Help dealing with a 4 year old debt from Vodafone ** Ref #11092656 **

[L111]

Good Evening, I'm not sure whether I should be posting this in the debt section or this one so I would be grateful if someone could direct me..

 

 

Basically in 2011 my girlfriend took out a contract phone with Vodafone. The phone was for her then boyfriend, and he agreed to pay for it (although it was in her name). She has recently found out that it hasn't been paid for all this time, and the debt has been passed onto a debt collection agency, at the sum of £2480. The timeline according to Vodafone is this:

 

 

25th July 2011 - Contract taken out

11th August 2011 - First direct debit cancelled

14th August 2011 - Payment missed

16th August 2011 - Account has gone into "collections"

15th March 2015 - Account passed onto debt collection agency for £2480

 

 

Now we totally understand that as the account was in her name, so she is liable for the balance, but what we can't understand is how Vodafone have allowed it to get this far. I spoke to a Vodafone customer service rep who informed me that after a missed payment, the customer is contacted via text message and post to inform them.

For some reason this did not happen (Vodafone looked through their records and confirmed that no letter had been sent regarding this account between 26th July 2011 and January 2014 (and that was just a marketing letter).

They also informed me that after 3-4 months of missed payments, the account is suspended, and then passed onto a debt collection agency. For some reason this also did not happen, they simply allowed the payments to mount up over 4 years.

 

 

All this time she was under the impression that her ex-boyfriend was paying it as she had no evidence to the contrary, and to be honest she simply forgot about it since it all seemed in order. Had she have known she would have cancelled it in 2013 when the contract expired (Vodafone also confirmed that it hasn't actually been used since 2013), and we'd only be looking at a payment of half this amount.

 

 

Do we have a legitimate complaint about the fact that Vodafone didn't inform her at all that she owed them money? Or for the fact that the contract hasn't been in use since 2013?

 

 

Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

 

 

*just to clarify, she hasn't moved house or anything, and Vodafone have actually confirmed they didn't send any letters

[fkofilee]

Wow that is a whole new load of Vodafone-Grade BS.. They really are falling short....

Im having issues with putting up the Post for contacting Vodafone. Check the sticky threads, youll find it there.

[silverfox1961]

Hi and welcome to CAG

 

Unless that phone call was recorded, I suggest sending a SAR to VF to confirm that they did not send any letters. No good sending texts to a phone she never had and VF should hold their hands up to this error. Unfortunately this won't remove the liability although I would expect VF to absorb some of the cost due to not sending the letters which would have alerted her to the problem much earlier than this.

 

Follow the link

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?213340-Vodafone-Webteam-for-Customers-With-Problems-**UPDATED-APRIL-2015-**&p=2343766&viewfull=1#post2343766

 

read it fully and post up the auto reply number you should get.

[L111]

Thanks for your advice. The link in that thread just takes me to the normal Vodafone home page, and if I click the contact us link on there, there is nowhere for me to enter a reference number. Any idea where I'm going wrong? Also yesterday I used a form to contact the CEO, am I best off waiting for his reply, rather than send it to them twice?

[silverfox1961]

Thanks for your advice. The link in that thread just takes me to the normal Vodafone home page, and if I click the contact us link on there, there is nowhere for me to enter a reference number. Any idea where I'm going wrong? Also yesterday I used a form to contact the CEO, am I best off waiting for his reply, rather than send it to them twice?

 

Hmm! me too. i will send the rep a message and see if he (or one of the others) can assist. I will raise the issue over the contact us page as well.

[L111]

Hmm! me too. i will send the rep a message and see if he (or one of the others) can assist. I will raise the issue over the contact us page as well.

 

Thanks, did you get any joy with this?

[silverfox1961]

Thanks, did you get any joy with this?

 

Unfortunately not. I will check to see whether any reps are around.

[silverfox1961]

After a little checking, the VF rep hasn't been around since 21st July. He may be on holiday but usually when that happens, someone covers.

 

Bear with us

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi L111,

 

This seems a bit of a strange one.

 

So I can look into things further, ask your girlfriend to email me with her details via the Contact us form here.

 

To access the form she'll need to enter the code WRT135.

 

As well as stating her query in the question box, she'll also need to quote "CAG Forum".

 

Once sent, she'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. Post it on here and I’ll check I've received it.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

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Vodafone UK

[L111]

Thanks, the reference is #11092656

[Lee Vodafone Company Rep]

Hi L111,

 

I've got the email and I'll get back to your girlfriend as soon as I can.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lee

 

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Vodafone UK