Vodafone.

[Finius]

Had a grievance with Vodafone going on for some time now, and I'd like to just air some issues incase anyone is considering a contract phone with them. Many people are having similar problems to me.

First off, I took a contract out with them for a HTC HD2, eventually, whilst still insured, the phone flashed itself and died. They sent me a new phone which in two weeks died because it turned out they'd actually sent me a refurbished one which hadn't had the screen put on properly. This was supposedly my fault, I was told to live with it (mis-sold insurance, loss due to their negligence).

Eventually, after getting sick of living with rubbish phones borrowed off friends I dropped my old contract down to £10, and took out a new one for an iPhone. The best Vodafone would do for me was to give me £70 off the iPhone, slap me with a massive contract and then promise me I could reduce it down to £10 after nine months (generally rubbish customer service

Nine months comes, I'm told I had been misinformed and could only reduce it to £25 (Breach of Sale of Goods act - my acceptance of the contract was induced by this guarantee that I could reduce it down to £10 due to my circumstances).

I drop it down to £25, then, monthly, I exceed my contract by at least £10, so might as well put it back up - when my contract comes in at £80 I increase my plan again, mid-month, and I am told this takes effect immediately by Vodafone staff. The end of the month comes in and I'm told I have exceeded my allowance and gathered another £110 of charges. I contact Vodafone about this and they refuse to acknowledge anything being their fault.

I am now considering legal action against the company and am in the process of contacting the relevant ombudsman and trading standards.

If anyone can offer any advice, please feel free to do so, otherwise I'm simply going to start consulting paid lawyers.

 

[Deva]

If you have a good record of what was said when then good luck.

I've found persistent nagging (at some point they have to realise they're spending more on the customer support you're receiving, rather than to just wipe costs and sort you out), writing to the MD, with advice from citizens advice bureau and involving trading standards usually means I win, but it is always a lot of hassle.

 

[Finius]

In the space between your post Dev, and now, I've made some progress, they initially rang me/emailed me to tell me it was still my fault and they wouldn't do anything.

They then emailed me back stating that since it probably was their fault, they'd offer me £31.98, bringing my charges in total down to only £80.

After consultation with my lawyer (that's right, the lawman has a lawyer too, because self representation is a bad idea), he's suggested three options:

1. Vodafone offer me an additional £20 right now, I pay the remainder (I'm willing to pay the full cost of my contract a second time, since I'm not a penisface and just want a fair outcome).

2. Vodafone scrap my charges, aside from two last payments of the value of my price plan only, they then allow me to drop my £10 contract (which is almost due to end anyways) and scrap my current £36 a month contract on the basis that I am then agreeing to taking out a fresh 24 month contract for £36 pcm minimum straight away (this seems most profitable for them and is preferable to me too, we get a fresh start, with more defined goalposts etc and I get a new phone, yay).

3.I push the whole SoGA breach thing, demand full rescission and just walk away from Vodafone (this option is silly, it means getting a new contract elsewhere, when Vodafone have the best coverage in my area and everyone I know use them - that being the key reason for staying with them - it is also least profitable for Vodafone, obviously).

I suspect more hardball will occur and they'll try and stick with their £31.98 offer, but if they're sensible, they'll secure the extra year's business and the "we did what the customer wanted" goodwill reputation from me (cause I would legitimately consider it a fresh start, I'm not gonna be a willy to them if they give that option a go for me)....Watch this space....

 

[lemon191]

tbh there isn't much point switching providers they all do the same thing and you'll be more likly to win if you sign up to another contract. another thing in my and family/ friends experience phone insurance is pointless. my gf mum tried to claim for a iPhone 4 broken screen the insurance wanted her to pay them more than it would cost to fix in a normal shop ! and a few others found the same or just complete refusal to pay out

 

[Finius]

I've had an email this morning, they're meeting me quite fairly.

Pay the £110. Rescind my current contracts with them. Offer me a discounted package on a new 24month contract, plus student discount.

Now if only I had £110...

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

I thought at the arms fair you said you had to live off 9p noodles until Christmas and your lizard was currently living at a better standard than you?

You can't be doing that bad if you're paying Vodafone all this tosh lol.

 

[Deva]

I want to know how you need such a massive contract. What could you possibly be doing on your phone to stream so much data?!

 

[Finius]

I thought at the arms fair you said you had to live off 9p noodles until Christmas and your lizard was currently living at a better standard than you?
You can't be doing that bad if you're paying Vodafone all this tosh lol.

Click to shrink...

I am living off 9p noodles

The reason I owe vodafone so much is that they have no idea how to uprate a price plan properly (I use 0 data, it's all texts)...

Due to my multi faceted approach to life, I have like, a million and one people to call and text all the time

 

[Cam-the-airsoft-sniper]

I am living off 9p noodles
The reason I owe vodafone so much is that they have no idea how to uprate a price plan properly (I use 0 data, it's all texts)...

Due to my multi faceted approach to life, I have like, a million and one people to call and text all the time

Click to shrink...

Suuuuuurrreee you do....

Maybe you eat the lizzard? Like the donner party exept more reptile than human.

 

[Finius]

Thought I'd finish off this thread since I clearly forgot.

I got this resolved. I had to take out one of those stupid payday loans to pay off the bill, but I'm still on my old contract and old priceplan (now properly uprated), I had two bills paid for me by vodafone (they scrapped the two billing periods that occurred during the dispute) and received a brand new, sim free HTC Sensation XL for my trouble.