Vodafone, the company you can trust to lie and take your money!!

[Chelseystark28]

I have been severely let down by Vodafone for the past 3 years! I was under the impression that my bill was so high each month due to going over my data, after years of ringing to clarify this no one I spoke to explained the real reason my bill was so high. Instead they allowed me to update my data package which I was happy to pay more for if it meant my monthly bill would be cheaper...that didn't happen! So not only am I paying for extra data I didn't need, I was still paying for an unknown charge. About a year later I rang Vodafone again...FINALLY I was told about Optimus, a third party company that was taking money from Vodafone, so they were taking it from me. This is NOT something I signed up for, I was and still am completely unaware of how my details were passed on to them!! Once I find this out I ask Vodafone why was this never mentioned to me over the three years of asking why is my bill so high? They couldn't give me an answer and instead said it was basically my fault for not checking my Vodafone app and looking at my bills. I'm sorry, but as a customer I am in Vodafones care, I have signed a contract giving Vodafone my trust to look after me as their customer and they have allowed this to carry on for three years!

I then told them I wanted a refund of the £700 but they refused, I have emailed the chief director of Vodafone many times, still no reply! I have left comments on the Vodafone Facebook and Twitter pages which only seems to get a fake response asking me to email my issue and an agent will be able to deal with it personally. Yeah right, three times I've done this in the past week alone and I'm still no further forward!!

I will be contacting ofcom about this, I've already read a few interesting articles relating Vodafone with ofcom and I'm sure they'd like to hear about the recent events!!

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @Chelseystark28

Most here are fellow customers understandably with no account access.  

However This eforum is owned and monitored by Vodafone U.K. We have 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. All posts are read by them. Hang in there and I'm sure they'll be in touch. 

[Chelseystark28]

I would be interested to know if Vodafone will be looking into this complaint or just sweeping it under the carpet again. The bottom line is if they didn't have my bank details the scammer would not be able to take my money !! 

[BandOfBrothers]

Vodafone have a Code of Practice which explains how they react to issues raised and timeframes. 

Link > Vodafone Code of Practice.

As this is account specific they probably wouldn't comment here to protect your account. 

[drey_p]

Who / what is Optimus? I take it's some form of a subscription premium message service?  You probably signed up to this unintentionally by clicking on an advert.

Have you been checking your itemised bills on a monthly basis?  I only ask as it comes across that this only came to light after a number of months and the onus is on us as responsible consumers to keep an eye on our usage.  We are provided the tools for doing this, but if we don't use them, we cannot blame anyone but ourselves if it goes wrong.

If this is a premium message subscription, you will need to raise a complaint with PhonePayPlus who regulate this sort of thing.  Also, contact Optimus and ask for a refund as it is them who are charging you.  Vodafone are simply passing on the charge in the same way the mail man delivers a bill. 

[BandOfBrothers]

The only very vague thing I can see and probably not connected with Vodafone Uk and Optimus I can find is.,,,

 https://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/2016/05/13/vodafone-agrees-to-purchase-f...

But this refers to Vodafone Portugal. 

In regards to challenging this charges and if they are from external companies levying these charges then the Premium Rate Merchant is responsible for resolving your issue.

Phonepayplus can be used to try and highlight the merchant. 

[Retired-Cara_B]

Hi @Chelseystark28

I'm very disappointed to hear about this experience. You've mentioned that you've emailed us three times with no joy, could I please have the reference number for these emails so I can chase this up for you? It'll look like this: [#13456789] 

Thanks,

Cara