Problems with cancelling Vodafone contract..

[Jamie0003]

My Girlfriend signed up a 24 month Blackberry contract with Vodafone a year ago. Since then, she has had all sorts of problems with the phone, so she took it to Phones 4 U (where she bought it.)

After reviewing her options (either send it off to be repaired being left with no phone for 3 weeks, or buying out her contract) she decided to buy the contract out and sign up a separate one with O2 for an iPhone 4, as she wasn't happy with the Blackberry in general and was sick of having to restore it, as well as the appalling customer service Vodafone gave her when she had problems halfway through the contract.

So we went to Phones 4 U, explained what we wanted to do and signed her up for the iPhone contract, which went well.

The problem is that when trying to cancel the original Vodafone/Blackberry contract, the guy in Phones 4 U tried at least 10 times to get through to Vodafone Customer Support to cancel the contract, with no luck (Kept getting cut off.) We were on the phone for 2 and a half hours, with no luck.

When he did get through, Vodafone said that they have no record of her contract at all, yet it's still working fine and she's being charged monthly, we were bounced from person to person constantly and repeatedly got cut off completely, and were told there was nothing they could do since they couldn't find the account.

In the end, we have decided that we might just cancel the direct debit on the contract (Suggested by Phones 4 U) and if Vodafone come back to us demanding money, we will explain the situation and pay up. But, what i'm worried about is, will Vodafone put a bad credit history on her card? Because she's sick to the teeth of trying to get through to Vodafone to cancel the contract, this customer service is atrocious, and we feel that we have no more options...

Any help would be massively appreciated

 

[normanbates]

I've had massive problems with Vodafone in the past. To the point where they have paid my bill for about 8 months as an apology (£75 - £100 a time).

Email guy.laurence@vodafone.com, he's the managing director. He won't call you but one of his team will, within 48 hours and they have more authorisation than the muppets on general enquiries.

Get a copy of your bank statement showing a direct debit from them on it, you will need it as it has the originator's reference on it and that is unique to each company that uses direct debit. Next log into the account at www.vodafone.co.uk (if you haven't already registered you will just need the phone number for the blackberry and account holder details) and grab your account number.

In the email to Guy (his team) explain that you have tried to buy out of your contract as you a not happy with the customer service you have received from them and that it appears the general enquiries team are purposely putting off allowing you to do this in that whenever you call them they 'can't find the account' (fib a little and say that you have even tried calling from the handset itself and they have told you the exact same thing)

I have found this

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/c_mobile_phones.pdf

It states that if a false statement is made then you may be eligible for compensation. So try one last time to cancel the contract over the telephone but record it and if they say they can't find the account email the above address and when they phone you back and have access to the account details ask them to explain what the problem was (again record this). If they say that you were mis-informed let them propose a resolution and if it involve you having to pay to cancel inform them that they have knowingly mis advised you in an attempt to keep your custom and that is against the law. Add that you have the recording and that you are entitled to compensation under UK law and you feel that due to the purposeful mis advise you should be entitled to cancel without further penalty and that if they do not agree the matter will be taken to court and the evidence be presented to a judge. Be careful how you say it though as you don't want to sound like you are blackmailing them (even though you are).

Keep in touch I'd like to see how this turns out

 

[Jamie0003]

I've had massive problems with Vodafone in the past. To the point where they have paid my bill for about 8 months as an apology (£75 - £100 a time).

Email guy.laurence@vodafone.com, he's the managing director. He won't call you but one of his team will, within 48 hours and they have more authorisation than the muppets on general enquiries.

Get a copy of your bank statement showing a direct debit from them on it, you will need it as it has the originator's reference on it and that is unique to each company that uses direct debit. Next log into the account at www.vodafone.co.uk (if you haven't already registered you will just need the phone number for the blackberry and account holder details) and grab your account number.

In the email to Guy (his team) explain that you have tried to buy out of your contract as you a not happy with the customer service you have received from them and that it appears the general enquiries team are purposely putting off allowing you to do this in that whenever you call them they 'can't find the account' (fib a little and say that you have even tried calling from the handset itself and they have told you the exact same thing)

I have found this

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/c_mobile_phones.pdf

It states that if a false statement is made then you may be eligible for compensation. So try one last time to cancel the contract over the telephone but record it and if they say they can't find the account email the above address and when they phone you back and have access to the account details ask them to explain what the problem was (again record this). If they say that you were mis-informed let them propose a resolution and if it involve you having to pay to cancel inform them that they have knowingly mis advised you in an attempt to keep your custom and that is against the law. Add that you have the recording and that you are entitled to compensation under UK law and you feel that due to the purposeful mis advise you should be entitled to cancel without further penalty and that if they do not agree the matter will be taken to court and the evidence be presented to a judge. Be careful how you say it though as you don't want to sound like you are blackmailing them (even though you are).

Keep in touch I'd like to see how this turns out

Thank you very much, that is very helpful. I will tell my Girlfriend this and see what she says, and I don't even need to fib because when she was at the phones for u store they were calling Vodafone from the handset; and she later tried ringing again when she got home from her blackberry and was again, told that they can't find the account and that it's apparently under another name, which is some information phones for u couldn't get for some reason