Ofcom Drops UK Probe into Vodafone’s Billing Practices

The national UK telecoms regulator has decided to drop its own-initiative investigation into Vodafone’s billing procedures after they found that the mobile operator was behaving itself, although they are continuing to investigate how the operator handles customer complaints.

The probe began last June 2015 after an unspecified number of Vodafone’s customers raised related complaints (here), although the regulator has now “decided not to take any further enforcement action” because the operator appeared to be doing a reasonable job of tackling the situation.

The regulator found..

* that Vodafone had established processes and procedures in place to actively monitor billing issues, when they occur, and to fix them in a timely manner, including taking appropriate remedial action, where necessary; and

* that, based on our assessment of the number of customers affected, Vodafone’s processes for correcting errors through amending subsequent bills and the monetary value being taken from the customer’s account, the level of harm actually incurred by customers appears to have been relatively low.

However Ofcom has not yet dropped their probe into Vodafone’s compliance with General Condition 14.4, which is designed to ensure that providers adopt proper complaints handling procedures that are transparent, accessible, effective, facilitate access to alternative dispute resolution and provide for appropriate record keeping.