Mobile Network Provider Cancelled my Contract

[BazzaS]

Back in August 2012 I had an early upgrade via Vodafone from my old phone to my current S3. I wasn't due an upgrade at the time, and had another 2 months to go before I became eligible for one but due to ongoing issues with my phone and having thrown a hissy and threatening to quit when my contract came to an end in January this year they relented and gave me the S3 on a new tariff. The new tariff was applied and I got my phone.

 

All was will until Friday when I lost all service. Thinking it might just have been a glitch on the network, I waited to see if it would resolve.. it didn't.

 

On Saturday I went to my local Vodafone shop and explained that my phone wasn't working and that I couldn't send or receive texts, make or receive calls or access mobile data. The guy went through some diagnostics, swapping SIMs and trying my SIM in another phone before concluding that the issue was account-related.

 

He pulled up my account and found that the only registered phone at my address was the phone I have for my wife, and that my number was no longer associated with the account. In fact, my number didn't exist and had been cancelled altogether!

 

I got on the phone to Vodafone who told me I'd have reconnection within 24 hours. Well, those came and went, so i phoned again, to be told another 24-48 hours. I'm a bit pig sick of Vodafone now; I've had past problems with them and this is the final straw.

 

I'm now wondering what my rights are as a consumer. I agreed at the time of the upgrade to a 2-year extension on my new tariff with Vodafone back in August, but it seems to me that my original cancellation request hasn't been removed and so has over-ridden the new contract, and I'm now without any contract at all. I also have a 6-month old S3.

 

Would I be within my rights to tell them to shove the reconnection, give me a PAC code and take my business - and the phone - elsewhere without charge? Its my view that its their fault this cancellation has been processed, and as far as their records show, my contract expired as of the approximate date of expiry of my previous contract, and not my new one which appears to have vanished. My latest bill only shows a part-month's usage and charges for my phone also.

 

Cheers for any help and advice.

 

A difficult one, as if you ask for a PAC they might suddenly discover that you have / (or is that now "had"!) a contractual obligation for a minimum term. Alternatively they might say "contract over, number gone, should have asked for a PAC before it terminated".

 

Is keeping your number important to you? If not, why not let sleeping dogs lie if it doesn't reconnect.

 

If they do reconnect it, then I doubt you are absolved of your commitment to a minimum term ; they have had an admin error, you have been without service for a few days ; you may be owed a small amount of compensation for loss of service and hassle, but not to be let off the minimum term.

 

Ifthey don;t reconnect, and your number is important to you, why not ask to keep your number as a Voda PAYG, and if they agree keep it on PAYG for a month or so, and then PAC it out to a different network. (Or, if being on Voda is important to you for e.g. signal reasons, PAC ot out to a PAYG on Virgin, and then back in to Voda a month and a day later;) )

 

If they don;t reconnect you and then come back to you and say "you cancelled the contract, you owe us fees" don't forget to remind them that it was THEM who terminated it, and as such they can't ask you for an early termination fee, which applies only if YOU cancel early. The downside to that is if you need to keep the number and they say "we terminated, number gone" ; in which case you might need to get the Ombudsman involved if they won't give you a PAC ("number is critical to your business, unfair that you lost it without being offered any alternatives to keep it, and so on).

 

Don't forget, if you are running into a quagmire, there is a Voda Rep here on CAG (Lee).

I don't think he is a miracle worker, and he can't always give everyone what they want, but he certainly seems to try and he may be a good resource for you to call on.