@ADrak schrieb:
Dear reneromann,
I find it rather peculiar to having to answer to something like this to people who I'm not sure are employees of the customer service. I am not writing here aksing for opinions on the matter, I am trying to resolve a situation between a corporate firm as a former client.
Just to make it clear: I am also "only" a customer. But I want to make sure that you understand that it's NOT the fault of Vodafone if you don't present the proof in time that would have been necessary.
@ADrak schrieb:
Nonetheless, the case is that the company is obliged to notify me beforehand about the actions that I need to take (especially when I go to a Vodafone store, and explicitly ask about what to do!), and then of course it is personal responsibility.
These actions are described in the telecommunications law - as well as Vodafone is reminding you in the cancellation letter to do so. Same applies for the information published on Vodafones website as well as here in the forum. And no, it is not the responsibility of the sales person - as these persons are mostly NOT employees from Vodafone but are employed in franchise stores (and thus can neither accept nor process any cancellation requests - thus also the request was forwarded to Vodafone itself).
@ADrak schrieb:
Do you think I enjoyed paying invoices without receiving any service for so many months? If I had known that I needed to provide this document, I would have provided it earlier and on time. I could have even gone to the store and provide a copy instantly for them when I issued the deregistration before I moved.
As the store is not able to process the cancellation -due to them mostly being only franchises- presenting the deregistration letter there would've made no difference. You should've sent it to the postal address - as written in the cancellation letters and in the published information - if you don't do so but just accept the regular cancellation letter "as is", then there is nothing to adjust later on.
@ADrak schrieb:
The fact also is that when an employee of the company actually told me in the summer (when I was able to reach the customer service personally and from abroad - because eralier there was no international number and no email) that this document is needed and I am eligible for a refund, now that I have sent it the company refuses to reimburse me.
A reimbursement is not possible - as a cancellation can only be effective from the moment on that all the necessary paperwork has been provided, there are no retroactive cancellations in German law. This means there would be no reimbursement for any time before the necessary proof is received - only from that day on, the cancellation can be adjusted (but to the earliest to that day). It would be up to you to present proof of reception of the deregistration letter to get the cancellation be adjusted to that date.
And the next thing is that you could have used the contact form on the website to write an email - but there is no published email address as the contact form pre-sorts the mails to specific support teams.
@ADrak schrieb:
What you say about the cancellation is not true. Because I did not send my kundigung via post, I went in person to a Vodafone store, I explained the situation, and the employee prepared the form which was sent through the branch to Vodafone central. Thus, of course the cancellation can be traced back, and furthermore it has a date written on it, just as the deregistration. It can be proven that I requested cancellation a few days before my deregistration.
That might be true - but all the dates do matter. So the date the cancellation was received (presumably last year), the date that you deregistered (presumably also last year) -AND- the date that the deregistration form was received by Vodafone (only a few weeks back).
Due to the regulations in the German telecommunications law - you are required to present proof in case you move and therefor request a premature cancellation. And this premature cancellation becomes active with a 3 months notice period beginning by the date of the move (as stated on the deregistration form) but not earlier than by the cancellation request -AND- providing the proof (as this proof is part of the request).
As you did not provide proof in time -as you have been requested in the cancellation letter- these 3 months never started - thus your cancellation could only be processed as "regular" cancellation to the end of the contractual term. If you would have provided proof earlier on, the cancellation could have been adjusted.
And just to make it clear:
There have been rulings from the German High Court (BGH) that there is no such right to premature cancel a contract at all - the special ruling in the telecommunications law has been added later on but also states clearly that you have to provide proof. And there also have been rulings about this (new) part of the law that if you fail to present the proof in time, that your premature cancellation request should be deemed as regular cancellation request and the premature one gets "on hold" until you present that proof. But this also means that there is no "reimbursement" for the time between the movement and the date that you present the proof - as it's solely on your side to do so in time.
