Job Discussion Forums

[deeders]

I need to call vodafone customer service from the United States, but the only number I can find is the 800 # for Japan, which doesn't work outside of Japan. If anyone knows of another to contact vodafone customer service or has any ideas or knowledge of cancelling a vodafone contract from abroad, I would greatly appreciate it. I know techincally you can only cancel it in-country with the necessary documentation, but I must be able to do something.

Thanks so much.

Deanna

[injapantoday]

http://www.vodafone.jp/scripts/english/top.jsp

[ronin]

I remember my buddy had to come back from Japan early and he didn't have time to cancel his vodaphone contract over there, he thought he could do it from here. What happened was that he tried calling the English Vodaphone customer service line and they said they couldn�t do anything about it because he would have to call Japan. The problem was he couldn�t speak fluent Japanese, so he just let it be and let his contract run out. Now he is afraid he is blacklisted (if it is possible) from getting another phone even from a separate company the next time he returns to Japan because he didn�t have enough in his Japanese bank account to pay off the rest of the contract. I hope you have better luck then he did, please pm me on your situation when you get things sorted out.

[seanmcginty]

I had a pain with cancelling my J-phone (what Vodophone used to be called) contract a few years back.

They were taking the payment directly from a bank account that I almost never used. While I was moving to a new apartment I lost my phone and decided that instead of replacing it I would just cancel the service altogether. So I called up their hotline, explained what happened and told them I wished to cancel my service. "No problem" they said and told me they would discontinue my service.

End of story I thought, and forgot about it for about 4 months. But one day I was looking through my savings account statement, which I usually don't bother with, and noticed that for the past four months the *beep* had continued to take the money out of my account. It was only about 4,000 yen per month so I hadn't noticed. So I called them back up and said there must be some sort of mistake, I cancelled my service months ago but you've continued taking my money. "No, no" they said, "You cancelled your service but you still have to come in to one of our stores in person to cancel the contract." They hadn't told me this when I called to cancel. So, I didn't have a phone, didn't have a phone number and was in no way recieving any service from them but I was still being charged as if I were and they informed me they were completely within their rights to do so. I let them have it with both barrels but it didn't do any good and I eventually had to go in to cancel the service at their store, and needless to say they didn't refund my money for the non existant service they had "provided".

Word to the wise: Read the fine print on the contracts and don't trust those cellphone companies any further than you can throw them.

[OaklandZoo]

I have Vodafone as well (no other option as without the family option, having a cell here is expensive as hell), and just to supplement what the above poster said...

There is cancelling/discontinuing/suspending your service, and there is terminating your contract, which are two completely separate things. Last week I couldn't find my phone, thought I lost it, so I called the hotline and stopped the service, to avoid it from being used by somebody else. but that doesn't mean you cut ties with Vodafone. I was still being charged money for having an account with them. Luckily I found my phone a few days later and I called again to resume the service.

It seems like, from reading vodafone's website, you actually have to physically go to their store to terminate your contract, or at least that's the best way to do it. And be aware that if you are enrolled in discount services like Happy Bonus, there is like a 10,000 yen fine for breaking the contract.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

I left Japan about a month before my contract was set to expire. I didn't think to terminate the contract as I didn't plan to return to Japan ever again (not a smart move, I know, but live and learn). That was two years ago. Now I'll be returning to Japan after the first of the year, and I wonder if I'll be blacklisted by Vodafone or other mobile companies? Can anyone offer their experiences on this??