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CELLPHONE group Vodafone has been forced to make a humiliating apology after threatening to cut off thousands of its most vulnerable customers.
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The mobile phones giant wrote to subscribers who use their phones only occasionally, warning them that unless they started using the service more frequently, they would be disconnected. Vodafone argued that the move would 'make room for new customers'.
The company also claimed that with 'extremely high demand for mobile phone numbers' there was 'only a limited number to go round'.
But now, in a humbling climbdown, Vodafone has accepted that its claim about a shortage of numbers was simply untrue and that its letter was 'poorly written and quite threatening'.
The letter was sent to pay-as-you go users, many of them elderly, who make only occasional calls on their mobiles. Industry practice is to disconnect customers only if their phone has not been used to make or receive calls over six months or a year.
Ray and Joan Robertson, a retired couple from Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, were shocked by Vodafone's demand. Ray said: 'We bought the phone about a year ago mainly so that our daughter could keep in touch.
'It cost about £100 and is used once or twice a week, not a great deal perhaps, but it is expensive so we use it sparingly. We both felt this letter was outrageous.'
After receiving complaints from the Robertsons and large numbers of other irate customers, Vodafone has agreed. A spokesman said: 'This is a piece of direct mail that was badly written and we have put a number of procedures in place to make sure that something like this does not happen again.
'We will be writing to the people who received the letters to apologise and can assure them that their phones will not be cut off. We apologise for any offence this might have caused.'
Industry watchdog Oftel said: 'If Vodafone needs any more numbers, it simply has to ask.'
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