Regulator Ofcom has fined Vodafone £4.6m for "serious" breaches of consumer protection rules, its largest fine to date for a telecoms operator.

The regulator said Vodafone had misled pay-as-you-go customers, charging them for top-up credit but "providing nothing in return". It also found Vodafone had broken the rules on handling customer complaints. Vodafone offered its "profound apologies" and said it was "determined to put everything right".
Lack of guidance

The fine stems from two earlier investigations into Vodafone, which has 20 million mobile customers in the UK. One found that 10,452 pay-as-you-go customers lost out when Vodafone failed to credit their accounts after they paid to top up their mobile phone credit. The affected customers collectively lost £150,000 over a 17-month period, Ofcom said. The problems were caused by IT issues linked to the company's move to a new billing system. However, Vodafone "failed to act quickly enough to identify or address these problems" and only moved to fix the issue after Ofcom intervened, the regulator said......Read more here