Vodafone euro traveller is a 900% price increase for me!!!

Higgins91

NFH wrote: »

Very good point. However, Vodafone applied the same £10/month charge regardless of whether the visited network was Vodafone or not. After all, many EEA countries don't have a Vodafone network.

Very true.

Vodafone have really frustrated me with what they have done and even more so the Ombudsman which cannot be even bothered looking at the case.

What else can I do apart from contact the CAB and look into the legal advice that Which? offers?

NFH

Higgins91 wrote: »

What else can I do apart from contact the CAB and look into the legal advice that Which? offers?

Do you mainly travel to one country? You could get a local SIM card, and put a voicemail greeting on your Vodafone UK number giving callers your foreign number.

Higgins91

NFH wrote: »

You might want to join Which Legal Advice service instead. They're good at advising about these kinds of consumer issues, and it's a fixed periodic charge, regardless of how much advice you request from their solicitors.

Thanks for that. Have you had any experience using this service? I do not know if I wo uld have much success as Passport and Data Traveller were additional services offered by Vodafone.

However, the major financial disadvantage caused by their withdrawal makes me determined to be able to cancel and seems reasonable grounds to cancel. Their terms state this would only be valid if it concerned UK use (roaming use is excluded) will make this even more of an uphill battle.

Here is what Clause 7b of the T&Cs say:
b You may end this agreement by writing to us if:• 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 seven days in a row due to something we have done), within seven days of you asking us in writing;
• we tell you that there will be an increase in the line-rental charge (unless we increase line rental because of a rise in VAT) 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;
• we increase your charges in the UK which has the effect of increasing your total charges (based on your usage in any of the previous three months) by more than 10% and you write to us before the increase applies; or
• 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.

I am annoyed how they think they can get away with whatever they like and customers will just sit back and accept it. One reason they have used for the removal of Passport and Data Traveller are the changes to EU regulation. However, Passport is still being offered in other countries where Vodafone operates and also, as long as Vodafone offers the regulated Euro Tariff, why can it not offer Passport, Traveller and even Euro Traveller alongside too (to keep everyone happy!)? What would be the problem?

I am due to get a call off the CAB tonight or tomorrow. I will see what they say. I won't hold my breath though.

One last thing. It seems the Ombudsman has also been unhelpful here to another Vodafone customer:
forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Pay-Monthly-Services/Last-Ditch-Attempt-VODAFONE-DONT-CARE/m-p/1186865

ARGH!

Higgins91

NFH wrote: »

Do you mainly travel to one country? You could get a local SIM card, and put a voicemail greeting on your Vodafone UK number giving callers your foreign number.

I travel to Spain a lot where I have a local SIM card and from September I shall be going abroad to France, Germany and Spain as part of my course. I have a German and Spanish SIM already. These SIMs I use for calling within the country as for this they are cheaper. However, with Passport it was much cheaper to ring the UK on my UK mobile than use the local SIMs. Also people did not have to ring me on my local number from the UK which would be expensive. The monthly Data Traveller option also worked out cheaper.

NFH

Higgins91 wrote: »

Their terms state this would only be valid if it concerned UK use (roaming use is excluded) will make this even more of an uphill battle.

This could fall foul of the the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. If you can demonstrate that Vodafone were aware that the £10/month deal was the primary reason that you took out the contract, then excluding roaming charges from the reasons to cancel could cause "a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer". Which could advise further about that.

I wonder what Vodafone's policy is with regard to people who automatically had the £10/month option included in their monthly tariff. This was done if your contract was more than a certain amount per month and was later changed to if your contract included more than a certain number of minutes. Some customers had it thrown in for free upon renewal of the contract. These people would have an even stronger case.

Higgins91

NFH wrote: »

This could fall foul of the the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. If you can demonstrate that Vodafone were aware that the £10/month deal was the primary reason that you took out the contract, then excluding roaming charges from the reasons to cancel could cause "a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer". Which could advise further about that.

I wonder what Vodafone's policy is with regard to people who automatically had the £10/month option included in their monthly tariff. This was done if your contract was more than a certain amount per month and was later changed to if your contract included more than a certain number of minutes. Some customers had it thrown in for free upon renewal of the contract. These people would have an even stronger case.

Many thanks for this. I was not aware of this legislation. I am not sure how I would prove that though. Maybe my past roaming usage?

For people who had it included, it seems like Vodafone are readding it to their accounts (kind of proving these customers had every right to leave if Vodafone refused).

Higgins91

For anyone who is interested, Vodafone's full T&Cs are located here:
vodafone.co.uk/vodafone-uk/about-this-site/terms-and-conditions/products-and-services/pay-monthly-airtime-conditions/index.htm

NFH

Higgins91 wrote: »

Many thanks for this. I was not aware of this legislation. I am not sure how I would prove that though. Maybe my past roaming usage?

Vodafone's legal department know full well what a judge would deem to be an unfair contract term based on the legislation. This will determine Vodafone's treatment of the affected customers. For a more objective opinion, you need to ask a consumer lawyer.

Higgins91

NFH wrote: »

Vodafone's legal department know full well what a judge would deem to be an unfair contract term based on the legislation. This will determine Vodafone's treatment of the affected customers. For a more objective opinion, you need to ask a consumer lawyer.

I am glad those with the services integrated into their plan are being successful in getting them reinstated. However, I wonder what a judge would say to the rest like me who had them added on as "additional" services. The huge rise in bills as a result of the change should surely be enough but I am no lawyer! Hopefully I will have some luck tomorrow.

NFH

Higgins91 wrote: »

I am glad those with the services integrated into their plan are being successful in getting them reinstated. However, I wonder what a judge would say to the rest like me who had them added on as "additional" services. The huge rise in bills as a result of the change should surely be enough but I am no lawyer! Hopefully I will have some luck tomorrow.

Have you had the £10/month applied every month (or nearly every month) since the contract started? This could add more weight to your argument.