[old bill2]

Good old Vodafone just when you thought they could not get any worse. They change the T&Cs on their unlimited 500 mb FUP plans. This was posted on the Vodafone forum today.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for being patient whilst we got the right information for you.

We are planning to introduce Out Of Bundle charging for Pay Monthly customers from 1st June 2010. The reason we're introducing these charges is to make it fairer for everyone, and to protect our network from data abuse. We're introducing a real-time notifications service to be completely transparent about these charges and keep customers in control of their spend. No Out Of Bundle charges will happen this month but they will take effect from 1st June. The messages you've received this month were sent in error and no more will be sent out from today.

The charging will be as follows:

Monthly bundle customers will pay £5 for every 500MB after the first 500MB
Customers without a monthly bundle will pay 50p for every 10MB after the first 25MB

Whilst you've all previously been used to there not being any Out Of Bundle charging, the current information available online is clear in explaining that we could introduce such charging at any time. The Vodafone Mobile Internet costs page does state:
We'll keep an eye on things and let you know your options if it looks like you'll go over your 500MB Flexi or Value Pack limit.

Our Pay Monthly Terms and Conditions already state that we reserve the right to charge for any usage beyond the Fair Usage limit:

27. All Vodafone services offered free or under unlimited subscription are subject to our Fair Use Policy. If, in the reasonable opinion of Vodafone, your use is excessive, we may ask you to moderate your usage. If, after we have asked you to moderate your usage, you fail to do so, we reserve the right to:

(a) charge you for the excessive element of your usage at your price plan's standard rate;

(b) throttle your usage; or

© suspend or terminate your service in accordance with your airtime terms and conditions.

So you can ignore the messages which have been sent so far, but there's the information we have on this subject.

Thanks,

Tom

eForum Team
______

[plymouthbloke1974]

Gald I left Vodafone for O2!!

[flagpole]

i never understand why the phone networks, especially vodafone feel it's ok to change the terms of the contracts mid terms. why they don't make the changes for new customers i just don't know.

it may be legally correct, but it's morally bankrupt.

[JohnBoy1959]

As they have changed the terms & conditions cant you cancel your contract early?

[Running Water]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnBoy1959

As they have changed the terms & conditions cant you cancel your contract early?

No. Taken from above:

Quote:

Our Pay Monthly Terms and Conditions already state that we reserve the right to charge for any usage beyond the Fair Usage limit

[Jukesy]

pretty sure you can cancel because of this

[Running Water]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jukesy

pretty sure you can cancel because of this

No, you can't! Read it again.

[flagpole]

the key to this is in the pay monthly air time conditions

11biii
You may end this agreement by writing to us if:
we increase your charges in the UK which have the effect of increasing your total call and usage charges (based on your usage in the previous month) by more than 10% and you write to us before the increase applies; or....

if this will increase your bill by more than 10% you can cancel and keep your handset.

[callum9999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by flagpole

the key to this is in the pay monthly air time conditions

11biii
You may end this agreement by writing to us if:
we increase your charges in the UK which have the effect of increasing your total call and usage charges (based on your usage in the previous month) by more than 10% and you write to us before the increase applies; or....

if this will increase your bill by more than 10% you can cancel and keep your handset.

I don't know if its that simple. You would have to argue that you need to use 1GB a month, and then they could turn around and say "why did you sign up for a 500mb plan if you need 1GB".

Worth a try though.

[flagpole]

Quote:

Originally Posted by callum9999

I don't know if its that simple. You would have to argue that you need to use 1GB a month, and then they could turn around and say "why did you sign up for a 500mb plan if you need 1GB".

Worth a try though.

i take the point. but it's a bit woolly. the terms are clear.

[flagpole]

there is a more official response from vod on their forum:
(here)

Quote:

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick update to consolidate all the information we've given over the last few days and clarify a few points.

Firstly, a lot of the feedback from you all is that we've not notified you of the change. We haven't even officially announced the change yet and will notify everyone well in advance of doing so. The text messages received by you were sent in error, so nobody will be charged this month. We will be introducing texts message alerts as of June 1st, and we will notify all customers of that 14 days before as per our Terms and Conditions.
There's no need to worry about this change, as only a very tiny percentage of our customers actually exceed 500MB of data usage in a month.



Here's the official statement detailing the changes:

Vodafone UK to give customers total control of their mobile data spend

7 May 2010

In June we'll be introducing a free text service to tell our contract customers when they're approaching the upper limit of their data bundle. We'll send them a text before they reach the limit and tell them how much it will cost them to use more data. Customers can then make a decision on whether to continue, or limit their use, giving them total control of their spend.

Handheld bundles range between 500MB and 1GB.

500MB means you can read and reply to 10,000 emails, download 24 Google maps and read 8,000 BBC News stories. Today, a tiny fraction of our customers use their full allowance.

If customers do find that they’re approaching the end of their bundle the costs are as follows:


Current charge Out of bundle charge

No handheld data bundle 50p a day for 25MB 50p for an additional 10MB

Handheld data bundle £5 a month, or £7.50 with a flexi-bundle £5 for an additional 500MB



Since the initial information given on the eForum, some questions were asked, which we answer here:

Definition of excessive use?
Excessive use is listed in the current Terms and Conditions and applies for now, but when Out Of Bundle charging is introduced, the terms will be amended and so this won’t apply.

Will I be allowed to cancel my account under Clause 7?
We’ ll be giving you 14 days' notice before introducing Out Of Bundle charging which complies with clause 7a. You'll be entitled to end your contract if you can show that the introduction of the new charges has increased your total call and usage charges by more than 10%. This needs to be compared to the same amount of usage in the previous month. You must also write to us within the 14 day window indicating that you want to end your contract. (Address to write to is: Vodafone House, The Connection, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2FN)

When will I receive the notice/when would the Ts&Cs change?
You will receive a notification SMS well in advance of any changes taking place

Why is there one allowance for the iPhone and Nexus One and another for the rest of the Smartphones you range?
This is because we offer different price plans with different handsets.

Thanks,

Tom

eForum Team

[AxeVictim]

Looks like i escaped just in time my contracts up this month I'm off to T- Mobile they do 1gb a month in their package.

[Espi_Vodafone]

Hi everyone -

We have seen quite a bit of speculation on the out of bundle charges for Vodafone UK mobile internet users on forums and in the media. We wanted to clarify things. Here are the facts as they stand today:

In June we'll be introducing a free text service to tell our contract customers when they're approaching the upper limit of their data bundle. As the vast majority of our mobile internet subscribers (more than 97 percent) never reach the limit they will not be receiving the text alerts at all.

The minority of our customers (less then 3 percent) who do come close will receive a text telling them they are approaching their data allowance and advising them to monitor their usage going forward. At this point customers will not be charged anything more.

If after receiving several such alerts, over a period of few months, customers continue to use excessive amounts of data they will be contacted by Vodafone and advised to upgrade to another data plan to avoid incurring unnecessary additional charges.

Customers will be able to make an informed decision on whether to continue, limit their use or change to a different price plan, giving them total control of their spend.


However, if customers continue to use excessive amounts of data over a longer period of time, the costs are as follows:

Current charge Out of bundle charge
No handheld data bundle 50p a day for 25MB 50p for an additional 10MB

Handheld data bundle £5 a month, or £7.50 with a flexi-bundle £5 for an additional 500MB

Note: 500MB means you can read and reply to thousands of emails, download 24 Google maps and read 8,000 BBC News stories. Today, a tiny fraction of our customers use their full allowance.

Thanks,

Espi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

[legends wear 7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Espi_Vodafone

Hi everyone -

We have seen quite a bit of speculation on the out of bundle charges for Vodafone UK mobile internet users on forums and in the media. We wanted to clarify things. Here are the facts as they stand today:

In June we'll be introducing a free text service to tell our contract customers when they're approaching the upper limit of their data bundle. As the vast majority of our mobile internet subscribers (more than 97 percent) never reach the limit they will not be receiving the text alerts at all.

The minority of our customers (less then 3 percent) who do come close will receive a text telling them they are approaching their data allowance and advising them to monitor their usage going forward. At this point customers will not be charged anything more.

If after receiving several such alerts, over a period of few months, customers continue to use excessive amounts of data they will be contacted by Vodafone and advised to upgrade to another data plan to avoid incurring unnecessary additional charges.

Customers will be able to make an informed decision on whether to continue, limit their use or change to a different price plan, giving them total control of their spend.


However, if customers continue to use excessive amounts of data over a longer period of time, the costs are as follows:

Current charge Out of bundle charge
No handheld data bundle 50p a day for 25MB 50p for an additional 10MB

Handheld data bundle £5 a month, or £7.50 with a flexi-bundle £5 for an additional 500MB

Note: 500MB means you can read and reply to thousands of emails, download 24 Google maps and read 8,000 BBC News stories. Today, a tiny fraction of our customers use their full allowance.

Thanks,

Espi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

How many hours of BBC iPlayer streaming can i do?
OR internet radio streaming for that matter

[old bill2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Espi_Vodafone

Hi everyone -

We have seen quite a bit of speculation on the out of bundle charges for Vodafone UK mobile internet users on forums and in the media. We wanted to clarify things. Here are the facts as they stand today:

In June we'll be introducing a free text service to tell our contract customers when they're approaching the upper limit of their data bundle. As the vast majority of our mobile internet subscribers (more than 97 percent) never reach the limit they will not be receiving the text alerts at all.

The minority of our customers (less then 3 percent) who do come close will receive a text telling them they are approaching their data allowance and advising them to monitor their usage going forward. At this point customers will not be charged anything more.

If after receiving several such alerts, over a period of few months, customers continue to use excessive amounts of data they will be contacted by Vodafone and advised to upgrade to another data plan to avoid incurring unnecessary additional charges.

Customers will be able to make an informed decision on whether to continue, limit their use or change to a different price plan, giving them total control of their spend.


However, if customers continue to use excessive amounts of data over a longer period of time, the costs are as follows:

Current charge Out of bundle charge
No handheld data bundle 50p a day for 25MB 50p for an additional 10MB

Handheld data bundle £5 a month, or £7.50 with a flexi-bundle £5 for an additional 500MB

Note: 500MB means you can read and reply to thousands of emails, download 24 Google maps and read 8,000 BBC News stories. Today, a tiny fraction of our customers use their full allowance.

Thanks,

Espi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

So does that mean you are going to introduce larger data bundles ? Will everyone have the option of say the 1GB bundle ?

[flagpole]

It's just theft.

last month i only used 100 minutes of my 600 minutes allocation. By the logic of vodafone, because of that they can take my limit down to 100minutes next month and there is nothing i can do about it.

why can't they just stick to the contract we have agreed and introduce whatever charges they like for new customers who can make an informed choice?

ESPI's post pretends that there are currently charges for going over your bundle, we all know this is an out and out lie - please not the vodafone post above only refers to the current charges.

[goomba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by flagpole

It's just theft.

last month i only used 100 minutes of my 600 minutes allocation. By the logic of vodafone, because of that they can take my limit down to 100minutes next month and there is nothing i can do about it.

I couldn't agree more. This is a dangerous game they are playing with their customers.

If I were on Voda, I would be making darn sure I was going over 500MB until this comes in.

[flagpole]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goomba

I couldn't agree more. This is a dangerous game they are playing with their customers.

If I were on Voda, I would be making darn sure I was going over 500MB until this comes in.

quite:

It's worth mentioning that according to the terms and conditions,

if you want to cancel your contract and keep your handset, all you have to do is make sure you use more than 500meg this month

provided your bill is less than £50 a month this will mean that under clause 11biii
You may end this agreement by writing to us if:
we increase your charges in the UK which have the effect of increasing your total call and usage charges (based on your usage in the previous month) by more than 10% and you write to us before the increase applies; or....
This will mean that under the new charging regime your bill would be more than 10% higher and you can walk away with your handset.

I realise this is not exactly in keeping with the spirit of things, but then neither is fleecing your customers. and frankly it serves them right.

[UppyJC]

Not sure what the big deal is here. £5 for 500 MB is not all that expensive. And for the person who asked how much streaming video/audio that is, I hardly think that constitutes fair use.

[robtuk06]

Quote:

Originally Posted by UppyJC

Not sure what the big deal is here. £5 for 500 MB is not all that expensive. And for the person who asked how much streaming video/audio that is, I hardly think that constitutes fair use.

It isn't the point of how much it is.

You don't think streaming video/audio constitutes fair use? It is perfectly legitimate use! One of the daftest things I have heard.

Luckily the change won't affect me as I am on an iPhone tariff.

[tomorrow]

Its streaming TV/You Tube etc that eats into usage ...

/wonder what it takes to watch an film or a few episodes of a series?

Make it clear ...

[stateofgameplay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by UppyJC

Not sure what the big deal is here. £5 for 500 MB is not all that expensive.

It is when they can push that to you at a cost to them of about 4p

[flagpole]

Quote:

Originally Posted by UppyJC

Not sure what the big deal is here. £5 for 500 MB is not all that expensive. And for the person who asked how much streaming video/audio that is, I hardly think that constitutes fair use.

Ha.

1- it's not whether or not it's expensive, it's that we've already agreed what we're going to pay for it and they've just increased it.

2- things like the iPlayer are not exactly science fiction.

[mrdeejay]

Vodafone have been at this game for years.

I was a customer a good number of years ago when your text bunble included your WAP and MMS.

They stopped letting you use MMS messages out the bundle and then done the same with the WAP a year later.

I had a 18 month contract and that is why I took it everything i needed was included and would not need to go over my price plan.

I have since moved to O2. I have never had a problem.

O2 did change their conditions but only for new customers to that tariff, all customers who had the old conditions stay on them so much easier and you continue to get what you agrees to in the first place.

Vodafone are always very sneaky at this. Maybe they are finding out they do not have the capacity on their network for the iPhone!

[legends wear 7]

Vodafone network can cope with iPhone just fine, only reason they would do this is revenue. Termination rates are being cut, the networks will look to recoup those lost revenues elsewhere.