I most recently contacted the Vodafone team on March 18, 2021 to discuss the account related to my daughter’s telephone #. I was the named account holder, prior to May 2020 when we closed the account. My daughter later opened a new contract (retaining the same telephone #) and wanted to take on the responsibility of managing her own contract since she is now a student with a part time job.
When the account was closed, I was conscious of the need for me to pay a final bill (less than 1 full month of the remaining contract) and because I had not received a statement, I called Vodafone in June, 2020. Your colleague confirmed that a final payment was indeed due and explained that it was est £30. We began to exchange debit card details when your colleague explained that because she was now having to work from home, your business controls were likely not allowing her to take payment directly so she transferred me to an automated billing line. When I eventually was connected, the automated message suggested, in error, that the balance was significantly higher than had been confirmed to me by your colleague. Feeling frustrated, and because I had waited so long to be connected, I ended the call because I was by then no longer connected to the original colleague. My thought process was that I would expect a paper bill from Vodafone at some point. On the day, I had been proactive, and I felt that the effort had been fruitless on this occasion.
The next event that triggered me to remember that the balance was outstanding was via a letter from ZINC Credit Management in October 2020; 4 months later. Until then, no communications or letters had been received from Vodafone and I handled the letter somewhat emotionally; I disregarded it when I should have treated it seriously.
I contacted the Credit Management company eventually, hoping to settle the final amount but they explained that I had to speak to Vodafone. I did so on March 18th 2021 and settled the account with £31.33. Your colleague, on that occasion, was very patient and generous with her time and also offered to speak to the Vodafone “Credit File Support” team towards the end of our call. She confirmed how, after summarizing my situation and recent experiences, they agreed to remove a default (which by that point, had been on my Experian credit report since early February) but did explain that they would still need to show a record of late payment, although the account was now settled. I felt this was a very fair compromise and I was grateful. The ref # of the conversation, according to my notes, might have been P5-74041412.
I didn’t expect the change to be recorded on my credit report immediately but I did check today and I am surprised to see that instead of the default being removed, it has re-appeared; with a date stamp of March 29th, 2021.
Is it possible that you can help me to clear up this confusing entry on my credit report; dated March 29th 2021? I assume it was on that date that a well-intended attempt was made by Vodafone to remove the default record but instead a default entry has been added, once more, in error.
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