HTC Desire Vodafone 500mb Fair Usage Policy

BrandNewDay

OK, what would it mean for me to get out of my contract? I'm not sure when I was alerted that there were changes afoot. Some text came in May talking about "data roaming prices are changing and some countries will be moved into a different pricing." There was a link to a page that no longer tells me anything. I never travel abroad, so I ignored this. Was that my notification?

Anyway, I do now have wifi at home. I am unlikely to exceed 500 MB, as I'm a housewife and I don't spend a lot of time outside of the house. If, for whatever reason, I were to exceed once in a while, £5 wouldn't be that big a deal. But, it does annoy the crap out of me, anyway! I'm just mad that they can do this.

What would it mean for me to get out of contract? Would I still be able to keep my phone? Would I be able to take the phone to another carrier? Would I get a better deal, elsewhere, anyway?

BrandNewDay

ZootHornRollo wrote: »

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.

But, how can we prove it? Everybody knows that the guys at the stores are slick. Everybody knows that we are supposed to read the contracts carefully. I thought that the whole deal was so straightforward and simple, that I didn't bother, myself. But, I think I have only myself to blame.

This means, I think, that the sales people can say anything they want and nothing will ever happen to them.

ruggedtoast

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.

A fair use policy is generally taken to mean that if you breach the unlimited limit then they slow down your internet connection, or eventually terminate your contract.

Vodafone have decided to impose a, fairly high, charge that was never mentioned before to customers.

They never mentioned it before because they didnt want to put people off. Now theyve signed everyone up and are imposing terms that would probably have stopped a lot of people from choosing them in the first place.

pavers

Just got the call from Andrew Austin. Took the PAC option and will probaly just use it to goto giffgaff.

I asked about Desire HD and he said I would have to wait til it was out on 14th Oct, then I asked about Iphone 4 16gb and said he could reduce price from £119 to £69(or £59 cant remember) £40 per month with 600 mins, unlimited texts and 1.5Gb on a 18 month contract.

Usage starts tomorrow so I have 500mb before I get charged.

andywicks

BrandNewDay wrote: »

But, how can we prove it? Everybody knows that the guys at the stores are slick. Everybody knows that we are supposed to read the contracts carefully. I thought that the whole deal was so straightforward and simple, that I didn't bother, myself. But, I think I have only myself to blame.

This means, I think, that the sales people can say anything they want and nothing will ever happen to them.

It was written on the forum by at least one of the mods that, prior to the introduction of this charge on 01/10/10 there was no pricing structure in existence for over FUP data usage. It says that the pricing structure forms part of our contract with Vodafone so a change to the prices is a change to our contract.

Andy

beetlebum_2

pavers wrote: »

Just got the call from Andrew Austin. Took the PAC option and will probaly just use it to goto giffgaff.

I asked about Desire HD and he said I would have to wait til it was out on 14th Oct, then I asked about Iphone 4 16gb and said he could reduce price from £119 to £69(or £59 cant remember) £40 per month with 600 mins, unlimited texts and 1.5Gb on a 18 month contract.

Usage starts tomorrow so I have 500mb before I get charged.

Yeah go with giffgaff. Order sim, will be with you the next day. Top up a tenner and get unlimited internet to play with straight away until December. My number will be transferred over to them on Monday. Love the whole giffgaff concept.

Notsram

As one of the lucky ones who's actually got a cancellation out of Vodafone, I'd suggest simple perseverence as the way forward. If you have the right to cancel, then don't take no for an answer. Keep emailing/calling them, put your point across and don't be fobbed off with irrelevant/patronising answers.

I pestered Vodafone for months about this (along with the simple fact that I hadn't been told internet access was so severely limited when I took the contract out over the phone, despite me specifically asking this of the sales rep at the time), and for ages they fobbed me off. But I didn't give up, and as soon as I got the text saying I'd be charged, I fired off a registered letter and carried on pestering them by email. I must have around 40 or 50 email replies from Vodafone which completely fail to answer me, but all I did was email back saying that my questions hadn't been answered and repeating them.

In my last email before they finally conceeded that I was eligible to cancel, I also mentioned that I was passing their replies along to third parties. I didn't specify which third parties (in point of fact, the only third parties are a few friends of mine who are also trying to cancel, and this forum), but 'third parties' could mean anything from a couple of mates down the pub to a team of lawyers.

Maybe it's a coincidence that that particular email got the response that I was looking for, but couldn't hurt to mention something like that

4$£&*(£$&*(!

This is important as there are only a few hours left to go. I posted about this earlier today but as it is so important I am posting again.

Your data use will be compared with the previous month when looking at eligibility to cancel. I highly suspect anyone who uses under 500Mb then goes over the next month will be told because your previous month was under the new limit you cannot cancel.

In other words if you have not already exceeded the 500Mb limit, you only have until midnight TONIGHT to do it before this new charge comes in. Then every month until you get charged you also have to exceed the limit. If you don't I have a sneaky feeling they will say you cannot cancel.

I could be wrong about this, but given every underhanded tactic used so far to put people off, and as one of the few to successfully get out of the contract, I would really advise people to heed the warning. I hope this helps some of you.

330d

Just out of curiosity, are users without a data plan affected?

The new charges will be 50p for every 25mb. What are the internet charges now for non web tariff customers?

karatedragon

Hmmm.

I have just had a call and I have been offered a credit per month of £5 to compensate for the over usage.

I told them that I do not accept this. They said that they have done all they can under the contract and are now in the right????

I thought I did not have to accept anything I am not happy with????

This is a stupid offer. If that offer is anything to go by then they may as well have not bothered introducing a £5 charge.