please help, at the end of my tether with vodafone - complaining for five months!

[completeunknown]

Hi Everybody,

 

I do not know where to turn anymore with vodafone.

This has been ongoing since May and I cannot get any sort of dialogue going with vodafone about it.

 

i am either passed to customer service advisors who have no power to answer my questions,

or am writing to complain and getting inadequate responses through noreply email addresses.

 

I have complained several times about the apalling customer service which I have received from Vodafone and their customer care team.

I no longer know where to turn, other than Ofcom, as nobody is willing to resolve my issue.

All they do is admit I was misinformed, but then blame me for following this advice.

 

For my part, I am sick of having to recount the whole saga to customer service representative after customer service representative.

This must be the tenth time I've had to recall it.

All that keeps happening is the admission that I was misinformed,

they apologise and then in the same breath, my being told that I am at fault and my account is listed in arrangement to pay.

 

In April/May I received a huge phone bill of around £400. I was totally shocked as I had received no warning and I rang up to pay this.

 

During this conversation i was told these things:

 

I could pay in three bits. I asked explicitly ' Do I have to pay it all today?' No. i was told.

 

"WILL IT AFFECT MY CREDIT REPORT?' I explicitly asked.

I am well aware of how CRAs work and this is why i asked this. No i was told.

When I questioned this, I was told no, because it was not a non- payment, it was me ringing up to pay and i was making contact.

This was for my convenience. I thought ok, well thats goodwill. i was advised to cancel my direct debit and pay the rest next month.

 

I received no confirmation of this in writing and was then cut off in May.

I was later told that I was cut off because he did not write any notes on the account about what was said.

 

I checked my credit file and I was marked down as non payment in May. If i had known all this, i would have paid the money, as I had it, but this was not explained to me.

 

I contested this as I felt it was unfair.

The account was amended to "Arrangement to Pay" , which is not a true reflection - I am not on a payment arrangement; my account is up to date and i pay by DD.

 

Arrangement to pay, as my credit file reports, is to do with 'falling into arrears and having serious difficulties repaying'

and declaring oneself insolvent and having to pay the account off via a negotiated arrangement.

It is as if I am on a debt management plan.

Arrangement to Pay in credit terms is indicative of something entirely different from what happened to me - at your advice.

 

Having an account listed as in repayment has had a hugely detrimental effect on my credit rating

- it is inaccurate as the account is fully paid up and up to date

- not listed in "Arrangement to Pay" as is suggested.

If anything, a late payment marker would be more appropriate.

 

I complained to Vodafone - things simply got even worse.

 

During a conversation with Nicola, one of your customer service advisors, she admitted that my "arrangement" was not logged properly on the system.

By several advisors, i was told that the original advisor had no authority to make such comments about my credit file, and it would have always been technically a late payment.

 

Despite phonecall after phonecall - at my own expense- the "quality assurance team" never seem to be available or able to help me.

Instead they keep repeating that the "Arrangement to pay is a true reflection of me" - it is not.

 

They quote that it is "the law" that they report this - there are no such legalities involved in CRA reporting.

If it were the law, why would they so easily have changed information on my file in the first place TO arrangement to pay?

 

 

I would have simply paid the amount on the day, had i been advised to do so. Instead, things have simply got worse and worse for me.

 

As if this were not bad enough, Vodafone will not respond to a dispute filed by equifax.

Therefore the whole account with 15 months of regular payments has been wiped from my file - further causing my credit rating to plummet.

the account has now disappeared from my current address too , causing more problems.

Vodafone have caused me a lot of damage because of their inept customer service.

 

Vodafone have seen the dispute via equifax - they simply ring me.

I have proof that they have ignored Equifax's dispute TWICE now.

They have 28 days to respond.

They have ignored it.

The file is still missing from my credit report.

Call credit and experian have it marked 'arrangement to pay'

 

All i get is repeated "courtesy" phonecalls from vodafone, where the person on the end of the phone admits i was misadvised,

but they cant help me as they arent responsible for CRA information.

Somebody will call me back.

 

Maybe if I became a "difficult customer" and started shouting or getting angry, I'd get somewhere but I know customer services are only doing their jobs.

If anything the customer services advisors have been very sympathetic, but are powerless to change CRA data.

 

I have never experienced such awful customer service - what sort of customer service system admits that the company were wrong to advise, but then tells me it is my fault?

 

I feel like crying this has been going on for so long.

All i want is for vodafone to rectify this by ameding my May credit file as paid - at the least,

Late, and restoring the account history through equifax, callcredit and experian.

 

I complained to the CEO and received this reply:

 

" As the customer agreed to a payment plan the payment arrangement icon has been correctly recorded and will remain on the customers credit file.

This is required for credit referencing purposes as we are required to show a true reflection of the customer s payment history with Vodafone .

 

Further to this I have been advised that even though there is a payment arrangement icon on your credit file

lenders should take in account that you tried to settle the payment with us before getting into arrears.

 

I understand that you did ask at the point of setting up the payment plan would it affect your credit report and you where advised it would not.

 

I apologise that you where advised this and there will be an internal investigation ran on your account."

 

They then send me compensation two months bills credited - I do not want money, i do not want somebody to get into trouble,

I do not want to have to resort to being rude, I simply want the payment icon as paid and my account updated.

 

i called vodafone for help and spoke to a lovely man called malcolm who agreed that i was treated poorly and he gave me an email address for escalations.

 

he advised me that my agreeing to split payments was NOT a goodwill gesture and it was a SERIOUS thing

and i should have had the situation fully explained to me and YES it will affect my credit file,

and customer service advisors should not be commenting about credit reports.

 

he gave me the email address of escalations dept.,

 

When i called up again to confirm the address, the customer service advisor said they had never heard of such a dept.

 

i do not want any more circular conversations, ten phonecalls a day, the quality assurance team to call back,

for them to admit i was misinformed and then accuse me of not paying and being cut off,

and then to be told it's against the law for it to be changed.

 

It is not against the law - I've seen credit reference data lifted on forums from vodafone,

after all - they changed it on my file TO arrangement to pay! I do not want to hear that this is a "true reflection" this is all they say,

whilst in the same breath admitting i was misadvised and things were not logged.

 

I simply want my credit file restored and for may to be marked as paid. i will never give up until this is resolved.

 

could somebody please help me?

 

Anna

Edited October 18, 2012 by completeunknown

[locutus]

Follow this advice

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.vodafone.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.

 

Lee (who deals with issues that arise on CAG) will look into them and has a very good track record of sorthing things out. You'll get an automated reply that will have a reference number in the subject line. Post the reference number here and Lee will be able to match your details up

[completeunknown]

thank you, so i wait for the reply here then?

[ims21]

Have you followed the guide in post #2 above?

 

If not then please do so.

 

If and when you have done that, post the auto response number that you will receive into this thread and Lee will track it all for you.

[completeunknown]

Hi, yeah I've followed advice above - waiting for my number now. Thanks!

[locutus]

Once Lee has an issue to deal with he sees it through to the end. We at CAG will keep track and make sure things are dealt with fairly for you and advise you of any other avenues you can follow should Lee not manage to get things sorted. Lee will communicate with their compliance department and keep on top of things, and keep you updates as much as possible so issues tend to be solved quite quickly

[completeunknown]

Re: WRT135 – CAG Forum [#10260237]

 

Is that done?

[completeunknown]

Okay, thanks a lot guys, yeah I've looked at a few threads and seen that Lee has resolved bigger issues than this before with credit reference agencies and defaults, so his track record seems good! Fingers crossed, eh? thanks!

[locutus]

Your reference number looks good to me Hopefully you should hear from Lee soon

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi Anna,

 

Thanks for raising your concerns with me.

 

I did reply to your email yesterday and will get back in touch with you as soon as you've got back to me.

 

From what you've posted I can understand your frustrations and although I can never guarantee the outcome of any case I handle you can be assured that I'll assist you as much as I can.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

 

 

[completeunknown]

Hi Anna,

 

Thanks for raising your concerns with me.

 

I did reply to your email yesterday and will get back in touch with you as soon as you've got back to me.

 

From what you've posted I can understand your frustrations and although I can never guarantee the outcome of any case I handle you can be assured that I'll assist you as much as I can.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

 

 

 

Hi lee, sorry I replied yesterday but via my phone email, not sure if it got to you! I'll try again. Or message you on here?

[completeunknown]

Sorry lee, my post count isn't great enough for me to pm you on here!,

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi Anna,

 

Thanks for coming back to me.

 

For some reason your reply hasn't come through. Could you resend it for me?

 

In regard to sending PM's I believe that members need to have posted thirty or more times before this function becomes available.

 

Kind regards,

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[completeunknown]

Hi I emailed you again, replying to the last message. Hope it got there.

[completeunknown]

Any joy yet, lee? The emails are in my sent box.

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi Anna,

 

Apologies for the slight delay with getting back to you.

 

I wasn't able to follow up on your case yesterday as I was out of the office.

 

I've checked our emails again but still can't locate yours. As such, could you email me again at eforum.web@help.vodafone.co.uk with a contact number only and again quote the code WRT135 - CAG Forum in the subject line?

 

Thanks,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[completeunknown]

Hi lee, okay I sent an email to this address with the subject line in and my number. Hope it gets there! I Do not know what is going on!

[completeunknown]

Sorry, I mean just the wrt number, not the original ref of the thread.

[kurvaface]

If I was in your shoes and this wasn't sorted (I'm sure Lee will sort it)

then I would do a Subject Access Request,

getting specifically the telephone transcripts of your call with them where the arrangement was made

and then I would take them to court for damages resulting from messing with your credit file.

 

In the meantime, it may be worth sending a notice under Section 10 of the data Protection Act 1998 to Lee,

advising him that you remove consent for his company to process your personal data as they are causing you "Unwarranted harm".

 

If you try to get a mortgage etc this will affect the rates etc that are available to you.

 

Perhaps you should also send a note to Lee now, stating that you will be seeking damages in the region of £50 per day - so if you wish to take it to court you already have things in place.

 

Credit reference agencies can be updated within 48 hours if Vodafone so wish.

 

Finally, what a nasty company - so quick to punish you for their mistake!

[completeunknown]

Thanks, for your support.

 

They've been telling me that its a 'true reflection' of what happened for months.

 

They originally marked it as late, and when I queried that this was unfair, they then were funny and changed it to arrangement to pay.

 

So why they claim they legally have to give this as their account of what happened I don't know.

 

the most stupid thing about this is they claim I have 'an arrangement to pay' for one month.

Which also makes no logical sense.

 

This means I have have, once these things are logged, 'an account in repayment and arrears' under these automatic credit decisions.

 

Thank you for these ideas.

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi Anna,

 

Thanks for coming back to me again.

 

I really am at a loss at what's happening to your emails here.

 

Could you resend it to webrelations@vodafone.com marked for my attention?

 

In the event that I don't receive it I'd recommend contacting the Site Team to see if they could amend your post count to enable you to send me a PM with your contact number.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

Web Relations Team

 

Vodafone UK

[completeunknown]

I'm sorry lee, this really is strange. I'll try another email address.

[completeunknown]

I apologise for this, you've spent nearly a week chasing up this, ill see if anybody from the site cam enable pms.

[honeybee13]

Hello there.

 

The site team are aware of the problem thanks to locutus. As you probably know, it needs a postcount of 30 to be able to PM and I don't know if this can be changed offhand. It may need to be someone like Martin, if it can be done.

 

You can PM site team though, if you look for the people with orange names. I'm only here for a few more minutes, but will be back in an hour or two if you'd like me to pass something on.

 

My best, HB

[completeunknown]

Thanks, I've sent you a pm. Hopefully lee, it will get to you. I do not know what is going on with these Vodafone emails!