Vodafone cut off elderly customer amid lockdown

WELLINGTON: An elderly woman had her phone line and internet disconnected by Vodafone during lockdown because of an overdue account — caused by the the company’s own administrative bungle.

The customer is one of several who have complained the company has broken its promise that no customers would be cut off during the Covid19 restrictions.

Ann Havard (81) switched to a new Vodafone plan for her landline, internet and TV in March.

She paid by direct debit, so was shocked to start getting letters saying her account was overdue.

Her daughter, Angela Hannah, discovered Vodafone had failed to cancel the previous plan.

Her mother had been paying double, but the payments were all going to the old account.

‘‘We phoned them up and talked to them and they said we’ll sort it out and it turns out that they didn’t . . . despite assurances to the contrary, they decided to cut her phone line off.

‘‘So, an 81yearold woman living alone in the middle of the pandemic had quite a useful means of communication cut off.’’

One of the biggest frustrations was being unable to talk to anyone in person — all communications had been via ‘‘Live Chat’’ sessions with different customer service representatives based offshore, Ms Hannah said.

‘‘For a telecommunications company, they’re not particularly great at communicating.’’

In a written statement a Vodafone spokesman said the company deeply regretted ‘‘the confusion and frustration’’ the situation had caused Mrs Havard.

‘‘We have reopened her account, removed all doublecharges and refunded her any payments made since the beginning of March.

‘‘We have now ensured her old account is closed and will work with her to get the new direct debit set up.’’

An investigation into the problems Mrs Havard and her family had trying to get the issue fixed was under way.

‘‘Since the beginning of the Covid19 Alert Level 4 in New Zealand our Customer Care teams have been experiencing much higher than usual traffic on our call and online chat queues, and have been doing their best to resolve matters or queries as quickly as possible. Having said that, this family should not have had the experience they did and we have apologised to them for the mishandling of their queries.’’

Ms Hannah said her mother had yet to be contacted by anyone from Vodafone, but was delighted to have contact with the world once again after nine days in lockdown without a phone.

‘‘But it’s quite sad that it had to be after the media got involved and they couldn’t have been in touch much sooner.’’

Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy said in the leadup to lockdown, Vodafone had given a commitment to drop latepayment fees, put debt collection on hold and stop disconnections for six months.

That had turned out not to be the case.

‘‘Vodafone in particular seems to be the subject of a number of complaints from our members, just contradicting what they’ve said and saying they have in fact been disconnected during the lockdown.’’

When asked for a response, Vodafone said customers who applied and were approved for financial hardship relief would not be cut off and could delay payments for 60 days with no late penalties.

Mr Duffy said this fell short of the company’s earlier statements and contradicted assurances provided in its ‘‘Covid Care plan’’ on its website.

Nowhere did the online plan say customers must apply and be approved before getting financial hardship relief.

‘‘We’ve contacted Vodafone over this and we will be working with them to better understand what they are offering to consumers and to help bring them into line with what the other telcos are doing,’’ he said.

Anyone who was having trouble with their telecommunications company could contact the Telecommunications Dispute Resolution service, which was a free and independent service.

Since the beginning of lockdown, it had fielded 302 inquiries and complaints. — RNZ