There is a clause in the contract that says that if they make chages as they are allowed to do and that has the effect of
increasing your bill by 10% based on previous usage
you can cancel
So i put this to them in a polite email, having spoken to 191 and been told to do this.
Quote:
“Changes in Data charges
I have just received a text from yourselves informing me of the changes in data charges and directing me to vodafone.co.uk/dataprices, (which is not yet working.)
After speaking to 191 I have been advised of the changes and how they affect me.
To explain my position I extended my anytime 200 + 500 texts on the 17th of March specifically to give myself the inclusive data that came with the anytime plans and their text packs. I asked the sales/retention gentleman specifically if this would allow me to keep my data and was assured that it would. Indeed I have a recording of him offering this assurance.
I have been advised this morning that 1) on the first of June I will lose my data allowance, 2) the sales team knew about this at the time. As I'm sure you can understand I'm, and I chose my words carefully, a bit annoyed by this, not least because this is the second time vodafone have changed my contract midway through.
I estimate based on a crude calculation that this change, based on my previous usage, will cost me around £16pcm more than I am currently paying, and under T&Cs 8 a) I, this would comfortably allow me to cancel my contract.
My contract is without a handset. I pay £15pcm for my tariff. By way of a solution, I would suggest the following: I keep my existing arrangement until the 1st of June at which point I be allowed to break my contract and move to a new one with inclusive data bundled.
I would appreciate your thoughts on this matter.
kind regards Nigel.
”
Polite of me no???
I was a little shocked by the reply:
Quote:
“Dear Nigel,
Thank you for contacting Vodafone Customer Services regarding data charges text message received by you.
As market research conducted in the past few months we have analysed that our customers like the simplicity and reassurance of a monthly data pack and they want it to be similar to their monthly home broadband package. For this reason we have revised
If you access Vodafone live/internet you will receive 15MBs for that day and you pay only 1 pound for that day
What’s exciting is that you can use any of the following up to 15 MBs of data:
– 20 live! or made for mobile pages (EBaymobile.co.uk)
– 10 Sky Sports pages
– 20 BBC homepages (WWW pages not mobile pages)
– 5-10 CCN pages
– 5 EBay pages
• Examples of 15MB:
– 15 minutes of video streaming e.g. TV
– 600 Vodafone live! pages
– 150 pages of EBay auctions
– 7 music tracks (average live! full music tracks are 2MB)
Please note if you access more than 15MBs of data in one day you will be charged according to your price plan.
Please note that we have not breached the Terms and Conditions as according to the Airtime Terms and Conditions, Vodafone has the right to introduce new prices from time to time providing a 14-day prior notice.
If you wish to view the Terms and Conditions, please visit www.vodafone.co.uk
If there is anything else we can assist you with, please feel free to contact us.
Kind regards,
Jalpesh Parikh
Vodafone Customer Services
”
So there we go.
My bill will double, but it will be easier for me to understand.
I actually understand my bill ok at the moment.
I sent this reply....
Quote:
“ Please respond to the original email i sent you, i can see the advantages of the new data plans you have introduced for some people.
i'm not interested in having some publicity material sent to me but would appreciate you responding to the points i raised.
i am well aware that under term 7a) you can increase your charges with 14 days notice. You will be aware that under 8a)i that if this has the affect of increasing my bill by more than 10% based on previous usage that i have the right to cancel. Simply ignoring me saying this does not make it not so. And if you look you will see that this change will double my bill.
i have proposed a solution to this other than me simply cancelling, in essence i'm suggesting that you add a data bundle to my package on the first of june and would appreciate your thoughts.
also regardless of your t&c's since i have a recording of your sales guy lying to me there is a trade and description issue. With out you co-operation on this my phone contract is essentially worthless to me and so i'm sure you can understand that i'm feeling a little frustrated.
regards nigel”
I'll let you know how i get on.
Since i received the reply at 10pm i suspect it came from india....
It really is shocking behaviour.