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'Why has Vodafone increased the price of my phone contract by 30pc?'

James Foxall agreed a new mobile plan, but the contract price went up by 30pc   - Guzelian
James Foxall agreed a new mobile plan, but the contract price went up by 30pc - Guzelian

A couple of years ago my computer was hacked and my Vodafone account compromised. Fortunately, the fraud was nipped in the bud.

As a result I opted for monthly paper billing so I could see the monthly charges on my three phones at a glance rather than digging through bank statements. Time and again Vodafone has billed me incorrectly, always by too much.

My latest bill showed a significant increase over the previous month’s.

I rang Vodafone, which said my annual contracts had run their course and, by default, I had been put on to non-discounted ones.

James Foxall, Leics

Three contracts were then proposed with unlimited minutes, texts and 8GB data at £12.60 a month each. You had a text confirming this arrangement.

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A few days later you received three emails with different contract prices. These new prices were 30pc more than those that had been agreed.

You called Vodafone several times and were answered first by someone in a Cairo call centre, then someone in Rotherham, then someone else in Egypt and finally someone in Belfast. 

The upshot was that Vodafone was not going to honour the new contracts it had offered you. Further to my involvement, Vodafone now implemented the original deals after all and added £30 by way of apology.

Meanwhile, you had paid Vodafone £10 in respect of a “subject access request” to get a transcript of the first call. With the issue resolved your request was now cancelled. The £10 was refunded to your bill as well as the surplus you had paid before Vodafone agreed to honour the contracts.

Get in touch | How to contact Jessica Gorst-Williams
Get in touch | How to contact Jessica Gorst-Williams

After that, paper bills for which you were paying £1.54 a month stopped coming. This, I was told, was because the bills were in credit (because of the payments mentioned above) and nothing was being debited. 

My feeling is that you were paying for them and therefore should have them regardless of the fact that you owed nothing. They were now duly sent and a £5 goodwill payment was promised.

When the bills arrived, two phones were shown at one price with the other out of kilter. Vodafone ascribes this to it not being able to apply a 30pc discount to what you were being charged, only 20pc. 

To redress this, the 10pc shortfall had been credited to you as a separate, one-off payment in respect of two phones.

Despite the 30pc discount being apparently impossible to apply, someone somehow had managed to input this in respect of the third phone and this was reflected in the payments for it. No wonder you are confused.