Vodafone

Have you paid for a Vodafone contract made up of a mobile phone and data, calls and texts?

Vodafone is accused of overcharging customer on mobile phone contracts and could owe customers up to £1,823 per contract

Vodafone, EE, O2 and Three are accused of overcharging customers for handsets beyond the end of their contract terms on up to 28.2 million mobile phone contracts. 

If you paid for a Vodafone contract made up of the price of both the phone and airtime services like data, calls and texts you could be owed up to £1,823. Sign up to Consumer Voice to stay updated as the claim progresses.

Vodafone leaves loyal customers paying the penalty

Justin Gutmann, a former Citizens Advice executive, and law firm Clarles Lyndon claim that the UK’s four largest mobile phone companies have been abusing their market dominance by charging a ‘loyalty penalty’ that has left customers paying significantly more than new customers for the same services.

The claim concerns contracts made up of the cost of both the phone and the use of airtime services like data, calls and texts. 

Vodafone – and the three other network operators – are accused of failing to reduce the overall amount charged to existing customers once the minimum contractual term expired, despite the fact that they had already paid off their phones.

This left customers on up to 28.2 million contracts being charged more than a new customer would be if they were just paying for airtime services. Gutmann is seeking £3.3 billion in compensation for affected consumers.

Are you a Vodafone customer who could be owed money?  

You could have paid a ‘loyalty penalty’ if you entered a combined handset and airtime contract with Vodafone. If the claim is successful, you could be owed compensation of up to £1,823 per contract.

Take a look at our claim pages for EE, O2 and Three if you have entered into contracts with these mobile network operators. 

How to claim compensation

A decision first needs to be made by the specialist competition court about whether the claim will proceed – What’s happening with this claim. 

Gutmann has instructed the law firm Charles Lyndon to represent him in this claim against Vodafone. The claim is being funded by LCM Funding, a litigation funder. People affected by this claim will not pay fees or costs.

Sign up to Consumer Voice to stay updated.

What’s happening with this claim?

Gutmann filed the claim with the Competition Appeal Tribunal in December 2023 to commence collective proceedings. A date for when the claim will be reviewed by the Tribunal has not yet been set.

The claim follows a ‘super-complaint’ from Citizens Advice to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in September 2018, which claimed that companies penalise existing companies by charging them higher prices than new customers.