Vodafone to Change Prices from 11 Oct 2011

Warrick

fox2319 wrote: »

It's been an odd week for updates. I got through to the ombudsman yesterday and was told they were taking on my complaint, only to get an "Oops, my mistake. We're still thinking about it" email shortly after. Today, I received a letter from my MP saying he'd got in touch with Guy Laurence's office and would let me know the results.

Who's your MP? I'm speaking to mine (Marcus Jones) next week - i'll let him know your MP is already involved.

diamonds

MP's going to Vodafone will change nothing of the Ofcom culture of taking no responsability for the area it is governed to regulate, best have your MP highlight Ofcons failures & "companies" doing ADR/Ombudsman which may mean having to go to court anyway so what is the point of Ofcom to its line manager -
The Department for Culture Media and Sport

fox2319

Warrick wrote: »

Who's your MP? I'm speaking to mine (Marcus Jones) next week - i'll let him know your MP is already involved.

David Laws. The more, the merrier.

fox2319

Right, this is getting ridiculous. I got another reply from the Ombudsman.

Mr xxx's argument is based on how much it would cost to get the same data download capacity, but this doesn't appear to be the way that the service provider sees it. It is possible that the service provider has made the calculations on the basis of Mr xxx’s actual download usage. If Mr xxx had a download facility of 500 MB, but used only half of it, he would not suffer as a result of the cap being reduced to 250 MB. I accept that it would cost Mr xxx more to buy the same capacity, but I would not be able to require the service provider to allow Mr xxx to terminate the contract unless it was clear that he needed to buy more to do what he had already been doing.

If Mr xxx can demonstrate that he needed to upgrade his service to replace the reduced download cap I would be willing to reconsider my decision.

You are free to follow other routes to resolve your complaint.

So, they ignored the other points of my complaint that Vodafone have raised my line rental and given less than a months notice, both in contradiction to OfCom GC 9.6. Needless to say, I've written back but it really is starting to look pointless. They are like the stroppy teenagers of the civil service, deliberately mis-understanding what you say and doing less than the bare minimum to get rid of you.

CKhalvashi

fox2319 wrote: »

Right, this is getting ridiculous. I got another reply from the Ombudsman.

Mr xxx's argument is based on how much it would cost to get the same data download capacity, but this doesn't appear to be the way that the service provider sees it. It is possible that the service provider has made the calculations on the basis of Mr xxx’s actual download usage. If Mr xxx had a download facility of 500 MB, but used only half of it, he would not suffer as a result of the cap being reduced to 250 MB. I accept that it would cost Mr xxx more to buy the same capacity, but I would not be able to require the service provider to allow Mr xxx to terminate the contract unless it was clear that he needed to buy more to do what he had already been doing.

If Mr xxx can demonstrate that he needed to upgrade his service to replace the reduced download cap I would be willing to reconsider my decision.

You are free to follow other routes to resolve your complaint.

So, they ignored the other points of my complaint that Vodafone have raised my line rental and given less than a months notice, both in contradiction to OfCom GC 9.6. Needless to say, I've written back but it really is starting to look pointless. They are like the stroppy teenagers of the civil service, deliberately mis-understanding what you say and doing less than the bare minimum to get rid of you.

If you can prove that the contract will cost >10% more, then you should be able to cancel the contract.

If not, unfortunately, that’s life.

fox2319

CKhalvashi wrote: »

If you can prove that the contract will cost >10% more, then you should be able to cancel the contract.

If not, unfortunately, that’s life.

I can't see the 10% figure in OfCom General Conditions. It's in the Vodafone T&Cs but they do not have precedence over OfCom. The GCs state that if a change is to your material detriment then you may leave, not if they are to your material detriment to an amount of 10%.

Warrick

fox2319 wrote: »

I can't see the 10% figure in OfCom General Conditions. It's in the Vodafone T&Cs but they do not have precedence over OfCom. The GCs state that if a change is to your material detriment then you may leave, not if they are to your material detriment to an amount of 10%.

It's farcical.

The 30 days notice issue enough to claim breach of contract under Ofcom GC 9.6

The Ombudsman need to sort this out - They've agreed to look into this issue on my complaint, so why is yours different?

Left hand. Right hand. Fail.

Maybe email Ofcom AND the Ombudsman in the same email. Copy Ofcom's email stating you should go back to the Ombudsman, and the Ombudsman's 'head in the sand' response. Then give a kind of "one of you is clearly wrong, can you sort it out between you?" query?

musical_norwich

Warrick wrote: »

It's farcical.

The 30 days notice issue enough to claim breach of contract under Ofcom GC 9.6

The Ombudsman need to sort this out - They've agreed to look into this issue on my complaint, so why is yours different?

Left hand. Right hand. Fail.

Maybe email Ofcom AND the Ombudsman in the same email. Copy Ofcom's email stating you should go back to the Ombudsman, and the Ombudsman's 'head in the sand' response. Then give a kind of "one of you is clearly wrong, can you sort it out between you?" query?

If you're getting email documentation of this farce it will certainly help your MP and/or the Culture Select Committee investigating whether OFCOM and the regulatory regime is effective. I'd like to read what the ADR writes when asked whether it will take any action or provide any redress over material breaches of GC9.6 or GC18.

gjchester

carlpayne wrote: »

It is good to know that the Vodafone has changed its prices. I only ended my contract with vodafone yesterday and I am with AT&T now.

AT&T would suggest you are a US customer, whereas this is related to Vodafone UK.

fox2319

Right...

Have just spoken to OfCom and the Ombudsman in seperate phone calls.

The Ombudsman have said that they don't consider the increased cost of line rental etc. to be to my material disadvantage as it is less than the 10% that vodafone have in their T&C's. I pointed out that the OfCom GC does not mention 10% and that as OfCom GC has precedence, I felt they should act. They are standing by the vodafone T&C's - Useless.

I then phoned up OfCom who made a note that I had called and have said that they are receiving a lot of calls from irate Vodafone customers. They are logging them all and might think about doing something in the long term. As for the ombudsman, they are a group of independent legal advisors (funded by the industry) who have no accountability to OfCom. They have no indication of when they will be coming to a decision on the matter.

So, aside from an industry sponsored ombudsman and lethargic watchdog, all seems fine. Here's hoping the MP will make somebody follow the rules. In the mean time, I will keep requesting PACs as / when they are due to expire as this will cost vodafone some time, expense and inconvenience to produce and when I am in a position to leave them, I'll be out of there like a shot.