Advice on Vodafone Contract

Guys_Dad

Removed as OP's post above rendered this one unnecessary.

Mickyk

Your contracted term would have been from the natural end point of your existing tariff, although the new plan, ie data, would have been applicable straight away. This would have been covered in the t&c's on the phone whilst speaking with whomever processed the new deal.
"Your contract is 24 months, plus whatever was outstanding from your old one"
I understand that the communication was not the best, and for a communications company it is well below par.

Although in reference to the OP, 1) given the situation, they most likely did not notify you, as it was not applicable to your new plan. 2) Any gesture offered will not affect your case, it would have been simply a gesture to aid the situation. 3) They will hold you liable for the etf regardless, and if it does go to court it will simply be a case of producing the standard t&c's, verifying your agreement to the same, and that is all they will do.

I am brunt, but they will be even more so.

iritchie

Thanks Mickyk.

I'm resigned to the fact, that I'm probably not going to see any big win here...there is still the principle of the matter, which isn't going to help me in a financial sense, but will at least give me an acceptable end to the problem.

So far, I've spent a month discussing with Customer Services, and not once have I been replied to by the same person. I've dealt with exactly 10 different agents, and each time, they didn't respond to a single one of my specific questions, instead repeating:

"Vodafone have had to increase your costs because <insert one of the following:>
* Our costs are increasing and we need to raise prices accordingly
* Our competitors have all raised their prices (*O2 havent)
* We need to stay inline with inflation
...or the best one, I've got from an OFFICIAL Vodafone CSR in writing;
* "Ofcom are forcing us to raise our prices. The regulator is making us stay in line with our competitors""

So my entire email is ignored, even when I reiterate questions I've already asked half a dozen times, and I get a token answer in line with the above...


To say their communication is not the best, would be an understatement.

Guys_Dad

But has your contract actually been increased? Certainly the 2011 renewal would have been at a different rate from the previous one, but has it, in fact, been increased since then, until the current increase, which you know about?

Can't see where you are coming from on this. Certainly I can see where you are going to - a dead end.

iritchie

Guys_Dad wrote: »

But has your contract actually been increased? Certainly the 2011 renewal would have been at a different rate from the previous one, but has it, in fact, been increased since then, until the current increase, which you know about?

Can't see where you are coming from on this. Certainly I can see where you are going to - a dead end.

Yes it has.
I outlined all the changes which have been put through in an earlier post.
Most of the biggest increases affect out of bundle usage.
The one I am most likely to use is data, but given the data service in almost every area I go to is either poor or non-existant, I rarely get the chance to go over my bundled data allowance.
When I do though, it now costs twice as much as when I took the contract out.
Likewise with out of bundle landline calls - now 35p per minute instead of 15p p/m.
Also premium rate and directory enquiries calls are up about 20% each.
So basically if I have low usage, I'll be unlikely to hit the 10% threshold being stated.
Having examined my bills, I've only found 3 where I'll actually be affected by more than 10% in the past 36 months.
This is largely due to poor service, like I mentioned, and availability of 3G in my area.
The fact is that my contract has been changed in almost every aspect.
I already had unlimited texts, so that is the only thing which has not been changed and I would be unaffected by anyway.
EVERYTHING (literally EVERYTHING) else has changed to my detriment.

grumbler

You seem to have missed the point of the question:
Has your 'fixed' monthly charge actually increased in 2011?

If not, have the out-of-bundle increases resulted in more then 10% increase in the amount you pay?

iritchie

Thanks Grumbler, I didn't really miss the point of the question though - as I said, I was subject to an increase in October 2011 for my "fixed" line rental costs, and again this month.
All other tarriff changes have resulted in only 3 bills in 36 months having a 10%+ increase, as I mentioned above.
The increase in July only covered tarriff changes and not my fixed monthly cost.

Vodafone

Hi iritchie,

Thanks for coming back to me.

It will be difficult to rectify the issue of the notification as it will no longer be recorded within our text messaging system due to the length of time passed.

You posted ‘Line rental increase of 2.3%, Secondary line rental increase of 2.2%’ and ‘Having examined my bills, I've only found 3 where I'll actually be affected by more than 10% in the past 36 months.’ which states that you did not increase in cost over 10%.

Any additional price changes to out of bundle costs are not contractual and would not fall under this clause of the Terms and Conditions.

To rectify this, we will need to look at your specific account and price plan. Although the form will not allow you to add the attachments, I will have access to all previous correspondence from your account and will need you to contact me using the form to complete Data Protection.

Once I receive your email, I will get in touch to discuss this further.

Thanks,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

Is_it_worth_it

I only renewed my contract with vodafone this Febuary after my previous 2 year contract with them had expired and i can definately say that last year my contract did not change at all in price and i can definately say that i never received a text to say that it would go up, so may be iritchie may not have had a text or increase in their contract.Saying that my contract was already at a whole round figure in price so this could be the reason why mine never changed.

horsepills

OP - you've spent a great deal of time stewing over/complaining about such a minor issue, I feel I should repeat the advice you were given my mobilejunkie at the beginning of this thread - "Learn and move on or completely waste your time, energy and frame of mind"...

We're talking a few quid here. You can harp on about "the principle", etc... but come on - it's a few quid. Move on, I'm sure you'll feel the better for it. There are people with far bigger issues.

If you do insist on carrying on this crusade, take the rep's advice and carry it on through the channel she suggested.