Transferred Vodafone contract, but I have continued to be debited.

[Domino99]

I was the contract holder for my daughter's phone for some years. Last September we agreed she should take on the contract in her name. We contacted Vodafone, they did a credit check on her, took her bank details and set up a new 24 month contract with her from that point.

However, for the last couple of months, my bank account has gone inexplicably overdrawn. In December, I simply put it down to Christmas, but when I got my latest statement yesterday it had happened again. On closer inspection, Vodafone had taken £166 out of my account. I no longer have any dealings with Vodafone myself, so no charges should be coming my way. Since the transfer of the contract they have in fact taken money from my account every month totalling £580.

I had 3 lengthy phone calls with them yesterday. It seems there was a glitch at their end and the contract transfer didn't go through. They have all the details on their system still and without further ado made the switch. However, they refuse to refund me. They state that they cannot put a contract holder (my daughter) into debt by hitting her with this £580 bill out of the blue. They state that as the phone was active it has to be paid for and thus the charges on my account are correct and it is down to me to seek redress from my daughter. This doesn't sound right to me but they will not budge. They are prepared to meet my overdraft fees but that is all.


Surely under English law, a glitch in their systems can't mean I am still liable?

[des8]

IMO you are correct in that it is their fault and therefore they should at least refund you.
But it will mean that they will then debit your daughter, and while they should in fairness allow her pay the account over time, it might be easier to come to an arrangement with your daughter yourself.

If you intend to continue pushing Vodafone I think the first step will be to send them a SAR so you have something in writing,

[2222]

Just make a claim under the direct debit guarantee. You can always then slip your daughter £500 to help her out, if you wish. How in heaven's name does the bill come to £166 pm? Most contracts are a small fraction of that.

[slainte caragh]

Did you take a PAC code and register it with the new provider, and has the number always been active on the new provider's side?

If so, they are talking complete GIBBERISH and need hitting with a haddock a few times.

It is a physical impossibility for the line to be owned by two providers at the same time, what has happened is, the number has transfered and the account was never closed, in which case you are not liable for the costs, the termination date needs to be changed to the date your transfer happened.

They will demand proof, how do you get that? Simple.

Call the new provider and ask for proof of service, normally done by email within 7 working days at the most, some places can get you it within 48 hours. It might not show the actual PAC code, but don't worry about that, it shows that you activated it and that you did your part.

Tell Vodaphone that for them to refuse is a breach of their operator's agreement, and that OFCOM look very dimly at Slamming (use that word).

CANCELLING THE DD AND DOING A DD INDEMNITY WILL NOT CANCEL THE CONTRACT. Make sure the account is closed and that they refund you. Just doing an indemnity will not make the problem go away. They will claim you owe the money and all merry hell will start. Make sure you get written proof this has been sorted correctly.

[Domino99]

Thank you for your replies.

Firstly, the size of my daughter's bills is surely eye-watering! She has now finally got home broadband and this shouldn't be an issue going forward. Had she got the first month's payment taken from her own account 4 months ago, she would have reacted and got the home broadband at that point. Because these bills weren't detected for 4 months because they were coming out of my account they have profited much more as a result.

I sent off a SAR 2 days ago. Vodafone state they only keep recordings of calls for 60-120 days.

The reason they gave me for not refunding me and setting up some form of easy payment agreement with my daughter to recoup this £580 is because they said they are simply not permitted to force someone into debt with a bill out of the blue like this. This was the only reason they gave and was thus the reason they are hanging on to my money.

If they made some arrangement whereby they add say £50 onto her monthly bills until the debt was repaid they'd recoup the money in a year. Everyone would be happy, I suggested this but they refused outright.

I see SAR can take 40 days. I did opt for electronic version to try to speed things up.

On a side note, it is simply bad business. My partner is a Vodafone customer of about 18 years, and her contract ends in April. She will go elsewhere then on principal.

What can I do in the meantime while awaiting the SAR?

[Domino99]

The phone was always my daughter's but she was young, living at home and I took the contract out on her behalf. She paid me each month what she owed for the phone bill.

When she moved out, that is the point we had the contract transferred to her. It seemed appropriate.

[2222]

Contact your bank, and ask for the money back under the direct debit guarantee.

You really don't need to contact Vodafone again about this. It's their problem.

[Domino99]

That sounds so simple and not something that occurred to me (obviously).

I'm guessing the DD guarantee says you won't fraudulently or mistakenly debit someone's account. Should you do so, you will be made to repay this money?

Pity the banks are shut, but I will go in tomorrow and set this in motion. Wonderful advice, many thanks.

I will also ring Vodafone and let them know my intentions, ask them why they never mentioned this option to me (as if I don't know) and warn them to find an equitable way to bill my daughter.

[Amethyst]

I would be slightly careful as if they do change the billing directly over and take the £580 from her account ( because you've charged it back from them ) it could put her in the poop financially and could also cause damage to her credit file ( as in essence she won't have paid her bill for 4/5 months since it changed into her name ).... it SHOULDN'T HAPPEN, but track record isn't great and it'd be a pain in the bum to sort out after the event .... I'd get a SAR to Vodafone and make a formal written complaint, potentially with a view to taking it to the FOS, and deal with the 'debt' directly with your daughter so that neither of you has any unintended consequences from Vodafone's cock up.

It would be correct under the DD guarantee as the money shouldn't have been taken from you as you were no longer in any contract with them - I'm just warning that it could cause other issues that will take time and hassle to get rectified.

[Domino99]

In my initial contacts with Vodafone, their reason not to reimburse me for their mistake was because they were concerned that they couldn't put my daughter into debt. I don't appreciate exactly what this means but I suspect they won't be able to immediately demand full repayment from her.

There is also the fact that had she been billed from month 1 via email, she would have seen her useage and ensured she got home broadband at that point. Any notifications they sent would have come to me and as I was no longer a Vodafone customer these went straight to spam. Because 4 months elapsed before I noticed the drain on my bank account, they got away with 4 months of their crazy data prices. Their cock up netted them big money.

Like I said above, as soon as we were aare of the charges, my daughter ordered her broadband.

[Domino99]

It feels there's a bit to work with at some point in the future. Anyway, off to the bank to get reimbursed.......

[slainte caragh]

Contact your bank, and ask for the money back under the direct debit guarantee.

You really don't need to contact Vodafone again about this. It's their problem.

As I previously stated, this will NOT solve the problem and will potentially cause the OP more issues.

Vodaphone need to refund the money and accept responsibilty for this, mainly because if not they can claim that the OP owes this money and the OP will be liable.

[slainte caragh]

In my initial contacts with Vodafone, their reason not to reimburse me for their mistake was because they were concerned that they couldn't put my daughter into debt. I don't appreciate exactly what this means but I suspect they won't be able to immediately demand full repayment from her.

There is also the fact that had she been billed from month 1 via email, she would have seen her useage and ensured she got home broadband at that point. Any notifications they sent would have come to me and as I was no longer a Vodafone customer these went straight to spam. Because 4 months elapsed before I noticed the drain on my bank account, they got away with 4 months of their crazy data prices. Their cock up netted them big money.

Like I said above, as soon as we were aare of the charges, my daughter ordered her broadband.

Working as a former O2 representative, I would strongly advise you to not just do a DD indemnity.

Not only because this will not ensure the contract is closed, but because they can use this to say you owed them the money and start debt collection against you, and trust me they will.

What I suggest is, you wait for the SAR to come in and prove that Vodaphone have messed up, ask for a full breakdown of charges to ensure the £580 doesn't include late fees your daughter won't be liable for due, or even worse termination fees.

I would also suggest your daughter does a SAR in her own right to prove the date she accepted responsibility for the account, and when it actually transferred, if it hadn't transferred correctly and still in your name, why? Why did they not notice this before?

Keep fighting them, tell them that you will accept the mobile line rental waived as a goodwill gesture. I would also ask how broadband was added to your account by a 3rd party, and if the broadband was added to your daughter's account, how was it active if the transfer didn';t go through?

[tejulaw]

The best thing you can do is to contact the bank directly as well as the customer care of Vodafone as you must have a reference.