Vodafone 9.3% increase is it legal?

FeaturelessVoid

It's perfectly legal but you can happily negotiate a new contract if you're out of your existing one, or wait it out and sign up as a new customer then do a number swap with a PAYG SIM.

unholyangel

molerat said:

Perfectly within the rules of the contract you signed up to, the useless regulator OK'd it.   Next year will be an even bigger hike !

Is it though? My contract (not with vodafone mind you) says it will increase in line with CPI. So they'd have no basis for the 3.9% if it is the same for the OP. 

It also depends on whether they gave the corresponding right to cancel without being affected by the price increase and whether the OP is still tied. 

Jenni_D

Most contracts taken out within the last couple of years say CPI plus 3.9%. (They did this because CPI had been very low for a number of years. Now that CPI is running away it seems more like profiteering, but perfectly allowable under most contracts).

baronmaroni

Thanks all, might try a polite moan

Gycraig

unholyangel said:

molerat said:

Perfectly within the rules of the contract you signed up to, the useless regulator OK'd it.   Next year will be an even bigger hike !

Is it though? My contract (not with vodafone mind you) says it will increase in line with CPI. So they'd have no basis for the 3.9% if it is the same for the OP. 

It also depends on whether they gave the corresponding right to cancel without being affected by the price increase and whether the OP is still tied. 

Vodafone’s contract says cpi plus 3.9% then has a handy link to the stats they base there rises on. 

I used to work at Cpw and had to explain this on every contract I sold, every single time yet spent half my life dealing with people complaining about price hikes they where fully made aware of when they took it out. 

unholyangel

Gycraig said:

unholyangel said:

molerat said:

Perfectly within the rules of the contract you signed up to, the useless regulator OK'd it.   Next year will be an even bigger hike !

Is it though? My contract (not with vodafone mind you) says it will increase in line with CPI. So they'd have no basis for the 3.9% if it is the same for the OP. 

It also depends on whether they gave the corresponding right to cancel without being affected by the price increase and whether the OP is still tied. 

Vodafone’s contract says cpi plus 3.9% then has a handy link to the stats they base there rises on. 

I used to work at Cpw and had to explain this on every contract I sold, every single time yet spent half my life dealing with people complaining about price hikes they where fully made aware of when they took it out. 

I've never known any operator to tell me before entering a contract that the price will increase. Its normally buried in the small print. If you're a consumer, you're protected against things like that. As I said, it depends on whether they were still tied (to a minimum term) and whether they were given the opportunity to cancel without being affected by the price increase. There's no issue with a company increasing their price, its when they think they can vary the contract to their liking while binding the consumer to whatever changes they decide to make. You cannot have a contract only be binding on one party - it's equally binding on both. 

Customer service staff will make all sorts of ridiculous claims (best one I've heard is that no, they didn't need to notify of any changes because they'd published the change on their website and by making a payment by direct debit, this confirmed the change had been read and accepted - I had a field day with that one), very little of it is based on a factual or legal basis. 

littleboo

If the price rise is part of the contract you signed, then you have no right to cancel. Late last year I helped my parents renew their Plusnet service, it was made absolutely clear by the agent that the CPI + rise was built in

kaMelo

unholyangel said:

Gycraig said:

unholyangel said:

molerat said:

Perfectly within the rules of the contract you signed up to, the useless regulator OK'd it.   Next year will be an even bigger hike !

Is it though? My contract (not with vodafone mind you) says it will increase in line with CPI. So they'd have no basis for the 3.9% if it is the same for the OP. 

It also depends on whether they gave the corresponding right to cancel without being affected by the price increase and whether the OP is still tied. 

Vodafone’s contract says cpi plus 3.9% then has a handy link to the stats they base there rises on. 

I used to work at Cpw and had to explain this on every contract I sold, every single time yet spent half my life dealing with people complaining about price hikes they where fully made aware of when they took it out. 

I've never known any operator to tell me before entering a contract that the price will increase. Its normally buried in the small print. If you're a consumer, you're protected against things like that.

Since Ofcom, the toothless wonder, carried out an investigation on mid-contract price increases, the compromise reached was they could increase the prices as long as it was made obvious to anyone taking out such a contract and it is. Usually it's prominent on page one of any terms and conditions as well as made clear to anyone signing up online before they actually agree to it or verbally if taking a contract over the phone. They usually give you examples in pounds and pence of the sort of increase expected too..

Prior to this it was RPI, since RPI is no longer an official statistic it seems most have switched to CPI but as CPI is historically lower they added the 3.9% to make CPI+3.9%