HTC Desire Vodafone 500mb Fair Usage Policy

oslingsby

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=125548650808710

essex_chris

Joined that group. I do wonder how much effect something like that might have, but it's worth a try.

My use is over 27% of the limit already this month. Certainly not used excessively, but i am tending to have wifi on only at home, and when at places that i currently have Wifi access but won't when my job changes i am not using wifi. This has made a siginificant difference to my use - as i would expect, and does show up the limitations of a 500mb allowance - even on an HTC Magic

rorydaredking

I have used 700Mb this month and not got a text

reech

Reply back to my webform request to change my allowance to 1GB: (since the new priceplans on the website are listed at 1GB rather than the 500MB I signed up with 14 days ago)
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Hello J,
I've checked the account and confirm that the price plan you are on doesn't 1GB data allowance.
The plan on the account is YPL (Your Price Plan) and with this plan only 500MB is supported.
J, further to this, you can cancel the contract in the last 30 days of the commitment period. However, if you wish to cancel the contract early, you'll be charged by the ETF (Early Termination Fee). The ETF on the account as of today is £600.45.
Trust the information helps.

Kind regards,
(name)
Vodafone Customer Services
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Apart from the grammar error in the first sentence, I didn't find anything useful or amusing in this email; it just totally missed my request. Seems like there is *no* coherency, quality-checking or alignment with their customer communications.

karatedragon

820MB and still no contact from Vodafone.

Maybe I should push for over a Gig.

I use "Speedtest" as it uses about 2,400KB per test - just do it 10 times per day and that's 24MB

24 x 30 = 720MB per 30 day period

Speedtest - from Android Market

karatedragon

Spoke too soon.

Got a text just now from Vodafone saying I have exceeded my 25MB daily allowance and to contact Customer Services about discussing a price plan with more Data Allowance.

I don't get that though as 25MB x 30 days = 750MB - Not 500MB

N20Y1D

karatedragon wrote: »

Spoke too soon.

Got a text just now from Vodafone saying I have exceeded my 25MB daily allowance and to contact Customer Services about discussing a price plan with more Data Allowance.

I don't get that though as 25MB x 30 days = 750MB - Not 500MB

Another 'mistake' apparently... Vodafone are looking into it it seems... the whole company seems to be one big mistake at the minute.

N20Y1D

My latest email to vodafone:

I would like to raise several issues with your reply:






We have seen quite a bit of speculation on the out of bundle charges for Vodafone UK mobile internet users on forums and in the media. We wanted to clarify things. Here are the facts as they stand today. - This is not speculation at all, this is information being given by vodafone employees, both on the official forum and in interviews with various websites.



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From the 1st of June we have introduced a free text service to tell our contract customers when they're approaching the upper limit of their data bundle. As the vast majority of our mobile internet subscribers (more than 97 percent) never reach the limit they will not be receiving the text alerts at all.
The minority of our customers (less then 3 percent) who do come close will receive a text telling them they are approaching their data allowance and advising them to monitor their usage going forward. At this point customers will not be charged anything more. - What is the upper limit of my data bundle? The agreement between myself and vodafone was for unlimited internet also you cannot cap this at 500mb as you have now introduced a 1gb policy, how can unlimited be less than limited?




If after receiving several such alerts, over a period of few months, customers continue to use excessive amounts of data they will be contacted by Vodafone and advised to upgrade to another data plan to avoid incurring unnecessary additional charges. Again how can someone upgrade on an unlimited internet data plan? Also can you show me where i can find these additional charges listed on the vodafone website and also tell me when they were introduced? As Tom on the vodafone eforum has admitted "There isn't currently a standard rate published "


Vodafone T&Cs clearly state:


27. All Vodafone services offered free or under unlimited subscription are subject to our Fair Use Policy. If, in the reasonable opinion of Vodafone, your use is excessive, we may ask you to moderate your usage. If, after we have asked you to moderate your usage, you fail to do so, we reserve the right to:
(a) charge you for the excessive element of your usage at your price plan's standard rate;

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Therefore if a standard rate does not exist i cannot be charged, however if a standard rate has been introduced then why was i not informed?


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7.1. We may change our Charges and/or introduce new Charges from time to time. If we increase our Charges, we will give you at least 7 days notice. If we believe any change in our Charges will not disadvantage you, it may be included without notice.

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Which brings me to why i wish to cancel my contract in line with your T&C's:

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







(c) we increase your Charges in the UK which have the effect of increasing your total call and usage charges (based upon your usage in the previous month) by more than 10% and you write to us before the increase takes effect; or




(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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Regards
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andywicks

This morning I have received a reply from Vodafone regarding my request for a letter of deadlock:

Paul_Bolton_on_behalf_of_Vodafone wrote:

Dear Mr Wicks,

Thank you for your email to my colleague Andrew, advising that you still are not happy and want to cancel.

As previously advised by Andrew, it is no possible to cancel your agreement under clause 11 of the airtime agreement as certain conditions have not been met.

As you have not yet been billed, it is not sure how these changes will impact you. Once you have been billed and we can see that despite similar usage to previous months, you have been impacted by these changes then we shall revisit the case for you.

Until such time it is not possible to end your agreement early without an early termination fee, and we will not be issuing a deadlock letter as once you have been billed, and it is felt that these changes have made a difference to your bill then we will revisit your case.

Kind regards,

Paul Bolton
Customer Relations Advisor

I have sent the following in response

Andy_Wicks wrote:

Paul,

Clause 11.2.c of the Terms and Conditions states:

"we increase your charges in the UK which have the effect of increasing your total call and usage charges (based on your usage in the previous month) by more than 10% and you write to us before the increase applies"


1) Vodafone have announced that they are increasing (or introducing new) charges:
-- see previous emails in this chain for confirmation


2) They have also announced how these charges will be applied:

"1. As of the 1st of June, Vodafone will be implementing a text service to notify 'heavy' users that they have used their allowance. The exact wording of this text is still being clarified. Jakub thought heavy users would be all users who used over 500MB. No additional charges will be applied to their account at this stage.

2. If they continue their heavy usage in the following month, they will be called by someone from Vodafone to discuss what options they have - either reducing usage, upgrading to a Mobile Broadband bundle or having charges applied to their account in subsequent months. No additional charges will be applied to their account at this stage.

3. If the users doesn't take an additional bundle and their heavy usage continues then they will be charged at the rate of £5 per additional 500MB. Jakub confirmed that if these charges were to lead to an increase in your total bill of more than 10% then you should have grounds to terminate your agreement under clause 11.2.c. without incurring early termination charges."
(confirmed to me personally by Jakub Hrabovsky on 12th May 2010 and stated numerous times on the eForum discussion)

3) It is clear from looking at my previous usage that these charges will apply to me and that they will significantly increase my monthly charges.

4) I have written to Vodafone before the increase has been applied as requested in the Terms and Conditions, which I have copied at the start of this email.

As far as I can work out I have followed my required part in the Terms and Conditions regarding this case, so yet again I enquire as to how Vodafone believe that I am not in a position to terminate my agreement without penalty.

I also disagree with your decision not to issue me with a letter of deadlock. As Vodafone are unwilling to resolve my complaint to a satisfactory level, we are, by definition, in a position of deadlock:

Deadlock - "a situation in which no progress can be made or no advancement is possible"

If Vodafone continue to deny my requests for a cancellation based on the evidence above, then it will be assumed that we will be in a position of deadlock and this complaint will then be taken up with OTELO.

Andy

Flodd

An excerpt from the email vodafone sent me yesterday...

******, we will monitor your usage for the next 3 month and get back to your and provide you the priceplan as per your usage.
As per the terms and condition if your usage remain same and you are being charged 10% more in your bill in the 3 month then you can cancel the contract with out early cancellation fees.
It will be monitor including current month and remaining next month.

I'm having 'Please Sir' flashbacks here...