Vodafone charging after service cut off

John Devitt

I'm on bill play with Vodafone. For the past few months my bills haven't been going through, so I got cut off(fair enough) from calls and text, but for some reason still had data. I received a call today from Vodafone telling me that I owe them money for the past few months, which I agreed to pay on Friday, but I was surprised at how much I owed. It turns out that for the past 3 months they've still been charging me 30 quid a months for calls and texts even though my service has been cut off. I should probably point out at this point that I'm on a 30 day rolling contract, so it's not like I'm roped into this for a year or something. But the lad on the phone just told me that it's just in the terms and conditions.

I totally understand being cut off if I haven't paid my bill, and I understand being charged for data as I was still receiving it, but surely being charged 30 euro for 3 months for a service that I've stopped receiving has to breach some consumer rights? doesn't it?

slimjimmc

It seems that Vodafone have suspended your voice service rather than terminated your contract. When they suspend part of your service your rolling contract remains in force and you remain liable for all charges. This is set out in their General Terms under the section "Suspension / Termination" which you agreed to when you signed up.
http://www.vodafone.ie/terms/paymonthly/#generalFrom130611
On that basis I don't see how any consumer right has been breached.
If you want to avoid building future charges you should terminate the contract entirely which means losing data access.

dudara

Unless the contract is cancelled, you will still remain liable, even if the service has been terminated. Unfortunately, in this situation, you owe the money. It's not very palatable I know. Perhaps you can ask them for a repayment plan to help manage the debt and definitely cancel the contract.

John Devitt

Ahh I see, thanks for the advice, I'll be sure to cancel the contract tomorrow!

mfarr02

Hi all,
This may not be the right forum but I'll go ahead anyway.

I was a meteor bill pay customer years ago. After the contract ended I was in the "rolling" contract period i.e. just paying month to month - no standing contract. In this rolling contract period I missed one payment (it's awhile ago), we'll say on the Wednesday, cut off Thursday went into the shop paid in cash and everything worked again on Friday. About 3 months later I moved to three.ie. I told meteor on the final week of that payment period that I leaving and they said I had to give 21 days notice. 1 week was part of the current payment period - I had no problem paying this as I'd used the phone for most of that month but I wasn't paying for the following two weeks when I wouldn't be using their service. My point was when it suited them they could cut me off within 24 hours but now it didn't suit them they needed 21 days. This was years ago but they still bill me for the 2 weeks every month. Probably looking for mortgage soon, girlfriend says could this could effect my credit score; etc...???

slimjimmc

mfarr02 wrote: »

Hi all,
This may not be the right forum but I'll go ahead anyway.

I was a meteor bill pay customer years ago. After the contract ended I was in the "rolling" contract period i.e. just paying month to month - no standing contract. In this rolling contract period I missed one payment (it's awhile ago), we'll say on the Wednesday, cut off Thursday went into the shop paid in cash and everything worked again on Friday. About 3 months later I moved to three.ie. I told meteor on the final week of that payment period that I leaving and they said I had to give 21 days notice. 1 week was part of the current payment period - I had no problem paying this as I'd used the phone for most of that month but I wasn't paying for the following two weeks when I wouldn't be using their service. My point was when it suited them they could cut me off within 24 hours but now it didn't suit them they needed 21 days. This was years ago but they still bill me for the 2 weeks every month. Probably looking for mortgage soon, girlfriend says could this could effect my credit score; etc...???

The 12 months is the minimum term of the contract but there is no specific finish date, you stay on the same contract you agreed to until either party formally terminates it. So, if that contract said you needed to give 21 days to terminate then that's what you owe, you agreed to that when you signed up.

Don't worry, it won't affect your mortgage. Financial institutions use the ICB when checking your credit history and only members (who are financial institutions and local authorities) can influence your ICB record. Utility companies cannot affect your ICB record.