HTC Desire Vodafone 500mb Fair Usage Policy

essex_chris

At least i have heard something back, albeit almost nothing has been done in regards to having to chase Vodafone up again

After sending another email to the Directors Office i got a call back within the last 15mins. Another polite & helpful person, who during the call made amendments to my most recent bill, and suggested that the credit to my account had been applied, but due to the dates of billing and the timing of enquiries it hadn't showed on this months bill. This makes sense, but seems like a common get out clause as every time i have ever made an enquiry to Vodafone about bills or tariffs this is trotted out. If that's the case, and i had been told this a week ago, then i'd have simply requested that instead of a £20 credit there and then, that one of £22.50 was made.

I'm most certainly not an unreasonable man - i just tend to hold people, especially customer service staff to their word. I did not request any kind of compensation, or a carrot in some form, and none was offered. I'm still awaiting receipt of my PAC code, and depending on what i think in the short term i will probably still make use of it.

I do not expect to spend hour on the telephone to Vodafone Customer Services every few months to correct mistakes in my bill. That my bills are only ~£20 a month these days is irrelevant. I've been a long term customer of Vodafone, and have spent a good chunk of my time as a customer since 2003 paying more than £1000 a year. I expect appropriate customer service whatever the size of my bill.

Although on the phone the staff agreed i had a right to feel annoyed and disappointed, i don't recall hearing an apology exactly.

essex_chris

danny2324 wrote: »

Chris, this 50% is your loyalty discount, or a discount applied in view of requesting cancellation?

Sorry Danny i missed this before posting.

The discount was a retentions deal i was offered in January. I was leaving to go SIM only elsewhere, but a few days after requesting my PAC i got a call offering me some great deals. 50% off your existing £35 tariff with a free phone was the pitch. I wasn't interested in the phones initially, but saving £2.50 a month over a SIM only deal was tempting. Once they agreed to an HTC Magic i figured what the hell. Though i did enquire about mobile internet allowances at the time - i have been self employed for years, and use Wifi at home and onsite with clients (i setup the wifi so have access). I knew i would not be doing this full time for long, so a 500mb limit was an issue. I was promised that this was not a 'hard' limit, and that only abusers of the service using gigabytes of data regularly would be eligible for charging. Figures of 50% over or double were described as fine. I didn't realise just how much data i could use with a smartphone, but was happy with the amounts.

Turns out that i was on a £40 a month tariff with the maximum 50% retentions discount allowed by the computer system, so despite making enquiries every month as to why my bill was higher than expected nobody ever said "oh you're actually on £40 a month". I also paid saturday delivery for a phone which turned up without a memory card, so was useless for photos and sending them by email. That was supposed to be £10 refunded, but never was.

Overall it's a shambles, and i have had to haggle constantly to get what i was sold, even then when my latest bill came through all the things i had been assured were remedied were not.

Really isn't that important, but Vodafone need to get their act together.

bym007

Just checked my latest bill generated today, and it shows less Internet usage than I have. I installed the SPB Wireless Monitor half the way through my billing, and that shows 518MB data usage, how come my bill shows peanuts?

Can someone else confirm what is happening with their billing ?

PvtPyle

Does any of that directly relate to the 500MB FUP issues?

Edit: Sorry, I mean the stuff from essex_chris.. I'm struggling to see the relevance.

essex_chris

It's all just part and parcel of my dealing with Vodafone Customer Services. I still haven't got a definitive description of the FUP/contract changes.

According to some at Vodafone there will be no charging, to others anything over 500mb is chargeable in 500mb chunks at £5 a go if you agree to that charge for the entire contract, or £7.50 on a month by month basis.

If the latter is the final case come June 1st, if i haven't already left Vodafone by then i'll be asking why they think i shouldn't cancel and refuse to pay any termination charges.

bym007

So 1 question left then;

If I dont like being charged an extra amount of money for going over 500MB (does not matter whether once or every month for remainder of my contract), do I have to write to Vodafone before 1st June '10 ?

4$£&*(£$&*(!

PvtPyle wrote: »

Very interesting post. For the less initiated, could you explain the legal ramifications of "deadlock"?

Absolutely. In essence, deadlock is reached when the two parties have reached an impasse. Both parties have attempted negotiation, they have put their respective arguments across, possible compromises have been explored and any potential compromise has been dismissed as unacceptable, and the mutual stance means no further progress can be made.

For me to advise my position to Vodafone, then the Director's office to advise me of their position, their attempt of negotiation was simply to reiterate their position and clarify this. My attempt of negotiation was to state they have introduced a charge that was not present when I commenced my contract, the 'fair use policy' was no longer a fair use policy, therefore I have the right to cancel under clause 11.2 of their terms and conditions.

As Vodafone will not move, other than to repeat what they said, and I will not move, we are in a de-facto state of deadlock (de-facto as in Vodafone does not accept we are at a deadlock, but by the virtue that we can no longer make progress in our negotiations then we are automatically at a deadlock).

The member of staff amazed me by telling me we are not at a deadlock though, which is why I asked for a letter listing the reasons why they believe this and why they believe we are still negotiating. It was like she was stood at an open door and arguing it was closed, and whilst I put my case forward in a level-headed, well thought through manner using appropriate legal speak; she got more frustrated in the tone of her voice and conveyed absolutely no legal knowledge of my situation at all.

The call was clearly designed to stop me going to Otelo, and the refusal of the deadlock letter is for the same reason. This is why I followed up a letter to Vodafone clarifying my points and making it clear they refused to negotiate in any way. With this course of action, my understanding is Otelo will be able to see a clear picture of my efforts, a clear picture of Vodafone's response, and a clear attempt to stop me taking it to Otelo.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

This gets even better. I have just received a follow-up to last night's conversation, I won't go into all the details as it is mostly just a Vodafone reaffirmation of their position, but finishes:

Vodafone wont be providing you with a Deadlock letter as the change is due to a Commercial decision and it falls outside of Otelos terms of reference.

In other words, Vodafone are now arguing this document (PDF) - http://www.otelo.org.uk/downloads/Otelo_TOR-20June2006_AB.pdf - says I cannot complain to Otelo and I am assuming they are using clause 11.2(h) to withhold my right to complain.

Seajays

CitySlicker wrote: »

In other words, Vodafone are now arguing this document (PDF) - http://www.otelo.org.uk/downloads/Otelo_TOR-20June2006_AB.pdf - says I cannot complain to Otelo and I am assuming they are using clause 11.2(h) to withhold my right to complain.

That's priceless isn't it. With that one clause Otelo becomes completely useless, as absolutely anything that a company does they can claim falls under the "Member’s commercial judgment in determining whether and, if so, on what terms a service and/or product is to be provided", and therefore you'll never be able to complain about anything.

Of course Otelo, is funded by the member organisations, and is really a token gesture to claim that they are able to self regulate, so you probably wouldn't expect anything less...

Whether complaining to Ofcom would be any more useful is debatable too of course.

cmonthegas

Some people who have been following this thread from the start may have read the post I wrote regarding myself cancelling and returning the phone within the 7 day cooling off period no questions asked, but it seems like Vodafone are trying to make it as hard as ever for me to cancel my account.

I sent the phone back to Vodafone two weeks ago today out of good will because I could not be bothered going through all the ta do of keeping the phone. So the courier came to pick it up and said Vodafone should have it with them by 2pm the next day. I phoned them up that evening to enquire whether they received the phone an the rep said that it will take a few days to be checked in at the warehouse and update their systems etc - fair enough I thought.

So, I phoned up them again on the Tuesday which gave them 3 working days and asked whether they have received the phone and if they could cancel my account so I could use my PAC without occurring charges. The person on the end of line said that there wasn't anything on the systems yet, but if they hadn't received it I would have more than likely got a call from them asking what had happened. He carried on to say that it could take up to 5 working days to process and cancel the account. (Am I being played? I think so..)

I waited a few extra days and finally called them back tonight to ask whether everything has gone through and I can carry on to use the PAC with no fear of incurring the charge of the whole contract, and then I was told this; 'I'm sorry sir, but we have no records of you requesting a return form' Brilliant. I asked straight away to be put through to a supervisor. 30mins later I speak to the supervisor who says he can't do anything tonight because the warehouse closes at 6.30 and to phone back the next day - Argh!! He did say though that it's probably in the queue at the warehouse since they have had a lot of phones returned! :rotfl:

I will report back tomorrow..

Edit: I can't post links since I'm a new user, but if anyone wants to read my original post it is on page 15 of this thread post number #284