Need advice on misleading Vodafone contract

CYPER

So after my old 12 month contract with o2 ended I decided to go back to Vodafone with another SIM only 12 month contract with 600 minutes.

So my first bill came through and even though my actual total talk time was under 600 minutes I got charged for some calls.

It turns out Vodafone has started to bill each call under 1 minute for the full 1 minute, that is you you calls lasts 1 second = boom 1 minute is out of your allowance. So If you have 600 calls each lasting 1 second = your 600 minutes are over.

There are 2 problems here:
1 - Misleading selling. You pay for 600 minutes, but in reality you get less.
2 - No clear mentioning of the new rule, so the customer can make an informed decision. Instead you have to search through the website to find the exact PDF file that contains this rule.

Do you think there is a case here that Ofcom can look into?

chanz4

its the same will all providers, ofcom wont do anything as its in the t&cs

gjchester

CYPER wrote: »

It turns out Vodafone has started to bill each call under 1 minute for the full 1 minute, that is you you calls lasts 1 second = boom 1 minute is out of your allowance. So If you have 600 calls each lasting 1 second = your 600 minutes are over.

There are 2 problems here:
1 - Misleading selling. You pay for 600 minutes, but in reality you get less.
2 - No clear mentioning of the new rule, so the customer can make an informed decision. Instead you have to search through the website to find the exact PDF file that contains this rule.

Do you think there is a case here that Ofcom can look into?

Price plan charging is a commercial decsion and OFCOM will not get involved.

You don't say how you joined, but the one minute minimum pricing has been in force for a while at least the start of this year, and in order to purchase online you need to say you have read and agreed to the terms and condtions.

If you bought over the phone or instore you may have a different case depending what you were told.

The T&C clearly say 1 minute minimum pricing under the your plan terms and conditions, did you actually read them before you signed up? They are in the bit called Pay monthly price plans

http://www.vodafone.co.uk/consumer/groups/vodafoneukonline/documents/assets/vftst071329.pdf


I don't really think there is any case, it's not hidden or buried anywhere and is pretty prominent (its in the red header of the prioces bit). If you clciked the "agree" box without reading them then unfortunalty it is your own fault.

Sorry it's not better news.

CYPER

I signed up over the phone with no mentioning of this bit. The one minute minimum pricing is in force since 3 October 2011.
Vodafone refunded me already for that particular month, which effectively means admitting they are wrong.

I've complained to Vodafone, Ofcom and http://www.ombudsman-services.org/communications.html in writing so will write back with the result.