Why you shouldn't be fobbed off by Vodafone over slow broadband speeds

Valerie and Steve Bulmer thought they’d be quids in when they switched their burgeoning phone and broadband account from Virgin Media to Vodafone.
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But all they got for their pains was a threat of a further £191 hit in the bank balance, and an ongoing wrangle about broadband service standards.

The couple’s woes all started last September, when the pair from Waterlooville decided to call time on their monthly telecoms package with Virgin Media, as relentless price increases were making it too expensive.

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The couple did a bit of shopping around and agreed it would be advantageous to switch to a superfast broadband deal with Vodafone so they gave Virgin notice of their intention.

Picture: ShutterstockPicture: Shutterstock
Picture: Shutterstock

Valerie said: ‘We just popped into the Vodafone shop to see what they had to offer, and we were quite happy.

‘It was superfast broadband 35 megabits a second, with a minimum speed of 12.6 megabits and anytime phone, that’s why we went for it.

‘But we just couldn’t get even the minimum advertised broadband speed. They weren’t honouring their side of the contract.

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‘We read all the set-up instructions, and in the Ts and Cs it said we needed to give it a 10-day settling-in period, which we did.

‘On the tenth day itself, September 29, we got on the phone to them to complain, and again the following week.

‘Vodafone finally agreed we did have a problem so they told us they’d give us a 15 per cent reduction on our bill until they could put it right.

‘It amounted to just a couple of quid, which was nothing really. When we asked how long it would be for they said it would apply until they could sort the problem out.

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‘When it got to December I said that was it, I’d had enough.

‘I was on the phone complaining again for two of the weeks in December, nearly every other day. I just kept getting passed from pillar to post, one site to another, and tech one to tech two, who just couldn’t give us what we were paying for.

‘They couldn’t even guarantee the minimum speed. We never ever got above 0.4. An engineer spent all one afternoon trying to sort it, and he finally gave up.

‘When in the end we gave them notice, they responded by claiming we needed to give them thirty days. I insisted they’d got it on December 1 so they agreed we’d be leaving them on January 1.

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‘As we had to pay our monthly subscription up front we stopped our direct debit, so they couldn’t take any more money and as far as we were aware that was the end of it.’

Matters went distinctly sour when in exasperation Valerie arranged to switch back to Virgin. On learning of their predicament, Virgin offered to get them out of trouble and finally agreed a competitive budget package deal.

But when they told Vodafone what they were proposing to do, they were told in no uncertain terms their early departure would result in a termination fee of £164.

Subsequently further rental charges were added without explanation, inflating the total to £191.

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And to add insult to injury, as soon as Vodafone received the Virgin phone number transfer notification, the couple’s phone and broadband was promptly disconnected, leaving them without any means of communication for the remaining weeks in December.

An angry exchange with customer services resulted in an adamant refusal to withdraw the termination fee. Valerie stood her ground and insisted the demand was out of order because the promised service was more like a tortoise than a hare and came nowhere near expectation.

More angry exchanges followed. Communications giant Vodafone refused to budge, insisting further technical checks were necessary, but she was in no frame of mind to be bullied into submission.

They’d already been down that road with engineers trawling through their broadband setup vainly trying to get the service up to speed.

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Frustrated at trying to slug it out with the company and getting the cold shoulder treatment at every turn, the 64-year-old school dinner lady decided it was high time to call in Streetwise for help and advice.

We looked over the Vodafone package and quickly concluded the broadband speed was a fundamental condition of the contract.

As it had almost dropped off the bottom of the scale a 15 per cent reduction in the monthly charge didn’t remotely compensate the Bulmers for the loss of service.

We got onto them emphasising they were in unsafe legal territory if they persisted resisting Valerie’s complaint.

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The 15 per cent discount amounted to an admission of liability and confirmation there had been a breach of contract from day one of the switchover.

Following our intervention Vodafone did a prompt about-turn and rapidly capitulated.

A spokesperson confirmed: ‘We accept that Mrs Bulmer’s minimum guaranteed broadband speed was not met and apologise for the unsatisfactory experience she has had with us. We have credited her account with the full amount previously charged. ‘

Valerie felt fully vindicated in taking a stand and her persistent determination had paid off.

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‘I just wasn’t having it, she said. ‘They mixed with the wrong one when they picked on me.

‘If it had been my dad or somebody on their own they probably would have just paid it because they’d have been frightened of taking them on. How many people I wonder let them get away with it?

‘Thank you very much for your help.’