Phone was stolen overseas, Vodafone wants me to pay over $700 for roaming charges.

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › Phone was stolen overseas, Vodafone wants me to pay over $700 for roaming charges.

griffithpark

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#169667 22-Mar-2015 14:23

So my phone was stolen in Italy in January. I notified Vodafone of the theft, got a new phone and thought that would be the end of it. This month I receive a bill for $728 in roaming charges, all incurred by the thief. I get in touch with Vodafone who says that they have no record of the phone being reported stolen, and as such I am now liable for the fees. I find this ridiculous as:

1. I most definitely did report the phone stolen, and it's not my fault that it wasn't recorded.
2. The roaming charges are hugely unusual, and is suspicious activity that is not in line with my previous usage at all. Credit card companies shut down your card immediately in the case of suspicious activity, Vodafone didn't think to alert me at all to this much unusual activity on my account and just let the charges stack up? I find this irresponsible as the thief could have easily racked up even more charges.

I was on the phone with them for over an hour and got escalated to a manager, but all they would offer is that "they can't do anything about it because the phone wasn't reported stolen". Frankly, I think it's ridiculous that I should have to pay $700 for someone else's mistake. Is there anything at all I can do about this?

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#1265037 22-Mar-2015 14:33

Talk to your travel insurance people.

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mattbush

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#1265057 22-Mar-2015 14:52

Fair Go

lucky015

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#1265064 22-Mar-2015 15:13

Where there any notes from the time you reported it stolen(even not stating you wanted to report it stolen just other stuff)? If so request they pull the call recording.

Any charges arising from before the phone is reported stolen is on you, Any charges after that should be on the ISP due to failure to prevent them from arrising, However this only counts if you followed process and called provided the details and advised the agent what was happening, If you called the wrong department and blurted out what you wanted and hung up (or did not submit the request appropriately) then its your problem.

griffithpark

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#1265067 22-Mar-2015 15:16

lucky015: Where there any notes from the time you reported it stolen(even not stating you wanted to report it stolen just other stuff)? If so request they pull the call recording.

Any charges arising from before the phone is reported stolen is on you, Any charges after that should be on the ISP due to failure to prevent them from arrising, However this only counts if you followed process and called provided the details and advised the agent what was happening, If you called the wrong department and blurted out what you wanted and hung up (or did not submit the request appropriately) then its your problem.

Yeah, I definitely informed them that my phone was stolen. Didn't think about the phone recordings, thanks for the heads up. Will try that.

lucky015

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#1265081 22-Mar-2015 15:25

griffithpark:
lucky015: Where there any notes from the time you reported it stolen(even not stating you wanted to report it stolen just other stuff)? If so request they pull the call recording.

Any charges arising from before the phone is reported stolen is on you, Any charges after that should be on the ISP due to failure to prevent them from arrising, However this only counts if you followed process and called provided the details and advised the agent what was happening, If you called the wrong department and blurted out what you wanted and hung up (or did not submit the request appropriately) then its your problem.

Yeah, I definitely informed them that my phone was stolen. Didn't think about the phone recordings, thanks for the heads up. Will try that.

As long as they opened the account and left notes that is proof you spoke with someone and gives the timing and details that can be used to pull a call recording or as proof the conversation existed.

As for why it was not done if they had in fact opened your account it sounds like they may just not have understood what needed to be done which in this case is undeniably simple aka. Phone is stolen means BLACKLIST my phone immediately.

(but that's a whole different slightly off topic debate on companies hiring mentally incompetent staff that can not complete a simple task then rewarding them because they get rid of customers quickly)

johnr

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#1265100 22-Mar-2015 16:02

@griffithpark Main bit of INFO is missing How / when did you report the phone stolen?

When you were still away or when you got home to New Zealand and how long did it take you to notice the phone was stolen?

Roaming Postpay charges can be delayed and yes alerts are setup for suspicious activity / high charges

johnr

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#1265101 22-Mar-2015 16:03

mattbush: Fair Go

Lets get the facts straight first before jumping on the ' Fair Go ' band wagon lots of important information is missing from the OP,

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griffithpark

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#1265137 22-Mar-2015 16:21

johnr: @griffithpark Main bit of INFO is missing How / when did you report the phone stolen?

When you were still away or when you got home to New Zealand and how long did it take you to notice the phone was stolen?

Roaming Postpay charges can be delayed and yes alerts are setup for suspicious activity / high charges

I reported it within a few days, while I was still overseas. I noticed the phone was stolen immediately so there wasn't much of a delay.

I enquired as to why I wasn't alerted to suspicious activity, get this - they said it's because I had such a good history of paying my bills, there wasn't a credit limit on my account! Kind of ironic, isn't it.

I called them and asked them to pull the recording. The lady on the phone was extremely distrustful and forced me to explain why I signed up for a new plan while overseas (answer: Vodafone NZ has good roaming rates and I didn't want to buy a new sim card in every new country I went to, considering I visited 10+ countries. My previous plan wasn't eligible for $5 daily roaming so I couldn't use that one.)

Apparently it's "suspicious" that I signed up for a new plan and then went on to incur $700+ worth of roaming charges. Of course it's "suspicious", it's because my phone was stolen! Unbelievably, they wouldn't even let me listen to the recording and said that it would have to be reviewed by an investigative panel. So I'm just supposed to trust whatever conclusion they come to, after being interrogated as to my intentions. Well, it's safe to say that my trust in Vodafone is gone. This is getting extremely shady, I don't think I'm going to get any help at this point but I'd just like to see what they come up with. Thanks for all the advice!

Lias

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#1265138 22-Mar-2015 16:21

http://www.tdr.org.nz/

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sbiddle

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#1265143 22-Mar-2015 16:27

The TDR won't do anything. The TDR complaints process can only be used when the formal complaints process has broken down.

johnr

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#1265147 22-Mar-2015 16:42

@griffithpark You reported it " within a few days " but you are also saying " I noticed the phone was stolen immediately so there wasn't much of a delay "

What is a few days and were the roaming charges ticked up over the " few days " ?

John

johnr

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#1265151 22-Mar-2015 16:45

Lias: http://www.tdr.org.nz/

They took a " few days " to report the phone stolen so what are the chances these roaming charges were ticked up over these " few days "

John

johnr

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#1265153 22-Mar-2015 16:47

@griffithpark I take it then did you not have an unlock code set on the handset or a SIM PIN set up when the phone powers uP?

surfisup1000

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#1265158 22-Mar-2015 16:53

Johnr has good points.

If I had my phone stolen on holiday I'd immediately call vodafone and get a police report for the insurance.

johnr

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#1265159 22-Mar-2015 17:00

$700 roaming charges is not suspicious at all $7000 would be for a single user customer account

Looks like to me some are ready to jump on the band wagon to advise Fair Go and the TDR before gaining all the basic facts this adds zero value,

A credit limit would not be much use either as advised above roaming postpay charges can be delayed they are not real time

Sorry but this is not a Vodafone / carrier issue no one is been shady, Taking a ' few days ' to contact your service provider is just plain silly

John

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