Beware- Vodafone misleading "loyalty" offer

Karlosx

Looks like this promo is still doing the rounds.

Had a call today, as I'm such a great customer they wanted to offer me a free tablet, all i'll have to do to receive it is pay a small monthly fee for the data which was around £5 a month. I told them i;d rather they increased my contracts data for that price and not offer me a !!!!ing tablet with data. shity 1GB on my contract for the last 6 years... only now am I seeing better offers for 4GB+ but the contract prices are almost double, madness.

an extra 1GB per month is £6.... Almost tempting to find a new network, when me contract is due for renewal i will be discussing better options otherwise I'll find a better provider who does not hassle me every few weeks with shity promotions.

steve.flooks

I can confirm that Vodafone are still pushing this 'scam'! I was apparently dealing with their Egypt office, was clearly told that the Tablet was a 'loyalty and free', no mention of a new contract, just the delivery charge of £4.95. I am always cautious with new offers. Checked My Vodafone account next day and new number with £17.50/m charge. On the call I asked the guy for the total price of my account because we have three business lines and there was no mention of the £17.50 contract. I have since spoken to the UK 191 team and waiting for them to do a call listen, as the Egypt office were just mugging me off for 5 days. There was a 30 day cool off so I will be returning the pad and cancelling my other lines. Vodafone need to take a serious look at their policies and staff training. I told the UK office I would give them to today and then I would call them again......tick tock.

mobilejunkie

Waste of time. Having taken advantage of a con which is well worn on here you're now going to keep calling them and listening to promises of call backs and listening to recordings? Laughable.

steve.flooks

Just got off the call with one more agent, PAD goes back tomorrow. All charges + 10% added as a refund. They discounted our existing contracts further so cheaper than before this whole saga began. Our deal was better than other networks anyway. At least something positive for me. Never had trouble with them before. I'll wait for the contracts to expire and look for alternatives. The last agent used the word mis-selling....

Keithbow1

My wife received an account call on the 26th an ‘as a valued customer’ was offered a Samsung tablet for a one off payment of £3.61. The agent was asked what’s the catch and yet again was told there wasn’t one. The tablet arrived the next day. That evening the Vodafone email arrives with a new telephone number and new contract for £17 per month!! None of this was mentioned on the call; what a surprise. After an hour and a half’s telephone call this morning,the 5th agent she was speaking to then put the phone down on her!! Good customer service, eh?
We have a contract for 2 mobiles, home telephone and broadband with them at the moment. Guess what contracts aren’t going to be renewed next time around?

Oakdene

Keithbow1 wrote: »

My wife received an account call on the 26th an ‘as a valued customer’ was offered a Samsung tablet for a one off payment of £3.61. The agent was asked what’s the catch and yet again was told there wasn’t one. The tablet arrived the next day. That evening the Vodafone email arrives with a new telephone number and new contract for £17 per month!! None of this was mentioned on the call; what a surprise. After an hour and a half’s telephone call this morning,the 5th agent she was speaking to then put the phone down on her!! Good customer service, eh?
We have a contract for 2 mobiles, home telephone and broadband with them at the moment. Guess what contracts aren’t going to be renewed next time around?

Sorry? You really thought they were offering you a brand new tablet for £3.61?

Vodafone

Keithbow1 wrote: »

My wife received an account call on the 26th an ‘as a valued customer’ was offered a Samsung tablet for a one off payment of £3.61. The agent was asked what’s the catch and yet again was told there wasn’t one. The tablet arrived the next day. That evening the Vodafone email arrives with a new telephone number and new contract for £17 per month!! None of this was mentioned on the call; what a surprise. After an hour and a half’s telephone call this morning,the 5th agent she was speaking to then put the phone down on her!! Good customer service, eh?
We have a contract for 2 mobiles, home telephone and broadband with them at the moment. Guess what contracts aren’t going to be renewed next time around?

Hi Keithbow1,

This isn't good to hear.

So we can access your wife's account to see what's happened, please ask her to email us via the form here.

To access the form she'll need to enter the code EFT195.

As well as stating her query in the question box, she'll also need to quote "MSE Forum".

Once sent, you'll receive an automated reply with a reference number. Post it on here and I'll check it's been received.

Kind regards,

Lee

Vodafone Social Media

J_cookie

I had a phone call around the same time as the OP however I only discovered the charges now. I phoned Vodafone to discuss having never agreed to the additional charges I thought i was due some of the money back. I was told repeatedly that the terms and conditions were in a recorded phone call but when I challenged the existence of this phonecall the Vodafone representative told me that they had deleted the phone call as the only proof of contract they needed was the mere fact I had not challenged the payments untill now. Shady business practices on their end. Same issues as most people here. Was told the tablet was completely free no charge atall. (minus delivery fee) shocking display. They tell you to access an app to see the charges after he fact (which I am not able to do as I haven't owned the tablet for three years) but nothing is ever mentioned to you that they will be altering your account.

Fair enough it's poor accounting on my end but is this not some kind of fraud? The gentleman on the phone did mention taking legal action so I'm considering that definitely. Rather strange Vodafone recommend taking legal action rather than just compensation but I'll have to see where to go. Avoid.

sludgeguts

I had the same call the other day. Fast talking sales guy, Huawei 8" tablet, normally costing £120 but special offers for loyal customers, only £10 and, at that price, I could even afford to buy one for the wife. I even confirmed that this was a one off payment & there would be no other charges. Fortunately, we couldn't be home when the delivery was due (the very next morning!). That evening, I got an email welcoming me to my new packages, only £12 per month each - Nowhere was a monthly charge mentioned. I've spoken with Vodafone and told them where they can shove their loyalty gifts. I'm told I will have to accept delivery then traipse into town to deliver the tablets to the shop. I told the agent that I wouldn't accept delivery so the tablets can go back to dpd & eventually be returned to Vodafone.
The Vodafone agent also said the costs that have been added to my next bill will get removed when they get the tablets back in good condition!
I think they've got a bloody cheek, not only do they mis-sell a plan but they also make it difficult to get your account sorted.

jameslee.lee

I'm in almost exactly the same situation. I've been made all kinds of promises and given all kinds of apologies and assurances, but nothing has been done to cancel this Tablet contract that I was miss sold and never wanted in the first place.. I wish they just left me alone. I will not be renewing with Vodaphone.

UPDATE : I've just spoken to them again and they have [they say] refunded me for the two months I've been billed for this Tablet and cancelled the "contract" [though I was never given one] . They have sent me text messages confirming this. I will wait and see if on the next bill I receive it really has been cancelled.

This experience has really knocked my confidence in Vodaphone. I will definitely not be renewing with them once my mobile contract is up. Dishonesty of this type mustn't be ignored.