Broadband deals not being honoured?

MoneySavingAndy

Hi MSE and All,

I'm looking for a new broadband supplier and was quite pleased to see this Vodafone deal:

However, after clicking through to Vodafone, it seems that this deal goes up as shown, and even if you continue through the process right up to the point of signing up, at no point is a discount added so that the same price offered:

I tried a couple of other sites too and observed similar behaviour, so it's not MSE specific.

• Has anyone else seen this?
• Is it Vodafone-specific?
• Is it a matter of timing as the aggregator (MSE) and supplier (Vodafone) align systems and data feeds?
• Is this down to an error by the data provider feeding MSE and other such sites?
• Is there any was to sort this out, other than perhaps waiting a bit and trying again later?

I'd be interested in thoughts here, particularly from anyone in MSE Towers who might know a bit more about what's going on here.

Many thanks,

Andy.

PS Before anyone comments on the additional £180 reward from Vodafone, that's on top of the discounted monthly rates, so that's not the reason for the discrepancy when clicking through to Vodafone. (To get through to Vodafone, you first go through another page to provide details to claim the reward at a later date after signing up.)

QrizB

So, just so we're all clear, you're not complaining that VF aren't offering you a contract at £22.30 (as per this thread) but it's that instead of £26 / £29.50 / £33 you're being offered £29 / £32.50 / £36?

I've had similar problems in previous years. I have always put it down to MSE working from an out-of-date VF price list. Exactly where the breakdown sits has never mattered to me; it exists, so always check what you're signing up for before clicking on the button that commits you to it.

flaneurs_lobster

Might be able to get that price down by £2/mth for the duration of the contract, a checkout code of 'SAVE48' has been suggested when I looked at offers at my address.

Cosmos1234

It's not just Vodafone. Last week I helped elderly family sign up for the Sky broadband deal which was suggested as the best deal for them.

We used the MSE link, everything seemed to be fine, the Sky website was showing the MSE price, but the final step failed.

After repeated telling the chatbot I needed to speak to a human, it gave a phone number.

When I spoke to a Sky staff member, he explained that this happens when a third party website hasn't updated the rates (even though the MSE website said the deal doesn't expire until later this week).

This Sky rate was £1 a month more than shown on MSE. He said it could be taken out directly with Sky, for the £1 a month more but without the £50 giftcard as that was specific to the third party website offer.

After being on hold for a while while he checked to see if he could bring the price down, he found a good offer for my family, which they accepted.

Boohoo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82166334#Comment_82166334

If the code that you have published is used by the OP will that stop them getting the £180 reward card?

I don't know about MSE but using TCB and Quidco and using a non approved code stops any cashback and I know this is not a cashback deal but it's something to think about.

MoneySavingAndy

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82166299#Comment_82166299

Hi, yes, exactly, there is a £3 discrepancy for each of the billing periods quoted and this is not about factoring cashback or similar offers to get the low 'effective' cost. Like you, I always check these things over carefully before signing up, but it does rather diminish the value of the comparison site process, or at least make it harder work.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82166334#Comment_82166334

Thank you - I might try that.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82166365#Comment_82166365

Yes, that was my feeling - some kind of data synchronisation issue, either in timing, content accuracy or both.

It does all feel a bit odd though. We've all got very used to aggregators / comparison sites and they have been around for a long time that one expects such issues to have been ironed out by now. (By the way, I work in IT project delivery, so have an appreciation of the reasons for this as much as I am disappointed as a customer that the issues are occurring!)

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82166369#Comment_82166369

Can't be definitive but details of that promotional code were displayed in the same (Vodafone) session as the gift card offer, when I tried to click away.

Always an issue with these delayed payment promotions, not knowing for (in this case) 4 months whether the thing will pay out.

MoneySavingAndy

Final update in case this is useful for others now or later…

I saw some slightly funny behaviour around this with the price on the Vodafone site sometimes changing from £29 to the expected £26 that could have been related to cookies and previous items in my basket, but after various tries of clearing cookies, using an Incognito/InPrivate browser, clearing the basket and a few repeated tries I could not get it to go through the checkout at £26, even though the pre-checkout Vodafone page had that figure displayed on a couple of occasions!

In the end I went through another comparison site and got the £26 offer to go through. The accompanying "cashback" offer was very slightly lower, but I was not concerned as it was still a great saving overall. I don't think this site is any better than MSE (which is always my first port of call) so I won't mention it, I think there was probably just something around timing or such like on this occasion that prevented the advertised offer going through.

Thanks to those who responded earlier.