Hi,
Last month after being for more than 8 years with Vodafone I received a large ridiculous bill of over £850 for using 60gb more data than I should have. I tried to explain to Vodafone of what happened and they offered me 10% discount and also they told me that they will set up a monthly instalment payment scheme to help over the time. That did not happen and the full amount of money was automatically taken, so being disappointed of the service I decided to move to THREE, and ended my contract with Vodafone. 2 weeks later I have found out from my credit file report that recently there was a Vodafone Gemini Account opened on my behalf, which means that Vodafone recorded a default on my account. I had paid all my bills and the last one was taken by direct debit.
So I contacted Vodafone around 4-5 days ago and discussed this issue with one of the operators. He assured me that the default was put by mistake and that it would be removed on up to 6weeks and it will not show any more after that. I was also promised that I would get an email confirmation for that. I also asked if there was anything else outstanding or any other last payment that I needed to clear and I was told that there was not.
2 Days ago I received a letter from Vodafone (which was dated 03/11/2017) stating the below:
‘’’’’’’
Dear Customer,
RE: ACCOUNT NUMBER [MOD EDIT: This post has been edited to remove personal information please see Community Guidelines]
OUTSTANDING DEBT £12.88
Following the recent cancellation of your service and receipt of the final bill, the above balance is now due for immediate payment.
To make a payment by Debit or Credit Card, please contact the helpline on 03333 048065 (standard call charges apply)
Unless we receive payment within the next 14 days we may:
- Register your account as a bad debt with a credit reference agency. This will be a point of reference for future companies providing credit and may therefore affect your ability to obtain credit in future.
- Instruct a Debt Collection Agency to collect the payment on our behalf. If we do, you will have to pay additional fees up to 15% of the original bill charges due to the costs incurred by us as a result of your breaking the terms of this agreement. This will not exceed £100 and the amount will be added to your debt by the agency managing your account on our behalf. The charge will not be subject to VAT.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your custom during your time with Vodafone Ltd and if we can be of any assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Please call 03333 048065 to discuss the options available to you.
Yours faithfully
Vodafone Credit & Collection team
Ref: COLDCC1
‘’’’’’
So yesterday I called them again, and paid the final bill £12.88. Then I asked the operator to update me on the previous enquiry on the bad debt.
He then told me that the bad debt is still on the system and it will not be removed and it will stay for 6 years.
I was shocked and explained to him that I had always paid my bills. He told me that the reason why, is that you paid with credit card. I explained to him that I never paid with Credit Card as I never had Credit Card until last week and all the bills where paid with Debit card. Then he told me that it is because you were late when you paid the previous bill which was for over £850. I explained to him that this amount was taken automatically by direct debit after i was promissed 10% discount and payments in installements. Then he told me that it is because of late payments made previously, I explained to him that since I had lost my card in January 2017 I always paid my bills manually until September when I set up again again direct debit. Then he told me that it is because of the suspensions I had previously on my account. I asked which ones were these and why was I put in bad debt now. He told me that we were going on in circles.
He could not help me.
Even in the above letter I received it states that if I would not pay the last bill within 14days of the date of the letter, Vodafone MAY: register my account as a bad debt. However I paid it on 10th of November 2017 and I have an authorisation code: [MOD EDIT: This post has been edited to remove personal information content please see Community Guidelines].
Please I would ask for your help as I believe the bad debt was mistakenly put on my account.
I am a reasonable person and I always pay my dues as I have done so, and this can be understood on Even though I had a large bill to pay of over 850 I still did not cancel my direct debit.
So please if you could help me sort this out and have it removed from the system so It does not effect on my application for mortgage and any other credit application I may apply in the future.
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