Vodafone online chat advisers useless

[Anonymous]

As the title says they are completely useless and give you fake promises which they will never do. Vodafone had the cheek to charge me a termination fee of £85 which I shouldn't need to as my contract expired. Chatted to 2 people, both acknowledged that it was a system error which is good but gave different times ( 48 hours, 4 days) on when I would get my money bank and still not got it back yet.

Only a company like Vodafone would do something stupid like that. If I still don't get my money back on Wednesday then I'm going to just cancel my direct debit still they do so.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @Anonymous

Things can sometimes go wrong which I'm sure many accept, but then it's ultimately down to how it's put right that then counts ,and instills confidence back into the product and service. Communication is Key.

Maybe speak to your own Banks Customer Services to invoke the Direct Debit Guarantee which if applicable they will then return the funds to your Bank Account. 

Please consider not cancelling the Direct Debit until Vodafone have taken any final payment(s) and if applicable applied any Refunds. And you have received the final bill by post, paid by Direct Debit and a £0 bill and Sorry Your Leaving Letter has been received that confirms the account is closed. (Please retain this paperwork)

Also if you still want to go down the route of Vodafone returning the funds they may have difficulty if you cancel your Direct Debit. 

[AnnS]

Hi @Anonymous

Contracts don't expire, the agreement you make is for a minimum term, not a maximum term and subject to 30 days notice of cancellation.  

If you ported out your number, this would have been subject to the usual notice period  and this would be chargeable.

You will probably find this is your 30 days notice, plus your final bill and a genuine chrarge.

If you cancel your direct debit, any bill credit due to be refunded will leave Vodafone without an account to repay the money.

As soon as you have received your final bill with a 0.00 balance and letter to say 'sorry you are leaving' and confirming you have no further responsibility towards the contract, you are free to cancel the direct debit.  This is very important, the last thing needed are recurcussions with an amount still owing.

If you still have any questions, live chat are there to help.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately uptill now the trouble still hasnt been resolved because the people from Vodafone still continue to mislead me into refunding my money. Thats 3 people already wasted 3 weeks of my time and i find this extremely appalling.

Like i said my contract ended therefore shouldnt need to pay any termination fee. People should seriously avoid buying contract phones from them. Terrible service, constantly lying and makes awful mistake not fixing them. I've cancelled my direct debit now as I warned them I would do so if they still wouldnt return my money which of course they haven't.

[hrym]

As AnnS said, your contract doesn't end, it turns into a rolling 30 day one and you still need to give 30 days notice and pay for that plus any other charges.   Is this just that, or has it been specifically listed as as Early Termination Fee.  Bear in mind that, if you updated your handset early, the new period is added to the old one, it doesn't start from the date of the early update.   I don't know if that applies, but it could explain the apparent date discrepancy.

If you're convinced this is wrong, you could indeed invoke the Direct Debit Guarantee, but that could lead to complications with your credit file, so give the team here a chance to engage with you and see if this cant't be cancelled (or explained if that's appropriate).