HTC Desire Vodafone 500mb Fair Usage Policy

MattJ_2

http:// forum.vodafone.co.uk/topic/57718-mobile-internet-will-the-500mb-allowance-be-enough-for-internet-usage/page__st__120__gopid__387088&#entry387088

Put the space back in and read through that

Bongedone

I will repost that so it works without editing:

Thread on Vodafone forum

Bongedone

Vodafone just closed down my thread about a completely different subject. Here is the message I wrote:

Hi,

I thought I would post this as a seperate topic as it seems to be getting ignored in the 500mb data allowance thread.

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week at the same time on both days I have received this message:

"You are reaching the end of your data allowance. You will be charged another £0.50 (Inc VAT) for the next 5MB. We will notify you again before you reach the next charging point. To stop these messages Text STOP to 40506. Keep track of internet charges with Vodafone. Sent MAY 05 @16:57 UK"

I have only used about 94mb of my 500mb data allowance. Can somebody from Vodafone please explain this? Customer services confirm I am nowhere near my limit but could not explain it. I know I am not the only one with the HTC Desire to be receiving this. No doubt I will received one this evening also.

Thank you

parallax_20

This is an age old issue where "Unlimited" is incorrectly used to mis-sell contracts by operators. Its the same with broadband. Its mobile operators bread and butter these days as they rarely make money on calls and texts. By selling data as "Unlimited" they are expecting the average smartphone user not to monitor their usage and hope they exceed the lowly 500MB caps they impose and thus charging them for out of data charges which are still at an extortionate rate per MB. Then when a customer complains about the charges to refer them to the small print regarding the cap. Its all a big con!

I would accept any limit stated in their T&C's to be a hard cap regardless of what their FUP says to be cautious and save on any headaches later. If 500MB is too little, look elsewhere that gives more or take an extra add on. Don't be taken in by deals just because it mentions the word "Unlimited".

MattJ_2

No, the deals were taken out, based on what VF Staff said on the Forums that it wasn't a hard cap... there lies the issue

MattJ_2

Vodafone have removed posts related to complaining to Consumer Direct and Watchdog.

parallax_20

MattJ - I think you've missed my point. Not all staff are trained to the same level or kept up to date, or misinterpreted hence why you may get varying answers. Never base your decisions on what a person says unless they have something in writing to back their statement up that you can check for yourself. This is where I've referred to the T&C's. Their T&C's would have been through their legal team and will indicate their contractual obligations to you. Anything not mentioned in there is a grey area and may be difficult to prove in court.

You've probably read that there are many instances of phone recordings going awol, when deals have been disputed. In those cases it'll be your word against theirs. Lifes complicated enough!

TheLibertine

The question is can anyone post the terms and conditions from their contract on here?

People with contracts over a year old are now getting these txts saying you will be charged for going over. So it appears to be a blanket thing they're applying to everyone whether you took out a contract today or a year ago.

Not sure that stands up to scruting hence the need for someone to post T&C is they can

TheLibertine

One thing to remember in all this...there havn't been too many cases of people actually exceeding their usage...despite getting messages to the contrary. It would be really useful if people with Desire's or other smartphones could (instead of using netcounter etc) ring Vodafone and get their actual data usage. This would give a good idea of how much people are really using month on month as opposed to the first few days playing with a brand new phone.

And remember also if you have wifi at home then you won't be using any of your data there, only when you're outside the house.

Not that it changes anything I just wouldn't like people to start cancelling contracts when maybe they don't actually need to. Especially if you managed to get a good deal with Voda.

TheLibertine

Ok everyone they've now confirmed it...a total joke. Waiting till everyone has bought a HTC Desire over the last two months aswell is about as sneaky as you can get.

Posted Today, 04:39 PM
Hi Everyone,

Thanks for being patient whilst we got the right information for you.

We are planning to introduce Out Of Bundle charging for Pay Monthly customers from 1st June 2010. The reason we're introducing these charges is to make it fairer for everyone, and to protect our network from data abuse. We're introducing a real-time notifications service to be completely transparent about these charges and keep customers in control of their spend. No Out Of Bundle charges will happen this month but they will take effect from 1st June. The messages you've received this month were sent in error and no more will be sent out from today.

The charging will be as follows:

Monthly bundle customers will pay £5 for every 500MB after the first 500MB
Customers without a monthly bundle will pay 50p for every 10MB after the first 25MB

Whilst you've all previously been used to there not being any Out Of Bundle charging, the current information available online is clear in explaining that we could introduce such charging at any time. The Vodafone Mobile Internet costs page does state:
We'll keep an eye on things and let you know your options if it looks like you'll go over your 500MB Flexi or Value Pack limit.

Our Pay Monthly Terms and Conditions already state that we reserve the right to charge for any usage beyond the Fair Usage limit:

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;

(b) throttle your usage; or

© suspend or terminate your service in accordance with your airtime terms and conditions.

So you can ignore the messages which have been sent so far, but there's the information we have on this subject.

Thanks,

Tom

eForum Team