Vodafone has stolen from my bank account! FRAUD

[MsLChinks]

I need help! On the 28th of December I phoned Vodafone to pay for 2 balances on my account for two lines I currently have with them. The lady that took my payments told me the payment ha not gone through so she tried to take the payments totalling 5 times. A total amount of £197.00 was deducted instead of one of £38.62 and one of £40.57 which meant they took £117.81 too much. 

This happened at a time when I experienced a funeral in my family and the money was needed for me to travel. I phoned Vodafone and they assured me they would refund me the amount within 3-5 working days.This didn't happen and i sent them an email a week into January and I did not get any phone call or email to say they where looking into it. When I came back in January the 17th I phoned once again and I was on the phone with Vodafone for an 1hr and 31 minutes and with talks with his manager the customer service advisor wanted me to go through a year of my billing with them to see if I have previously been charged properly. When I said i would, the backed away and they tried to use another tactic that I needed to send the proof to them by email, I told them I had the proof which was my bank statement and I would send it to them by email and they then changed their mind and said I needed to go to a store to hand them the copy or post it to them. I told them I had the copy with me, that they should give me email address but they were reluctant to do so. After a while the customer service advisor told me he would give me the money back but as a favour to me and I told him this was no favour how can it be a favour when they were giving me back money that originally belonged to me. So i asked to speak to the Manager, he put me on hold and came back and said he apologiesd for his wording, would refund me the amount, he took my bank details and told me I would get my refund after 3 working days this hasn't happened yet. Since they tool my BD'S Vodafone hasn't actioned anything. Firstly why did they take my bank details if they weren't going to do anything with them and secondly what's going on with my refund!. Today is the 29th of January a month after my money was stolen from my account and Vodafone refuses to pay it back in my account. This is my last chance I am giving Vodafone before I take this matter to the Consumer Ombudsman to resolve this.

I have even attached a screenshot of the payments taken.

if there is anyone who can help me with this please advise...

[AnnS]

Hi @MsLChinks

Dont't waste your time with Vodafone.  As the merchant, Vodafone should only have claimed one payment for each account.

Your bank are ultimately responsible for the running of your account. When the bank opens for business tomorrow morning contact your bank. The bank advisor will be able to see the duplicate payments against your account.

At least you have then have the money returned to your account and your bank will chase Vodafone for the money.

[BandOfBrothers]

Hello @MsLChinks

An aweful situation to be caught up in.

If for any reason your Bank say they are unable to apply any processes such as ChargeBack then please do come back here to the forum to update your thread.

The Vodafone Community forum is monitored by Vodafone U.K. There are members of the Vodafone Tech Team who are available to respond and Help where they can. They have the Vodafone logo next to their name so a person knows they are officially Vodafone.
 
All posts are read by them.
 
Hang in there and I'm sure they'll be in touch. 

[Rahim]

@MsLChinks We're sorry to hear about this. 

I've sent you a private message with details on how to get in touch.

We'll ensure this issue is resolved once you've contacted our team. 

[Anonymous]

As AnnS said, do not waste your time with Vodafone. Their attitude is that all monies paid to them remain theirs regardless of circumstance or legality. Your bank will resolve this far, FAR quicker !

[Makelo]

As others have said, talk to your bank and they should be much more helpful and make it clear to them they are duplicate transactions.

A point to note also, being a debit card transaction time is of the essence. Whilst credit card chargebacks are not time limited, debit card transactions have a 120 day limit so the sooner you start by talking to your bank, the better.