@Adam, thanks for your concern.
I did use the link, and then was asked to provide: "Your Full name, Your date of birth, Your postcode, Your last bill amount, Registered email address, Channel of latest contact with Vodafone (Excluding Social Media), Any screenshots that shows the usage."
Foolishly I replied. This data is sent by the email (!), to what appears to be an account that multiple people access(!!).
This is exactly the sort of information a Phishing scams would ask for. I'm not sure how this complies with GDPR.
As if this wasn't enough, I have since been asked "For us to verify your details please confirm the start date of the latest contact."
Seriously?!? You haven't confirmed my details with all of that other information? Especially as this email address is the same as the account address. Surely there are much better and less intrusive ways to verify identity - a text message to the device for example.
I work in software development for a FTSE100 organisation, so you could say I am 'tech savvy', and as per my original post I am fully aware that systems silently invoked updates. As I also said on the post, I have switched updates off in most systems - all except Windows 10 where updates are mandatory - but I have added Glasswire to monitor network traffic on the PC. Despite this, I have since seen massive usage when the PC is off and no one in the home, and have provided plenty of information about strange data usage in these mails. I have now realised that the 'Usage Breakdown' does not separate quota from Video Pass data, making it impossible to identify times when erroneous data was used, though obviously your billing systems can, which is unhelpful.
I am now using the Vodafone device as little as possible, as it would appear from posts on this thread, that the device bleeds data, which is why Vodafone systems report much higher figures than actual customer usage. It is very concerning that a company the size and value of Vodafone cannot address this issue, and will seemingly happily accept customers are not actually using the data they purchased and in some cases, going over there quota, and thus being ridiculously heavily charged. This is a very questionable practice.
It is also a massive concern that it is not possible to cap any charges if the user has a Pass - but you do have mechanisms to heavily charge them.
I was going to use this Vodafone device for 6 months, as it looked a great solution. If it had worked correctly, I might have considered using a lower tariff for longer, but I no longer have any trust.
I have now found an alternative product that will meet my needs so will cancel Vodafone as soon as the new system active.
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