Lincolnshire Mum says Vodafone franchise left her broken as national scandal grows
Rachael Beddow-Davison says sudden commission cuts left her facing financial ruin and a mental health crisis.
A Lincolnshire single mother says she was pushed to the brink of suicide after sudden commission cuts by telecoms giant Vodafone left her franchise business financially unviable.
Rachael Beddow-Davison, who ran Vodafone retail stores in Lincoln and Skegness after buying into the company’s franchise model in 2018, says her income was slashed overnight during a call in July 2020 - just as the country emerged from lockdown.
“They announced they were reducing our commissions by upwards of 35%,” she said. “That’s 40% of your revenue gone.”
The cut left her with fixed costs including rent and staff wages, and no realistic way to recover the losses.
“The stress immediately - panic, anxiety,” she said. “I had over 20 people that relied on me. It was a really frightening time.”
Rachael says she spent more than two years repeatedly warning Vodafone the figures no longer worked, presenting financial data she says was ignored.
“Month in, month out, we were showing them the modelling isn’t right,” she said. “It was exhausting.”
She claims conditions worsened in 2022 when renewing one of her stores, after being told a rent reduction would help - only to discover her commission rate had been cut again.
“It turned out to be a £14,000 rate cut on top of an already poor rate card,” she said.
In November 2022, Rachael had a breakdown, telling Vodafone the situation was causing her “severe stress and anxiety”.
Her case forms part of a wider legal action involving 62 former Vodafone franchisees, who are suing the company for what they describe as “unjust enrichment”, with compensation claims estimated at up to £85 million.
Some MPs have compared the dispute to the Post Office Horizon scandal.
Vodafone said it rejects the claims but remains open to further talks. In a statement, the company said:
“We tried to resolve this complex commercial dispute and offered a significant payment that would ensure no claimants had debts linked to their franchise.
"We were disappointed to learn that it was rejected by the company funding the claim and remain open to further talks.
We are sorry if any franchisee had difficulty operating their business. We currently have more than 350 successful franchise stores in the UK.”