HTC Desire Vodafone 500mb Fair Usage Policy

ruggedtoast

They have to give you a couple of weeks notice before changing the terms of your contract. This is all a load of baloney cooked up by Vodafone to try and get people to accept charges they didnt expect. If you signed up before June of this year you have a contract that says you will not be charged for going over 500mb.

There is nothing in your contracts saying anything about the 1st of October 2010.

Its not up to the customer to warn themselves about the charge, instigate a set of arbitrary conditions (data use) that will cause Vodafone to send them an sms, and then try and prove that this accords with another set of conditions that may allow them to cancel.

I would like to believe that this is all a big misunderstanding, but it really looks like Voda are pulling a fast one.

essex_chris

KarateDragon - you will find that mistakes that are made in your favour can be recinded. Mistakes made in Vodafones favour are carved in stone. At least that's what they will try.

I've had no response from them yet, but i also sent my notification by email, and today it is also being faxed over.

I have my PAC already, and within the next couple of days it will be used, if they add an ETF then i won't pay it, and they can look into the matter to see that i an eligible to cancel without any fee.

If they think they can find that i do have to pay it, for some obscure reason or not following some imaginary Vodafone protocol then they can take me to court for it!

NittyGritty

well well i,ve just been in touch with ofcom and guess what they told me
vodafone are claiming in their own terms the following …”If you think that out of bundle charging will increase your total bill by 10% or more compared to the same usage in the previous month, you may be entitled to cancel your account without penalty”
the above in quoted is false, and shouldnt even be there,ofcom quoted their OWN guidelines and pointed me to the SECTION 48(1) OF THE
COMMUNICATIONS ACT 2003
in the
general condition of entitlement…… the all important clause 9.3b which quotes
9.3 Where the Communications Provider intends to modify a condition in a
contract with a Consumer which is likely to be of material detriment to
the Consumer, the Communications Provider shall:
(a) provide the Consumer with at least one month’s notice of its
intention detailing the proposed modification; and
(b) inform the Consumer of the ability to terminate the contract
without penalty if the proposed modification is not acceptable to
the Consumer.
yes no mention of the 10% and they also told me to use the above clause highlighted, so may be of use to u guys who were told we werent entitled to cancel our contracts
a little update ,,,, they have now since called me back due to telling them about this, and low and behold they offered to cancel without penalty however and heres the funny bit they want the phone sent back , to which i refused, so yet again its ongoing they said someone will be in touch again later, so bring it on, under the terms of vodafone the phone is NOT part of the airtime agreement i have with them.

as anyone who has managed to cancel without penalty been asked to send their phone back?

Tony5101

I think I may have posted this already - but this is the email that I got from c/s - and it specifically says that I can retain the phone.
They shouldn't be asking for the return of the phone, as this doesn't actually form any part of your airtime agreement.

Tony

[FONT=&quot]Hello Mr.xxxx,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Thank you for your recent email requesting the cancellation of your account for the number [FONT=&quot]xxxxxxxxxxx[/FONT] due to our out of bundle charges for data. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]We have assessed your request and confirm as the charges would increase your overall bill by 10% or more you are eligible to cancel your account without penalty and retain the equipment provided for use with this agreement.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Your request has been processed and your account will be cancelled on the 30th September 2010, you will be required to make payment for all line rental and usage charges up to and including this date via your normal payment method. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Trust the above information helps.[/FONT]
Kind regards,

beetlebum_2

Just received the Vodafone call after missing it 2 days ago. Offered me the 3 options. Gone for no2, termination of contract with PAC. Now off to giffgaff. Hope everyone elses goes well.

beetlebum_2

Regards to the phone, that is yours to do whatever you like with. I sold my Satio 2 months ago! No more lengthy contracts for me in order to get a cheap/free phone. I have learnt my lesson from this!

bym007

As I have already posted, I am awaiting a reply from VF Director's Office by close of business tonight, to see what they agree.

Since I CC'd my email to a number of other addresses (all the emails posted a few pages back), I have also received a couple of "unhelpful" replies from Webform (ccare.webmails@help.vodafone.co.uk) asking me to follow the steps detailed on VF's forums, including a reason how my bill will increase by 10% or more...

I have a feeling that the directors have asked the responsible managers to calculate the possible number of cancellation requests until this evening and then they will make a decision on the basis of possible loss ...

BrandNewDay

Forgive me, please, for jumping in to this discussion so late.

A friend in my knitting group and I both have the same phone: HTC Magic, and we both signed 2-year contracts in July of 2009. She says that the limit of 500MB was always in the fine print of our contract. I cannot find my contract (Husband may know where it is), and so I don't know. But, I was under the impression that "500 MB" did not actually appear in the contracts of a year ago, and that this arbitrary "fair" amount of data was announced this spring.

Does anybody with a year-old Vodafone contract (who hasn't actually mislaid the thing) know if I am right?

Thank you in advance!

BrandNewDay

I'm starting to think my friend was right, and that Vodafone has done nothing wrong. Apparently, my contract did define "fair usage" as being 500 MB. I did, therefore, sign a contract that defined that limit as "fair." Although I think it was unethical for them to SELL the plan as "unlimited" I have only myself to blame for not reading the fine print.

If Vodaphone decided, out of generosity, to let people go beyond 500MB for a while, that was their choice. Now, they have changed their minds and they are holding us to our contracts.

But, I still think it was wrong of them to describe it as "unlimited" and to let their various sales people talk about how it would be "impossible" to exceed it, or that someone would only be charged for "taking the Mick" and implying that this would be something truly excessive.

501 MB is not excessive, in my opinion. But, I did carelessly sign a contract saying otherwise and so I must honour it.

ZootHornRollo

BrandNewDay wrote: »

I'm starting to think my friend was right, and that Vodafone has done nothing wrong. Apparently, my contract did define "fair usage" as being 500 MB. I did, therefore, sign a contract that defined that limit as "fair." Although I think it was unethical for them to SELL the plan as "unlimited" I have only myself to blame for not reading the fine print.

If Vodaphone decided, out of generosity, to let people go beyond 500MB for a while, that was their choice. Now, they have changed their minds and they are holding us to our contracts.

But, I still think it was wrong of them to describe it as "unlimited" and to let their various sales people talk about how it would be "impossible" to exceed it, or that someone would only be charged for "taking the Mick" and implying that this would be something truly excessive.


501 MB is not excessive, in my opinion. But, I did carelessly sign a contract saying otherwise and so I must honour it.

it is the introduction of charge that previously did not exist as well as the mis-selling (unlimited... impossible to exceed... only thos tsking the mick... etc) that we all object to.

we were all sold these policies as unlimited hence vodafone has to let us go.

you don't need to abuse it to go over 500mb. i manage quite easily without making an effort and i would not say i was a particularly heavy user. i simply use my smartphone as it was intended.

if you think you may come a cropper to these new charges you should act now. no point in reluctanlty accept the terms of your contract as vodafone are not honouring their half of it.