Vodafone changed contract terms? (early upgrades)

qpop

Hello all,

I was wondering if anybody else had experienced this:

I'm coming up to the end of an 18 month contract with Vodafone, and expected to be able to upgrade 90 days early (as explained at outset as a benefit of moving to Vodafone).

I was told again by their CS on Feb 14th that the early upgrade would be available on Feb 26th.

Come Feb 26th the option had magically disappeared, and the website and IVR both said an upgrade is available 50 days before the contract ends.

I spoke to a CS agent (sadly whichever company the CS is outsourced to doesn't seem to train them particularly well), and had a £15 credit automatically added to my account, despite insisting I didn't want it (as this would be acceptance of compensation effectively), which would make me think they're firefighting to keep the changes under the radar.

I've written a lengthy complaint to their Director of Customer Operations from this page: http://campaigns.vodafone.co.uk/complaints/ which is the only way I've had any sense out of the company since joining, and I await to see what they say.

I think they're in breach of contract terms, personally, but we'll see.

Tony5101

qpop wrote: »

I think they're in breach of contract terms, personally, but we'll see.

This has come up a few times recently.
Do you actually have this written in your contract anywhere that Vodafone will provide you with the facility for a handset/contract upgrade before your existing minimum term has been reached?
I'm guessing probably not.
I'm not saying that you're right or wrong...just playing devils advocate.

Annie._2

It was never in the terms and conditions of your contract that you would be able to upgrade to a newer phone whilst you were still in contract.

If you believe this is incorrect, feel free to copy and paste the information where it is written in your agreement that you are able to upgrade 6 months or 3 months before the end of your contract.

The early upgrade option was dropped due to the enormous number of complains with the high early upgrade costs with the remaining months added onto the new contract at the new monthly cost.

You are now able to upgrade 50 days before the end of your contract which is the same as most other networks. I think Orange is the only network which allow an early upgrade.

qpop

No, it's not written on the contract.

My (basic) understanding of the law is that the purchase was made on that promise, and that promise changes, the contract terms have been breached.

I'm well aware that misselling is a murky area, but unless there is a specific clause in the contract stating that an early upgrade is not a benefit of the contract, then the point is up for discussion.

The instant £15 refund would also indicate an admission of guilt, I reckon.

As mentioned, I'll see what the "office of the customer operations director" team think when (if) they give me a call.


edit:

Ending this agreement

a.

Either you or us may end this agreement by giving the other 30 days’ notice in writing. Your notice must include your mobile number and the signature or appropriate security details of the account holder. You must pay the charges during the notice period.

b.

You may end this agreement by writing to us if:

(i)

we don’t do something fundamental that we should have done under this agreement (for example, if there is a complete failure of the network for 7 days in a row due to something we have done), within 7 days of you asking us in writing;

(ii)

we tell you that there will be an increase in the line-rental charge by more than the increase in the retail price index (worked out as a percentage) since the last line-rental increase and you write to us before the increase applies;

(iii)

we increase your charges in the UK which have the effect of increasing your total charges (based on your usage in the previous month) by more than 10% and you write to us before the increase applies; or

(iv)

we change this agreement to your significant disadvantage including changing or withdrawing services (we will tell you if this is the case) and you write to us within one month of us telling you about the change. This does not apply if the change or withdrawal relates to services which you can cancel without us ending this agreement.

The bolded section is the part of the contract I think it is breaching.

Annie._2

There is a previous thread where this has been discussed.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3810963

The early upgrade has been withdrawn and it was never part of your contractual terms.

Only O2 offerers 90 day early upgrades to their premium Gold customers who spend £1000 per year on their bill.

grumbler

IMO, 'upgrade' is so ambiguous and meaningless term that it can be "up for discussion", but not for complaining.

Upgrade to what and at what cost?

qpop

Thanks for the link Ann, I've read through but am yet to see any sources provided as to why it is "goodwill only". All I see are people's opinions.

My point is that they have changed a feature of my contract, without notifying me, and the change is to my significant disadvantage. I would consider an instant credit of £15 on my account to be an admission of guilt on their behalf. I would also say that their customer services and store staff sold the contract on the basis that the early upgrade was a feature, and the contract ts & cs don't specifically dispute that.

Finally, I received a text from them on Feb 14th from a CS operator explaining what dates upgrades would be available, only to be told a week or two later that that is no longer the case.

AFAIK Orange offers 90 day early upgrades still, as well as O2.

grumbler - upgrade in the sense of an early contract re-signing with a new phone, at no material cost (other than the increased contract term).

grumbler

qpop wrote: »

...grumbler - upgrade in the sense of an early contract re-signing with a new phone, at no material cost (other than the increased contract term).

Well, it's not unknown for retention deals to require some upfront payment for the handset. I don't see why customers upgrading early have to be in a better position.

qpop

grumbler wrote: »

Well, it's not unknown for retention deals to require some upfront payment for the handset. I don't see why customers upgrading early have to be in a better position.

Well that's true, but not applicable in my case.

Even in the case that you were expected to pay, say, £50 for a phone with a RRP of £500, you'd still be "benefiting" from an early upgrade, as you'd be using the phone x months before you would be able to otherwise, and so there's a time value involved. You'd also be benefiting from the big discount given on the phone itself.

What I'm saying isn't folly either, the contract was sold on the basis that an early upgrade was one of the advantages, and I was interested in using this "feature".

grumbler

qpop wrote: »

Well that's true, but not applicable in my case.

Even in the case that you were expected to pay, say, £50 for a phone with a RRP of £500, you'd still be "benefiting" from an early upgrade, as you'd be using the phone x months before you would be able to otherwise, and so there's a time value involved. You'd also be benefiting from the big discount given on the phone itself.

And this was my main point originally. The term 'upgrade' doesn't give any indication of how big the discount is supposed to be. Instead of withdrawing this option (that was a reasonable action) they could have easily set the discounts to, say, 0.1% instead.

What I'm saying isn't folly either, the contract was sold on the basis that an early upgrade was one of the advantages, and I was interested in using this "feature".

The problem is that this 'advantage' cannot be quantified.

qpop

but the removal of the advantage can be quantified - as it has changed from 90 days to 50 days, without notification, and contrary to information provided by their CS two weeks previously. Their CS subsequently tried to bung me cash to stop complaining about it, which should set alarm bells going.