3 hours ago
5
Vodafone franchisees warned the telecoms group of the “massive impact” commission cuts were having on their mental health four years before a group of 62 launched a £120m high court claim against the company, it has emerged.
Franchisees of the high street chain said they were feeling stressed and had suffered from “anxiety” as a result of the decision to cut fees, in research that also indicated they had little trust in Vodafone’s word.
The group of high court claimants – who represent almost 40% of a total Vodafone franchisees – launched a legal case in December alleging Vodafone “unjustly enriched” itself at the expense of scores of vulnerable small business owners by slashing commissions to franchisees running the mobile phone brand’s stores.
Details of the seemingly widespread dissatisfaction are recorded in a survey of franchisees conducted during 2020, weeks after the mobile phone group cut fees paid to the small retailers for selling some of its products and services. The reduction in fees followed six months of uncertainty due to the effects on trading of the Covid pandemic.
The survey – which was created by a steering committee of Vodafone franchisees and was modelled on similar questionnaires issued by the British Franchise Association – received 119 responses during September 2020. Vodafone has had a total of 167 franchisees historically.
As part of the questionnaire, respondents were asked to rate how strongly they agreed with a series of statements, with a score of one representing that they strongly disagreed, running up to five if they strongly agreed. Franchisees said they “trusted Vodafone’s word” with a score of 1.75, and gave a mark of 1.67 to the statement that they felt “truly valued” as a franchisee by the company.
When franchisees were asked for comments, their criticism appeared even harsher. In a section of the survey results marked “wellbeing”, 78 franchisees left comments, with the overwhelming majority being negative and many directly accusing Vodafone of negatively affecting their mental health and family life.
“My mental health has become very poor as I am suffering from anxiety and spells of depression,” said one. Another commented: “My mental health has suffered, the stress and worry of not hitting overheads is giving me anxiety. I think it’s disgraceful that I feel the constant threat of losing my savings, home and livelihood.”
A third franchisee responded: “I struggle to sleep and suffer panic attacks and anxiety brought on by the current changes.” A fourth said: “I am ill from stress and it has affected my home life.”
The comments chimed with many of the statements made by former Vodafone franchisees since the group of 62 launched the high court claim against the company in December.
Several franchisees have told the Guardian that the pressure exerted on them by Vodafone executives triggered suicidal thoughts, while many said they feared losing their livelihoods, homes or life savings after running up personal debts of more than £100,000.
after newsletter promotion
MPs have compared some aspects of the Vodafone dispute to the Post Office Horizon IT scandal.
A spokesperson for Vodafone said: “We are sorry to any franchisee who has had a difficult experience. At Vodafone UK we encourage anyone to raise issues in the knowledge they will be taken seriously, and we always seek to resolve any issues raised. We continue to run a successful franchise operation, and many of our existing franchisees have expanded their business with us by taking on additional stores.”
The company has recently launched a fourth investigation into the historical conduct within its franchising division and says it “strongly refutes” the allegations in the high court claim, which it says it will defend and describes as part of a “commercial dispute”.
