Have you heard the one about a woman who downloaded four episodes of Friends while on holiday in Germany, only to receive a bill for £11,000 from Vodafone when she returned? It really happened, so does anyone else have any ‘unlimited downloads’ horror stories?
I also have a horror story for mobile broadband use with Vodafone, last July I went into the Vodafone shop and told them I was travelling to france and wanted a package that was suitable for using in France, upon my return from France I received a bill for FIVE THOUSAND POUNDS for 9 days use.
Whilst in France I used my laptop and downloaded around 35megabytes according to my records , according to Vodafone I downloaded 928 megabytes so there is quite a discrepancy, one day in particular they have billed me for TWO THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED POUNDS of downloads
I really cannot see how Vodafone have arrived at their figure as I am pretty sure I did not use it to that extent however trying to dispute the amount with Vodafone is proving to be time consuming and somewhat difficult.
Just to make matters worse they have placed a record on my credit report which is now making it impossible for me to get credit. They have written to me offering to reduce the bill by 20% however I made a counter offer of £300. and am awaiting thier response . If no suitable response after following the complaints procedure I will have to go to Ofcom.
there does seem to be a few similar stories floating around and in my opinion I was miss sold by the Vodafone salesperson as I would never have signed up to something that could cost £5,000 for 9 days use. I specifically told them that I was travelling to France I would have thought they could have sold me a more appropriate package.
Miss-selling in the extreme, i'm so sorry to hear that story.
It's a shame to say it, but when shopping for broadband products you now need to get a second, third, maybe even fourth opinion from all the sales assistants in the store. Also, visit as many suppliers as you can to get a full overview of the market.
Here's our 'know your rights' consumer guide and 10 top tips for successful complaints procedures article. I hope they help you out:
Unlimited Downloads? I don't think so...
Posted - 09/05/2008 : 16:46:55
