HTC Desire Vodafone 500mb Fair Usage Policy

freddyg

Vodafone_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Everyone,
If after receiving several such alerts, over a period of few months, customers continue to use excessive amounts of data they will be contacted by Vodafone and advised to upgrade to another data plan to avoid incurring unnecessary additional charges. Thanks,

Tom

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

Tom.

So are Vodafone retracting the earlier statement regarding the capped 500MB limit (see post #32 in this thread) and reverting back to the FUP; this time enforcing it correctly?

Cheers.

Vodafone

Hi Again,

I'm gathering all of your questions. We'll respond to as many as possible.

Thanks,

Tom

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

danielz000

Just noticed this on vodafone.co.uk

You also get a staggering 1GB of data - enough for 10,000 web pages, over 16 hours of streaming video

That's ****ing disguisting... Who encodes video at 142kb/s?!

N20Y1D

Vodafone_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Again,

I'm gathering all of your questions. We'll respond to as many as possible.

Thanks,

Tom

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

Heres a few more (taken from bitterwallet)

• Will affected customers still retain a Fair Use Policy in their agreement after 1 June?

• Will affected customers be automatically charged if their monthly uses strays over 500MB?

• Can you please define “excessive use”? This term defines whether a customer is liable for additional charges or not, and despite constant requests from customers, Vodafone are yet to explain it.

• Can you please provide a real-life example of a customer who reads and replies to 10,000 emails, reads 8,000 BBC news stories and uses no mobile applications whatsoever? You’re currently justifying a 500MB data limit with a completely fictional example of usage. Vodafone are suggesting that customers who buy smartphones don’t use applications.

And another from me:

Have vodafone changed any of the wording in their T&C's?

danielz000

Also...

All Vodafone services offered free or under unlimited subscription are subject to our Fair Use Policy

Can any one find the relevant FUP on their site?

DarkConvict

N20Y1D wrote: »

1. The 3%, is this 3% of highend smartphone users? or people with old nokia 6600s

Thats the best phone ever for games anyway,

But this is the most important question been asked, statistics are generally meaningless you can include those whose don't intentionally use data vs those that do.

You need to take modern smartphones that have been released over the last 2 years tops and take statistics on their data usage you will find the percentage takes quite a jump as well as the average usage. This is because these phones don't all wait for user interaction but all streaming data silently.
Those with IPlayer/YouTube capable phones are going to drain more than those without it.

And remember vodafone, terms not written in plain english and open to interpretation are consider infair terms. Such terms are therefore judged by trading standards to side with the consumer. If this clarification by vodafone goes against the consumer (see the last 14 pages) then it is not valid. Instead the consumers view is that they should not be charged as it is an unlimited policy.
To implement what you want you need to write in terms in plain english, and a change in terms gives customers a right to cancel.

andywicks

TheLibertine wrote: »

What was the response and did you try to cancel or just complain?

My Original email to Guy Laurence (sent 7th May):

Guy,

I have recently been informed that Vodafone are planning on amending the details of their 500MB 'Fair Usage Policy' for customers with 'Unlimited Mobile Internet' bundles as part of their pay monthly contracts. I am following this with avid interest as I believe that Vodafone will be in breach of UK consumer legislation if they retrospectively apply this to existing pay monthly contracts.

The details of my pay monthly contract - phone number 07xxx xxxxxx - are as follows (taken directly from the My Bills area of my Vodafone online account):

"Your Plan for Small Business, 750 minutes, 250 texts, Unlimited Landlines, Unlimited Internet and Vodafone Passport, 3 months free promo (YPB24750m250TxV PVMIULL P)"

The key words I would like to highlight in that quote are "Unlimited Internet".

If, as I am led to believe, Vodafone impose charges on usage above a fixed limit I cannot see how this is not a change to the Terms and Conditions of my contract with Vodafone. As this change would be disadvantageous to me, the consumer, I would be within my right to refuse to agree to the amended Terms and Conditions. If Vodafone continue regardless and attempt to impose charges against my account then I would not be liable to pay for them, as they would have been generated based upon Terms and Conditions to which I had not agreed.

If Vodafone are determined to press ahead and implement this change regardless of whether I agree to the new Terms and Conditions then, as my existing Terms and Conditions state, I would be within my right to terminate the agreement immediately. Section 7.2 of my existing Terms and Conditions state:

"7.2. We can make changes to or withdraw Services at any time and we can make changes to and/or introduce new terms to this Agreement at any time. We will give you at least 30 days notice of these changes if we do and you may have a right to end this Agreement under clause 11."

...where section 11 states:

"You may end this Agreement by writing to us if:
(a) we don’t do something fundamental that we should have done under this Agreement within 7 days of you asking us in writing;
(b) we tell you that there will be an increase in the line rental charge by more than the increase in the Retail Prices Index ("RPI", calculated as a percentage) since the last line rental increase and you write to us before the increase takes effect;
(c) we increase your Charges in the UK which have the effect of increasing your total call and usage charges (based upon your usage in the previous month) by more than 10% and you write to us before the increase takes effect; or
(d) we change this Agreement to your significant disadvantage including the change or withdrawal of Services (we will tell you if this is the case) and you write to us within one month of us telling you about the change. This does not apply where the change relates to Services which can be cancelled without termination of this Agreement."

Applying Vodafone's proposed charges to my last month's usage my bill would have been increased by £15. As the total bill came to £58.70, £15 would have been an increase of 25.5% - considerably more than the 10% referred to in part c of section 11. As such it is clear to see that the proposed changes would be disadvantageous to me.

I am appalled at the way in which information regarding such a fundamental change has been provided to your customers - it would appear that no-one within your organisation is fully aware of the changes as every representative contacted provided differing viewpoints. There has been an ongoing discussion on your support forums since 21st April and we are still awaiting a definitive response

-- forum thread can be found here: forum.vodafone.co.uk/topic/57718-mobile-internet-will-the-500mb-allowance-be-enough-for-internet-usage/

Please provide an explanation of why Vodafone are not following their required approach as outlined in my Terms and Conditions regarding the notice period for changes to my Terms and Conditions - in section 7.2 it states that "at least 30 days notice of these changes" will be given.

Please can you also confirm that if Vodafone were to implement these changes retrospectively, according to the existing Terms and Conditions of my contract I would be able to terminate my agreement immediately without incurring further charges?

Regards

Andy

Their response (received 11th May)

Dear Mr Wicks



Mr G Laurence has passed your email to me as I am responsible for investigating matters raised with him.



Last week we sent an incorrect test message in error to a small number of customers informing them that they are coming up to the top end of the bundle and they would be charged if they went over. This has caused some confusion so we want to set the record straight and clarify what we're doing.



We are launching a free service on June 1st by alerting those customers who consistently use more than their data allowance. This alert will say we will review your spend and if you continue to use more data than your allowance consistently over the coming months, we'll contact you to have a chat about your usage and offer an alternative data plan to avoid incurring out of bundle charges. That means you will be able to manage your usage more effectively. We're also giving clarity to what these data rates are, for out of bundle charges.



Given you are already reaching your allowance and in some cases are over, from June 1st, you will start to receive an alert to say you've gone over your allowance. We will be tracking your usage, and in the following months if your usage continues to be over your data allowance, we will contact you to discuss alternatives (including for example, upgrading to one of our mobile broadband plans) and that you could incur charges.



As you know we have a Fair Usage Policy and for the vast majority of customers, they do not use more than their data allowance. This Fair Usage Policy has always formed part of your price plan Terms and Conditions and due to this we are not in a position to allow you to cancel your contract without penalty



I trust this clarifies Vodafone's position.



Kind regards





Lisa Gray

Directors Office

To which I sent the following in response (sent 11th May):

Clause 11.2.c of the Terms and Conditions of my contract state:

---

"You may end this agreement by writing to us if: ... we increase your charges in the UK which have the effect of increasing your total call and usage charges (based on your usage in the previous month) by more than 10% and you write to us before the increase applies"

---

In addition, the Ofcom General Conditions (that Vodafone must observe at all times while operating as a service provider) state:


9.3 Where the Communications Provider intends to modify a condition in a contract with a Consumer which is likely to be of material detriment to the Consumer, the Communications Provider shall:

(a) provide the Consumer with at least one month’s notice of its intention detailing the proposed modification; and

(b) inform the Consumer of the ability to terminate the contract without penalty if the proposed modification is not acceptable to the Consumer.
(Copied from: ofcom.org...ogc18032010.pdf)
It would appear that you require clarification on a few facts.

1. I am writing to you 'before the increase applies' as stated in clause 11.2.c above.
2. Applying the new charges to my previous bill (dated 12th April), it is blatently clear that my total bill would increase by more than 10% as required in clause 11.2.c above
3. Nowhere does it state that I am required to see if I will be charged over the next 3 months before terminating
4. As the new charges would leave me, the consumer, at a 'material detriment' as stated in the Ofcom General Conditions above, clause b applies - I am legally entitled to "terminate the contract WITHOUT PENALTY if the proposed modification is not acceptable to the consumer."

If a satisfactory response to this email is not received then this matter WILL be taken up with Ofcom, who I am sure would be most interested in Vodafone's breaches of their legal requirements.

Regards
Andy

Andy

talkalot

With Orange and T-Mobile having a new name perhaps they should change Vodafones name to
NO WARE WITH NO ONE
This will be the case if they keep on upsetting their customers.

dot111

I took my contract out 8 months ago, it says unlimited......if I'd have wanted limited I'd have opted for different contract. I did slightly go over 500 this month, and as I have unlimited I don't think this is unreasonable !

DarkConvict

If you go over 500MB alot and were never charged, then now that they are charging you can argue the change even if they have no changed the actual terms as VF say they won't.

Also how can VF say we will monitor usage and suggest a new plan accordingly, there is only one plan anyway!