Vodafone Changing early upgrade period.

N20Y1D

Vodafone have changed the early upgrade period from 60 days to 50 days before the end of your contract

When i took out the contract i was told "you can upgrade 60 days before the end of your contract"

Can they do this when as explained this would surely have been part of the T&Cs when the contract between myself and vodafone was made?

I just wondered if this would be grounds to cancel my contract in view of the below:



11.2. You may end this Agreement by writing to us if:

(d) we change this Agreement to your significant disadvantage including the change or withdrawal of Services (we will tell you if this is the case) and you write to us within one month of us telling you about the change. This does not apply where the change relates to Services which can be cancelled without termination of this Agreement.

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I have just called up on the phone to be told that this change has only been announced this week, indeed prior to speaking to a member of the vodafone staff the recorded message even told me i was eligable to upgrade upto 60 days before the end of my contract?

Vodafone T&Cs:

http://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=template09&pageID=PTC_0003

gjchester

They don't have to let you upgrade until the minimum term is up. They offer an upgrade in the last 30 days as it's the notice period you have to give.

Given they offer you an early upgrade at their discression, you'd be hard pushed to say that this is any disadvantage to you.

N20Y1D

gjchester wrote: »

They don't have to let you upgrade until the minimum term is up. They offer an upgrade in the last 30 days as it's the notice period you have to give.

Given they offer you an early upgrade at their discression, you'd be hard pushed to say that this is any disadvantage to you.

They offered me an 18 months contract at a discounted price for 15 months, when i asked for the full 18 months they explained that I would only have to pay the full price for one month as i could upgrade after 16 months due to the 60 day early upgrade period.

So its part of the contract, not something they have thrown in out of kindness?

drbesty

Is this forum just full of people trying to get out of mobile contracts?

fiish

drbesty wrote: »

Is this forum just full of people trying to get out of mobile contracts?

If Vodafone tells its customers that they can upgrade at 60 days from the end of their contracts, in order to influence their decision to sign up (i.e. without that incentive the customers would not have bought), then what they're doing is not ethical. I suppose if you had written proof of this fact you would be able to argue for those terms to be honoured since you would not have taken up the contract otherwise.

So, yes, this forum is full of people trying to get out of their mobile contracts, some without justification however I think it's not really the case here. Thing is when people get locked into such long contracts these days operators have an incentive to try push their captive customers around.

gjchester

fiish wrote: »

If Vodafone tells its customers that they can upgrade at 60 days from the end of their contracts, in order to influence their decision to sign up (i.e. without that incentive the customers would not have bought), then what they're doing is not ethical. I suppose if you had written proof of this fact you would be able to argue for those terms to be honoured since you would not have taken up the contract otherwise.

So, yes, this forum is full of people trying to get out of their mobile contracts, some without justification however I think it's not really the case here. Thing is when people get locked into such long contracts these days operators have an incentive to try push their captive customers around.

In the grand scheme of things you probably signed up for a 18 or 24 month contract, Thats 550 or 730 days. To change the upgrade period by ten days is unlikely to be considered a significant disadvantage.

If you were told when you took the phone you could upgrage at 60 days and have it in writing you may have a chance, whilst verbal contracts are legally valid proving them (espeically 18 months down the line) would be very hard to so especially over a change of just ten days.

Ethics are all well and nice but most bis business's are not too bothered
about following them unless it's to their advantage.

Ethically if I sign a contract I stick to it, not try to worm out on a minor change that probably won't really affect people to any degree. Sadly a good many people on here are more interested in trying to rip big companies off than truely save money.

chrisj2006

Even at 50 days, Vodaphone is good, 3 have reduced theirs down to 28 days as from middle of January 2010.

N20Y1D

gjchester wrote: »

In the grand scheme of things you probably signed up for a 18 or 24 month contract, Thats 550 or 730 days. To change the upgrade period by ten days is unlikely to be considered a significant disadvantage.

If you were told when you took the phone you could upgrage at 60 days and have it in writing you may have a chance, whilst verbal contracts are legally valid proving them (espeically 18 months down the line) would be very hard to so especially over a change of just ten days.

Whether the contract is 365, 550 or 730 days is irrelevant, they are slashing the early upgrade period from 60 to 50 days, that is a huge difference.

I am less than half way through my contract, however if i can get out due to the other party putting me at a disadvantage then that is what i will attempt to do....

gjchester wrote: »

Ethics are all well and nice but most bis business's are not too bothered
about following them unless it's to their advantage.

Ethically if I sign a contract I stick to it, not try to worm out on a minor change that probably won't really affect people to any degree. Sadly a good many people on here are more interested in trying to rip big companies off than truely save money.

So the customer is supposed to have ethics, but not the big business.....ok......


Fact is, at the end of the day, this change will cost me money and will make money for vodafone, putting me at a disadvantage.

A change such as this should have been applied to new customers only, why do you think that isnt the case? ££!.

Jon_01

When you agree to a contract, you agree to pay £X for Y months.
The network may allow you to upgrade before the terms up but they don't have to, it's at their discretion and they can change that discretion whenever they like.

ckerrd

This from the T&C

(d) we change this Agreement to your significant disadvantage including the change or withdrawal of Services (we will tell you if this is the case) and you write to us within one month of us telling you about the change. This does not apply where the change relates to Services which can be cancelled without termination of this Agreement.

If you can show that you have suffered a "significant disadvantage" then you would have a case to end the contract with no penalty

drbesty

I'd hardly use the term 'slashing', it's 10 days, just over a week, not what I'd describe as a 'significant disadvantage'