HTC Desire Vodafone 500mb Fair Usage Policy

TheLibertine

Can anyone point to a source advertising specifically the HTC Desire or the X10, in the press, advertised directly by vodafone with 'unlimited' internet? I'm drawing up a template complaint that I think responds to all the ASA's decisions not to censure Vodafone in 2008 over this issue.

It really needs to be the Desire or X10 if possible...and I need the publication/date/page no.

bym007

B]mode=satire[/B
Ahaa! Voila!

So Vodafone has just woken up!

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B]/satire[/B

So they want to avoid this for a few weeks/months, and then "will divide and take on us". I say lets not succumb to this victory, I would rather still push for a "go back to original T&Cs or announce the exact pricing policy now!

I dont want them to pick on me in a couple of months, since I can see that they want the publicity to go away and then deal with the naughty "3%" quietly!

Idiots!

bym007

TheLibertine wrote: »

Can anyone point to a source advertising specifically the HTC Desire or the X10, in the press, advertised directly by vodafone with 'unlimited' internet? I'm drawing up a template complaint that I think responds to all the ASA's decisions not to censure Vodafone in 2008 over this issue.

It really needs to be the Desire or X10 if possible...and I need the publication/date/page no.

From what I remember it was the X10 in the "Scottish Sun" on Sunday.

TheLibertine

Ok guys I've done a template for complaining to the ASA, it's not brilliant (I'm at work!) but I think it covers the salient points. You simply go to the ASA website and click comlaints
http://asa.org.uk/

You'll then have to just fill in your name and the details of the advert (Sony-Ericsson X10 / Scottish Sun / May 6th 2010)

Then just copy and paste this into the complaint field on the last page. Take 30 seconds please get as many people as you can to do it.

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I would like to complain about Vodafone’s advert in the Scottish Sun on May 6th, advertising a mobile phone with ‘unlimited’ internet subject to a fair usage policy of 500mb. I would like to make the following points regarding this…

1. Vodafone themselves in official public statements have acknowledged that they are removing this fair usage policy as of June 1, yet are still advertising models as ‘unlimited’.

2. Since the ASA’s decision in 2008 rejecting complaint 60880, smartphones have moved on to such an extent that they are far more powerful and data intensive. Meaning they have the ability to use far more data.

3. Regarding the X10 specifically (and also the HTC Desire which they continue to advertise as unlimited with 500mb), as a brand new phone on the market Vodafone can’t point to historical data to prove users don’t exceed 500mb. This equates to 16mb per day, watching one 4minute video on YouTube is 4mb. Watch 4 of these a day for instance on your journey to work and you will exceed your limit…and that’s not even taking into account email/web browsing/updating applications.

4. I would argue Vodafone realise this, otherwise why do they offer both the Google Nexus One (similar spec to the X10) and the Apple iPhone with a 1GB ‘unlimited’ internet offer. Surely a contradiction in terms, evidencing that they realise 500mb is not enough for the new era smartphones, and also suggesting two different limits can be unlimited. They in fact have a two-tier system of ‘unlimited’, for example offering the Nexus One as 1GB and it’s almost identical cousin the HTC Desire at 500mb…yet both are the same phone and both are unlimited? It simply doesn’t make sense.

5. Lastly as I said in point one, Vodafone placed this advert when it had already planned to rescind the FUP on these phones from June 1st 2010. This has been publicly announced by Vodafone yet they continue to advertise the X10 and HTC Desire as unlimited internet with a FUP. The message to customers who signed up on this basis has been ‘we can change the FUP at our will’. Evidence to support this can be found on official statements made on Vodafone’s own eForum on their website. I can also provide supporting evidence that Vodafone themselves can’t explain their own policy because it’s so confusing. Many customers have posted correspondence with Vodafone representatives on Vodafone’s own Forum that clearly demonstrates different answers being given to different customers about how the FUP works.

6. At least some of this evidence can be seen on Vodafone’s own website on the following link
http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/topic/57718-mobile-internet-will-the-500mb-allowance-be-enough-for-internet-usage/page__st__160

bym007

I suppose ASA are already looking at this, since I got an acknowledgment of my complaint this morning!

nm83

My Desire arrived last Wednesday. I've negotiated my deals after an initial phonecall via email, as CS said they had no record of my offer so I'd have to deal with whoever offered me my contract directly.

The tariff is the Your Plan one with 600 mins, Unlimited Texts (capped at 3000), Mobile Internet for 24 months. I was assured over the phone, in addition to the advice by the eForum posts that the 500MB was a soft limit, and that occasional overuse would not be charged. This was key to my decision to remain with Voda, given the 3GB FUP available with T-Mobile.

I emailed the person who sold me the deal highlighting the bitter wallet article and expressed my concern at the news, with the express view that the key reason for me staying with Voda was the advice given on the FUP. I have stated that I wanted clarification that it is FUP, and that it is not about to be changed, or that if there is to be a change that they allow the free provision of an additional data package to set my mind at ease, otherwise I will be returning my phone and cancelling my contract under the 7-day cool-off period.

I closed with the fact that no clarification would lead me to conclude that Vodafone was misleading customers into lengthy contracts. Apparently, the person who sold me the deal is "out of the office" this week, so my complaint has been transferred to another advisor. My email has supposedly been forwarded to Head Office for a response. My 7-day cooling off period has now been extended for another 7 days.

I can't claim the 10% rule, as my last couple of months call charges were very high, however since I have no meaningful previous stats for data usage on the Desire, could I argue the 10% increase solely on data usage? I've mostly left my 3G connection off to make sure I'm not going to go over the allowance for now as I did say I did not have any intention of using the phone excessively for 3G other than the occasional use of SatNav. However, the continual download of Map Data would potentially be a huge drain on my allowance.

TheLibertine

bym007 wrote: »

I suppose ASA are already looking at this, since I got an acknowledgment of my complaint this morning!

Yep hopefully, I just wanted to draft something that directly responds to the ASA's reasons given in 2008 for letting Vodafone off the hook for a similar advert.

MattJ_2

In response to new VF Statement, Bitter Wallet e-mailed me saying:

Hi Matt,

Just replied to you on BW. This is a shambles - it appears they're trying to backtrack on everything. If only 3% of users strayed over 500MB, all they had to do was enforce their own Fair Use Policy - that allowed them to charge persistent offenders.

These leaves consumers completely in the dark - are they introducing automatic charges or not? I can't see any facts amongst that lot. I'll put up another post today - if this is where we are after just six days, they're clearly uncomfortable with the fuss we're all causing, so let's keep going.

Paul

phoen1x_2

As I posted on the VF forum:

I think the latest announcement needs to be cleared up in two areas:

1. What will count as 'excessive use'? Will this be 501MB or will it have to be 1GB or so?

2. What is 'a few months'? How long will 'excessive use' have to go on for before charges are started?

If using 501MB over 3 months means they start charging you at the new rates then this is just a clever way to postpone the new charges for a few months until it effectively becomes a hard cap. By the time this happens the time limit for cancelling will have ended, job done for Vodafone.
If excessive use is defined at 1GB or so then this seems to me a sensible way of implementing the fair use policy.

nm83

would be reasonable if they sent a msg saying you've hit 500MB, and then charge the £5 at 1GB, again at 1.5GB maybe?