We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Misery with Vodafone, again and again and again....
I have 3 phones on my Vodafone contract: My phone, my 18 year old son's phone and my 13 year old son's phone.
Recently, My elder son went to Italy to help look after an elderly relative. Now, this wasn't a ploy to try and get out of paying the contract, but I rang the interestingly named "customer service" team at the big V, and asked if perhaps his contract could be transferred to Vodafone Italia. Same phone, same amount, just a different SIM for a different country.
No way.
So I asked if his contract could be suspended for a year until he returns, then we pick it up where he left off.
No way.
The best they could offer was that he could pay £3 a day and use his UK contract abroad. Of course, daddy's picking up the tab here so they seriously thought I would pay over a thousand pounds a year so my son can use his mobile phone abroad.
This is a non-starter because I can't afford it.
So, his phone sits here in the UK, unused, I pay £26 a month for it, and it's going nowhere.
Yes I could end the contract by paying the rest of the contract now, but that's not an option for me financially.
So we move on to my youngest son.
For his 13th birthday in March I took out a contract for him for an HTC wildfire at £13 a month for two years. I signed up - everything ok.
My son spent August in Italy with relatives. What I didn't realise was his phone had been enabled to be used abroad, and he proceeded to run up £240 worth of phone bill in August.
I am furious that his phone was provisioned for use abroad - we did not request this to be done, and it's always been something I've had to ask for in the past.
I spoke to Vodafone to be told they're not responsible for monitoring customer's phone bills. OK - that I accept, but I need to know:
1) As the main bill payer (noted on the contract) why wasn't I informed by text, email or phone call that my son's bill was going into orbit?
2) Why was his phone provisioned for abroad?
3) Given his usage and their inability (unwillingness) to do anything to alert me, why didn't they at least switch him to the £3 a day scheme, so that we'd now be looking at a £90 bill rather than a £240 bill?
4) They DO monitor usage, I know, so why didn't they do something when it became clear his monthly spend was approaching twenty times what it is normally?
The advisor was less than helpful and didn't really want to know. I didn't monitor my son's bill online because I didn't know his phone was working abroad.
As per usual, Vodafone are completely uninterested, unwilling to answer any questions and unwilling to do anything to help.
Every contact with their inappropriately named "Customer services team" is a lesson in abject misery, with many menus and submenus to be negotiated before listening to 20 minutes of muzak, after which someone clearly following a script repeats the same mantra over and over in the hope I will go away and stop bothering him. This was acheived expertly by the advisor hanging up on me. No, I didn't swear or shout, I just expressed my disappointment at an organisation whose idea of customer care makes the average used car salesman look like the model of reasonableness and helpfulness.
Ladies and Gentlemen - if you're after a contract, they'll be all smiles and help. After that, you're on your own, because if you want anything, heaven help you because they CERTAINLY won't.
Very disappointed with them, not for the first time either. Their website is an object lesson in "how not to design a big corporate website"
If you can, do yourself a favour and avoid.
Regrettably I have little choice as their signal is the only one available in this village which just happens to be fairly close to their UK HQ.
Avoid.
Recently, My elder son went to Italy to help look after an elderly relative. Now, this wasn't a ploy to try and get out of paying the contract, but I rang the interestingly named "customer service" team at the big V, and asked if perhaps his contract could be transferred to Vodafone Italia. Same phone, same amount, just a different SIM for a different country.
No way.
So I asked if his contract could be suspended for a year until he returns, then we pick it up where he left off.
No way.
The best they could offer was that he could pay £3 a day and use his UK contract abroad. Of course, daddy's picking up the tab here so they seriously thought I would pay over a thousand pounds a year so my son can use his mobile phone abroad.
This is a non-starter because I can't afford it.
So, his phone sits here in the UK, unused, I pay £26 a month for it, and it's going nowhere.
Yes I could end the contract by paying the rest of the contract now, but that's not an option for me financially.
So we move on to my youngest son.
For his 13th birthday in March I took out a contract for him for an HTC wildfire at £13 a month for two years. I signed up - everything ok.
My son spent August in Italy with relatives. What I didn't realise was his phone had been enabled to be used abroad, and he proceeded to run up £240 worth of phone bill in August.
I am furious that his phone was provisioned for use abroad - we did not request this to be done, and it's always been something I've had to ask for in the past.
I spoke to Vodafone to be told they're not responsible for monitoring customer's phone bills. OK - that I accept, but I need to know:
1) As the main bill payer (noted on the contract) why wasn't I informed by text, email or phone call that my son's bill was going into orbit?
2) Why was his phone provisioned for abroad?
3) Given his usage and their inability (unwillingness) to do anything to alert me, why didn't they at least switch him to the £3 a day scheme, so that we'd now be looking at a £90 bill rather than a £240 bill?
4) They DO monitor usage, I know, so why didn't they do something when it became clear his monthly spend was approaching twenty times what it is normally?
The advisor was less than helpful and didn't really want to know. I didn't monitor my son's bill online because I didn't know his phone was working abroad.
As per usual, Vodafone are completely uninterested, unwilling to answer any questions and unwilling to do anything to help.
Every contact with their inappropriately named "Customer services team" is a lesson in abject misery, with many menus and submenus to be negotiated before listening to 20 minutes of muzak, after which someone clearly following a script repeats the same mantra over and over in the hope I will go away and stop bothering him. This was acheived expertly by the advisor hanging up on me. No, I didn't swear or shout, I just expressed my disappointment at an organisation whose idea of customer care makes the average used car salesman look like the model of reasonableness and helpfulness.
Ladies and Gentlemen - if you're after a contract, they'll be all smiles and help. After that, you're on your own, because if you want anything, heaven help you because they CERTAINLY won't.
Very disappointed with them, not for the first time either. Their website is an object lesson in "how not to design a big corporate website"
If you can, do yourself a favour and avoid.
Regrettably I have little choice as their signal is the only one available in this village which just happens to be fairly close to their UK HQ.
Avoid.
0
Comments
-
Whilst it sounds like you aren't in a particularly pleasant situation, I've yet to see anything that would make vodafone culpable. Two separate issues, both your problem. If you sign up to a contract then you must abide by the terms of that contract. If this is something you are not prepared to do then PAYG would be your best bet in future. The same goes for using a phone abroad and racking up a £200+ bill. It's been an issue that is widely reported across most media outlets and is well known to most people. Again, as per the terms of your contract, vodafone are within their rights to charge you for this use if you haven't purchased a roaming package in advance. It's akin to taking from the hotel room minibar and getting a £3.50 bill for a Mars bar.0
-
They have to send a text and I think they had - to your son's phone that is registered on your name. How and why are they supposed to know that you gave your phone to someone and what number out of three you have left for yourself?1) As the main bill payer (noted on the contract) why wasn't I informed by text, email or phone call that my son's bill was going into orbit?
Leaving and arriving
>>Will I receive any information when I arrive abroad?
Why not? My orange one was not and I was very unhappy when I had to call them from abroad to enable roaming.2) Why was his phone provisioned for abroad?
The information is easily available on Vodafone website and you could have easily checked it instead of making assumptions.
Leaving and arriving
>>How can I check if there are any bars that will stop my phone or device working abroad?
Is your son's "inability (unwillingness) to do anything to alert you" Vodafone's problem, especially if they don't know that it is not you with the phone abroad?3) Given his usage and their inability (unwillingness) to do anything to alert me, why didn't they at least switch him to the £3 a day scheme, so that we'd now be looking at a £90 bill rather than a £240 bill?
What was the bill for? If for the mobile internet, then the cost has to be capped by €50 p.m. in EU. If it was for the calls, then you and your son are the only ones to blame.
Firstly, how do you know? Secondly, costs abroad are supposed to be higher for the same usage. £240 is not a very big amount. Some careless people had ten times as much and even more.4) They DO monitor usage, I know, so why didn't they do something when it became clear his monthly spend was approaching twenty times what it is normally?0 -
Be glad it's only £240 tbh, I've seen bills of £5K upwards.0
-
A link to ofcom on the EUR50 cap introduced in July
http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/tell-us/telecoms/charges/roaming/0 -
I cannot see anything which puts Vodafone in the wrong here. Two separate issues, the terms and conditions for your 18 year old Sons contract and expecting Vodafone to monitor your 14 year old Sons mobile phone internet access when in Italy.
You cannot transfer a Vodafone UK contract to Vodafone Italia, they are treated as two separate companies, your contract is with Vodafone UK.
It is only possible to suspend a contract when you are serving abroad with the armed forces and this will need to be proved by a letter from the commanding officer.
If you would like to opt into Euro Traveller for your 18 year old Son, he will be able to use his UK home tariff abroad in Italy for £3.00 per day.
If you did not opt into Euro Traveller for your 13 year old Son, you will have be charged the standard roaming cost for Italy. Full details on how to opt into Euro Traveller can be found on the website. Vodafone also have a check list for customers to do before leaving the UK on the Going Abroad section of the website, where you would have been able to see the roaming charges and the option for opting into Euro Traveller.
Unless you had turned off data roaming on your Sons phone, he would have had access to the internet in Italy. Due to the delay in receiving roaming charges, Vodafone would not have known about the internet use for around 72 hours after each internet use from the phone.
If WiFi was available and you Son phone has WiFi, he would have been able to access the internet from his phone for free with data roaming turned off.0 -
They have to send a text and I think they had - to your son's phone that is registered on your name. How and why are they supposed to know that you gave your phone to someone and what number out of three you have left for yourself?
They know which is my phone because I took the trouble to tell them some time back, as well as a request to be informed should anything untoward be happening on the accounts.Why not? My orange one was not and I was very unhappy when I had to call them from abroad to enable roaming. The information is easily available on Vodafone website and you could have easily checked it instead of making assumptions.
Every contract I have ever taken out has required foreign usage specifically to be requested. It is therefore not unreasonable to assume this is the case with a new contract on the same network.Is your son's "inability (unwillingness) to do anything to alert you" Vodafone's problem, especially if they don't know that it is not you with the phone abroad?
See earlier comment - Vodafone know which is my phone - the £3 per day charge to use the overseas phone has already been provisioned and used extensively. My son's bill has always been £13 a month or very slightly over. For it to jump so dramatically in one month should light up some warnings at planet Vodafone long before the month is finished.What was the bill for? If for the mobile internet, then the cost has to be capped by €50 p.m. in EU..
Sadly not mobile internet. Lots of text messages, several calls and using expensive Vodafone information text services.If it was for the calls, then you and your son are the only ones to blame.
In the circumstances, not massively helpful, besides which I do not share your opinion.Firstly, how do you know? Secondly, costs abroad are supposed to be higher for the same usage. £240 is not a very big amount. Some careless people had ten times as much and even more.
Firstly, I know because a) I used to work in IT for Vodafone many years back and b) the chap in their Newbury store told me that numbers are often barred (except for emergencies) because of unexpected high usage. Besides which, how do you think they provision their network to accommodate call volumes? by monitoring usage!
Secondly - "costs abroad are supposed to be higher for the same usage" a stunning piece of detective work - thanks very much.0 -
I used to work for Vodafone and i could have sworn all new contracts had the International and Premium bar on as standard and they had to be removed on request. I think this can be done at point of sale which looks like what has happened here?0
-
I cannot see anything which puts Vodafone in the wrong here. Two separate issues, the terms and conditions for your 18 year old Sons contract and expecting Vodafone to monitor your 14 year old Sons mobile phone internet access when in Italy.
You cannot transfer a Vodafone UK contract to Vodafone Italia, they are treated as two separate companies, your contract is with Vodafone UK.
Indeed, holidays are one thing, but a change of circumstances which mean a different country for 12 to 18 months mean a phone contract which is either going to cost an extra £90 a month or extortionate foreign use charges (see younger son). Yes, I understand it's two separate companies, but it's all part of one wider global group. It cannot be beyond them to be a little more flexible.It is only possible to suspend a contract when you are serving abroad with the armed forces and this will need to be proved by a letter from the commanding officer.
Helpful.If you would like to opt into Euro Traveller for your 18 year old Son, he will be able to use his UK home tariff abroad in Italy for £3.00 per day.
Thankyou - I believe I mentioned this wasn't an option due to the financial burden it would present - £26 per month plus £90 a month overseas usage charge. £116 pcm for my son's phone contract - I don't think so.If you did not opt into Euro Traveller for your 13 year old Son, you will have be charged the standard roaming cost for Italy.
I did not opt into anything for my younger son's contract. As mentioned before, if every contract I have ever taken out with Vodafone has needed foreign usage to be provisioned, it's not unreasonable to assume this was the case with my son's phone.Full details on how to opt into Euro Traveller can be found on the website. Vodafone also have a check list for customers to do before leaving the UK on the Going Abroad section of the website, where you would have been able to see the roaming charges and the option for opting into Euro Traveller.
Very helpful.Unless you had turned off data roaming on your Sons phone, he would have had access to the internet in Italy. Due to the delay in receiving roaming charges, Vodafone would not have known about the internet use for around 72 hours after each internet use from the phone. If WiFi was available and you Son phone has WiFi, he would have been able to access the internet from his phone for free with data roaming turned off
Due to dropping the smart phone into a stream, he was using an old phone of mine which does not permit internet access. It was messaging only with the occasional call.0 -
Something about the story doesn't quite add up. You mentioned that you believed any form of roaming on your sons handset was automatically deactivated. Why did he then take the phone abroad with him if it could not be used? I've looked at each option and can't work it out:
1. It was a smartphone required for the camera and WiFi? - That doesn't make sense as you stated the phone was basic and not capable of internet access... As a basic handset without any internet capabilities the camera would have been poor (usually).
2. It was needed for emergencies? - This also wouldn't work if it was barred.
3. It was going to have a local SIM inserted to save costs? - If so why wasn't it.
I really can't see why the phone was taken abroad in the first place. Is it possible that your son failed to inform you he was taking the phone abroad and failed to acknowledge the charges and information sent to him whilst the network changed abroad? Ultimately Vodafone are not to blame for this... This is an issue to take up with your son. Sorry I can't help more.0 -
The key point here is you assumed - you didn't check.
With mobiles being used a lot more abroad, it's not unreasonable for them to enable foreign use by default these days.
Imagine how annoying it'd be to have to ring from a payphone or friend's phone abroad just to enable foreign use!
You'll be liable for the £240, be thankful it wasn't more - usually these types of threads have another zero on the end.
0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 352.2K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.6K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 454.3K Spending & Discounts
- 245.3K Work, Benefits & Business
- 601K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.5K Life & Family
- 259.1K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.7K Read-Only Boards