Debt Collection (Advice needed badly from a Vodafone Rep)

[stepR]

Hi,

I've been in contact with numerous vodafone reps via live chat and i'm getting a mixed bag of answers thats only served to cause further anxiety to an already awful situation. I've been having financial difficulties recently and only noticed an email in my Junk that Vodafone was going to send my account to a debt collection agency on the 19th Feb (Yesterday) so naturally i panicked and contacted Vodafone right away. I only owe an amount of roughly £158 and I can pay this in full on the 28th Feb but this is where the confusion begins. A manager after countless others giving me wrong information informed me that if i contact Vodafone on the 28th Feb and pay the overdue balance then this would restored my services and account back to normal BUT what i'm extremely confused about and the manager didn't seem to know themselves, if i did that at the end of the month what exactly happens with the debt collection agency they sent me account to, will Vodafone inform them that I paid the overdue debt directly to them and everything is back to normal or what exactly happens. Please i just need a once and for all answer to this as Vodafone seem to be incapable of doing that..

Also, what happens to my phone, with they blacklist it or block the imei, this is causing me so much stress that i don't need

[Jason]

Hi @stepR. It's disappointing to see your post. We completely understand how both troublesome and concerning this must be, especially when it comes to your account billing and debt management. This isn't the smooth experience we wanted you to have. As we don't have access to your Vodafone account here on the Community, we won't be able to specifically advise you on the concerns you've raised. That being said, if the overdue balance is still showing on our side, you'll be able to pay Vodafone directly - if you choose this route, the debt collection agency (DCA) will automatically be notified by us when the balance has been cleared directly. We simply instruct a DCA to further pursue an overdue balance if it's been left unpaid. 

If the overdue balance is quite old and the amount has been completely handed over to a DCA (this generally happens after around 90 days or more), you'd need to pay them directly. From what you've advised above, it sounds like the balance is still with us, and the DCA are acting on our behalf to purse the overdue balance. If you'd like us to double-check this, please get in touch with our Social Media team. 

[stepR]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for getting back to me.

I believe its December and January that are overdue that I was going to pay on the 27th of Feb and this would to my understanding bring the account back up to date, they already advised the device plan is currently up to date ( I don't understand the difference having an airtime bill and device plan bill). Intially your colleagues from the collections department advised they could set up a promise to pay but due to a disconnection this didn't happen so I chatted back in only to be surprised with everyone telling me that a promise to pay cannot be offered because the account was already sent to a debt collection agency, this was the opposite of what I was initially advised by a member of the collections team. I'm more than happy to chat back in next week and pay the overdue amount to have my services restored and account returned back to normal but my fear is what if they won't let me when I chat back in next week. What happens to my phone, will it be blacklisted/barred on a IMEI level. I don't know the outcome i'm walking towards. As for your other suggestion, I do not have social media so would there be another way?

[Jason]

Rest assured @stepR that when you get back in touch to pay the overdue balance, whether that's through the DCA or directly with us, you'll be able to. If your services have been restricted due to non-payment, it'll only be your services that have been barred. Your phone won't have been barred or blacklisted, that would only be the case if you've reported it as lost or stolen. If you don't have social media and you'd prefer to get in touch online, we do have a Live Chat team online. Alternatively, you can pop into your nearest Vodafone Hub if you'd prefer a face-to-face experience.