Help needed getting wrongly charged money back (USB mobile connect)

[Karnage]

Hi Everyone,

so this is a complicated situation that i have been in since 2014, i recently got access to all my bank statements digitally dating back until 2014 and this issue popped up in my head that was never resolved.

I moved into as new home in May/June 2014, well before moving I informing Vodafone i wanted to move my connection to my new place, they setup a new contract for me and said someone would be out to connect at some point, unfortunately this was to take longer than the given wait time (I waited around 3 weeks after moving in) and in the meantime they offered me the usb mobile connect to use for free within this time while i waited to be connected. I agreed and said i didn't mind once I had internet. 

Then in August 2014, i received a bill for 290e, they had charged me for using the connect device. I won't go into how many times i called throughout the years trying to get this sorted and just getting fed up. Essentially I was told that yes I shouldn't have been charged and then on more than one occassion that I had already been refunded on Sept 2014, then Oct 2015, then another date after that and to check my bank statements. I never could find my bank statements to prove this and didn't have the time to go during the day to the bank to constantly check these random dates I was getting so I would just give up. What it comes down to now is that I don't have anything in my statements that I ever got refunded and I don't want to let this go this time.

Anyone that could assist in finally getting to the bottom of this would be greatly appreciated. I would like to finally settle this issue and get my money. 

KR,

Karen 

(P.S. Also it was never refunded back into my DSL account either, I have never found proof anywhere of it being returned).

**Update**
Another note: 

I was checking my emails and in September 2014 I did talk to them multiple time and had a lot of stress getting this issue resolved(I wrote a letter in german and asked my friend to correct it so i have a record of my letter in my emails). In the end we did resolve my issue but I first had to write a letter to them asking for the money to be sent back to my Bank Account. I also requested confirmation it was returned and I never received any, and that's when my multiple calls thereafter happened again requesting my money and then the consistently different dates of when it was returned.

[Karnage]

I also have another email i just found for the full amount 308,89e that was put on my account as a guthaben. I have full proof i received the money but it was never sent back to my bank account(the guthaben is not on my dsl account but the mobile funknummer used by the mobile connect). I can provide this information when required.

[reneromann]

Just to be clear: Money won't be refunded back to your bank account, but will stay on your consumer account and will be used in order to pay invoices (e.g. your bank account will not be charged but the invoice is being deducted from that money on your consumer account).

Next thing: If these are really issues back from 2014, I'm sorry to say that those issues will most probably have timed out in accordance to the German Civil Code at the end of 2017.

[Andre]

Hey Karnage,

after almost 5 years, most likely all the customer accounts have been closed.
I doubt, that i find any information regarding this, but feel free to send me a private message.
I need atleast your dsl customernumber (most likely something like 001912345678) & password.

To send me a private message, please click on my name/avatar -> then "Diesem Benutzer eine private Nachricht senden".

Best regards,
Andre

[Karnage]

Yes i was aware of that but i contacted them via phone and asked for it to be sent to my Bank Account, they told me to write a letter and post it to them which i did and since it was from work it would have went with registered mail.

There was no point in them putting that money in that account as it was this mobile connect account which was only for that one purpose, i didn't use it ever again and i don't know know why the money was never put into my DSL account. I would have been okay with that option but that never happened. I waited until 2015 i believe before contacting them again when i noticed i never received any money but that's when i got the run-around. 
And I didn't think stolen money expires, so that's why i'm contacting Vodafone again as I have all the details I need not to be given the run around again. It's unfair and I have basically have been robbed. I have the email with the attached receipt of my refund. I have my bank account records(i've only ever had one bank account) dating back to 2014 and no money was ever sent from Vodafone.

I'm not sure this issue relates to this law as it was resolved, Vodafone admitted they were in the wrong but they lied thereafter of having given me my money from 2015 onwards.

[Andre]

Hey Karnage,

i understand that you are upset.

I'll have a look into your private message as soon as possible & conctact you.

Best regards,
Andre

[Karnage]

UPDATE:

so just to inform people that might be interested on the outcome of this issue. 

So Andre assisted me, he was very helpful and i wouldn't fault him but unfortunately Vodafone say that because it was too long ago they will not assist and that i was paid my money, that's the end of it for them. They will not even provide a transaction ID so i can check with my bank if any payment attempt was ever made, and by law,companies  in Germany are required to keep all accounting document for at least 6years. 

Andre found the payment that was sent to my vodafone mobile connect account, so it was confirmed i was paid back what was wrongly charged to me. I posted them a letter also in 2014 asking for the money to be put on my bank account(i was informed by a vodafone rep on the phone i had to do this).

Andre said this was paid in Sept/Oct 2015( i also checked all 2014 and just 2015 incase, thankfully it's all digital now). I have all my bank account info and there is no payment, only their monthly charge for the dsl from my account( they're very good at taking money). I therefore have reached a stalemate with this route and will need to go forward with my lawyer instead. If/when i can update about this again, i will. Good luck to all of you trying to get your money back from Vodafone! Don't do what i did which is give up after so much frustration and leave it so long, even after they try to break you, resist you, argue you, lie to you or just deny you what you are owed, don't take no for an answer. Best of luck!

[reneromann]

The problem might be, that you only have 3 years plus the rest of the year to claim open funds as by the German Civil Code. So you would've been required to claim your refunds from 2015 until end of 2018 - from that moment on, there is no legal requirement anymore to fullfil any of your claims as the German Civil Code says that claims time out then.

There are only few exceptions from that 3-year rule - but I doubt your case will be one of that exceptions. So please ask your lawyer at first if your claims might've timed out ("Einrede der Verjährung") - if so, there is no sense to make any further attempts to do so, as you're then simply too late.

And only because companies are required to save their accounting documents for longer time, does not mean that your claims do not time out before.

[Karnage]

It wasn't a refund for one, that money was taken from my account when it shouldn't have been in the first place, it was stolen and secondly the funds apparently weren't unclaimed as i have been told now by more than two people, it was paid. Which it was not, so not unclaimed, Vodafone are stating they paid it to me when they didn't, and don't seem to want to provide proof of this. I sent the letter claiming those funds within a month of it being resolved, so from my side i have done what i was suppose to, they were never given to me when they should have been and i have been lied to about that continuously. So yea, my case might actually be that exception. A transaction ID might resolve this earlier.