HTC Desire Vodafone 500mb Fair Usage Policy

DarkConvict

MattJ wrote: »

Yea the website highlights all options. If you read the page, it says they are not legal experts and leave it up to us to chose our course of action.

Indeed, but just incase people took it for granted

JackMagic_2

I'd like to advise people to also contact the BBC regarding this if you haven't already. I sent them the following:

To whom it may concern,

I would like to bring your attention to the recent events concerning Vodafone and their breaching of contract.

An announcement on the Vodafone eForum saw a member of staff announce that Vodafone would be scrapping it's Fair Use Policy concerning data usage for Pay Monthly customers who use 'Unlimited Monthly Internet' - existing and new. Instead, they will introduce a charge of £5 per 500mb for any customer who goes over the 500mb cap limit (formerly the suggested soft cap for fair usage). You can read the full announcement here:
[link to announcement on eForum]

The policy is to be introduced on the 1st June, and Vodafone have announced that in line with clause 7a of their Terms and Conditions that they are only required to provide 14 days notice to their customers. However, as pointed out by users on the Vondafone eForum, the "Out-Of-Bundle" charges are in-fact not new charges, but an alteration of the core agreement between Vodafone and the customer. Thus, citing clause 7b, they must allow 30 days notice (by order of the Ofcom General Conditions), which obviously they have failed to do so and are in breach of their contract.

Not only that, but they are manipulating the terms under which the customer may then terminate the contract without penalty. Vodafone have said that customers may terminate their contract without penalty if they, Vodafone, have violated Clause 11b part c, which refers to there being a 10% monthly increase in your bill. However, they have completely overlooked clause 11b part d, which states that the customer may terminate the contract if Vodafone change the agreement to the "significant disadvantage" of the customer. I am not alone in thinking that changing an unlimited data plan to a capped plan with threat of extra fees is a significant disadvantage.

You may read the full terms and conditions for Pay Monthly users here:
[link to terms of service]

Vodafone have said that users citing this clause do not qualify for termination without penalty due to their not using 500mb or more per month, at the time of termination. This is a very short-sighted attitude to take, as Vodafone are well aware that use varies on a monthly basis and with smartphones becoming more web-capable every month, the usage is bound to increase - 500mb is simply not a future-proof cap, especially for users just taking out 24 months contracts.

This is a very important issue for Vodafone customers and, as usual, Vodafone are being less than helpful with their level of contact on the matter. We as a community of users would appreciate the BBC's help in making this known to Vodafone users in the UK so that they may prepare as they see fit before Vodafone eventually get round to "officially" announcing their plans.

Kindest regards,

Jack S

You can contact them using this form:
- I cannot post links as a new user, please Google "Have your say bbc", and then select the "Send your video, pictures and story ideas" link on the right hand side of the page.

This post was deleted from the Vodafone eForum, so I brought it here instead.

Jack

Little_Maya

Link as per JackMagic's post for ease of use

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/your_news/7593687.stm

DarkConvict

You should certainly tag in that previous usage cannot be used as a prediction of future usage, a user who never used the data on the phone against now just starting to use it can go from 0MB to 500MB easily. Same applies to install a dozen new apps that happen to keep polling for data such as checking emails does use up significant data.

The links are

Have your say - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/your_news/7593687.stm

Watchdog - http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/gotastory/

JackMagic_2

Thanks for posting the links

DarkConvict

Well i've dropped in my kind words to BBC, WatchDog and TheRegister.

Hopefully Vodafone will just backdown like Orange did, or the regular OFCOM will give them a slap for failing to notify customers 30 days in advance, then ASA slap them for mis advertising products that will now change, and finally those who want to leave are allowed to leave.

Little_Maya

JackMagic wrote: »

This post was deleted from the Vodafone eForum, so I brought it here instead.

Jack

Thanks for posting it here, I'm not registered on the eForum but I've been following the thread there and it looks like the mods are fast at deleting things!

DarkConvict

This post was deleted from the Vodafone eForum

See no Evil, Feel no Evil
See no Evil, Feel no Evil
See no Evil, Feel no Evil

Underworld_3

DarkConvict wrote: »

, then ASA slap them for mis advertising products that will now change, and finally those who want to leave are allowed to leave.

ASA does not deal with online ads..

Thank you for your recent complaint about claims appearing on this website.

Unfortunately, because you object to claims made on a company’s own website we are unable to help you further. After careful consideration, the Advertising Standards Authority (the ASA) has defined online advertising that is subject to the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (the Code). The ASA decided that the Code should apply to:

· online advertisements in “paid for” space, e.g. banner and pop-up advertisements;
· advertisements in commercial e-mails and
· sales promotions wherever they appear online (including in organisations’ websites or e-mails).

The Code does not apply to organisations’ claims on their own websites. We believe that applying the Code to all online claims would go too far into regulating the “relationship” between businesses and the consumer and would, moreover, prove impossible to enforce effectively. Websites are essentially like shops: consumers go to them looking for information, to browse, to buy, and so on, they are virtual premises in other words, sought out by shoppers, rather than advertising created and placed as a means to attract attention.

I am sorry we cannot help you but we hope you will find this information useful. Our website, https://www.asa.org.uk, contains information about us and the work we do, including the results of our investigations into recent complaints about advertisements.

followed by

Thank you for your email.

As I explained, website content does not fall within our remit and I have looked again at the link you sent and can confirm that this is outside our remit. If, however, you see the claim appearing in a press, TV or radio ad, then contact us again with details of when and where you saw the ad.

Yours sincerely

dot111

I posted on forum, my post was deleted too.

Obviously they think if they ignore us we will go away.