Vodafone change T&C's (Call charges) - Possible contract get-out??

MarcB

I wrote to Vodafone on 14th August, saying that I would be affected by the increased call charges. I said I wanted to cancel, unless they would agree to reduce my line rental for the remainder of my contract (16 months) by 50%.

On 1st September a manager phoned me to say that she understood that I would be affected, and would like to come to an agreement with me over the remainder of the contract, but was unwilling to reduce line rental by that much. I explained to her that I could get a much better deal by cancelling and moving to a SIM-only contract, but that I would like to stay with Vodafone and a 50% reduction would be the only thing that would keep me.

The next day another manager phoned to confirm they would reduce my line rental as requested.

For the record, when I wrote the letter, my last phone call to an 0845 number was in March. After sending the letter, I made a further 0845 call before September.

baldelectrician

fatboy88 wrote: »

Well i've had my call today and they confirmed it has to be 10% of your total bill not just the calls. They also look at 3months average so i cant see many cancelling if they go about it this way.

It isnt very clear on the T&Cs

They gave me a £15 credit to cover possible 0870 numbers over the length of the contract. I'm just waiting to see if anyone else has more news

Ask for this in writing. They seem to want to massage the t&c's to suit their own ends, as their t&c's state that it is based on previous usage- not an average.

I asked for them to confirm their decision in writing raising several issues. They only answered the question by giving a statemant.

I specifically asked them to point out what part of their t&c's required me to return the phone and they couldn't.

Chrissybh0y

I still havent a had a call from anyone and ive been fogged off the usual way, any ideas ?

jaffa30

Chrissybh0y wrote: »

I still havent a had a call from anyone and ive been fogged off the usual way, any ideas ?

same here ive emailed them several times and still nothing :mad: :mad: , even if i cant cancel my contract now i will certainly be doing so cometh renewal time

Hopefullyuseful1

Good Afternoon all,

After reading through the whole of this thread I can see that there is clearly some misunderstanding and confusion surrounding the changes to our call charges. I would like to address these points and offer reassurance and support to you all.
I would like to start by explaining the changes that are to be made. The following will take effect from 1st September 2008:

1) Minimum call charge increase from 5p to 15p
2) Out of bundle rates for Vodafone – Vodafone (or landline) calls will increase from 10p per min to 15p per min. Calls to other networks will remain the same at just 35p per minute.
3) Non Geographic numbers to prefixes 0845, 0870, 0800, 0500 will increase from 15p per minute to 20p per minute. Calls to 0871 prefixes will increase from 25p per minute to 35p per minute.

Some of you have expressed that you find it difficult to find information on our out of bundle call charges; you can do this quickly and easily from our website in our <http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=template10&pageID=PPP_0021> call charges section.
I understand that you have all had varying experiences of dealing with Vodafone over these changes and by all accounts it seems the experiences have been quite negative and inconsistent. I would like to provide you with the facts:

I can see that you are all well aware of our terms and conditions surrounding changes to your contract, specifically the areas that are important here are 7a & 8a
7a) We reserve the right to increase/decrease our charges from time to time and/or introduce new charges from time to time. If we increase/decrease our charges, we will give you at least 14 days' prior notice.
8a) You may end this Agreement immediately by writing to us if:-

• we increase the monthly (or other periodic line rental charge under clause 7a) and such increase (calculated as a percentage) is more than the increase in the Retail Prices Index Figure ("RPI", also calculated as a percentage) for the period from the month of the last increase (if any) to the month before we send the notice of the change in tariffs and you write to us before the increase takes effect. If we increase the monthly (or other periodic) line rental charge by more than the increase in the RPI we will tell you; or

• during the Term
i) we increase in the United Kingdom and under clause 7a, call or other usage charges which have the effect of increasing your call or other usage charges by more than 10% or the increase in RPI calculated as in 8a above (which ever is the greater) based upon your previous call or usage pattern;

ii) you write to us before the increase takes effect.

We would recommend that you wait for your September bill (Which you will receive in October) to see if you have actually been affected by the changes, believe that 99% will be impacted by less than 10%.

If you believe you are impacted by more than 10% you can request disconnection if this is what you want, with no penalty at this point. We understand you are all keen to get this matter sorted out and so if you request it, we will look at your bills for June, July and August and calculate any increase. If the average of these bills would have been 10% or more based on our new charges you will be allowed to cancel you account without penalty and you will be entitled to keep the handset. Please note that the increase needs to be directly related to the price change.

For those of you who are concerned as to how to work out if you have a 10% increase or not, don’t worry about this as we will do this for you upon your request. If anyone is thinking of rapidly increasing their out of bundle and Non geographical usage during September to increase the charges by 10%, I wouldn’t recommend this as we will take an average of your past 3 months bills to work out any increase to your costs.

If you believe you are impacted by more than 10% you can request disconnection if this is what you want, with no penalty at this point. To do this you need to write in to the following address:

Clearly stating as a heading - Increase Call Charges - Cancellations

Disconnections
PO BOX 549
Banbury
Oxon
OX17 3ZJ

Once we receive your letter we will evaluate the impact of the change to yourself and will look to see if we can offer you any added value through additional minutes, texts, data etc. If we can not find an option to suit you and you will be affected by 10% or more we will help you to cancel your contract with Vodafone.

I hope this reassures you all and we look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Hopefully Useful, Vodafone UK

Radionotme

Hopefullyuseful1 wrote: »

ii) you write to us before the increase takes effect.
We would recommend that you wait for your September bill

Just those two sentences together I hope should go some way towards explaining why we're finding the info from Vodafone confusing.
If we wait for the September bill, then interpreting the T's and C's, we would surely have forfeited our right to cancel, as we wouldn't have written before the changes.

Chrissybh0y

Hopefullyuseful1 wrote: »

If you believe you are impacted by more than 10% you can request disconnection if this is what you want, with no penalty at this point. To do this you need to write in to the following address:

Clearly stating as a heading - Increase Call Charges - Cancellations

Disconnections
PO BOX 549
Banbury
Oxon
OX17 3ZJ

Once we receive your letter we will evaluate the impact of the change to yourself and will look to see if we can offer you any added value through additional minutes, texts, data etc. If we can not find an option to suit you and you will be affected by 10% or more we will help you to cancel your contract with Vodafone.

I hope this reassures you all and we look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Hopefully Useful, Vodafone UK

Its been done and still nothin from you

Chrissybh0y

Good afternoon Mr.CHRIS,


Thanks for your email to Vodafone about the cancellation of your account due to increase in call charges.


I understand, you've sent an email, wrote a letter about the increase in call charges to be effective 1st September 2008. Let me see how I can help.


To keep you aware, this year is the first year we have revised prices for over two years, and we are not the only operator to do this - regulatory pressures /interconnection costs have an influence on this.


Mr. CHRIS you can cancel your contract if your bill for usage has increased by more than 10%.



I've calculated your last bill and can confirmed that your call charges is less than 10% and I'm sorry we will not be able to cancel your contract at this point of time.



We reserve the right to increase/decrease our charges from time to time and/or introduce new charges from time to time. If we increase/decrease our charges, we will give you at least 14 days' prior notice.


What I can do for you is I can offer you a 50% discount on your line rental for the next 2 months as a goodwill gesture. Please let me know if you accept the offer and I'll be happy to arrange it for you.

I look forward to hearing from you Mr. CHRIS, and please feel free to contact me for any further queries you may have.

Kind Regards,


Kimneihoi Lhouvum

Lookz Like im gas cookered?

r8frazer

Hey guys.. Seems I've missed all this thread having been very busy since I first started it off!!

I received a reply to my original letter basically stating that VF can do what the hell they like due to that particular section of the contract allowing them to vary call charges.. can anyone advise me what the best thing for me to do next is?

fatboy88

MarcB wrote: »

I wrote to Vodafone on 14th August, saying that I would be affected by the increased call charges. I said I wanted to cancel, unless they would agree to reduce my line rental for the remainder of my contract (16 months) by 50%.

On 1st September a manager phoned me to say that she understood that I would be affected, and would like to come to an agreement with me over the remainder of the contract, but was unwilling to reduce line rental by that much. I explained to her that I could get a much better deal by cancelling and moving to a SIM-only contract, but that I would like to stay with Vodafone and a 50% reduction would be the only thing that would keep me.

The next day another manager phoned to confirm they would reduce my line rental as requested.

For the record, when I wrote the letter, my last phone call to an 0845 number was in March. After sending the letter, I made a further 0845 call before September.

To be honest i'd be happy with that, will they confirm this in writing?