Vodafone student discount

worker

I have not suggested (nor would I) not keeping to the contract terms and in that sense my daughter is in the hands of vodafone. What I do suggest is that if you are not happy with the terms after seeing how they operate, then simply take your business elsewhere at the end of the contract. That is how competition works and is entirely appropriate.

worker

OK just taking a quick step back here to my original post. I was hoping some members may have had experience of the vodafone "Employee Advantage" department which my daughter will be contacting to ask for her discount.
Would I be right to say the general tone of advice here is to tell her not to bother as she signed the contract and should have anticipated difficulties before doing so?

gjchester

worker wrote: »

What I do suggest is that if you are not happy with the terms after seeing how they operate, then simply take your business elsewhere at the end of the contract. That is how competition works and is entirely appropriate.

True but as has been pointed out many of the reasons you gave to move (prices going up mid term, discounts that may not be readily recieved) are the same for all providers, all the providers have put prices up mid terms in the last year.

Using your M&S example (and this over simplifies the process a lot) yes they go the extra mile, but you pay extra for a M&S garment over a shop like Primark or Matalan for two reasons one is a higher percieved quality of the garment and the second is as you say quality of service.

"Real" competition would mean companies strive to outdo each other in the overall service provided. That quality of service has to be paid for and it comes from higher prices, the questions is does the customer want to pay more, and the rise of the cheaper end of the market and M&S's decline suggests unfortunalty we tend to have a race to the lowest price point and that is in part driven by the customer placing more emphasis on monetary cost over total value.

gjchester

worker wrote: »

OK just taking a quick step back here to my original post. I was hoping some members may have had experience of the vodafone "Employee Advantage" department which my daughter will be contacting to ask for her discount.
Would I be right to say the general tone of advice here is to tell her not to bother as she signed the contract and should have anticipated difficulties before doing so?

My workplace has a Vodafone discount, Vodafone won't apply if to the contract you don't apply in the first 30 days of the contract.

In your daughters case Vvodafone clearly stated the terms upfront and are applying them, if they want to play hardball thats their choice, although not great service.

You can try asking them again to apply it after the event but it would only be done as a goodwill gesture, but unfortunalty your daughter is in the wrong not Vodafone so anything will only be a goodwill gesture.

worker

My daughter emailed the Employee Advantage team and was pleased to tell me that she now has her student discount! And applied retrospectively too. Naturally she feels more well disposed to vodafone than before.
By acting reasonably they may have a customer for life: how much is that going to be worth?!

gjchester

worker wrote: »

By acting reasonably they may have a customer for life: how much is that going to be worth?!

It's good news that it worked out for her, would it change your opinion though?

People tend to remember the latest interaction but focus on cost. Regardless of this intereaction come renewal time cost will likely be the overriding factor.

Look at Three, for many years they were the cheapest network (and still are sometimes) but they were known for ho hum customer service and the network could be poor in places, however the deciding factor for many was the cost not overall value

worker

I'm not sure but I think I would take reputation and not only cost into account. As I get older I am aware of the huge amount of hassle that you can get involved in when fairly minor things go wrong and I would be willing to pay a bit more to avoid it.

T_T_2

worker wrote: »

By acting reasonably they may have a customer for life: how much is that going to be worth?!

Really? Then your daughters buying habits are in stark contrast to yours. What we you saying earlier about the principles of competition?

So are we now to assume that once your daughter's contract expires she will be sticking with Vodafone, on the basis that they showed some goodwill? Would this loyalty to vodafone hold true if another network could offer her a better price when she comes to renewing?

worker

T_T wrote: »

Really? Then your daughters buying habits are in stark contrast to yours. What we you saying earlier about the principles of competition?

So are we now to assume that once your daughter's contract expires she will be sticking with Vodafone, on the basis that they showed some goodwill? Would this loyalty to vodafone hold true if another network could offer her a better price when she comes to renewing?

You are absolutely right her buying habits are different. This should really be no surprise as people have a range of attitudes to risk and many prefer "the devil they know". An attitude which unfortunately is exploited by businesses featured on MSE.
But I think she is canny enough to try and extract a good deal from vodafone who I am sure will be aware of better prices from other networks.
Time will tell.