Mislead by Vodafone over 'unlimited' internet

Notsram

I've been with Vodafone for a few years. They contacted me in May to say I was eligible for a new phone, so I decided to upgrade to the Sony Xperia X10. I was quoted over the phone 600 mins, unlimited texts and internet access. I specifically mentioned to the salesman that my reason for upgrading to this handset was to make use of the better internet facilities it offered (I previously had a Sony C905 which was hopeless at internet access), so I asked if the internet access was unlimited and was told that it was. Got my new phone and everything was fine for a while until I started getting text messages saying I'd exceeded my internet allowance for the month.

So I rang Vodafone and was told there's a 500MB 'fair usage policy', something I wasn't informed of when I agreed to the contract. I was also told that if I regularly went over this limit I'd be charged extra. I therefore asked to cancel, but was told that because I was out of the 7 day cooling off period, I could only cancel by paying off the full amount of the contract.

It seems to me that with the new breed of smartphones which are constantly checking for email, software/app updates and the like, it's going to be very easy to go over this limit every month. I'm also querying with Vodafone (they haven't properly replied as yet - keep sending me standard copy and paste answers) as to why I wasn't sent a new contract as this would have enabled me to see the phone wasn't fit for my needs. My new contract is for 24 months, wheras the previous contract was 18 months, so even if none of the terms and conditions have changed, I should surely have recieved a new contract stating the new time period.

So, I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience, or if anyone has any advice they can offer?

330d

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2446159

Notsram

Yep, I've read that thread, but thought this was a slightly different subject so didn't post it there.

330d

That thread is concerning the same topic. You will find all your answers in there.

maxtweenie

You can cut down on usage by setting the phone to connect automatically to your home wifi.

You can also download an Android app from the market called 3g watchdog.

You should also learn how to set your phone to stop things you don't use from automatically updating.

Notsram

Thanks for the advice, maxtweenie. As soon as I found about this I started using wifi whenever I was at home. That's helped a bit, but I'm still going to be over the limit for the month. I'll give 3g watchdog a try though

DarkConvict

Your in the same boat as alot of people.

I did win my case of mis-sold "unlimited" internet when the cap was 120MB. This was only because the internet package was really 120MB but i was sold it as unlimited. You could contact consumer direct as they were the ones that fought my case but i am unsure if you will succeed as this is now well trodden ground.

ruggedtoast

I have had exactly the same problem.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/34648735#Comment_34648735

The FUP should be 1 gig not 500mb. 500mb is not enough for new smartphones that can burn through 2 meg in 5 seconds downloading a webpage.

Notsram

Nice to see it's not only me... although my argument is that I wasn't informed about the FUP in the first place, despite specifically asking whether internet access was unlimited or not... and judging by the amount of posts elsewhere about their FUP, a lot of people ain't too happy with Vodafone at the moment. I think they're now ignoring me in the hope that I'll give up and go away. Spent an hour on the phone last week to one of their 'support' team who was about as useful as a chocolate teapot, sent about 5 follow up emails which they've answered, but totally ignored my questions and just quoted FUP stuff at me, and now they've stopped answering.

Ah well, if/when they start to charge me, I can invoke the cancellation clause in the contract mentioned in the 'Fair Usage Policy' thread, as a £5 charge will push my bill well above a 10% increase. Guess who WON'T be using Vodafone again.

ruggedtoast

Didnt they change the terms and conditions for new customers? If so you may not be able to cancel. Or maybe you can, maybe we both could. Its such a grey area, Vodafone have have not handled this well.

If they'd imposed a 1gig FUP no one would have minded.

nickmack

Notsram wrote: »

Nice to see it's not only me... although my argument is that I wasn't informed about the FUP in the first place, despite specifically asking whether internet access was unlimited or not.

There's no doubt in my mind that VF need to train their sales staff better. The fact they can even get away with labelling it 'unlimited' is a joke, but if you explicitly asked if the Internet was 'unlimited', they should have told you about the FUP. At best it's misleading.