Vodafone failed to cancel my contract with my current service provider and lied to me

[Umer]

In July of 2019, i applied for a "Tarrif wechsel" from 1und1 to Vodafone, your employee told me that Vodafone will take care of the Cancellation of my old contract and i just have to fill out an online form. I filled the form and send it to Vodafone.
After a month, i called Vodafone again to ask about the status, again your colleague told me that there is plenty of time to do the cancellation and i should just wait.
On 27th of September 2019, i called 1und1 and they told me that they have not received any cancellation request from Vodafone and they have extended my contract until 26th October 2020. I called Vodafone the same day and i was informed that i should not worry and we will take care of every thing.
I called Vodafone again to check the status of my application, they told me that we have no update regarding your old contract and my new contract will start from 26th of October 2019.
Now i have 2 internet contracts!!!
From July 2019 to this day, i was given wrong information by Vodafone colleagues. I had plenty of time to cancel my old contract my self.
As all of your calls are recorded, please check them and see why i was given false information.

[reneromann]

May it be that you made your contract too late so that the cancellation period of your 1&1 contract had expired already? Please note that there is usually a 3 months period for a 24 months contract active - so if your cancellation is not received at least 3 months in advance to the end of the conctractual term, the contract will self-extend for another year.

So in your case, that wouild mean that the cancellation would've needed to be received by 1&1 at least 3 months before the 26th of October, so the latest on 26th of July. If you made the contract later than that date (and/or filled in the online form later than that), then you were too late.

By the way: It's solely your contractual obligation to ensure that the cancellation is received on time. And as Vodafone does not know anything about your old contract, no callcenter agent can tell you anything about your old contract with another provider nor can they tell you to which date your cancellation has to be received by the old provider.

And another thing: Phone alls are NOT recorded for documentation purposes but for training purposes. This usually means that any of your personal data will be removed from the calls and that there is no link being established between your customer data and that recording.

[Grit]

Hello Umer,

i like to look at it, but we can't check calls.

Send me your name, address, customer number and date of birth. Very important: Please contact me again here in the thread.

Regards Grit

[Umer]

This was not the case, Vodafone specifically told me that they will take care of thi responsibility of cancelling my contract, they do it all the time. If you go to Saturn or Media markt, they offer you this service just to sell their contract.
Regarding the time for cancelling my contract, at the time when i made the contract with vodafone, i had more than 3 months to cancell the contract, that i why vodafone employee told me that he will do that.
None of this explains why they kept lying to me!

[Umer]

Hello Grit,
How can i send you all these personal information here in the forum? Is there a way to send them to you personaly? 

[reneromann]

Vodafone and other service providers are able to take care of the cancellation of the previous contract, BUT they are bound to the same notice periods that you are also bound to (as they only declare a "regular" cancellation on your behalf).

In case you're providing them the necessary details too late in order to provide this cancellation to your "old" provider in time (and this usually means 2..3 weeks before the notice period ends) - otherwise the cancellation that is provided to your old provider by the new one will arrive too late and in so far the contract will have auto-extended and the cancellation will become effective after that auto-extension period has expired.

And as I said: You did NOT have more than 3 months in July to cancel the contract if it should expire in October - you only had a few days left due to the 3 months notice period that your cancellation (or the cancellation from Vodafone on your behalf) would've needed to be received by 1&1.

Just to be clear:

It's allowed by law for a contract with 24 months minimum term (longest possible allowed by law) to have a cancellation notice period of up to 3 months. If you take this into account, a contract that ends on October 26th would need to be cancelled until July 26th the latest. If the cancellation is received after that date, it'll NOT be in effect to October 26th and the contract will auto-extend!

So please again check when you provided the details to Vodafone in order for them to declare the cancellation on your behalf. If this was AFTER the latest date that your cancellation would've been needed to be received by 1&1, it's not Vodafones fault but yours.

[Umer]

Can somone from Vodafone please help here?
I was told by the vodafone employee in the call center that it was their fault and the guys here can cancell my vodafone contract!

[Tina]

Oh, sorry. Send me the informations in a private message.

Write a short reply here afterwards.

Best regards

Tina

[Umer]

Hello Tina,

I have sent you all the details you asked for.

[Tina]

I think, I know what went "wrong".

We can only cancel your previous connection once you have connected our hardware and activated the connection. You will also find the information in our welcome letter. The desired date for your new connection is 26th of october 2019. Therefore, you have not yet received any hardware from us.

I can't jolt the notice period and contract period of your previous provider. Sorry.

Best regards

Tina