I was interested to read your article about Vodafone’s refusal to repay £420 of unused credit when a customer cancelled their pay-as-you-go account. My mother-in-law has a similar issue.
Before switching to another provider she asked Vodafone for a refund of the £51.89 credit on her account. She was told this could not be issued and it was instead suggested she make use of the money by ordering games on Google Play.
When I contacted Vodafone (and after 75 minutes on hold), it said she should, in fact, have been offered a credit refund.
However, like your other readers, because her number had, by now, been transferred she would have to cancel the new account and return to Vodafone to enable it to reimburse the money. SL, Hexham, Northumberland
Vodafone says that it does not routinely repay unused top-ups when an account is closed. It points to its terms and conditions which do, indeed, state that, once they’ve parted with their money, customers are not entitled to refunds.
Moreover, it says, Ofcom is aware of this industry-wide policy and publicises it in the “use it or lose it” section of its consumer advice. In fact, that refers to the fact that you face losing your service – and your top-ups – if you don’t use a PAYG phone for a certain length of time. The regulator does not oblige companies to refund outstanding credit, although it’s proposing that providers should tell customers about the money they might lose when they apply to cancel their service.
As a “gesture of goodwill” Vodafone has agreed to a refund.
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