Vodafone Ireland regularly deducting 1.99 for data use.

I had the same issue a while ago. Make sure mobile data is off. If it happens again, just take it to a Vodafone store and explain the situation, and they should be able to sort it out.

"amounts of data are tiny (2.4kb, 1.9kb)"

The PAYG 5G Data Unlimited plan is linked to Advantage Plus 3 tariff that has a data rate of €0.0021609 per MB at home.

AFAIK the daily €1.99 charge is not applied so any small data use charge will be almost unnoticeable.

Other option is to delete the APN which should stop any mobile data traffic.

Would you not simply call them and ask?

Assuming Android, Go into Developer Options and Disable "'mobile data always-on while on wifi'

That MAY help as sometimes WiFi drops (if the connection is not solid) and the phone will use a few KB of Mobile data and then switch back to WiFi, as far as i know

Hey osarusan

Did you ever get this sorted? having the same issue the last 6 or so weeks. Disabling everything related to mobile data hasn't stopped it.

Same has happened me for the past 6 weeks or so. I've everything turned off related to mobile data but still getting a €2 charge every day.

I can see that but I don't want it to pick up anything other than my home WiFi. Surely Mobile Data turned off should mean no mobile data. This only started about 6 weeks ago and it's costing me.

Thanks for this thread, just looked and noticed 8 x 2.29e taken in the last three weeks. PAYG. Vodafone replied on chat 15e credit, I say its 20e and they apply 20e. Can't check back any further. Same thing 3am connecting

Have they said they can stop it happening again though?

You can rest assured that, while Vodafone admit they are aware of and are fixing a fault in their system, they won't systematically refund affected customers.

Have the same issue. Rang support a few days ago and got 3 x 2.29 refunded. Checked my balance again today and another 2.29 deducted on the 23rd. My mobile data is always off. I think a call to Comreg is on the cards.

Couldn't get a human today. Will try again tomorrow. I think Comreg need to be informed. A lot of people may not be aware that they are being charged wrongly.

I am getting the same issue. But on a single SIM.

I changed from a Samsung S4 to a Samsung S24 Ultra 3 months ago and these charges have been happening ever since.
So basically this is a rundown of the issue from what I have read in Boards.ie so far:

Even though if your data is switched off and all your apps are set to WIFI use only, there is a phantom Vodafone process (or some other process) using data that triggers the upfront Vodafone fee of €2.29 plus any data this process uses from your balance (which is only a few kilobytes so should be 1/1000 of a cent).

And this process uses your data and is triggered regardless of any settings on your phone. Dodgy carry on indeed.

It seems that regardless of which process is using the data, I have been moved from the top plan in the diagram below to the bottom plan since I changed my SIM for the new phone.

So Vodafone always charge the €2.29 up front when you use ANY data on a particular day. Even if the data amount being used is tiny.

We also have to figure out what that phantom process is and why it is ignoring my phone settings.

That top PAYG plan above is the one I seemed to be on before I got a new SIM for my new phone. My old PAYG plan on my old phone never charged the €2.29 up front for data. So its possible the phantom process was running then but only deducted 1/1000 of a cent on my old phone because the €2.29 didn't apply.

Something is not right here and ComReg probably needs to take a look at it.

The fact that an application is using data even though data is switched off does not sit right.

The issue has been confirmed by Vodafone as being on their end. You'll see earlier in the thread that they are working on a fix and will refund without hesitation for any charges to date as a result of the issue.

if we found out what the process is that is wrongly taking data we could switch it off or uninstall it.

We need to get that info from Vodafone.

I was on to them this morning. I finally managed to get somebody who wasn't the AI Toby guy.

He refunded me all the €2.29's since I changed my phone.

He said he couldn't switch off my data use for this phantom app from their end but apparently they know about the issue and are working frantically to fix it.

But any more €2.29's deductions that happen, I can be refunded for these in the future too if I call 1907.

I just kept talking over it saying 'I want to talk to a human' and 20 seconds later I was talking to an agent.

They gave me €10 refund, didn't bother about the rest. Switched off(changed server address as you can't switch it off completely) vodafone APN.

Call 1907 and if you keep repeating that you want to talk to a human, the Toby bot will hand you over to a human.

Explain that your credit is being inexplicabally depleted and you will be recredited with all the spurious €2.29's that have been deducted.

3 made it impossible to stay prepaid. I switched to bill pay on those cheap deals after 3 changes.

I have a spare Vodafone SIM because it handy to test coverage and roaming, and if a deal comes up on another network.

I used to do that but my credit just melted away on 3. Had to move away.

That's not a result. Get back to them and insist on a refund, as they said it's a known issue on their side. FOC data is no answer if you have data disabled.