that you either provide us with a link to your post or thread – if you’ve posted in another member’s thread please also provide your CAG username so that we can check what your query is.

[Andrewbucks]

Hi and welcome to CAG, I have moved your thread to the correct forum.

 

Hi Stella,

Thanks for your response and for moving my thread out of the welcome forum.

I note your follow up post on the new Vodaphone team and I will certainly log my issue with the address you quote if this will help me rectify the problem. All avenues are worth following at this point.

Cheers

Andrew

[locutus]

customer.care@help.vodafone.co.uk is the email address (it messes up when copy and pasting )

[dx100uk]

sadly as you'll see if you read this forum

 

this is a common problem

 

it really saddens me to think a mobile phone company

is 'given' the power to practically prevent someone from 'bettering'

their life over a mobile phone account issue.

 

i hope you get a resolution

 

some do some dont

even after paying whatever is outstanding

 

dx

[Andrewbucks]

Hi Dx,

 

Thanks for your response.

 

I can certainly see from the forum that there are quite a few people with this issue. It is amazing that Vodaphone can act this way with no reference to you as a person not any forum to debate or respond to their arbitary decision.

Chasing them by phone and letter is a nightmare and you feel like ther eis no recourse.

 

I will keep at it as obviously desparate.

 

Thanks a load

 

Andrew

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi Andrew,

 

Thanks for following the advice provided by Jogs and locutus.

 

To enable me to follow up on the concerns you've raised could you update the thread with your email reference number from our automated reply?

 

Once I'm able to trace your details I'll get back to you as soon as I can?

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[Andrewbucks]

Hi Lee,

 

Good afternoon.

 

Thanks for coming back on my thread.

 

I have had a response from Heidi in your team already and I think she is following up.

Having said this any assistance you can offer as well would be wonderful. I am now really running out of time to get this sorted by the end of August which is absolutly critcal for me and I need to find some way forward.

 

The email refereence form the system is WRT135 ? CAG Forum [#9652008]e or CS00010645924 [#9584705]

 

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

best regards

 

Andrew

[2Grumpy]

I had a mobile broadband account with them that I opened in 2006 and paid for monthly at £16.

I then closed this account with them in 2010.

 

At the time there appears to have been some confusion as to the end date of the contract.

I was told that the last payment would go out and I could cancel the direct debit.

I did this but for some reason Vodaphonbe continued to try to take the DD the following month.

 

Unfortunatly I had moved house and the account was still registered at the old address

and hence I did not hear anything form Vodaphone.

 

Once I realised the problem via my bank, I then contacted vodaphone on the phone ironically.

After some debate I accepted the extra charge and payed the amount outstanding being £50 in full.

 

If you were paying £16 pm and had closed your account after making the final payment, what was their reason for the extra £50? Did you get an itemised invoice?

 

If you were told that was the final payment, why did Vodaphone go back on that?

 

Considering that they said there was nothing more to pay, then demanded more AND registered a default, I think that you should be asking for a lot more explanations

[Andrewbucks]

Hi 2Grumpy,

 

Thanks for your response.

 

Basically the core of the issue appeares to be that they claim they never received my formal cancellation letter. I followed it up verbally and they told me it was registered for cancellation but at the time they never said they had not recieved the letter. Of course I have no proof of that. Obviously I need ot learn the joys of registered mail. Lesson learnt.

Where I went wrong was beliving the verbal statement on the phone and not being specific enough in getting them to confirm their understanding with me.

Additionally because I had moved house, if they did send me any docs on this etc it never came my way. A litnany of stupid confusions that added up to the issue.

 

The reason for the 50 punds was that by the time I had got back to them having being notified of the dd atempt from the bank, threy had made a second months atempt to it was 16*2. 52 GBP.

 

I know I am going to have a long fight on my hands here as fundementally it is my word against theirs and I just have no way to prove the verbal reassurance I had.

Nightmare.

 

Cheers

 

Andrew

[alltogetherhappy]

Hi 2Grumpy,

 

Thanks for your response.

 

Basically the core of the issue appeares to be that they claim they never received my formal cancellation letter. I followed it up verbally and they told me it was registered for cancellation but at the time they never said they had not recieved the letter. Of course I have no proof of that. Obviously I need ot learn the joys of registered mail. Lesson learnt.

Where I went wrong was beliving the verbal statement on the phone and not being specific enough in getting them to confirm their understanding with me.

Additionally because I had moved house, if they did send me any docs on this etc it never came my way. A litnany of stupid confusions that added up to the issue.

 

The reason for the 50 punds was that by the time I had got back to them having being notified of the dd atempt from the bank, threy had made a second months atempt to it was 16*2. 52 GBP.

 

I know I am going to have a long fight on my hands here as fundementally it is my word against theirs and I just have no way to prove the verbal reassurance I had.

Nightmare.

 

Cheers

 

Andrew

 

Hi Andrew,

 

Vodafone should have the facility to pull calls as they are recorded for training purposes, it just depends on how long they store the recorded calls for.

[2Grumpy]

Basically the core of the issue appeares to be that they claim they never received my formal cancellation letter. I followed it up verbally and they told me it was registered for cancellation but at the time they never said they had not recieved the letter. Of course I have no proof of that. Obviously I need ot learn the joys of registered mail. Lesson learnt.

Where I went wrong was beliving the verbal statement on the phone and not being specific enough in getting them to confirm their understanding with me.

Additionally because I had moved house, if they did send me any docs on this etc it never came my way. A litnany of stupid confusions that added up to the issue.

 

The reason for the 50 punds was that by the time I had got back to them having being notified of the dd atempt from the bank, threy had made a second months atempt to it was 16*2. 52 GBP.

 

I know I am going to have a long fight on my hands here as fundementally it is my word against theirs and I just have no way to prove the verbal reassurance I had.

Nightmare.

 

This is Vodaphone wanting their cake and to eat it too. Alternatively, the supplier is always right.

 

They (maybe - they haven't proved it yet) write to you at your old address and then say that is sufficient - they only have to post the letter, you don't have to receive it. Yet, if you write to them and if THEY don't receive it, it's business as usual.

 

The law doesn't allow them to have it both ways. As one DCA so neatly puts it at the top of their letters - "Valid even if not read by you". Your letter was deemed delivered 2 days after posting.

 

Just send them a letter telling them when you sent your cancellation, a demand for the refund of the £50 that you paid post cancellation when you weren't aware of your rights and their obligations and the immediate removal of the default plus compensation for the libel they committed plus interest on the £50 at 8% per month. You could include a copy of the cancellation letter unless it is one of your "standard letters" ...

 

They will huff and puff and blow your house down, but that's the legal position as far as I understand it, they confirmed it by applying the default despite your not receiving the letter. If Vodaphone point to any special terms that alter this, your saviour is the CPUT regulations that doesn't allow them. The consumer regs trump their contract conditions.

 

I am sure that they would have replied to your letter if there were any issues with your cancellation.

[locutus]

I think you're over analyzing. Vodafone do not place a "default" on credit files, they put a "3 month late payment" marker, and that is seen by other lenders as equivalent to a default, as such thats what the CRA's call it on your credit file.

 

They do want their cake and eat it, They want to be able to report on your "CREDIT" file, but not be subject to the "Consumer Credit Act".

 

Just a little tidbit of info... Spain has banned the mobile networks providing a phone and then locking in to a 24 month term (or at least thats what my brother in law who lives in Madrid and owns a phone shop said). How you get a phone now is you get credits for being a loyal customer, and you can redeem these against a new handset.

[dx100uk]

sadly voda do place defaults as well as markers.

 

dx

[locutus]

I thought (and I'm happy to be corrected here) that the telecoms industry just reported your payment details, and 3 months non payment, the CRA's report it as a "default". The telecoms industries viewpoint is they don't have to send a default notice because they're not subject to the rules of the "consumer credit act" as you get no credit (sale of money).

 

It's a bit "you say Tom(AY)to I say "Tom(AH)to" as when all is said and done, it's a nasty sharp practice using someones credit file for debt collection purposes.

[dx100uk]

nope sadly i've had dealings with lee on this.

 

they do report defaulted to the cra.

 

if my friend had only markers, then he'd hve got a mortgage

he was after.

 

they wouldn't remove the default even after paying the balance

 

as for dn's no they dont send them afaik.

 

dx

[2Grumpy]

They do say that they send letters saying that they will be applying a default

 

Given the number of people here who say that they haven't received one, it is either not obvious what the letter means or they aren't being received ...

[2Grumpy]

The reason for the 50 punds was that by the time I had got back to them having being notified of the dd atempt from the bank, threy had made a second months atempt to it was 16*2. 52 GBP.

 

 

I know it's picky but when I went to school, 2 * 16 was 32. Still, that's inflation for you.

 

Has someone stuffed an extra £20 into the mix?

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi Lee,

 

Good afternoon.

 

Thanks for coming back on my thread.

 

I have had a response from Heidi in your team already and I think she is following up.

Having said this any assistance you can offer as well would be wonderful. I am now really running out of time to get this sorted by the end of August which is absolutly critcal for me and I need to find some way forward.

 

The email refereence form the system is WRT135 ? CAG Forum [#9652008]e or CS00010645924 [#9584705]

 

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

best regards

 

Andrew

 

Hi Andrew,

 

It's just a quick update to the thread to confirm that we've received your most recent emails and as such we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

 

Thanks,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[Andrewbucks]

Hi Lee,

 

I would just like to thank you for your efforts in regard to the Default on my credit file.

 

I have now recieved a notification from Experian that the Default has indeed been removed and my Credit file is now clean and back to a healthy condition.

 

Obviously I have had to go through quite a process to get to this stage, but I have to say that the assistance you have provided has been excellent and I would not have reached this position without the help of the Vodaphone web relations team. Your advice on the correct approach to take and how to get there was invaluable.

 

 

Thank you.

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi Andrew,

 

Thanks for returning to the thread to confirm that all is now resolved for you.

 

Best wishes,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK