A former Vodafone customer is challenging the company to sue him after pulling out of a contract and refusing to pay after long service blackouts.
A transmitter problem left Vodafone users unable to get any reception in Berkhamsted for weeks in April and September last year.
Nick Knight, 40, of the town’s Doctors Commons Road, pulled out of the two-year contract on his Samsung Galaxy several months early after the second glitch.
He said: “Since then I continue to receive hassle via letters and phone calls at various times of the day, designed to make me pay early termination fees.
“But the contract allows for failure of service, which was followed correctly.”
Vodafone says the contract only allows for early termination, after written notification, ‘if there is a complete failure of the network for seven days in a row’.
Spokesman Jane Frapwell said: “It has to be complete failure of the network, not a mast covering a mile in radius.”
Mr Knight says Vodafone are using debt-collectors and solicitors to pursue him for £163.80, as well as an extra £65 for solicitors’ and court fees.
He said: “I know others would be bullied into paying, including people like my wife who sees the whole situation as very threatening and slightly scary.”
But he said he runs his own business and therefore knows a bit about contract law and will not cave in to the firm’s demands. He has asked Vodafone to bring a claim against him in the county court if it wants the money.
Vodafone would not say whether it was going to launch a claim against Mr Knight. Jane Frapwell said: “I am not sure what the next steps in the process are, but they will be followed.”