Paying over the top with vodafone!

forestlands

Got a mobile phone for emergencies in 1996. Rolling contract, cost £5. 56 a month, with Vodafone. 75 mins free calls, to land lines, carried over what was not used. Pay for texts. Live in a very isolated area, 69 yrs. old and live alone, make very few calls and unable to text due to arthritis and silly little keys on phone.

Last July Vodafone changed my contract without notifying me, bill went up to £20.16 for August :eek:, don't usually pay much more than £6 including a couple of texts when I have time and a pencil to push the keys with. Had the rolling contract for over 16 years and was told it would go on indefinitely as long as i didn't change it. Met my needs and seldom used up the full 75 free minuets. Got the hard sell from Vodafone, told me must have a new contract as they didn't do the contract i had been on for 16 years any more. Told them they could not cancel my rolling contract and the contract suited me. Insistent to the point where I felt harassed and agreed to a silly contract that was not suitable and very expensive so I cancelled.

As this problem had not been resolved over several months went to ombudsman. Had an email asking me to phone Vodafone, spoke to a gentleman who seemed very helpful. Reluctantly I agreed to a monthly contract of £10.50 for 300 mins calls to any land line or mobile. Asked for confirmation not just mobile calls to Vodafone customers! Unlimited texts - not on my phone and with arthritic hands, was told new phones were a lot easier and it was agreed that my phone must be at least 8 years old! Access to internet - not on my old phone! Only the second phone I have had in nearly in 17 year with Vodafone! Request for a new phone refused, would have thought a valued customer of 17 years would have been offered one without having to ask! Still waiting for conformation of what was agreed over the phone!

Just received my bill for last month, shows calls to mobiles other than Vodafone are charged for, total cost appears to be in excess of £10.50.

My calls using B.T. land line average £3 a month. I need a mobile phone for emergencies. Can't easily get to a shop to get phone credits. Paying for services I don't use or can't receive. Technical support told me my mobile was to old to get broadband, not surprised, using the keys is very difficult too. If you can't text you can't easily use keys for broadband!

My rolling contract, which I feel forced out of by Vodafone, was ideal! Had I got a new phone, with a screen, I would have persevered at getting on line!

Leaving Vodafone and look for a mobile phone company that meets the needs of older folk with limited funds and limited use of a mobile phone! Can anyone recommend one please?

All suggestions gratefully received. Thank you very much!:)

Herongull

You really need to be on PAYG not a contract. PAYG avoids all the stress, hassle and financial risk of a contract.

For example with Ovivo (PAYG virtual network which runs on the vodafone network) you get:

150 minutes, 150 texts and 400mb free each month.

This is clearly more than you want, but it is free so it doesn't matter. If you ever need more than this, you can topup online.

They have good CS as well.

PS You would need to pay £15 credit for the sim, which will expire if you don't use it in a year, but the free monthly credit just keeps going.

You may need a friend to help you put the right settings into your phone at the start so it works with the Ovivo sim (or with any other new sim you might get) if you don't feel confident about doing it yourself. But is actually very straightforward.

Vodafone

Hi forestlands,

Thanks for making me aware of your concerns.

To enable me to get the billing side of things looked into could you email me with your details via the link in our profile here?

All you need to do is copy and paste the link into your web browser and it will take you to the Contact us form on our website.

To ensure that it reaches me could you also quote the code WRT135 - MSE in the subject line and once our automated reply arrives update the thread with your email reference number and I'll get back to you as soon as possible?

Kind regards,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK