SIM contact that I didn't sign up for

[CLARKL]

I'm being charged £8 a month for a SIM contract with Vodafone. I never signed up to this and I have been paying it for over a year. I've tried to call and speak to someone but it's just a long hold. There's no live chat or e-mail address for Vodafone. How can I get this sorted out? I'm thinking of calling the police maybe?

[Farai]

I'm really sorry to hear about this @CLARKL If you didn't sign up for the contact,  we'd recommend that you speak to our Fraud team so this can be investigated. You can call the dedicated team on 0333 304 1665 from any UK mobile, landline or by submitting a fraud report. You can also find out more about reporting suspected fraud here.

[BandOfBrothers]

That's not good @CLARKL 

Has this being coming out of your bank via Direct Debit for a year and you've not noticed the payments coming out ? 

If this was my situation I'd raise a complaint via complaints/code-of-practice. 

And speak to my Banks Customer Services to see if anything can be actioned at their end to recover monies taken.

I wish you all the best with this. 

[AnnS]

Fortunately @CLARKL this is only £8.00 per month, but someone who knows you or had enough information on you set this up in your name with your bank account details.  For the contract to be accepted, it would have been necessary for Vodafone to have done an identity and credit check.

It's also quite surprising you have only just found out about this after a year, you should have noticed the money coming out by direct debit, also the bank would have sent a monthly notification.

When the Fraud Team receive your fraud report through the link provided by @Farai have your details this will be fully investigated.  If you are not satisfied, this can be taken to deadlock for the Ombudsman to intervene but you need to give Vodafone time to investigate.  Any approach to the Ombudsman now would be met with go back to Vodafone.

Hopefully, you have now cancelled the contract.

[CLARKL]

I've tried to speak to the fraud team but they said I didn't pass security checks so they can't talk to me about my account.

I waited 45 minutes to speak to someone that could barely speak English and who hung up on me when I was unable to give her PIN codes and alternative email addresses and phone numbers to pass security. I've tried many times before to speak to someone and usually wait 30 minutes or so before I have to hang up and admit defeat.

I've tried to use live chat but it's just a robot algorithm rather than an actual person (even though a marketing message stated there are "hundreds" of staff on live chat to help at any time.

I have awful phone signal as I'm on holiday at the moment so it's even more difficult to try and sort this than usual.

Should I just go to the ombudsman now as there's realistically nothing I can do to cancel the account directly with Vodafone. I never received a SIM card so I don't even know the phone number for the account.

[hrym]

Your best bet would be to drop a note to the Social Media team on Facebook or Twitter.   Incldue a link to this thread so that you don't have to repeat yourself.  They can take your details privately and investigate without keeping you hanging on the end of a phone or chat connection.

[chistery]

Also, if you haven't already, sign up to look at your Credit File at Credit Karma as it should list the Vodafone account and give you some more details about it. As you are a victim of fraud, also check your file at the other CRAs to any issues.