Pay monthly services

[hmmm786]

It seems this problem is far to common!!!! i too have been a victim of this personal roawatch problem. How do I solve this problem?

Any suggestions welcome.

[ChrisMarsland7]

Hi , I'm also getting billed for phone calls that  havn't been made. My bill shows that the number has been called several times. 

Fri Oct 14 10:31		447748191	23m 49s		39.600
Fri Oct 14 10:31		447748191	23m 49s		39.600
Fri Oct 14 10:31		447748191	23m 49s		39.600
Thu Oct 13 20:22		447748191	7m 26s		13.200
Thu Oct 13 20:22		447748191	7m 26s		13.200
Thu Oct 13 20:22		447748191	7m 26s		13.200
Thu Oct 13 20:41		447748191	4m 10s		8.250
Thu Oct 13 20:41		447748191	4m 10s		8.250
Thu Oct 13 20:41		447748191	4m 10s		8.250
Thu Oct 13 20:36		447748191	2m 32s		4.950
Thu Oct 13 20:36		447748191	2m 32s		4.950
Thu Oct 13 20:36		447748191	2m 32s

 Can someone please help!

[nblake]

I've had the same problem.  I have a Samsung Toco Lite which my 15 year old daughter uses.  Our latest bill has a call of 20mins 1 second duration to Personal Roadwatch (what's that?!) at a cost of £25.56.  My daughter would have been in school at the time this call was made, and would have had no reason to call a traffic info line anyway.

She pays the bill out of her pocket money and cannot afford to pay this, especially as she didn't make the call.  What can we do?

Is this some kind of premium line scam or a phone virus?

Help would be appreciated ASAP

Thanks

[nblake]

I just managed to get through to Vodafone support and they agreed to remove the charge, but they said they couldn't block calls to the Roadwatch number because it is not deemed to be a premium line (even though it costs £1.25 per minute!).

Good that they refunded the cost of the call, but not good that they can't/won't stop it being dialed again.  Sadly it looks like this is a revenue earner for Vodafone.  They would know that only a certain percentage of customers would bother to chase up a refund so in the majority of cases they just pocket the cash.  This is the sort of thing that gives corporations a bad name.

Shame on you Vodafone.

[Martin]

Hi hmmm786

The best way to make sure that the call is not made is to put a security lock on the phone which will help calls been made whilst the phone is your pocket etc.

@ Chrismarsland7 - To verify a call is made with your number the connection has to connect at several points in the system, at any point if we cannot verify the details the call will not connect. This is how we can prove that the call is made.

Martin

[hannah_Beck2705]

I received my bill today and it would appear that like everybody else on here i have been charged for a service i didn't use.I'm not entirely sure what 'Personal Roadwatch' is but i've been charged £25.54 for using it.I haven't downloaded any apps so it cant be due to this.What can i do?

[biffo1963]

Nblake - you asked "Is this some kind of premium line scam or a phone virus?"  Well yes, but only in the sense that the number for Personal Roadwatch is 2222 if you are a Vodafone Customer, so it's all too easy to dial it accidentally especially if you forget to lock your phone before you put it in your pocket/handbag/whatever.  Also Vodafone charge calls to this service at premium rate whereas O2 and Orange (although still expensive) do not.  

You do not have to be a complete cynic to believe that Vodafone chose this number very deliberately in order to generate more revenue.

ChrisMarsland - that bill looks extremely suspicious in several ways and I'm very surprised indeed that the mods didn't notice.  Three calls of identical length at exactly the same time - how is that possible ??    Also that number looks very odd, have you managed to find ot what that number is yet ?

[Ace]

Hi.

I have just received my vodafone bill and I have been charged for a call to 'Personal Roadwatch' for 19min (£24).  I also did not make this call.  The phone was locked at the time and I have a pin to sign in.  I am not sure why this occured, but I would like to be refunded for this call I didn't make.

A.

[Lee]

Hey guys,

Thanks for letting us know about this. I've just sent you both an email so we can take a look. Please reply with the requested details and we'll be in touch.

Cheers,

Lee

eForum Team

[BR3TON]

I have also been charged by this service 'Personal Roadwatch' with a total of £25.56. I definitely did not ring this number as I do not drive myself and would not need this service also the date on which this number was supposedly rang my phone was not in use and could not of accidentaly dialed the number as I have a screen lock and also a pin lock to avoid such issues. Please can you email me the details so I can resolve this issue.

Many Thanks

[James]

BR3TON,

An email is on its way to you now, please reply with your details and we will be able to take a look at this for you.

James

[EThomas]

Just downloaded details of bill for daughters phone which included charge for service for Personal Roadwatch which she assures me she has not used (attends college and doesn't drive). I can see from other postings to the forum that this seems to be a continuing problem and I'd be grateful if the relevant forms for complaint could be forwarded (as with previous cases).

[Dave]

Hi EThomas,

I'm going to pop you the email so we can get this looked into for you.

Please note that if the account is your daughter's, we'll need to speak with her to get authorisation to access the account if she hasn't already arranged this. This can be done by her calling 191 and arranging it for you.

Dave

[sazj]

Hi

I too have just noticed that i have been affected by this roadwatch problem. My bill shows a 6 min call at 12.51 which I know i could not have made as I would have been in the nursery dropping off my son, we leave the house at 12.30 and i return at 1, my phone has an auto locking system so if it was an accident caused in a pocket it would have occured as i left the house if it was going to (assuming i had just had the lock off as we left) the nursery is a few mins walk so i wouldnt have had any need to dial this service anyhow. However the next day my bill shows a 20 min call at 15.39 and another 20 min call 1 min later at 15.40. I spoke to a customer service rep who agrees that this could not have been possible for me to have made the 3rd call to roadwatch whilst already on the phone to it !!! consequently he removed this 3rd charge, however I remain adament i did not make the calls ( do not need the service and never heard of it) and he said to check my call log, so i have and the calls do not show!!!! (i would have been on the walk home from nursery at the time of the 2nd 2 calls. I then thought i would find out exactly what this service was before i call back and have found this forum with others complaining of very similar circumstances. Like I pointed out to the call centre staff member if it is in fact impossible that i made the 3rd call then surely it is possible that i also did not make the previous 2 and that the bill is incorrect. Please could you assist me?

I have been with vodafone for 13 years and never had a bill of this amount, never used any additional services, rarely go beyond my inclusive price plan so it must seem strange i would spend 58.74 on calls to a service of this nature (70.49 VAT inclusive)

Many Thanks

[Jonneh]

Isn't Personal Roadwatch something that was created when Vodafone and the AA teamed up? Found several articles telling me this information.

I haven't been affected by it but things like this intrigue me as clearly something is going on.

[Lee]

Hi sazj,

An email is also on its way to you. Please reply and we'll be in touch as soon as we can.

Cheers,

Lee

[GMK]

Help!  This has happened on my 15 year old son's account as well (£25 plus VAT). My wife spoke to a customer services adviser who very curtly said the call would have to be paid for as it involved a 3rd party.  Has anyone had a positive outcome?   The same customer services advisor also said that to upgrade my 13 year old daughter's account from SIM only to a monthly account I would have to pay a fee before being allowed to speak to the upgrade department to find out what they would offer.  He said they work on a commission basis and would not accept my call if I had not paid the fee. Can this really be the case? 

[Martin]

Hi GMK

I am sure that we can look at both of these issues for you. To do so I have just sent you an email, if you can reply back to that we will then get in touch

Thanks

Martin

[carzo]

My dad has been charged for this roadwatch thing aswell, and he knows he did not make the call as he was in meetings all day on the date in which it happened. He has been unable to get through to the billing department to get this sorted out, but he is very unhappy about it he has been with vodafone for 10 years or more now and is talking about leaving them becuase of this.  His call is said to have been 19 minutes long and he was charged £25.  This is all too common of a problem and I do not think it is acceptable that vodafone are insisting on people paying this.  It is not giving them a good name as a company and I myself along with my sister are also vodafone customers and we too shall leave them if this is how they are going to con their customers out of money. 

[karenewiin]

Just happened to me too. I subscribe to live travel services via TomTom so I don't require any other road assistance. Mortified that Ithis appeared on my bill. For years I just used my inclusive minutes etc and last month it jumped up by £25. Been back and forth to Vodafone and they offered me £10 goodwill gesture. I refused it as it seemed to me like I was admitting I'd used the service. I do normally use the key lock but ancient phone doesn't always work. Interesting that, like me, most of these rogue calls lasted exactly 20 mins. I pay for myself and two other family members on contract. Have tried to cancel contract but still got ages left.One does finish in December and that will definitely not be renewed. Thinking of Orange but not sure yet. Writing this has made me angry again. Why should I pay for something I haven't used. Did anyone get a satisfactory response or am I wasting my time? Did Offcom help? Where's Esther Rantzen!

And breathe...