Vodafone Still Trying to Charge Me 6 Months after Requesting to Cease Monthly Pre-Pay, 2 Years after Original Contract Ended

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Vodafone

• 

  pjetson on 21/07/2015 - 08:33

  +1

  Ombudsman?

• 

  Love a bargain on 21/07/2015 - 11:09

  +2

  Before heading to the Ombudsman, you might wanna make sure that you asked for your service to be terminated rather than merely for the direct debit arrangement to be stopped.

  • 

    COR80 on 21/07/2015 - 22:31

    I asked for both, and was told someone would ring me about the termination, but that the direct debit cancellation would go through immediately.

    a. they didn't stop the direct debit until after 2 more payments. (I'm not fussing about that; no matter how unethical it was, that money is gone)

    b. they didn't ring back about the termination as was promised.

    My main issue is that the contract has been finished for a good year and half and the service has been cancelled for 3 months, and all previous monthly accounts were settled each month if there was an excess charge. Vodafone has not provided any goods or service for 3 months (it is 6 months in fact since we used the phone and simcard), yet they are now trying to extract another $180-ish.

    • 

      Love a bargain on 21/07/2015 - 23:07

      +1

      From what you're saying, it sounds like only the direct debit was stopped but the service hasn't been canceled.

      You can complain about VF not calling you back as promised but the service isn't canceled until it is officially canceled. Most people in your position would have chased up if they don't get the promised call back in a few days.

      You're liable for the access fee until the service is canceled. Until then, they continue to provide the service (ie your line/number is still active and they continue to provide you with the monthly credits/allowance that you can use). Whether you actually use the phone or not make no difference.

      Not having an active direct debit only means they can't get the money from your account but it doesn't mean they can't invoice you for it.

      And when the contact finished doesn't matter either. Not having a contact simply means you can terminate the service/switch supplier at any time. It doesn't mean that the service arrangement is terminated as soon as you stop using it/ paying for it.

      • 

        COR80 on 21/07/2015 - 23:45

        I get what your saying- or at least how Vodafone will rationalise taking money for nothing- and thanks for the info.

        What makes it galling though is this- the pre-paid direct debit service (ie. no money, no service) was last billed for the month of March in advance; for Vodafone to pretend that $180-ish charged since then is for "access fees" is extortionate, particularly in light of the fact that that I was paying $45 per month for unlimited calls texts etc. So $135 (3 x $45) for unlimited service if I had continued with the service vs. $180-ish for not continuing the service…..

        My impression is that Vodafone realises I am not interested in being a customer at this point in time, so they're going for a cash-grab.

      • 

        Love a bargain on 22/07/2015 - 08:01

        @COR80:
        If you were on a contract, you're on a post paid (not prepaid) plan.

        The "no money, no service" concept is only relevant to prepaid service.

        As for the amount of the charge that it outstanding, you are certainly at liberty to seek clarification of the calculation (& in fact it should have be set out in the invoice that you received) & to dispute the amount if you think it's not calculated correctly.

        However, from what you're saying, you don't have much legal ground to go to the ombudsman. Beside, you're supposed to have tried to work things out with VF without success before going to the ombudsman. It doesn't sound like you have.

        So my suggestion for you is to speak to VF nicely first. If they agree to waive all of the charges, great! If not (which is not unexpected), try to negotiate to settle this for a reduced amount. Failing all that, just pay up and move on.

        After all, you need to accept some of the responsibility - this is what you signed up for when you sign up to a post paid service & you can't exactly put all the blame on them if you haven't followed up at all for 3 months when you'd clearly been told that there are extra steps before the service can be terminated.

        & to start pointing fingers and calling them scum before you've tried to resolve this with them is not gonna get you anywhere.

      • 

        COR80 on 23/07/2015 - 00:58

        @Love a bargain: Firstly, you're exagerating/over-reaching- there is no stage in my posts where I lashed out "pointing fingers and calling them scum before you've tried to resolve this". Looking back over 400-500 words I suggested Vodafone was "trying it on" and suggested it was a "cash-grab", particularly as (the fact that) the service has not been used for 6 months is not in dispute by Vodafone. Also each invoice was sent at the start of the month, for service for that month.

        Secondly, on three, three, seperate occasions when trying to stop being debited I asked to speak to the termination/disconnection department I was told no, they have to call you, and was asked to give the best times of day etc. Wasn't offered a different/direct number or anything, just got told they will call you.

        End result? No missed calls, no messages, no emails, no contact from the termination/disconnection people, after 3 attempts. Odd that I was never able to be put straight through to them to resolve the issue, despite ringing during standard business hours….oh wait no it's not odd at all when you consider that Vodafone neglecting to contact me has resulted in a bigger bill for no service than the bill I was receiving for unlimited service.

        "Accepting some of the responsibility", as you say, when in fact I made three separate attempts to cease the service, and had already been additionally charged $135 for three extra months non-usage, is nonsense. On three separate occasions I was assured the debits would cease, only on the third attempt did it actually cease, after Vodafone had taken three extra instances of $45 despite my explicitly requesting them to cease this. On three seperate occasions I was assured someone would contact me to finalise the account, and it never happened.

        However I do admire your lack of cynicism regarding big telco's, it's refreshing :)

      • 

        Love a bargain on 23/07/2015 - 08:10

        @COR80:

        First of all, when you're on a post paid service, you get invoiced the additional charges for the previous month & the access fee for the next month on each invoice date but you also get a credit period until that payment is due. That doesn't make it "no money, no service", which is what prepaid service is.

        Secondly, I was once a VF customer (but jumped ship when the network got too bad). Their customer service was bad (I've had to complain a few times) but not that bad.

        Thirdly, while you've never used the word scum, you're essentially saying that VF deliberately orders their staff not to process customers' termination request (considering the staff that you dealt with doesn't own the company hence doesn't automatically benefit from that additional revenue). That is a pretty serious allegation that you're making here.

        Fourthly, I didn't say you didn't contact them in the first 3 of the last 6 months, but that you didn't contact them to chase up in the last 3 months after the DD ended. If I were in your shoes, I'd be calling them everyday and even writing to them because I knew I was gonna be charged for each day that the service was not canceled.

        Fifthly, again, whether you've used the service provided is not relevant.

        I can understand that you feel unjust about what's happened. I was only trying to point out the holes in the argument & offer suggestion & hopefully they'd'd help you in deciding what to do next. Unfortunately I don't think that's what you're looking for here so I'll stop responding to further messages on this thread. Good luck and hope you get the outcome you want.

• 

  rambutann on 21/07/2015 - 11:29

  You didnt cover your ass though, do you have any proof that you actually called Vodafone? (E.g. did you record the conversation?)

  It sounds like you wont have a leg to stand on unless you have actual proof that you requested it to be ceased.

  • 

    COR80 on 21/07/2015 - 22:14

    How so? The contract ended a year and a half ago. The direct debit has been cancelled for over 3 months now.

    They are not providing any service.

    • 

      rambutann on 22/07/2015 - 08:48

      How can you prove that the direct debiting was cancelled? (if they kept charging you?)

      • 

        COR80 on 22/07/2015 - 23:37

        Because after the third call on the third month of trying to get the debit stopped, it stopped