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I own a small business that has been suffering financial hardship, like so many small business in these hard times. So when I realised I wouldn’t be able to pay my £107 monthly Mobile phone bill I called the phone company’s customer services and asked for time to pay.
It was agreed that on 23/08/22 I could pay my bill and the agent sent me a text message confirmation of what we had agreed. I’ve been a customer for about 6/7 years, I’m also registered disabled, vulnerable, I have a serious lung condition and I am on oxygen, I’m also a single dad of a 6 year old so being without my only phone isn’t something I’d relish and if it had been turned off I would have had no means of calling for help if I become unwell with my lung condition and in an emergency I wouldn’t be able to call for help.
At the time I was already under a lot of stress and I was living on my overdraft, I have pre payment meters gas and electricity, my son and I needed food but my pip wasn’t due until the 23rd so logically I asked Vodaphone for help and after they agreed to allow me to pay later I was relieved immensely.
However about 5 days on and I noticed a payment of £11 had been taken from my bank account which was already overdrawn and the remaining overdraft was my only means of paying for electricity and feeding my 6 year old and myself. That was one of 5 unauthorised payments of £11 they had taken from my overdraft, they actually took 3 payments of £11 on one day and in total they had taken £55 over the course of 4 days.
So I tried calling them several times over the next few days but the recorded message just kept saying because you have an outstanding bill we’re going to direct you to our automated payment service, this happened every time I called. I was already depressed.
I was under extreme pressure and I was suffering anxiety already and now my anxiety levels quadrupled because I had very little money left.
I finally got a human on their chat bot. The agent kept me on there for about 2 hours early one morning and wouldn’t call me, I had to text. I informed him of my circumstances and that I had highlighted all of my problems to the guy who had authorised the late payment and sent me a text message confirmation that I didn’t have to pay until the 23rd. He kept saying I’m going to make this right, then he offered me £10 compensation for their human error. I told him where to get off and I asked to escalate my complaint, however he wouldn’t let me he went off and got a manager who then started texting as well. So I had to go through it all again with him, he then offers me £25 NO I want to escalate my complaint, I told him, I’m vulnerable and I think his company had acted inappropriately I wanted to escalate my complaint. They he says we’re give you the maximum amount of compensation £40 NO escalate my complaint, he then says they will pay off the remaining balance of that months bill £57 by then it had been about 2 hours.
I told him I was tired and I didn’t want to continue, he ignored me so I just hung up the chat bot Toby and went about seeing if I could borrow some money. Later that evening I tried again, I’d been receiving texts and recorded messages form Vodaphone threatening to cut my services over a period of about 5 days and I was very anxious about that I felt suicidal because every time I tried to talk to them I just got bumped onto their automated payment service.
When I finally got back onto the chat bot after about half an hour of trying to tell it I wanted to talk to a human again, they finally answered, he said you were talking to us then you went! He said customer services had left a note on the account and they were going to offer me £150 compensation, so I told him I want to escalate my complaint and I’d like them to send me a deadlock letter and that was all I was interested in, he was a bit abrupt but he then said it’s been escalated, I’ve no idea how many times they said they were going to try one more time to put this right!
The following day I received a text from someone from the Directors office saying she was going to call me, she called we chatted and I told her of my concerns as to how her company treat vulnerable people and that I wouldn’t be unique, she said the 5 unauthorised payments were caused by human error, so I asked her did the guy make this error before or after he sent me that confirmation text? She didn’t answer and instead she said I’d have my deadlock letter the following day.
I have sent Vodaphone a SAR followed by a notification of vulnerable person and a request that they cancel my contract (9 months remaining) without charge to myself, I’ve told them I do not want to be their customer anymore and because they caused me unnecessary stress and worry at a time when I was most vulnerable I expect them to let me go, they also took 5 illegal unauthorised payments from my bank which caused me serious hardship and for those reason I believe they acted inappropriately therefore they should let me go without charge.
But is this something that would cause me more problems? If they say no I will be liable for those last 9 months of the contract won’t I? Or can I legally argue that they broke their contract and therefore I should be able to leave without cost to myself? I have reported them to CISAS and they have accepted my complaint, they wrote: Vodaphone now have 10 working days to Settle the dispute, or submit a written defence to my claim, or Submit an objection to CEDR on grounds of eligibility for adjudication. I have put in a claim that they allow me to leave them without cost, they send me a letter of apology, they pay me £5000 compensation and retrain their customer services staff on how to deal with vulnerable people. Can anyone tell me what they think the likely outcome of this will be please?
Any thoughts or advice will greatly be received and appreciated. Thank you, Lemondip
It was agreed that on 23/08/22 I could pay my bill and the agent sent me a text message confirmation of what we had agreed. I’ve been a customer for about 6/7 years, I’m also registered disabled, vulnerable, I have a serious lung condition and I am on oxygen, I’m also a single dad of a 6 year old so being without my only phone isn’t something I’d relish and if it had been turned off I would have had no means of calling for help if I become unwell with my lung condition and in an emergency I wouldn’t be able to call for help.
At the time I was already under a lot of stress and I was living on my overdraft, I have pre payment meters gas and electricity, my son and I needed food but my pip wasn’t due until the 23rd so logically I asked Vodaphone for help and after they agreed to allow me to pay later I was relieved immensely.
However about 5 days on and I noticed a payment of £11 had been taken from my bank account which was already overdrawn and the remaining overdraft was my only means of paying for electricity and feeding my 6 year old and myself. That was one of 5 unauthorised payments of £11 they had taken from my overdraft, they actually took 3 payments of £11 on one day and in total they had taken £55 over the course of 4 days.
So I tried calling them several times over the next few days but the recorded message just kept saying because you have an outstanding bill we’re going to direct you to our automated payment service, this happened every time I called. I was already depressed.
I was under extreme pressure and I was suffering anxiety already and now my anxiety levels quadrupled because I had very little money left.
I finally got a human on their chat bot. The agent kept me on there for about 2 hours early one morning and wouldn’t call me, I had to text. I informed him of my circumstances and that I had highlighted all of my problems to the guy who had authorised the late payment and sent me a text message confirmation that I didn’t have to pay until the 23rd. He kept saying I’m going to make this right, then he offered me £10 compensation for their human error. I told him where to get off and I asked to escalate my complaint, however he wouldn’t let me he went off and got a manager who then started texting as well. So I had to go through it all again with him, he then offers me £25 NO I want to escalate my complaint, I told him, I’m vulnerable and I think his company had acted inappropriately I wanted to escalate my complaint. They he says we’re give you the maximum amount of compensation £40 NO escalate my complaint, he then says they will pay off the remaining balance of that months bill £57 by then it had been about 2 hours.
I told him I was tired and I didn’t want to continue, he ignored me so I just hung up the chat bot Toby and went about seeing if I could borrow some money. Later that evening I tried again, I’d been receiving texts and recorded messages form Vodaphone threatening to cut my services over a period of about 5 days and I was very anxious about that I felt suicidal because every time I tried to talk to them I just got bumped onto their automated payment service.
When I finally got back onto the chat bot after about half an hour of trying to tell it I wanted to talk to a human again, they finally answered, he said you were talking to us then you went! He said customer services had left a note on the account and they were going to offer me £150 compensation, so I told him I want to escalate my complaint and I’d like them to send me a deadlock letter and that was all I was interested in, he was a bit abrupt but he then said it’s been escalated, I’ve no idea how many times they said they were going to try one more time to put this right!
The following day I received a text from someone from the Directors office saying she was going to call me, she called we chatted and I told her of my concerns as to how her company treat vulnerable people and that I wouldn’t be unique, she said the 5 unauthorised payments were caused by human error, so I asked her did the guy make this error before or after he sent me that confirmation text? She didn’t answer and instead she said I’d have my deadlock letter the following day.
I have sent Vodaphone a SAR followed by a notification of vulnerable person and a request that they cancel my contract (9 months remaining) without charge to myself, I’ve told them I do not want to be their customer anymore and because they caused me unnecessary stress and worry at a time when I was most vulnerable I expect them to let me go, they also took 5 illegal unauthorised payments from my bank which caused me serious hardship and for those reason I believe they acted inappropriately therefore they should let me go without charge.
But is this something that would cause me more problems? If they say no I will be liable for those last 9 months of the contract won’t I? Or can I legally argue that they broke their contract and therefore I should be able to leave without cost to myself? I have reported them to CISAS and they have accepted my complaint, they wrote: Vodaphone now have 10 working days to Settle the dispute, or submit a written defence to my claim, or Submit an objection to CEDR on grounds of eligibility for adjudication. I have put in a claim that they allow me to leave them without cost, they send me a letter of apology, they pay me £5000 compensation and retrain their customer services staff on how to deal with vulnerable people. Can anyone tell me what they think the likely outcome of this will be please?
Any thoughts or advice will greatly be received and appreciated. Thank you, Lemondip
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