The Vodafone chief executive has been asked how she sleeps at night by one of the 62 former store owners involved in a £120m legal action that claims the mobile operator “unjustly enriched” itself at their expense.
Donna Watton, one of the group of 62 franchisees that have taken their claim to the high court, challenged Margherita Della Valle at Vodafone’s annual general meeting on Tuesday.
“I have a question for the chief executive,” said Watton, speaking at the sparsely attended meeting at Vodafone’s headquarters in Newbury. “I am a Vodafone ex-franchisee, and I am one of the group of 62 suing this company for £120m for what it did to us, and I want to know: Margherita, how do you sleep at night knowing Vodafone’s actions left people suicidal, cost them their homes, and left them drowning in debt?”
The legal case was launched in December, claiming Vodafone slashed commissions paid to franchisees operating the mobile phone company’s retail outlets.
Many have claimed the company’s actions made them fear they would lose their livelihoods, homes or life savings after running up personal debts of more than £100,000.
Jean-François van Boxmeer, the chair of Vodafone leading the meeting proceedings, stepped in to field the question on behalf of Della Valle.
He said that it was right he field the question as “the master of ceremonies here and also protecting the sleep of Margherita”.
“I understand your question and I am not saying I do not feel the pain that you might [be going] through,” he said. “You are referring to a case which is a commercial case between Vodafone UK and a group of franchisees in the UK. That case has been through a mediation that has been unfortunately unsuccessful. It is now a matter in the hands of court. You will allow us not to comment on procedures that are in court. I will not in this general assembly make further comments on what is now in the hands of courts.”
He said that Vodafone remains open to further mediation, a process that ended without resolution in May.
Vodafone, which says the legal claim is worth £85.5m, has consistently said that it refutes the claims made by the franchisees in their legal action.
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One shareholder, who said they had travelled a great distance to attend the Newbury meeting, challenged why Della Valle was too “shy” to address attendees.
“I don’t come for the sandwiches, I come to engage with the board and management,” he said. “I’ve gone to a lot of AGMs this year. [At] the other AGMs the chief executives were not so shy that we weren’t addressed. I’ve come a long way, I’ve probably used a lot of petrol to come here. Surely as one of the seven shareholders that have turned out I deserve some sort of address from the chief executive. Is there nothing good to report, is there nothing bad to report?”
Van Boxmeer responded that Della Valle would only offer replies to “very concrete questions relating to how the business is going”.