[Tom Tom]

Phoned Vodafone back in August to see when I could cancel my contrat as it had been a year since the last upgrade.

I was told December to cancel or I could upgrade then on an 18 month contract . Fair enough,
I phone today to check the date in December and was informed I could upgrade in Dec but not leave now until 10th Feb 2007. Move the goal posts.

They only way out is to pay £145 to buy out my contract early.

Also they had changed my contract from the one I had asked to keep since 2001 and each upgrade believed I was on the same to find out today I am on a different plan. I was informed I was sent a letter, which I was I guess but most of the time I file these things with a quick glance (my fault here not theres) but Direct Debits you just know the money will come out.

Vodafone are expensive and I hope more people move to other networks. As they are expensive and you get very little for the money you pay.

Any one know a way out of the contract (loop holes?)
Can I port my number before the contracts up as the cost of line rental of Vodafone and that of a new Orange Racoon 35 would be about the same as the Racoon package covers the ammount of calls and texts I use a month.

Thanks for listening, please post any disgrunttled customers rants here make me feel good at being angry with them.

Hi,

Sorry to hear of the problems you've had with your Vodafone contract. I think the confusion caused here is that your contract runs up until 10th February 2007, although with Vodafone you can upgrade sixty days (i.e. two months) before the contract ends, hence the mention of an upgrade being possible in December 2006.

It would be possible to request a PAC from customer services at any time to port your number out of the network, although you would have the early termination fee to be paid up until 10th February 2006 for the agreed contract.

Hope this helps provide you with a little more information.

[Inj]

Yes, yes, yes...I've had similar woes that I posted a while back. I'm still in email contact with Vodafone, but I too will be persuing other avenues.

In short, my tariff changed and was classed as a "non-hardware upgrade", which basically meant that I cannot upgrade my phone until next April at earliest.

OK, I changed the tariff myself, no problem there, but it's what they DON'T tell you is what gripes me. You stay with them to retain business, but you don't get rewarded for it. New customers get all the kudos, so I'll be a new customer for someone else in that case.

Likewise, I'll have to pay a £113 cancellation fee, but I'll be waiting post-Christmas for obvious reasons before I do this.

[ma1234]

This is not just a Vodafone 'thing' though, all networks are going the same route with good deals to attract new customers and poor deals for some existing customers.
It all seems to me to be going down the what you are worth to them route and that doesn't necessarily mean how much you spend.

[Inj]

Quite. I don't spend a fortune with Vodafone, not by any means, I'm just not prepared to reward bad behaviour and sit by and take it whilst they don't listen to their customers.

Other providers may and will live by the same rules, but it's not the first time Vodafone have got my goat. I'm not just picking up my ball and taking it with just for the hell of it!

[newaly]

I too have been annoyed by vodaphone.
My last few bills have been very high but would be half the price with orange as a new customer.
So last week i lowered my tariff with vodaphone to the lowest possible and rang on Monday to pay off the 6 mths of my 18 mth contract.....it came to £114 but was going to get that money back by the money saved switching to orange.

The really annoying thing is that I have had to make 9 calls and 1 email to get this far but still they will not give me a Pac code............I have to wait 5 days. Not only have they annoyed and lost a long term customer but they will not allow me to leave peacefully.... Never Again!!

[BradleyLove]

Out of curiousity - why not just phone them up, tell them you're leaving. Then cancel their direct debit.

You'll be suprised how quickly they'll be in touch and how they can suddenly find an amazing deal for you...

- S

[danharvey]

Originally Posted by newaly

I too have been annoyed by vodaphone.
My last few bills have been very high but would be half the price with orange as a new customer.
So last week i lowered my tariff with vodaphone to the lowest possible and rang on Monday to pay off the 6 mths of my 18 mth contract.....it came to £114 but was going to get that money back by the money saved switching to orange.

The really annoying thing is that I have had to make 9 calls and 1 email to get this far but still they will not give me a Pac code............I have to wait 5 days. Not only have they annoyed and lost a long term customer but they will not allow me to leave peacefully.... Never Again!!

And you would wait 5 days to get a PAC code from O2, Orange, and Virgin as well. If you had asked them to look ar your bills you would have probably got a better deal.