Screw up in Vodafone (Auto Renewal) - Data not rolled over

[weichendigital]

I've just arrived UK on 19th August 2017 and have gotten a sim card on the 20th August 2017 from Overgate Dundee. I was told that this plan would last 30 days, and it would automatically be renewed every 30 days for £30 since from the date I top up. 

By right, my plan should expire or attempt on 19th Sept 2017 (30th day from 19 August 2017), or on the 20th September 2017, (plan should be expired by then - 31st day) as I've purchased on the 19th August 2017. However, I've top up £30 on Friday, 15th Sept 2017.  

On Sunday 17th Sept 2017, I received an SMS stating that my plan will expire the next day and it will try to take payment and automatically renew it. As I had already topped up on Friday, 15 August, I simply ignored the message although I was aware that I was shortchanged for a couple of days. 

Today I got an SMS saying that my plan expired and it's eating into the £30 I've topped up on last Friday. I was shocked as it did not auto-renew so I contacted Vodafone to get it rectified and they told me that my plan had expired on Thursday, 14th Sept 2017. Whatttt?

I tried to explain to them that I've only entered the UK on 19th August (I have my Visa allowance date on my Passport stating I can only enter UK on 19th August 2017) and purchased the sim card only on the 20th, and the customer support officer, Ravi R on the Live Chat addressed this issue for me and told me that he will flag it to the internal team and he will forward it to upper management to check. As I was typing, he abruptly ended my chat (it was below 30 seconds) and the entire Live Chat went offline (although they stated 24/7).

Has anyone encountered same issue as me, and how do I resolve this as I was told if the internal team "decides" that their system is working fine, I will not be compensated? If that's so I will probably change to another telco once this 30 days period ends.

TLDR;

Issues Faced:

1) Shortchanged 1-2 days on the 30 days plan. (SMS told me expires on 18th Sept, but if you counted 30 days from 20th August, it should expire on the 20th Sept which is the 31st day).

2) Live Chat Officer "Ravi R" told me his system saw my expiry date for this plan is 14 Sept (This is a serious shortchanged issue here), that's why my top up on 15 Sept is too late.

3) Ravi R was kind enough to allocate a month data however, I understand Vodafone has the "Rollover feature", and my previous month data was not rolled over (shortchanged here).

What I do not like:

1) I was told this issue will be sent to internal for checking, and if internal claims that there's no issue, I will totally not be compensated for this. I couldn't even request for an open case for me to prove my stand and provide such screenshots (including this), or worse case my legal passport document where I could only enter UK on the 19 August and hereby proved that I had bought the SIM on 20th.

2) Live Chat just went offline suddenly as I was typing halfway.

3) I've been shortchanged by vodafone. The rollover data issue.

4) I do not have a guarantee that this issue will not happen again, or if vodafone has acknowledge this issue.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @weichendigital

It's possible connection was lost via the Live Chat session so please do either re establish another Live Chat or alternatively perhaps ring to an Agent via 191. 

If a person enters into a Big Value Bundle that gives a set amount of Allowances for 30 days with Data being the exception that rolls over one more month if any is left. Then if enough Credit is showing then it would typically auto renew. 

Sometimes people have been caught out due to not having enough Credit at the time of renewal due to sending a multi media message - MMS - which are charged for or use some of their available credit by some other means without realising. 

If this was my own personal situation then I'd be tempted to pick up another Vodafone Payg SIM card once my allowances had been used up and start again. But that said the issue you've encountered may have been a one off. 

Really it's down to how much time and effort a person wants to invest in a Payg type account. Appreciate a new number would then need to be passed to people.

I wish you all the best. 

[Annie_N]

@weichendigital

If your bundle started on 20 August (Day 1) it will expire at midnight at the end of 18 September (Day 30), but if your top up was in place on 15 September, your bundle should indeed have automatically renewed early on 19 September - and any unused data, minutes and texts should all have rolled over. 

I'd advise trying Live Chat again, as they're usually excellent on that type of problem. But stick to the failure to auto renew and to rollover - the date of 18 September seems to be correct, so don't complicate the issue by trying to get that changed.