Vodafone New Phones (Rant)

Sengoku79

So I'm fed up waiting on Vodafone to respond with release dates for the SE K800 and the Nokia E70 have asked a few times and have been told varying dates between aug-oct for both.

But today bites the biscuit, I go into a phone dealer whom I've bought off before as he generally gets good info re release dates etc. And this is what he has been told by Vodafone.

1. Both phones have been tested and are ready for release.
2. Both phones are in stock i.e. warehoused.
3. Both phones are available for dealers, but not the public.
4. Until they get rid of their excess stock of k750i's neither phone esp the k800i will be made available to the public.

He told me that this is a particular trait of Vodafone's hence why the range is so small and dated in the Irish market, as we are used by Vodafone UK as a dumping ground for their excess stocks as in most cases it just requires a reflash to the Irish settings.

He has not been given a release date and has been informed that until they(Vodafone) are happy that stocks have been depleted enough they are not/will not be released to Vodafone existing/new customers.

As it stands with me I am elegible for an upgrade on Vodafone but am seriously considering going elsewhere as in my opinion this is a completely unacceptable manner in which to treat your customers.

GenericName

I am in the same position. I have had an upgrade pending for 15 months. But no phone has been released that sufficiently peaks my interest. At the moment, if the release the Nokia N80 I'll settle for that. Other wise I've been happy with their service. A bit pricey maybe, especially for data, But otherwise good.

Two other boards members said I should consider buying SIM free. Never thought of that as I figured I was gonna get a big discount. Turns out, ordering a SIM free and unlocked phone through e-bay is just about the same even after my Vodafone discount!

Now I can have the phone, unlocked and unbranded and I'm free to port to whoever offers a better deal for my usage.

Which I plan to do. Goodbye Vodafone.

constitutionus

im in the same boat man. ive been waiting since june for the nokia 6280 to come out on vodafone. it was meant to be out then but they then said it wouldnt be out till september. now theyve emailed to say that theyre not gonna release it at all.:mad: i was posting in another thread about this and i know the damn thing is for sale on vodafone in germany and the UK yet we dont get it. so ive decided to say "feck em", i was in 3g in the square today enquireing about buying it on 3pay and it looks like a good deal (particularly considering i mainly text so the idea of 5c texts/picture messaging /video messaging to any network is very attractive to me) so as soon as i use up my credit im switching from vodafone ready to go to 3.

screw these guys, the only thing that counts in this country is your spending power. theres no point complaining cause they dont really care, so just take your businness away from em till they learn their lesson

vodafone is acting like a classic monopoly, or duopoly as the case may be. in that they really couldnt bother their ass cause theyre the biggest player so feck em , im off. (and i say this as a guy who has shares in the kip!)

GenericName

That's an interesting read. But the problem remains, Meteor and o2 don't offer a half decent range of phones either. And 3 is fairly restrictive in many ways.

I guess that's why thy get away with such cynical business practise.

constitutionus

true. god nothing could make me move to meteor, the range in crap. in fairness o2 have recently got a few decent phones in but your right its still awfull. ive been hearing problems from other people about 3 but to be honest i dont leave dublin and i havent been abroad for years so the whole coverage and roaming thing doesnt bother me and im not all that interested in unlocking and the like so i reckon i'll be all right. though i will admit i was looking forward to using mobile TV. the phone has the best screen outside of the N80 and i thought it'd be perfect for it but ah well. i wont miss what i never had, and i will miss the free webtexts but thems the breaks . sides im really more interested in the video aspect of the phone and the 64mb memory card makes it very attractive.

does make you wonder how many people are being turned off vodafone by its marketing policy,guess the guys just arent that hungry for businness

I was looking the Nokia N90 for a while, but guess what? no network here has it. And the SIM free price on expansys is unreal.

assasinator

Sengoku79 wrote:

So I'm fed up waiting on Vodafone to respond with release dates for the SE K800 and the Nokia E70 have asked a few times and have been told varying dates between aug-oct for both.

But today bites the biscuit, I go into a phone dealer whom I've bought off before as he generally gets good info re release dates etc. And this is what he has been told by Vodafone.

1. Both phones have been tested and are ready for release.
2. Both phones are in stock i.e. warehoused.
3. Both phones are available for dealers, but not the public.
4. Until they get rid of their excess stock of k750i's neither phone esp the k800i will be made available to the public.

He told me that this is a particular trait of Vodafone's hence why the range is so small and dated in the Irish market, as we are used by Vodafone UK as a dumping ground for their excess stocks as in most cases it just requires a reflash to the Irish settings.

He has not been given a release date and has been informed that until they(Vodafone) are happy that stocks have been depleted enough they are not/will not be released to Vodafone existing/new customers.

As it stands with me I am elegible for an upgrade on Vodafone but am seriously considering going elsewhere as in my opinion this is a completely unacceptable manner in which to treat your customers.

This is nonsense. I am reliably informed that the reason K800i and V630i have not been released is due to software isues that Sony Ericsson are yet to resolve.

Then why do Vodafone UK have them? It can't be a software issue if they've got them - it takes hardly any extra work to change a Vodafone UK firmware to Irish settings.

Sleipnir

Sounds like a perfectly normal thing for a company to do. What would you expect? That they release the new model and put 1000 of the old model in to a skip? Or lose money on them?
Vodafone wouldn't be the company they are today if they behaved that way.

I do understand your frustration by the way. I'm just surprised you think this is unusual.

Owen

SIM free isn't the rosy garden you think it is. I have the n90 for a year now having bought it in Bangkok as soon as it was launched in Asia. Vodafone don't support it, which means two things :

Vodafone Live's service is unavailable (All other web pages are fine)
Vodafone won't insure the handset

I have to use Fonesure.com, a UK company to insure my phone for € 10 a month, which as it turns out is handy, I had to get a new handset last week.

Sleipnir

I only but sim-free now because i HATE all the branding VF put on there phones. So I bought this http://i.expansys.ie/i/b/b130380.jpg and we're getting married soon and plan on having lots of babies.

constitutionus

assasinator wrote:

This is nonsense. I am reliably informed that the reason K800i and V630i have not been released is due to software isues that Sony Ericsson are yet to resolve.

vodafone said the same thing to me about the 6280 when it was meant to lauch in june. guess what, it aint comming out at all now. be afraid man, be very afraid !:D

j14

I'm in the same boat. I have an upgrade due since May and as yet no phone has managed to float my boat. I really like the look of either the N80 or the SE k800. Neither of these two are availible on Vodafone as yet. Like Constantinus (sp) I too was waiting on the 6280 for months, only to be told it's not coming out. The selection of phones on Vodafone is useless. I'm a Vodafone customer for the last 7 years and a heavy user (avg bill €120 per month) the reason I moved from 02 was the coverage in my area (Lucan) was rubbish. It looks like a move back to 02 is on the cards as the reception is just as good as Vodafone and they are stocking the SE k800 at the moment. J.

jrey1981

I sympathise as I am due an upgrade on O2 and I was told recently that the newest Nokias coming out would be the E 61 and N 91.

I want either an N73 or an E 50...

Where has the SE K800i our of curiosity?

ns06

I'd stick with O2 as at least their handsets aren't as heavily branded as Vodafone's.

Have you actually seen the Vodafone K800i? Let's just say it's been cheapened by Vodafone's deliberate use of green and red call/ hang up buttons!

Aquos76

ned78 wrote:

SIM free isn't the rosy garden you think it is. I have the n90 for a year now having bought it in Bangkok as soon as it was launched in Asia. Vodafone don't support it, which means two things :

Vodafone Live's service is unavailable (All other web pages are fine)
.

Are you sure about this. I managed to get Vodafone Live and MMS settings set up on Nokia 6280, another phone which Vodafone are not supporting. I downloaded the settings from the Nokia.ie website.

Here is the link for the settings for the N90

http://www.nokia.ie/cms/Setup_Settings

Let us know how you fair out....

Aquos76

Aquos76 wrote:

Are you sure about this. I managed to get Vodafone Live and MMS settings set up on Nokia 6280, another phone which Vodafone are not supporting. I downloaded the settings from the Nokia.ie website.

Here is the link for the settings for the N90

http://www.nokia.ie/cms/Setup_Settings

Let us know how you fair out....

It will "work", but the result is a plain WAP page with no mobile TV or graphics.

If you get the full Vodafone Live on your 6280 it may be that they had planned to release it, but the N90 was never on the books.

ns06

The 6280 was pulled at the last minute so it was definitely going to come out at one stage, but like you said the N90 was never on the cards

rogue-entity

You know, this may explain the "delay" with 3 getting the N73. They probably want to use up any remaining stock of one of its predecessors like the N70 or the 6680. Either that or they do have a genuine delay and will launch it on time to compliament their existing (albeit) limited range.
Three UK has it out now, and they are doing that ghastly Yahoo! Go thing now which will will probably have by the end of the year.

partholon

im pretty sure i saw the N73 in the 3g store in the square in tallaght last week. for the life of me i cant remember if its sim free or on the 3 network but i reckon the former. they had the N 80 first when it came out (for 649 ouch!) so its probably the same deal. meaning you can by it now very expensive or wait till it hits a network and save 200.

sorry i cant be any clearer but i was looking for the 6280 not the N73, I just remember they had a fair few new phones in

j14

jrey1981
I saw it in the Carphonewarehouse on Henry St. in Dublin last Thursday (07-09-06) evening. It was €179 on a Price Plan. Not too sure which Price Plan but I'd say it was one of the more expensive ones. Vodafone are releasing it before the end of the month.

Also Vodafone are NOT releasing the N80 according to an email I got this morning from Customer Services. J.

Sengoku79

Vodafone Customer Support July 17

Dear Customer

Thank you for contacting us with your query. Please accept our
apologies for the delay in responding to your query.

We have no information at the moment with regards to the Sony
Ericsson m600i or the Samsung e900.
We are currently testing the LG KG800 but as yet do not have an exact
launch date.

Here is a list of handsets we hope to launch within the next few
months:

Nokia N73 - We hope to launch this handset at the end of September
Nokia 6131- Due to be released in July
Sony Ericsson K800i - Due to be released by the end of August
Sony Ericsson W850i -No exact date is confirmed for this handset

If you have any further queries, please call us on FreeFone 1907 and
we will be happy to assist you.

Yours sincerely

*************
Vodafone Customer Care Team

Vodafone Customer Support August 10


Dear Mr ***

Thank you for contacting us with your query.

The Nokia E70 is due to be released by the end of August.

If you have any further queries, please call us on FreeFone 1907 and
we will be happy to assist you.

Yours sincerely


_________________________
***********
Vodafone Customer Care Team

For information on self service options and on Vodafone's Products
and Services visit our website at http://www.vodafone.ie



Vodafone Customer Support Sept 11

Dear Customer

Thank you for contacting us with your query. Please accept our
apologies for the delay in responding to your query.

We do not have a launch date for either phone yet, both handsets are
still being tested.

If you have any further queries, please call us on FreeFone 1907 and
we will be happy to assist you.

Yours sincerely


_________________________
***********
Vodafone Customer Care Team

For information on self service options and on Vodafone's Products
and Services visit our website at http://www.vodafone.ie


So here we are September 11, and two phones which were originally due to be launched at the end of august are now in limbo, yet amazingly both phones are available in the UK for free as a first time connection.

This is disgraceful behaviour from vodafone.

ns06

Different networks, different testing needed for handsets.

Why do you think the firmware on handsets are different for each country?

Granted Vodafone may be delaying the launch to clear stock but come on.
It makes good business sense to launch a handset as soon as is possible to recoup the costs for all the R&D in the first place!

ns06

Nokia N73 - October
Sony Ericsson K800I - Mid October
Sony Ericsson M600I - October/ November

LG KG800 (Chocolate) - Not Launching

ns06

ns06 wrote:

Different networks, different testing needed for handsets.

Why do you think the firmware on handsets are different for each country?

Granted Vodafone may be delaying the launch to clear stock but come on.
It makes good business sense to launch a handset as soon as is possible to recoup the costs for all the R&D in the first place!

All Vodafone firmware is identical, usually only the settings are different, PPM on Nokias, Flex on Motorolas.

PH4T

Sleipnir wrote:

I only but sim-free now because i HATE all the branding VF put on there phones. So I bought this http://i.expansys.ie/i/b/b130380.jpg and we're getting married soon and plan on having lots of babies.

How do you find it?

I was going to get the P990i but seeing as Vodafone don't support it it's crazily expensive SIM free so I may consider the M600i

Guy:Incognito

j14 wrote:

It looks like a move back to 02 is on the cards as the reception is just as good as Vodafone and they are stocking the SE k800 at the moment. J.

Do they definately have it?, it isnt listed on the site. I've been looking for one.

buddy

Sengoku79 wrote:

4. Until they get rid of their excess stock of k750i's neither phone esp the k800i will be made available to the public.

Interesting then that you can't buy the K750i in Vodafone Stores for the last month or more then??

MiCr0

the v600 is now gone from the vodafone website too

j14

Stekelly wrote:

Do they definately have it?, it isnt listed on the site. I've been looking for one.

Both Liffey Valley and Henry St. have it advertised. They have prices for both 02 and 3 on the little card beside the phone. The CPHW has it down as a mid Sept release on 02 but they have it out on the shelf.
J.

ns06

The K750i has been finished since about June. They started selling the last of their stock about then. They probably envisioned the K800i coming out in August to take over, but obviously that hasn't happened!