Vodafone cancelled my broadband overnight because of a “line takeover” I never authorised … and now I can’t even sign back up.
A couple of nights ago, my internet suddenly stopped working.
I ran through all the usual troubleshooting steps (router, ONT, internal network, etc.), but nothing obvious stood out. Figured I’d leave it and deal with it properly the next day.
After work the following day, I logged into my Vodafone account… only to find I apparently have no active plan.
Got onto live chat, and got told my broadband account had been closed because another provider had done a “line takeover.” I also now have an early termination fee on my account.
I have not switched providers, not authorised anything or been contacted about any transfer. How is that even allowed? Can any provider just take over a line with zero verification?
The chat agent’s solution?
Sign up as a new customer and wait the 14 days line activation and we will waive the early termination fee. I then called support and spent a long time going through everything again. Eventually agreed to sign up as a new customer just to get reconnected.
Gave full details, address history, everything needed for a credit check. After waiting a while again, got told: We’ll need to defer this, our credit team has gone home.
So I filed a complaint through their website and got a call the next morning. Got offered £50 credit. Asked if I still want to proceed (same deal as the website, nothing special) Went through the entire process again.... and this time got told that I failed the credit check. I have excellent credit, no issues or missed payments. Nothing unusual.
The only thing I can think of is they’ve messed up my details somewhere (my name isn’t exactly “standard,” so I’ve seen systems struggle before). Initially I signed up through their website and that went through just fine.
Cherry on top:
Even though they cancelled my service, I’m still going to be billed next month and have to call them again to get that refunded.
If you’re considering Vodafone for broadband… I’d seriously reconsider.
Has anyone else had a “line takeover” happen without authorisation? It all seems ridiculous to me.