HTC Desire Vodafone 500mb Fair Usage Policy

MikeKanani

bym007 wrote: »

I still have to work that how I for one, whose usage goes up and down, are being affected by this.

Since Feb '10, I have not been outdoors a lot, and hence used Wifi to my heart's content. So when I start spending more time outdoors, my usage will shoot up.

Based on the change in FUP and charges, I will definitely be at disadvantage at that point. However, since I will not be able to show a 10% increase in my next bill (based on previous bill), do I have to put up with VF?

The terms say based on previous month, not previous bill. First definition of month on google:

calendar month: one of the twelve divisions of the calendar year; "he paid the bill last month"
a time unit of approximately 30 days; "he was given a month to pay the bill"
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

as the terms do not specify calender month, the definition is open to interpretation and legally "If there is doubt as to what a term means, the meaning most favourable to the consumer will apply". So we can force vodafone to base the previous months usage on the previous 30 days.

MikeKanani

bym007 wrote: »

I was just wondering where is the 10% increase coming from ? Is this a part of the original contract?

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; or

Source: online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=template12&pageID=PTC_1111

hope this helps

musical_norwich

This is the crucial thing that Vodafone are in breach of. It is the licence that Vodafone operates under (note the law says nothing about 10%):

Defendant is in breach of Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement under the General Authorisation, NOTIFICATION UNDER SECTION 48(1) OF THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT 2003, Notification setting general conditions under section 45 of the Communications Act 2003, Condition 9 and 9.3, by which the Defendant is bound:

1. Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement under the General Authorisation can be found at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/publications/eu_directives/2003/cond_final0703.pdf;
2. “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.” (p. 22);

bym007

musical_norwich wrote: »

This is the crucial thing that Vodafone are in breach of. It is the licence that Vodafone operates under (note the law says nothing about 10%):

Defendant is in breach of Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement under the General Authorisation, NOTIFICATION UNDER SECTION 48(1) OF THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT 2003, Notification setting general conditions under section 45 of the Communications Act 2003, Condition 9 and 9.3, by which the Defendant is bound:

1. Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement under the General Authorisation can be found at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/oftel/publications/eu_directives/2003/cond_final0703.pdf;
2. “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.” (p. 22);

Do you work for OFCOM ... :rotfl:

N20Y1D

Just been having a little search over on the Vodafone e-forum:

http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/topic/48157-mobile-web-limit-500mb-absolutefair-use/page__view__findpost__p__319675

Hi Simon,

The information you’ve been given here is spot on!

You will not be charged for going over the 500MB fair usage. Should you continue to exceed 500MB on a regular basis then we will contact you and ask you to moderate your usage, however there is no automatic charging in place.

All the best

Jenny
eForum Team

and another....

http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/topic/42567-how-much-data-have-i-used/page__view__findpost__p__279374

Hi Delveh,

It was removed from the texts only for customers who were on a Fair Usage or "Unlimited" plan, as there isn't a set amount of data available, so the amount wouldn't really mean anything.

Although we state a Fair Usage Policy amount of 500MB, this is just our guideline for how much the average user is likely to need. If you exceed that, we do not impose any extra charges - only users who are consistantly exceeding this amount on a monthly basis are likely to be contacted and asked to either reduce their usage, or negotiate a plan more suitable to their requirements.

Were everyone to suddenly start exceeding 500MB a month, then we'd simply raise the limit, as it would no longer be a working guideline for abuse of the service. This is reviewed constantly. To date, we have not had a single report of anyone on the eForum exceeding their Fair Usage Limit, so it really is nothing at all to worry about

Jon

eForum Team

This was just a quick search, but it does seem odd that theres no mention of them being charged at the "standard rate"

CaptainD_2

musical_norwich wrote: »

This is the crucial thing that Vodafone are in breach of.

1. Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement under the General Authorisation can be found at
2. “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.” (p. 22);

Great post, absolutely spot on.......

So basically Vodafone have fallen well foul of that by:

a) Not providing one months notice, and
b) Failing to inform the customer of the ability to terminate without penalty.

That would be on top of everything else with regards to their misleading advertising and wholly inaccurate usage stats, the list goes on.

So basically everyone has the right to terminate their contracts due to this change and they are not allowed to stand in your way, I read from that......

What a mess they have created for themselves....really is quite amusing watching them squirm, but still totally failing to rectify the situation or pacify the people.......

Instead of putting out the fire, they are just fuelling it with their own ineptness, now we get to see their true colours!!

N20Y1D

Bitterwallet have updated the front page with todays 'answers'

i wont post it here as its quite lengthy

http://www.bitterwallet.com/

bym007

CaptainD wrote: »

Great post, absolutely spot on.......

So basically Vodafone have fallen well foul of that by:
.....
b) Failing to inform the customer of the ability to terminate without penalty....

I did not expect any better to be honest....

bym007

N20Y1D wrote: »

Bitterwallet have updated the front page with todays 'answers'

i wont post it here as its quite lengthy

http://www.bitterwallet.com/

Feeling of the venom and bitterness in their comments, I actually think, someone here writes that post (or that they are a Fulham fan)!

nickmack

In a vain attempt to get clarification on clause 27 of the contract with particular regard to the terms 'excessive' and the 'standard rate' I called VF CS.

The first person I spoke to insisted nothing had changed and customers have always been charged for exceeding 500Mb. When I asked him to point me to the charges and clarify how 'Unlimited with a FUP' was the same as a 500Mb hard limit above which charges would be made, he started talking about being charged for International texts on an 'Unlimited' text plan. This call ended with me being passed to a supervisor and being cut off.

My second call started ok until the CS rep kept interrupting me whilst I was asking questions and referring me to T&Cs. When I told them not to be rude and allow me to complete my question, they told me to send an email. I asked where I could find details of the 'standard rate' pricing structure to define charges for 'excessive' and was told it was in my contract. When I pressed and asked for the clause I was told actually it's not in the contract. After 10 minutes of trying to get some kind of straight answer, I was informed my time was up and there were other people on the line and the call was promptly terminated.

What an absolute shambles of a CS department they have. Reps have seemingly been told to refer customers to irrelevant and non-existent T&Cs, state there are no material changes to the contract and not enter into any further debate. There's no need to constantly interrupt the customer and hang up (twice).