HTC Desire Vodafone 500mb Fair Usage Policy

karatedragon

I have legal advice on my house insurance and it has been really useful in this.

They have told me that this one-sidedness on communication whereby Vodafone can "text" or "post on forums" significant changes but then expect its customers to use written formal snail mail communication with them would be frowned upon at a Small Claims Court. Courts are old fashioned and still look for snail mail notifications from companies apparently. They advised that a court would frown upon customers being expected to poke around on a web forum for notification and would ask Vodafone how they would communicate with somone who did not have a computer in all this.

Also failure to send the text before 30 days is a definitely a breach of contract and the notification must be "sent" to an individual and not an individual hunt around for it on a forum.

I have a couple of options open to me...

Write advising of termination giving the prescibed 30 days notice due to failure to follow the notification clause and also due to the change being more than 10% and of significant disadvantage. I did this yesterday.

If Vodafone do not accept this then the next step is to take them to a Small Claims court for breach of contract - hinged mainly on the lack of notification. The value of the claim is the value of the breached contract. This would be the subscriptions paid to date plus any future subscriptions exclusive of VAT. Total about £552.

Doing this would cost about £60 to instigate. Also I would not be liable for any of Vodafone's solicitor fees - for example £1000s in those costs. It is up to them if they engage a solicitor but they must carry the cost.

Another interesting point of note is that the court fee of £60 is waived if you receive the following benefits:

Income Support
Pension Guarantee Credit
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Working Tax Credit provided you are not receiving Child Tax Credit
Your gross annual income does not exceed a specified limit.

That said £60 isn't bad for taking it all the way. The worse that can happen is the court says Vodafone are correct and have not breached contract in which case fair enough at least it has been decided independently. Also if Vodafone do not respond then judgement is automatically awarded to me.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

Karatedragon, I have tried putting things tactfully to help you but I think the best way I can help you is by coming out and saying it straight - you are not helping yourself.

Vodafone have put all their requirements of cancellation on their forum. I have got out by following these and by being a pain to them. Right now you are ignoring basic steps like sending recorded letters. You are making the situation far more difficult for yourself and far more drawn out than it need be.

I suggest you get in the recorded letter if you have not already done so and take a step back looking at how others have cancelled successfully. The way you are continuing will tie you in knots for a long time to come and you need to change tact.

n00b_boy

Hey all,

Firstly, I have to say thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread, which has enabled us 'silent readers' to remain updated on what is happening to everyone else, and work our way through the situation with relative ease. It has been much appreciated, especially the legal points on which our arguments hinge!

I submitted (by Recorded Delivery) the Bitterwallet template to the address given in the Vodafone forum announcement by the webteam, and also sent a copy via email to all the email addresses publicised elsewhere in this thread. I did this within the 14 day period after getting the initial text advising me that I would be charged £5 per 500mb after October.

This led to a response from the Directors Office by email, confirming they were looking at matters, and also the standard email response from one of the other email addresses, stating a specialised team would need to deal with the matter.

I subsequently received the standard response letter by snail mail:

Dear n00b boy,

Further to your recent contact in regards to data Out of Bundle charing, we are writing to you to confirm that vodafone is currently reviewing our position in regards to the cancellation of your account.

Iif you are eligible to cancel, the cancellation will take effect as of the beginning of October 2010.

We will be back in contact with you to confirm our position.

I heard nothing in the 3 weeks after receiving the letter and did not send any further emails or letters, but continued to use my phone as normal, i.e. using around 1-1.5gb a month, as I have done every month since getting the phone (an N900).

Given the October deadline for cancellations apparently taking effect, I emailed a reply to the Directors Office email response I received initially, yesterday evening, stating that I would like some clarity on the matter as I have not heard anything for 3 whole weeks.

Today I received some good news:

Dear n00b boy

Thank you for your recent letter requesting the cancellation of your account due to our out of bundle charges for data.

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.

As you have requested your PAC code the cancellation date has not been set at this time, your PAC code is being processed and will be provided shortly.

If you decide not to use your PAC code you must contact Customer Service on 191 from your handset to arrange the cancellation of your account or we will continue to charge you for all line rental and usage charges.

Yours sincerely,

Karen Jones
Customer Relations Team Manager

So I am free!

Fortunately I took out a £15/month O2 contract with unlimited internet before the date that O2 said unlimited internet was no longer unlimited - so the gamble of being locked into a 12 month O2 contract I may never use has paid off, as for a couple of months of this tariff being paid as extra on top of my Vodafone contract, I can port my PAC straight onto it while saving the £40 a month that my Vodafone contract was costing.

Thank you again to everyone who has helped by posting links and information, and good luck to those still fighting their ground!



EDIT: Although, thinking about it, if we've paid our bills in, say, mid-September, we've paid for a month's line rental in advance... Does that mean that if our contracts are cancelled / ported half way through that month, i.e. at the start of October, we should ask for the remainder of the month's line rental back? Or would that just be being cheeky?? lol

ZootHornRollo

karatedragon, have you emailed the director office? VodafoneDirectorsOffice@gb.vodafone.co.uk

They were the only folks who seemed to know what was going on. All others, webcare and callcentre seemed to be clueless.

bym007

Just to update all about my situation. This is quite relevant to you as well karatedragon.

I sent in my cancellation email to all the email addresses point out a few pages back including the director's office on 29/09/10. That was my first contact with VF in this regard. Received a reply back from them saying that they will make a decision by end of business on 30/09/10. Someone tried to contact me by call but I was busy at work, so did not answer.

This morning I sent an email back to them asking for an update. I have received another email back from Director's Office timed 5.28pm:

Dear ....

Thank you for your recent letter requesting the cancellation of your account due to our out of bundle charges for data.

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.

As you have requested your PAC code the cancellation date has not been set at this time, your PAC code is ....

If you decide not to use your PAC code you must contact Customer Service on 191 from your handset to arrange the cancellation of your account or we will continue to charge you for all line rental and usage charges.

Yours sincerely



Karen Jones
Customer Relations Team Manager

So basically by following the basics I have managed to get out of my airtime contract. I did sent a letter by 1st class though (not recorded).

Hope this helps some.

Foxtbh

gjchester wrote: »

Semi irrlelevent and you may not like it but they don't have to send you a text or a letter to notify you.

I can assure you they do. Conjecture on a support forum is not sufficient notification of changes to a legally binding contract.

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

I have followed the instructions that were on the web forum and received a letter saying I cannot cancel. Anyone got advice on what to do next?

Thanks

ZootHornRollo

was a reason given?

do you have evidence that supports your case? (bills?)

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

ZootHornRollo wrote: »

was a reason given?

do you have evidence that supports your case? (bills?)

They said it is because I did not use more than 500MB in August therefore my bill would not increase by more than 10%. This is madness. If I go over this month the bill will go up by more than 10%. My usage in September was just over 900MB. Looking at a thread on the VF forum it seems a lot of people fell through the cracks on this technicality. The letter says I can cancel but have to pay a fee. I do not know now if to go and see a solicitor. I have to do that next week on another matter so might take this to them too. Their time is costly though. Perhaps Citizens Advice. I can't believe a solicitor or someone experienced in this is not on this forum. Also like several others on here I did not get a message about this until 24th or 25th September.

ZootHornRollo

i would get back in touch with them (through directors office) questioning the integrity of their billing system if your bill says one thing and they say another.