Pay monthly services

[payney1]

Firstly, i would like to offer appologies if i am posting in the wrong place, this is my first time on the forum.

In December 2011 i was contacted by Vodafone and asked if i would like a new contract, which i did, as it is for the wife, she was previously on pay as you go, and was spending more and more money, hence the reason for her to go on to a new contract, which was all organised by myself.

The contract was supposed to include three months of "all you can use" internet usage.  My wife bearly used the internet as she is coming over from a normal phone to a smart phone.

I logged in to my account to check the bills, only to shockingly find that i had been charged fro two months internet usage, which is as follows:

Jan £44.95 incl £16.65 service charges - what's this?

Feb £41.47

I contacted Voda customer services via phone, only be extremely frusrated by them claiming that i had no free internet on the price plan, and that my wife had been using the internet on it "because their systems says so" she advised me, yet this was during the night when i know she was in bed, and the phone was downstairs connected to my wireless router.  So obviously she's sleep interneting i replied!

As a good will gesture and because i have been a vodafone customer for many years, they planned to pay about £14 of the bill.  Oh that's nice of you, given that you are admitting it's your fault and yet i am having to pay for your mistake!

Not happy with this i went in to one of the main stores in Liverpool city centre, as advised by the person on the phone, as i had the contract details written down, so they would be able to investigate what has gone wrong.

Off i trot to the Liverpool store to try and get this matter resolved.

I think i spoke with Simon who eventually sent an email to someone to get authorisation to pay the whole bill as it's vodafones fault for missleading me in to getting something i have not been given in the first place.

Having looked at my account today i notice the amount is still there waiting to be paid.

How long will this take to go through?  Is it actually going through at all?  I don't trust anyone anymore!

I have since put a block on GPRS and had the internet package taken off the account.

The aim was for her to have a better phone and a cheap package, hence the reason i was extremely pleased by this outbound call to myself in early December.

[_365_]

its not gonna solve anything, but rather than being billed lots of little data usage chanks across the whole day, it normally appears as one chunk on your bill, and usually between midnight and 6am...yeah, as you say you shouldnt have been charged for it, but thats likely why you see the "usage while you sleep" on your bill

[payney1]

Thanks for the quick response _365_

Kind of helpful and useful and i kind or understand what you're saying.

I take it chanks is a typo lol :-)

Hoping someone from Voda will finally sort this issue out.

[payney1]

Just a little update:

Now i'm even more confused!!

I have just checked my January bank statement, and Voda took out, by direct debit, £80.95.

Both contracts total £46.50 yet if i'd been charged the £44.95 which is in accordance with the bill, then i should have been billed £91.45

Hmmm!!

[Nabs]

Hi payney1,

As this is account related one of the Vodafone team will need to look into this. Sit tight they will get a message over to you soon with the details they need for this.

In terms of arranging payment of your bills these would usually be as credits on your account so wouldnt show up until your bill is generated.

[James]

Hi payney1,

To be honest we will need to take a look at your account so that we can see exactly what is going on including the price plan and what charges were made.

SO we can do this and speak with you directly I have sent you a quick PM with details on how to get in touch with our team directly.

Once you have done this one of our team will be able to investigate this for you.

You can find your PM inbox here.

James

If you have any comments regarding how I have handled your query today, please complete our short feedback survey.

[payney1]

Thanks for your response James.

I have just clicked on the link in the PM message and selected contact via email, but when sending the email it tells me the service is currently unavailable -doh!!

[payney1]

I've just upgraded my other account and eagerly awaiting delivery of a Galaxy SII.

I've just received a txt message welcoming me to 3 months free "as much as you want" mobile data usage.

Now then, given the problems i've had with my other account, should i trust it?

[James]

Hi Payney1,

I’m sorry the contact us page is not working for you however if you go back into the PM that I have sent you, you will also see further details on how to contact us directly if the form isn’t working.

Once you have done this one of our team will be able to take a look at this and see exactly what is happening on both of the numbers for you.

James

[payney1]

Unfortunately i have not had chance to get in touch yet with being so busy!  Something has happened though, as it is now saying I only owe £20 and there was a credit of £34 on the bill, however, this is still not right, as i shouldn't be owing anything at all, like i said earlier, it was supposed to come with 3 months free data usage.

I also want to go on record by saying someone at Vodafone is garde A idiot!!!  

Once again i have been charged £4.99 for a data plan (bill date 7th March 2012) i don't actually have on the contract, and i also cancelled this when i phoned up.

Come on Vodafone it's not hard, THE CONTRACT DOES NOT HAVE A DATA PLAN AND IS NOT ALLOWED 3G DATA ON THE CONTRACT (sorry for shouting, i'm quite annoyed!) so sort it out please.

[Magicman13]

I presume *garde* is a typo lol.

On a serious note, if you were told in the email re your upgrade that you have unlimited data, then keep this for reference and if they charge you then you have it in writing.

Hope you get it sorted either way.

[payney1]

@Magicman 13 - oops lol yeah - meant to say grade - hands working quicker than the eyes today :-)

Thanks buddy

[grolschuk]

It sounds like the 3 Month Data Test Drive that you are talking about.
Allowing unlimited internet/data (no charges for going over your allowance) for 3 months on your new plan, and then at the end of it, a suggestion as to if you need to move plan to cover your usage.

As described here: http://www.vodafone.co.uk/vodafone-uk/about-this-site/terms-and-conditions/products-and-services/dat...

However towards the bottom, it says this is not available on plans that do not have any data allowance.

If i read your comment above correctly, you are on a dataless plan, which is not covered and will be charged £1 per 50MB or a bundle of £5 for 500MB (which you have since removed)

If this is what was sold/suggested to you when you swapped, and the sales person was aware that you were going to get a dataless plan, then you shold have grounds to get a refund, but it also explains why it was not applied.

[payney1]

@grolschuk - thanks for that info mate, it does in deed sound like i had been missold a particular price plan, when in deed i got something different.

And now for the good news  had a call from James @ web relations team and a full refund has now been applied to the account.

It is though amazing what Voda customer services tell you when you phone them up, and also what they tell you in the shop, and yet it's all the same company 

Thanks very much James 

[James]

Hi payney1,

Many thanks for your time on the phone yesterday.

I’m pleased that I was able to get everything sorted for you, if you do have any further questions, lease feel free to stick around the eForum and ask anything you would like to know.

If you have any comments regarding how I have handled your query today, please complete our short feedback survey.

James