Vodafone upgrades - Pay more if your NOT an iPhone or BBerry user

TwistedPsycho

Some of you that are regulars on here probably already realise I am on a Vodafone contract, I happily credit them when they do something good, but find faults when they are not so good.

Time for the not so good, and its bad enough to seal the fate of my Vodafone contract for good.

I have been on a "Your Plan" with that little caveat that I can not change that for the last 24 months - note that the "CEO's personal retentions team" did not mention that clause when they talked me out of leaving last time around.

I have tried the "Online Billing" that conveniently had a sucess rate of adhering to the Direct Debit Guarentee for Vodafone of 33%, so much so that I even reversed one DD as I had not received notification of a bill being ready and subsequently went back to paper billing (without charge)

I never got to the point of capping my 900 minutes (usually about 200-250 a month), but did enjoy the "unlimited" texts and "unlimited" mobile web.

So I have been trying to rationalise my tariff so that its cost effective. Handsets are not an issue. I got really bored of the My191 service that never let me access my account, or the Vodafone "apps shop" that could never display me any apps suitable for my handset, so I even de-branded my Nokia of VodaBloatware..... and anyway, if you buy a Vodafone PAYG handset you will usually find they are only locked to Network, not simcard.

But, because I don't want to have a new handset, according Vodafone punishes me for my tariff.... where does that come from?

let me explain: If I had an iPhone or a Blackberry. I could move to a 12 month tariff; 300 minutes, Unlimited Texts and the Blackberry internet Solution (or 500Mb Mobile Internet + Wifi for the iPhone) for £15 a month. Logically that says to me I would need a Blackberry or an iPhone.

The non-Iphone/BB equivilent is £10 a month but has no Internet included......

So the cheapest way I can have Internet on my phone for a renewed 12 month contract is to pay £20 a month and have 900 minutes, Unlimited Texts and 500Mb Internet.

So why is it that if you have a smartphone other than the iphone or a BBerry, you get penalised because you don't talk much?

Toe-Jam

Well i don't know about vodafone, but on the other networks the iphone sim and the blackberry sim work in normal phones no problems at all. But you just need to be careful the iphone sim is not the same size as a normal sim anymore so it probably won't fit in your phone.

Also your bound to be able to buy data as an add on , i would ring customer services and ask them if its possible to buy a data bundle and how much it costs.

Wintermute

Unless vodafone is setup differently from every other network I've come across there'll be nothing stopping you from using a non-iPhone on an iPhone tariff. You might need to change your settings a bit, but it should work, up until recently I was on an iPhone tariff.

Do you know anybody with an iPhone or BB on vodafone? If so ask to try their SIM and if it works ask to get moved onto the plan in question, if need be make up some excuse about getting a 2nd hand iPhone/BB from a friend.

Vodafone

Hi TwistedPsycho,

I’m disappointed to see how unhappy you are and I can see how frustrating this situation will be.

As Toe-Jam said (thanks Toe-Jam), you can add a data bundle onto your account.

If you’d like to email us via Web Relations Team we’ll be happy to look into this further for you.

(When contacting, please quote the code WRT135 in the subject line. In the main message body, please include a link to this thread and your user name. This will ensure that your message comes directly through to my team).

Kind regards,

Jenny
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

TwistedPsycho

Hi Jenny.

Thank you for your reply. As I have now found out, your telephone based team are actually now in a position to offer me considerably more than the Vodafone "Upgrade Website" will.

Bit strange as you would have thought it would be cheaper to tout the manual discounts via the personal upgrade website than via the telephone.....

Oh well

Vodafone

Hi TwistedPsycho

Thanks for coming back to us and letting us know that you have been offered an agreement by our phone based retention team that you would be happy with.

If you do require any further information, we’re always available to contact for help via the e-mail contact details provided or through the MSE Forum.

Many Thanks

Simon
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

Wintermute

TwistedPsycho wrote: »

Hi Jenny.

Thank you for your reply. As I have now found out, your telephone based team are actually now in a position to offer me considerably more than the Vodafone "Upgrade Website" will.

Bit strange as you would have thought it would be cheaper to tout the manual discounts via the personal upgrade website than via the telephone.....

Oh well

The majority of people will just take what they're offered on the site so it's cheaper for the discounts to be done manually.