Mis sold contract

[ChrisR18]

Back in November 2020 my Vodafone contract came to an end and I decided that I would move to a sim only deal for 12 months for various reasons.

So I spoke to an agent over the phone and explained what I wanted and she said she could help. So we went over the details and I was happy to take the 12 month sim only deal at the price agreed.

Fast forward to December 2021 and I need a new handset so I look around at various deals and have found a great one with EE. I ring Vodafone to request a PAC code and am informed that my contract runs until 2022. I have explained that I only agreed to a 12 month deal in 2020 so therefore I am out of contract and can leave of my own free will.

 I have now spoken to several departments for over 12 hours now over the last 3 days and each one have been as useless as the last!

They are saying that we received a text and email stating the terms and conditions but these were never received, I assumed the agent had done as I had asked and everything was ok, after all they are the experts and I trusted them. Stupidly.

 I am being told that to leave I must pay £170 odd although this has now risen to £190 somehow, but as far as I’m concerned I’m out of contract so should have to pay nothing.

Vodafone don’t have a recording of the call and obviously I don’t either, so how can they hold me to a contract that I didn’t agree to and they can’t prove that I did?

Should I contact the obundsman or pay the fee and open a case with the small claims court?

[BandOfBrothers]

If you think back did you receive any emails confirming the new sim only contract  ?

It is always best to check the particular details of the contract and check in your myvodafone. 

You need to raise a complaint via complaints/code-of-practice and go through the steps to let Vodafone try and resolve this before the Communications Ombudsman can be brought into arbitrate.

The Vodafone Social Media Team's are part of the Escalation Team too Contact-us-for-account-specific-queries. 

I can't tell you to pay the Early Termination Fee and then deal with this after.

I would only do this if the deal with the other network is time limited.

You can see what your early termination fee is by " Text INFO to 85075 and we'll text you back with the amount you need to pay, as well as what to do if you have other services with us. " from Cancel-your-account. 

[ChrisR18]

No emails or texts were received at all.

I had no reason to check, I trusted that I had been set up on the deal that I asked for.

We are getting absolutely nowhere with cancellations, loyalty, customer service, billing or any other department.

[BandOfBrothers]

Totally appreciate your viewpoint however even a 12 month commitment is a long commitment so checking all the particulars are correct would have been beneficial. 

Use the Complaint link is my advice @ChrisR18 

[ChrisR18]

I get what you’re saying but we didn’t receive any terms or conditions to check over.

Looks like another afternoon on the phone to speak to agents who can only speak broken English and do not have the authority to handle a complaint!

[hrym]

As this is going to require account access, drop a note to the Social Media team on Facebook or Twitter.  At this stage, I'm pretty sure it'll come down to "we would have sent an email"  (it's a while since I did a tarriff change, but I'm pretty sure I only received an email - I don't remember a text).

What seems most likely is that the email went to spam (it's amazing what ends up there - all my Argos collection ones do, for instance).  If that's the case, it'll have auto-deleted long ago.

I fear you're not going to get very far unless you can persuade someone to give you a goodwill gesture - maybe a payment equivalent to the difference between the 12 month rate and the 24 month one, for instance.  I have no idea if this is possible, but it's worth asking.

[wharfedale66]

@ChrisR18  I would raise a complaint via Resolver HERE

Honestly it will save you the headache of keeping all records of calls, communications etc if it ends up being referred to the Ombudsman. And considering the waiting time in the calls queue with Vodafone, it will also be less stressful & frustrating. I used Resolver to resolve a similar issue with O2 few years ago & everything was sorted out quickly, although I did have paperwork with my contract terms etc.

As has already been advised as a rule of thumb ALWAYS check paperwork regardless what a customer advisor says. I realise that you should be able to trust what an advisor says on a call, but sometimes unintentionally they just give you incorrect information.  I used to work for EE in the retention sales dept & unfortunately this did happen on a few occasions, however calls are recorded. If the discussion and agreement you made were through a telephone conversation, you’re entitled to the phone recording, under the Data Protection Act of 1998. This recording will serve as evidence to prove your case and determine if they did not give you what they claim they would.

Really hope you get it resolved & in future if you secure a mobile contract over the phone always check the paperwork shortly afterwards (or ensure you receive the contract paperwork!) because as you have found it it becomes a headache to deal with later down the line.