A FAMILY from Southampton has been left frustrated after being overcharged on their Vodafone contract.

Paul and Angie Day, aged 49 and 53 respectively, began having issues with the phone provider in March when they sought to cancel part of their contract.

Paul told the Echo: “We used to have four phones and an iPad all on one account.

“Due to both me and my wife having work phones, and the rising cost of living we decided to cancel our phones and the iPad.

“This left just two phones, which are used by my son and my mother-in-law, as we wanted to make sure they would still be covered and have access to their phones.

“My wife paid the bill by direct debit each month and to our knowledge, she never missed a payment."

A short time later, Vodafone restricted both phones due to an overdue payment.

Paul only discovered the phones had been restricted after his 17-year-old son Josh walked home from work in the dark after he couldn't contact his parents for a lift home.

The family contacted Vodafone three times, often troubled by an automated system before regularly being cut off, as they struggled to be put through to the dedicated complaints team that's advertised online.

Eventually Paul and Angie were told they had an unpaid bill from 2018 for £20.32, which required an additional £5 late fee, which they paid in good faith.

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Paul added: “My wife then got a letter from a debt collection agency due to an unpaid bill.

"It turned out they didn’t allocate the funds to my wife’s account. When we called again, they cancelled the claim with the debt collection agency, so it was sorted.

“However, we then received a letter from Vodafone saying due to unpaid bills we are being changed from a ‘pay monthly’ contract to a ‘pay as you go’.

“Again, we called them and had to explain everything, and a manager said the account was broken.

“He reassured us that this would be fixed, and it wouldn’t change to pay as you go."

After this exchange, the family discoverd both phones had changed to pay as you go, leaving Paul's son and mother-in-law without a phone signal.

“My wife’s estimated bill for August was £174 after she was eventually able to cancel my son’s contract," said Paul.

“It got to the point where my wife was so frustrated, she was drawn to tears.

“We’ve had enough of Vodafone and wanted to tell our story in the hope that it won’t happen to anyone else.

“These big businesses just don’t seem to care.”

The Echo contacted Vodafone for a comment, and a spokesperson said: “Our customer care team are in touch with the customer."