[3GScottishUser]

OK. Sometimes companies do really silly things. They introduce offers in good faith and because of the complexity of nowadays bewidering range of tarriffs they get caught up in stuff that does'nt pass the commonsense test.... read below what has happened to me recently.

Happy as Larry with my Vodafone Z500. Bought On-Line from the Vodafone store with 200 mins/month, STC and 250 texts for £25/month. The deal was 1/2 price line rental for 1st 6 months. Fair enough.

Just the 1st bill last week and the half-price line rental has been removed for most of the period. Called Vodafone CS and was told "You changed your tarriff". But i did'nt. "You added Vodafone Passport". Which I did so I could make cheaper calls abroad on holiday as their advertising suggests. They tell you that the facility is open to all Vodafone contract and PAYG customers.

Turns out (after checking) that it is'nt really. Its for 'Perfect Fit' contracts and PAYG presently and if you have an on-line tarriff they switch you onto the closest 'Perfect Fit' tarriff and when they do that you loose your 1/2 price line rental and your 250 texts! They dont inform you about that when you ask for Passport to be added though!!

I have spoken to CS about the above and the problem has been escalated. I will not be accepting this nonsense and have warned them that they are currently in breach of contract for changing the terms of my contract without informing me. Who in their right mind would give up 18 months of 250 texts/month and £75 to save £20 on their holiday calls?

I await the outcome and will post the resolution when known.

Hopefully commonsense will prevail and they will sort out this silly anomaly.

[Hands0n]

Not entirely surprised at your bijou problem. What a poor show.

Of main interest to me, you and the rest of our readers will be how Vodafone's CS actually resolve this issue for you. Of course, the only reasonable resolution is to put you back on the tariff that you originally signed up to and are they are contracted to supply you with. Their own beaurocracy and/or process failings should not constitute a problem on your behalf.

Vodafone CS are reportedly efficient and effective so there is hope for you yet. Those of us who have used other CS operations will know that some are highly efficient, others make the term "Customer Service" a complete oxymoron.

[Ben]

I think it's incredibly important to emphasise at this stage that Vodafone Passport may forfeit other promotional offers such as those available on Vodafone's Online Store. It's very disappointing that, like Stop the Clock, you are basically changing priceplans when you add Passport rather than just signing up for an additional service.

Buyer beware.

[whatleydude]

Stop the clock is only available to people on 200mins and 250texts.. or something like that.

I tried to get stop the clock the other day bit couldn't because I'm on 3G 500mins + 500 texts tariff..

..it's all reather bizarre if you ask me.

[Denyo1977]

OK. Sometimes companies do really silly things. They introduce offers in good faith and because of the complexity of nowadays bewidering range of tarriffs they get caught up in stuff that does'nt pass the commonsense test.... read below what has happened to me recently.

Happy as Larry with my Vodafone Z500. Bought On-Line from the Vodafone store with 200 mins/month, STC and 250 texts for £25/month. The deal was 1/2 price line rental for 1st 6 months. Fair enough.

Just the 1st bill last week and the half-price line rental has been removed for most of the period. Called Vodafone CS and was told "You changed your tarriff". But i did'nt. "You added Vodafone Passport". Which I did so I could make cheaper calls abroad on holiday as their advertising suggests. They tell you that the facility is open to all Vodafone contract and PAYG customers.

Turns out (after checking) that it is'nt really. Its for 'Perfect Fit' contracts and PAYG presently and if you have an on-line tarriff they switch you onto the closest 'Perfect Fit' tarriff and when they do that you loose your 1/2 price line rental and your 250 texts! They dont inform you about that when you ask for Passport to be added though!!

I have spoken to CS about the above and the problem has been escalated. I will not be accepting this nonsense and have warned them that they are currently in breach of contract for changing the terms of my contract without informing me. Who in their right mind would give up 18 months of 250 texts/month and £75 to save £20 on their holiday calls?

I await the outcome and will post the resolution when known.

Hopefully commonsense will prevail and they will sort out this silly anomaly.


My mate had the same problem when he added Passport. Guess he had luck because he just said that he wasn't told that he would lose the 1/2 price line rental and the supervisor authorized that he would get a credit each month. So in the end he still gets the 1/2 price line rental + Passport.

[3GScottishUser]

Hopefully they will do likewise for me but they have some serious recalculation to do to remove the charging for the texts I sent since the surprise bizzarre tariff change.

I will be following this up tomorrow or Tuesday so I'll keep everyone posted.

[3GScottishUser]

OK - They have sorted it!

They apologised for the inconvienience and have agreed to reduce my tarriff by 58% for 6 months to bring it back to the 1/2 price rate. They have also included a £14/month data bundle to cover the 250 texts. I also get to hold onto my Vodafone Passport deal.

Horray...

The best bit.... The problem was not sorted by a Vodafone CSA in the UK.... they did'nt manage to do it..... but their Indian call centre staff did it very efficientley Just goes to show eh?

[Hands0n]

Well done - excellent result.

I'm not entirely sure whether to laugh or cry hysterically at your final paragraph.

[Ben]

It's a great result. It's also a good reminder that we should not paint all Indian customer service operations with the same brush. Any customer service outfit can be excellent if they have the correct powers and training to resolve customer issues. The most hopeless CS outfits in the UK and abroad are those who are simply there to talk the company talk and take notes.

[Nero]

OK - They have sorted it!

They apologised for the inconvienience and have agreed to reduce my tarriff by 58% for 6 months to bring it back to the 1/2 price rate. They have also included a £14/month data bundle to cover the 250 texts. I also get to hold onto my Vodafone Passport deal.

Horray...

The best bit.... The problem was not sorted by a Vodafone CSA in the UK.... they did'nt manage to do it..... but their Indian call centre staff did it very efficientley Just goes to show eh?

Are you 100% sure about this, VF don't have any Indian call centres. You may well have spoken to someone with an Indian accent, but they will have been in one of the many UK centres.

[3GScottishUser]

I am pretty positive as there was a lot of Indian accents in the background. I called about 5PM and I suspect they have some overspill provision offshore. They also sub-contract out their PAYG support at peak times to third parties in Scotland.

[Nero]

VF route overspill calls to a number of third party call centres in the UK, they have access to the majority of the systems that internal customer service staff have. So in theory should be able to deal with any calls/issues in exactly the same way as internal CS. In practice this may not always be the case for more complex/difficult calls, but on the whole the fact that a caller is connected to a third party centre should be invisible.

[Ben]

I've called Vodafone before and been pretty dead certain that I was talking to someone in India also, Nero. Either that or there's a UK call centre with a helluva lot of Indian accents! It definitely wasn't the 'normal' Voda CS people.

[Nero]

VF UK do not have any call centres in India. As with most organisations with a large call centre base VF have toyed with the idea many times, but have to date held off.

Similarly the third party call centres that VF UK use are all UK based. It is possible that if you are roaming with an affiliated VF partner you maybe able to connect to a call centre that is hosted in India, but not with a fully VF owned roaming telco.

[CARLZ500H]

I am on 3g 1000 Mins C/N + 250 texts or Data, and I still Have S/C, So not sure why you whatleydude, were not able to add it too your Tarrif

[whatleydude]

Are you on an 18mth contract?
STC is now apparently subject to being on one of those..

[CARLZ500H]

No 12mth contract, been with vodafone since 29th nov 2004, added STC just after its Launch. I know its only Availble to new customers on 18mth contracts but I was told existing Customers on 12mth contracts can have it added to theirs. :)

[whatleydude]

I tried to get STC added so many times but everytime I was told I had be on a certain kind of contract..

Sucks man..