I've recently finished one of my contracts with Vodafone. Over the past 3 years I've had 3 concurrent contracts with them for various reasons with my first Vodafone contract dating back over 4 years. I'll be honest I've received fantastic service from them since I started but in the weeks coming up to a renewal I was rather disheartened by the way they were starting to treat me.
As I spoke to various shops selling phones I started to realise that Vodafone were misleading me on several key issues and were also pedalling rather misleading facts that didn't represent a full picture of what was going on. In fact looking back over things I've got to admit I'm actually disgusted at the way they treat me as a customer.
In this past this website hasn't been about ranting and raving but about giving you, our loyal readers, a chance to get the most from your handset. This time however I'd like to make you aware of some of the issues I feel belie a rather dishonest sales technique used by Vodafone (and likely several other companies).
About 3 months ago I did renew one of my contracts, taking out a 24 month contract on a Samsung Galaxy S3. Whilst speaking to Vodafone in store they told me that they were the only way I could get a 24 month warranty on a handset with their network. This wasn't a major selling point to me but something I was curious about so when looking for another renewal I did ask in Phones4U if they offered the same 2 year warranty and to my surprise, they did.
Yes Vodafone had lied to me. I know it was a small detail but it was still a lie.
I was hoping to upgrade to a Samsung Galaxy S4, arguably the best handset on the market. I had called the retentions and cancellations department of Vodafone on 4 separate occasions and spoken to a member of their web team.
On my first 3 calls to the retentions and cancellations team I was told their system was down (this was over the space of 2 days). I was trying to inform them that I had seen a deal with “3” that I liked and one of the team informed me that “3's service were regularly down”, I don't think he saw the irony. I spoke to another operator and the best they could offer me was 1GB data for £37, despite the fact the company had text me on the number I had previously upgraded and offered me a 2GB data deal for £38.
When I was in Phones4U I asked what was the best they could do on Vodafone was and their deals were all £5 a month less than what Vodafone had offered directly. I knew that Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse (amongst other 3rd party retailers) were cheaper than Vodafone directly. I was under the belief (and still am) that this because they are considered an affiliate and as a result have some leeway in negotiating with customers. In fact a company can claim up to £45 per phone on commission from Vodafone as an affiliate (this is publicly advertised on Vodafones own website).
When I spoke to a cancellations agent about the price differential I got told that the reason Phones4U could undercut them was due to “selling my details”. Whether they sell my details or not, I have a strong feeling that the reason they can under-cut Vodafone is at least partly due to being an affiliate.
Now whilst that may be wrong it is my strong understanding that they are on commission and can undercut as a result.
Whilst the “mis-selling” is perhaps a wrong term I do strongly feel that I've been lied to be the company in what they've said, though I can't also claim that. In fact sometimes Vodafone do stick to well understood facts.
In the UK the average mobile phone user used 440MB of data a month in 2012 (according to one of the Vodafone cancellations team). Interestingly this fact is being pushed out a reason not to use “unlimited” or “All You Can Eat” data packages (offered by “3”, “T-Mobile” and “Giffgaff”) though it doesn't actually look at trends (including a big growth last year in the data used by an average customer) or even the reasons behind the figure. (Note "3" have said their average customers usage between 2011 and 2012 moved from 450MG to 1.1GB)
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