Overcharging by Vodafone?

Mrdini

Hello,

Some time ago (Late autumn/winter '06 - will need to check my paper bills), I signed up for an 18-mo's Voda. contract, "Eve + Wkend 1000 + 1000 Texts" - £25, along with a Nokia E61.

Since the E61 is used a lot for data, I was very specific in checking regarding data allowance, and I was told in no uncertain terms - "Yes, it's included. 50MB of data, which is offset against your text messages" i.e. the more I text, the less data I have, & vice versa.

Thinking no more of it, I used my phone since, & once in a while, I was occasionally puzzled by the fact that I occasionally had to pay more than £25 but chalked it down to possibly going over my limit.

However, a recent excessive bill, (which I just found out was because i went to USA & got charged 35p per texts - no mistakes there) made me go "Wha?!?!" so I signed up for online Vodafone billing. Imagine my shock when I found out that I had been charged for data all along, even though I expressly took out this plan due to the 50MB allowance.

What can I do? I certainly plan to go to a Vodafone store first thing on Monday to challenge this, and possibly threaten to cease my contract with them (I'll need to check how much longer I have left on the plan) if I can. But is there anything else I can do? One thing though - whatever happens - I don't want to change my mobile number.

Any thoughts?

TIA!

stan747

i was overcharged recently due to changing the contract to one which had more inclusive texts and found out when the bill arrived that i had been charged seperately for the texts, to their credit, all it took was a phone call and the bill was corrected and plan ammended. i would speak to them on monday as you say and hopefully they will sort you out.

Mrdini

stan747 wrote: »

i was overcharged recently due to changing the contract to one which had more inclusive texts and found out when the bill arrived that i had been charged seperately for the texts, to their credit, all it took was a phone call and the bill was corrected and plan ammended. i would speak to them on monday as you say and hopefully they will sort you out.

But did they credit you? The problem is that it's been a year that this has been going on (I didn't know as I don't get itemised bills in the post), so...

stan747

luckily i realised when i opened the bill and the amount was adjusted before the direct debit came out. why don'y you drop a pm to hopefully useful in the vodafone retentions thread, they might be able to look into it for you, as they gave me a credit due to an international roaming issue.

Hopefullyuseful1

Hi Mrdini,

Sorry to hear about the problems you've had with your account. Unfortunately the text messaging extras packs on Vodafone plans were changed in 2006 so that they could no longer be used for data or MMS messages as well as texts.

The reason for this is that we've launched a new data package which allows 120MB of usage for just £7.50 per month including VAT, as well as a daily rate for less frequent users where the cost is capped at £1 for up to 15MB of data until midnight on any day. This works out much cheaper and leaves your text bundle untouched so that you can send more texts at a reduced rate.

I hope this helps,

Hopefullyuseful1
Vodafone UK

Mrdini

Hopefullyuseful1 wrote: »

Hi Mrdini,

Sorry to hear about the problems you've had with your account. Unfortunately the text messaging extras packs on Vodafone plans were changed in 2006 so that they could no longer be used for data or MMS messages as well as texts.

Ah, that might be why. This does raise the question of why I wasn't notified of this change. Any chance you could be more specific about the date this happened?

The reason for this is that we've launched a new data package which allows 120MB of usage for just £7.50 per month including VAT, as well as a daily rate for less frequent users where the cost is capped at £1 for up to 15MB of data until midnight on any day. This works out much cheaper and leaves your text bundle untouched so that you can send more texts at a reduced rate.

I guess that'd work for me but will wait for Voda to get back to me. In any case, I ought to mention what happened today for completeness sake.

I went to my local Voda store, where I explained my case. An helpful manager asked for my signed contract, which I got for her. She copied the contracts, and promised to investigate, & get back to me within a couple of days. Fingers crossed.

What's really galling about this matter is that for 1 year, I didn't get what was promised, & I didn't even know until I signed up for online billing *sighs* Teaches me to always check details of my accounts/bills!