Vodafone VDSL terminated but charges continue

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shk292

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#167366 11-Mar-2015 10:50

I recently switched from VF VDSL to Slingshot VDSL - was meant to be UFB but still waiting for consents etc. VF rather abruptly said they were terminating my VDSL, I managed to get this extended by a few days until Slingshot were ready to connect (7 Mar).
Now I have received a bill from VF, and it includes a charge for VDSL for this month (not the whole month, but seems more than pro-rata for 7 days). Also there is an ongoing charge for additional mailboxes - I do use these, but assumed they would be terminated along with all the other services.
Has anyone else encountered thsi ongoing charging?
And, how do I stop it - apart from the obvious, spend an hour on hold? My login to VF no longer works so I can't see what wervices I'm meant to have

Wheelbarrow01

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#1256185 11-Mar-2015 11:17

You'll most likely find that VF have charged you for a full 30 days service from the date Slingshot gave them notice of their intention to transition the VDSL service. These days it's pretty standard to have to give 30 days' notice to your old provider of your intention to disconnect/transition away.

In terms of the charging for the additional services, I imagine you will have to call them to discuss this. Good luck.....

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Chorus NZ Ltd

shk292

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#1273714 30-Mar-2015 20:15

So, I did call them about this, got through to a fairly helpful rep after about 20 minutes, who kindly told me that the bill was in error and would not be charged to my credit card.

Then, I check my credit card bill today and there is a charge by VF for $68.19 for services I didn't ask for and haven't been using.

VF, in my book this is somewhere between fraud and theft.

quickymart

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#1273796 30-Mar-2015 21:29

Sounds like yet another case of someone at VF telling the customer what they want to hear, just to get them off the phone.

Just like the callback I was meant to get today from a manager about my phone order. Do you think my phone rang today? Nope.

johnr

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#1273808 30-Mar-2015 21:35

quickymart: Sounds like yet another case of someone at VF telling the customer what they want to hear, just to get them off the phone.
Just like the callback I was meant to get today from a manager about my phone order. Do you think my phone rang today? Nope.

Did you call online shop or mobile customer service?

johnr

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#1273811 30-Mar-2015 21:37

shk292: So, I did call them about this, got through to a fairly helpful rep after about 20 minutes, who kindly told me that the bill was in error and would not be charged to my credit card.

Then, I check my credit card bill today and there is a charge by VF for $68.19 for services I didn't ask for and haven't been using.

VF, in my book this is somewhere between fraud and theft.

You called today? The charge must of been on the credit card already and was the 30 days notice provided?

LennonNZ

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#1273814 30-Mar-2015 21:46

Wheelbarrow01: You'll most likely find that VF have charged you for a full 30 days service from the date Slingshot gave them notice of their intention to transition the VDSL service. These days it's pretty standard to have to give 30 days' notice to your old provider of your intention to disconnect/transition away.

In terms of the charging for the additional services, I imagine you will have to call them to discuss this. Good luck.....

The way transitions work thu ISPs in NZ Slingshot does not tell Vodafone they are getting the Line.

Slingshot put a transition order thru Chorus and after the line has been "moved" to Slingshot, Vodafone will get a Notification from Chorus that they have lost the service (but not to who)

lucky015

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#1273839 30-Mar-2015 22:28

LennonNZ:
Wheelbarrow01: You'll most likely find that VF have charged you for a full 30 days service from the date Slingshot gave them notice of their intention to transition the VDSL service. These days it's pretty standard to have to give 30 days' notice to your old provider of your intention to disconnect/transition away.

In terms of the charging for the additional services, I imagine you will have to call them to discuss this. Good luck.....

The way transitions work thu ISPs in NZ Slingshot does not tell Vodafone they are getting the Line.

Slingshot put a transition order thru Chorus and after the line has been "moved" to Slingshot, Vodafone will get a Notification from Chorus that they have lost the service (but not to who)

LSP (losing service provider) notification does actually show which provider is taking a service.

Open question to all ISP staff:

Why is it that most ISP's seem to require some form of notice however have no official policy or practice for taking this notification other than actioning a cancellation?

We already know that the majority of services are transferred not cancelled.

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shk292

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#1273848 30-Mar-2015 22:52

Well, just closing this one off. I phoned the VF residential line again tonight and after the usual wait explained myself clearly but politely to the CSR. All the charges except those for the phone calls I made in Feb have been refunded (or at least, I have been told they will be). And, I have insisted on being sent an email confirming this. So, whether or not it is policy to charge a 30-day 'overlap' of services when a customer moves, VF have now put this right in my case so credit to them.

Moral of the story - don't try to switch ISP as you switch from DSL to UFB. The reason I ran into this problem was that it's impossible to predict a UFB start date, especially when a RoW is involved. In this case, Slingshot told VF I was moving to UFB at the end of Feb, VF terminated my connection, but I am still waiting for a neighbour's consent. In the meantime, Slingshot have provisioned me with VDSL. What I should have done is port my VDSL service across to SS, then applied for an upgrade to UFB

richms

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#1273853 30-Mar-2015 23:03

Im not sure why you would even tell slingshot that you have an existing vodafone connection if you are going to UFB?

Richard rich.ms

quickymart

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#1273865 31-Mar-2015 00:11

johnr:
quickymart: Sounds like yet another case of someone at VF telling the customer what they want to hear, just to get them off the phone.
Just like the callback I was meant to get today from a manager about my phone order. Do you think my phone rang today? Nope.

Did you call online shop or mobile customer service?

I called sales on 777 last week...have sent you a PM John.

wombus

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#1273892 31-Mar-2015 08:00

I suspect this happens all the time, I transferred my ADSL2+ from VF to slingshot and also cancelled Sky tv with them. Sky was cancelled and decoder returnrd on 4th Oct 2014 but was still invoiced a whole month of sky charges for October on my 14th Nov invoice from VF. I gave 30 days notice regards changing ISP landline and internet, but they continued to invoice me for the landline and as well best Mates and 2 x mailboxes once it switched over.
However i will say that once i pointed out the wrongful charges to VF were very quick to fix the invoice and remove the charges. A number of previous experiences with VF had taught me that whenever any changes are made to your account then expect errors on your next invoice.

Jaxar

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#1273909 31-Mar-2015 08:37

lucky015:
LSP (losing service provider) notification does actually show which provider is taking a service.

Open question to all ISP staff:

Why is it that most ISP's seem to require some form of notice however have no official policy or practice for taking this notification other than actioning a cancellation?

We already know that the majority of services are transferred not cancelled.

I can't say with a certainty but I have always believed the 30 day notice has to do with the ISP being charged a full months rental on the customers line even if the ISP's customer is transferred part way through that period.
Now an ISP can start a cancellation with 30days notice however if they do that before the new ISP gets their order to transition away all that happens is the customer cannot get their connection moved and is instead cancelled.
If a transition is submitted by the new provider before the the 30 days notice you now have 2 possibilities. If the transition goes through before the 30 days which is the most likely then you still have that overlap in charges.
If the transition goes through after the 30 days the the customer has likely entered a new billing cycle regardless.

Basically this means yes there is a process however since it tends to be actually detrimental to the customer most ISP's tell their customers not to tell their new ISP that they are cancelling until the connection has transitioned.

Please note: I have a professional bias towards Vodafone.

shk292

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#1273936 31-Mar-2015 08:44

richms: Im not sure why you would even tell slingshot that you have an existing vodafone connection if you are going to UFB?

Because I hoped - perhaps naively - that I could get a smooth transition between ISPs, in the same way I can between power providers. And, I wanted SS to take on my home phone line, with the same number as currently provided by VF. It seemed a little unfair to expect them to guess what my number is or who is currently providing

richms

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#1274444 31-Mar-2015 14:33

Ah ok, Didnt know that there was a phone involved since its about moving internet.

Yeah keeping a number is a PITA when changing ISPs. Shouldnt be so hard.

Richard rich.ms