Every Vodafone customer urged to check bills after it is named worst network in UK

Every Vodafone customer is being urged to check their bills following thousands of complaints about the telecoms provider.

MoneySavingExpert.com believes there have been "potentially systematic failings" at the phone company which could affect nearly all of its 20 million customers.

Reported problems include:

  • Customers being put on the wrong tariff

  • Direct debits being incorrectly set up with customers then chased for late payments

  • Customers being double or even triple charged

  • Payments being taken even after a customer has cancelled

  • Credit agencies wrongly being told customers have missed payments

Thousands if not millions of customers are believed to be affected. Credit: PA

Vodafone is the most complained about phone network - with three times as many complaints as any other network, according to regulator Ofcom.

While the Communications Ombudsman, which investigates complaints if phone companies can't resolve them itself, said it had seen "an increasing number of complaints in the last nine months".

The majority were about billing problems, but poor customer service was also cited.

Poor customer service was also cited as a problem. Credit: PA

Vodafone claimed the problems had "impacted a very small proportion of our customers over the last year".

A spokesman told ITV News: "We are always disappointed when customers needed to raise complaints with us and, more so, when we then do not resolve them effectively first time.

"Our teams, at all levels, want to provide our customers with a great service every time, but we are clearly not there yet, so are investing significant resources to do so as quickly as we can."

He added many of the recent issues related to moving their billing services to a "state-of-the-art system.

"This was always going to be a highly ambitious and complex programme, but the impact of running an IT and a contact centre transformation in parallel was underestimated."

Customers who think they might be affected are advised to contact Vodafone by calling 191 from their Vodafone phone or online through the My Vodafone service.