ASDA Mobile Ditches Vodafone for EE

[Deleted User] · 5 October 2013 at 12:59PM

Losing credit paid for is indeed annoying and you have until the end of next April to run your present Asda/Vodafone credit down. After that the service ends and you either have to go on to Asda/EE or find another provider.
Quote from Asda Mobile website "If you decide not to join the new Asda Mobile network, your current service will end after the 30th April 2014."

I would suggest not using a new sim yet if you've been sent one and only put it in your phone when present credit runs out.

Might be worth a call to Asda Mobile helpline to see if they will give you some free credit to compensate any losses - the more people who complain the more likely they are to give some compensation to people who will loose a lot of credit.

It's a once only change and the new tariff is cheaper than the old one, although some will find coverage poorer on EE than Vodafone.

Personally I prefer Tesco Lite tariff at 8pmin and 4p a text as the coverage is excellent for me but a new Asda/EE sim would be useful as a back up for the same call costs.

cashbag · 5 October 2013 at 1:15PM

Glad to find I am not alone! I called in my local store today to make a complaint & it seems there have been several others before me. So I just fired off the following message to the email adress on the asda website
[EMAIL="mobcstqs@asda.co.uk"]mobcstqs@asda.co.uk[/EMAIL]

I have a mobile phone on ASDA service. I rarely use it but keep it for emergency use should I break down or have an accident & need to be able to contact someone. For this reason I have always kept around £20 credit on the phone & tend to top it up once a year. I make very few calls & only send the occasional text - just enough to keep the account active.

I often don't even switch the phone on for a week or two at a time. When I checked it the other day I had 3 messages (dated 25 Sept/1 Oct/2 Oct) informing me that ASDA is moving to EE. First I've heard about it & this is pretty short notice of a major change to the service! But this really did not concern me until I have read the small print on your website. It appears that if I do not move with you, or even if I do, I will lose my current credit of £22 as you will not transfer it over to the new service! This is daylight robbery! The advice is to use it up before the cut off date. OK - what do you expect me to do - deliberately break down or have an accident? I have absolutely NO REASON WHATSOVER to make phone calls that will use up this credit. Why should I spend my £22 on pointless calls to whoever? And if I run down the credit then have an emergency I might find myself with insufficient credit to get assistance. I make calls on my landline where I have all-inclusive calls so why would I waste money calling anyone for an inane chat from my mobile?

I find this action unacceptable, & having just complained in my local ASDA store it appears I am not the only person to feel this way. I bought phone credit in good faith & there were no time limits on when I was supposed to use it as long as I made enough calls to keep the account live. You have now moved the goalposts & are preparing to keep my money but not provide me with the service I purchased. It's like getting to the chekout with a trolley of groceries, paying for them & then being told they have to all go back on the shelves & I cannot have a refund.

Perhaps if you cannot move the credit over you can issue some kind of voucher that enables customers like myself to spend their remaining phone credit on goods in an ASDA store. YOU have had my money in advance - I want the promised goods in return or in English law this becomes an invalid contract & I am entitled to a refund or recompense.

First time I have ever been disappointed with any kind of service from ASDA

I await your comments.

If enough people make the same protest then surely they will have to do something. Of course I am happy to use ASDA for their bargain tariffs & don't want to move to anywhere else as I am such an intermittent user. But they surely cannot , in law, retain our money in this way.

oldandgrumpy · 5 October 2013 at 3:45PM

Totally agree.
They should realise that when one approaches the total senility of 70=+, most of ones friends and relatives are beyond even ee phone coverage, and that assumes one can remember who they are!!!!
The legallity of stealing ones credit has yet to be tested. I have a formal complaint in train, but perusing previous posts referring to asda customer services I have little hope of an answer. I suppose I must refer the matter to offcom and Which and radio 5 etc. Is Ester still doing her show? Maybe one of them will champion us against these nasty conglomerates.

cashbag · 5 October 2013 at 6:38PM

oldandgrumpy - ASDA may well have something in the small print that allows them to do this. So it might be legal but no way is it moral & often a company sees that customer service & goodwill is more important than sticking to the T & Cs. I also am looking at who to approach about this - definitely some consumer show I think!

When you look at it it really is not clear until your trawl though the ASDA website that they can steal your credit in this way & fully intend to do so. You have to read it carefully - & that assumes you have both access to the website AND the eyesight still capable to do so!!

After all - if we have not used our credit who is actually holding the money? ASDA? Vodafone? If the latter then are they repaying ASDA & if not why not? And if ASDA do get such a refund then why cannot they simply (& morally) pass it back to us? This stinks as someone is going to pocket the cash for doing sod all!

oldandgrumpy · 5 October 2013 at 6:49PM

Thought it was just me being old and grumpy. Let's watch this space and see if we can swim against the tide.

jrawle · 5 October 2013 at 10:06PM

cashbag wrote: »

oldandgrumpy - ASDA may well have something in the small print that allows them to do this. So it might be legal but no way is it moral & often a company sees that customer service & goodwill is more important than sticking to the T & Cs. I also am looking at who to approach about this - definitely some consumer show I think!

It is probably covered by section 5 of their T&Cs. I quoted them earlier in the discussion, but as others pointed out, they could be considered unfair terms.

jrawle · 5 October 2013 at 10:12PM

Stephen7372 wrote: »

You can use the credit to donate to charity

I guess you mean by texting the shortcode provided by a chosen charity. This is an excellent idea, I shall do this if, as I expect, nothing comes of my complaint to ASDA Mobile.

cashbag · 5 October 2013 at 10:24PM

Unfair Contract Terms would seem to be a major weapon. And I also will text all my remaining credit to charity if there is no positive outcome to this issue. I bet there are a lot of people out there you won't even realise they are about to lose their credit until it is gone. This stinks!

macman · 6 October 2013 at 10:53AM

Users will have nearly seven months from now to use their remaining credit.
You will be able to order your replacement SIM now, and then keep using the old one until the credit runs out, then swap before 30/4/14. Is that really so onerous?
But, given that there are many more competitive PAYG providers (giffgaff, Tesco, 3, etc), those who are still unhappy about the move should simply vote with their feet (or with their PACs).

jrawle · 6 October 2013 at 2:34PM

macman wrote: »

Users will have nearly seven months from now to use their remaining credit.
You will be able to order your replacement SIM now, and then keep using the old one until the credit runs out, then swap before 30/4/14. Is that really so onerous?
But, given that there are many more competitive PAYG providers (giffgaff, Tesco, 3, etc), those who are still unhappy about the move should simply vote with their feet (or with their PACs).

It it "onerous" to have £17 to use up when I don't actually use the phone, as I have a primary mobile on a contract. While that could be said to be not in the spirit of having a PAYG mobile, I have always acted within the T&Cs.

ASDA was the cheapest PAYG when I switched a few years ago. As I rarely use it, the call costs are insignificant compared to the cost of having to obtain and top up a new SIM. When I next need a throw-away mobile number to register with a website, I'll use whichever network costs me the least to top up on, using cashback sites etc.

ASDA Mobile Ditches Vodafone for EE

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