Vodafone starts charging customers for browsing Live!

kkpolobear

can anyone down load anything for the past 2 weeks i've been trying and i keep getting error you have not been charged
and also from what i can see its gonna cost more if you are on payg then it is if you are on pay monthly

toasterman

Surely its quite common to be charged more per kb or per minute on payg?
Else why would anyone take out a contract?

mmillie

I called up Vodafone today (been trying all weekend, but they have been shut), and they told me that there is no way to get out of your contract without paying, and there is no clause about getting out if the cost changes by >10%. When I look at their T&Cs online, there is indeed no mention of it as far as I can see. Can anyone point to it, and has anyone been successful in negotiating a better deal thanks to it? The best I got by complaining was 3 months free data bundle, which is better than nothing.

Martin

ManicMiner_2

I rang Vodafone last week and got the worst flannel I have ever had from a salesman, about how it was going to be so much greater, and their new redesigned homepage would be much better, and it took me about 10 minutes to get him to agree that actually I would be worse off. He even started off by saying that browsing the portal would still be free!

I wrote off to Vodafone CS with a letter and spreadsheet showing that I will be around 15-20% worse off, and quoting the 10% rule.To be fair to them, I got a letter back two days later. In that they basically said that I need to wait until the next bill actually shows a 10% rise, and then they will discuss my account in more detail. Quite a nifty move on their part, as they get an extra months income from me + 20% on top, as opposed to me just leaving now. In the letter I asked for my PAC code and for the minimum term to be removed, but I think I would just settle for having the data bundle added on FOC until the end of my contract, as it seems that working out the charges across networks is a hassle. (Although - slightly O/T - my mate at work is on Orange and he reckons that he has been told by them that browsing the Orange portal will soon be free - so maybe I should move back to them!)

Warrior82

Will be launched very soon, also to the download person the problem wont be related call customer services.

A note the homepage of vodafone live, will still be free to connect too

toasterman

I've just tried to get on gmail for the first time this month (I'm saving money by just not using it - as a kind of personal stand against the new charges).
I'm not best pleased with it to be honest. I'm going to have to contact Vodafone to find out if I'm being charged for the extra cr4p they've put between me and gmail.


Here's what I now seem to get..
- Go to bookmarks on my phone, select mobile gmail (sony ericsson k800i btw).

- Immediately get a different page from Vodafone that says "you are about to use a service that requires information to be sent using secure connections"...now am I being charged for viewing this page? It's not an onscreen prompt - its a webpage I'm getting redirected to before I get to gmail and there isn't an option to not ask me again - it asks me every time. On this page I have two options if i want to continue "If you wish, we can adapt these pages to make them more mobile friendly. However, if you prefer, we can show you the exact experience you get on your pc".
I think trading standards need to question that last part - modem-speeds for more-than-broadband-prices isn't what I get on my pc.

- The default option is "mobile friendly"..every time - I can't default it to the other option. Now presumably mobile friendly is smaller, quicker, cheaper..etc. On the other hand, gmail mobile is already optimized for mobile phones.
So I try mobile friendly.. now I have to log in. There's an option to remember the username and password (which worked last month), but this is the second time today I've filled it out and ticked the box to remember, and it no longer remembers. Brilliant.

- I fill out the username and password again, go to log in and get another page that warns me I'm about to send data using secure connections again, I get the option of mobile or full pc again, again pick mobile, continue.
Eventually, I get gmail of sorts - but with half the buttons missing - there doesn't seem to be an option to compose email for example. There is extra tools at the top to bookmark this page, and it shows me the last 50 emails by default - meaning I would imagine the mobile version is costing me more to view than the ordinary version.

- I cancel it.
A couple of mins later I think I'll have another go. This time it's remembered the password and opened automatically in vodafone-mobile-mode. I clear the cache, passwords, and cookies, close the browser. Open it again, and it logs me in automatically again. How do I now get to the full pc-experience one?

- I give it an hour and log in, it's forgotten it all now...i get asked twice again on 2 more webpages whether I want pc or mobile, it defaulting to the wrong option each time...full pc a couple of times, and a couple of "communications errors" with Vodafone, and I finally get in to check my email.

So not only have they made it take longer to log in, and put the prices up, they've also made it more complicated and broken the bit that remembers my gmail password. Congratulations Vodafone. Superb service. :mad:

hawkwind

I have not had any contact at all from Vodagroan about these charges at all.
I have just checked my unbilled calls for the month, and up until the 7th of June i have £1.09p wap charges, so i will have at least double that amount for the month up to now.
A bit of another sneaky move as my unbilled calls are normally only a day or two behind.

No wonder Vodagroans pages seem to have so many more graphics on their pages now as we have to pay to view most of them.

To say i am angry is a vast understatement.

All i read are the itv news/sky weather and footbal including my club.

It looks as if i am going to use the mobile internet now then it will be to browse BBC pages as they use very little bandwidth.

I will also be turning off show picture in the settings as well.

But mostly, i wont be using the service.
Especially when my contract comes to an end.

First it was MMS, now Voda Live, SCREW YOU Vodafone

toasterman

I finally managed to get it to forget the "mobile-experience" (that it remembered the second time I went through it to read you all the steps on here), but I'm still getting communications errors all over the shop, and their new browser tools thing takes up more of the screen all the while I'm using it.
I think I'm on the way out of Vodafone.

Might cause a problem getting out of my contract with the 10% increase thing though, as I can never get it to actually load, so I guess it isn't costing me any more per month and they're not breaking the terms of their contract

Dom9171

Finally managed to get Vodafone to add the £7.50 browsing pack to my contract for free until my current deal runs out (Oct '08). It took a number of calls to get them to do this. It helped that I was able to quote the relevant bit of the T&C's. It also helped that Vodafone seem a bit clueless on the whole subject. Each time I called I was given a slightly different response sometimes I was told I had no case others said they saw my point and promised to get back to me but never did.
Eventually I was offered the package at half price. I said I would think about it. When I called back shortly afterwards I was informed there was no record of this offer having been made (and it could not be done) and promised a call from a supervisor. They did not call back I called them and I think at this point Vodafone realised how badly they had dealt with the whole thing and offered it me for free.
I think it also did not harm that my wife's phone which I pay for and is in my name was up for renewal and I told them extending that deal was dependant on them sorting free web access for me. I also said my next step was to re-contact Otelo who they use as independent arbitrators they had already advised me the new charges were just the kind of case they take on. Has anyone got as far as going to Otelo yet I would be interested to see what side they come down on.

kai666

I thought i would test out the new internet tarrif by using it for one day, then wait and have a look at the online billing being on a really old off peak tariff. Gave up counting when my bill reached £1.50!

Rang vodafone who after putting me on hold for 10 minutes agreed that I had been charged more than £1. Maybe I'm on the wrong tariff he said!

Anyway he's got to go and chat to someone, and is supposed to ring back sunday or monday

I can't have the £7.50 add on thing even if i wanted it. Again I'm on the wrong tariff. What is it they have against off peak tariffs?

Why do i want a peak rate tariff when i am at work all day, and can't use the phone! Same goes for stop the clock, vodafone family etc etc

everything for anytime customers only!

anyway rant over. I look forward to hearing what vodafone have to say about my wap charges!