Vodafone to cut off inactive phones and rob you of any unused credit

astrofool

trishasaffron wrote: »

So what about my friend who lives in Asia and comes home once a year (using up his few holidays) to mind his elderly mother? he is in his 50s and not a great phone user anyway. but when he does come back its really important to catch up with the few friends he has left in this country and needs to have the same number so that he has a chance of keeping in touch.
What;s the rationale for this?

Why should the number matter here? Surely they can write down the numbers of their acquaintances, or use the elderly mothers number, it's a bit of a nonsense one off example.

jimoc

trishasaffron wrote: »

So what about my friend who lives in Asia and comes home once a year (using up his few holidays) to mind his elderly mother? he is in his 50s and not a great phone user anyway. but when he does come back its really important to catch up with the few friends he has left in this country and needs to have the same number so that he has a chance of keeping in touch.
What;s the rationale for this?

astrofool wrote: »

Why should the number matter here? Surely they can write down the numbers of their acquaintances, or use the elderly mothers number, it's a bit of a nonsense one off example.

Yeah, this example is a bit off isn't it.
He wants to keep in touch with his old friends, who's numbers haven't changed, so he needs to have the same number?? Surely its his friends numbers that matter, not his.

A better example,
Parent gives their child a firefly and puts 10 euro credit on it for them, turns it off and puts it in their schoolbag.
Child is only to use the phone in emergencies, such as parent forgetting to pick them up after school.
9 months later, parent gets a puncture, child gets worried cause they are late and pulls out their emergency phone, turns it on and hits the 'Ring Mammy' button.
But because they haven't gotten topped up in 8 months, nothing.

bunghoe

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Vodafone customers who don’t top-up their pre-paid mobile phone within eight months will have their account disconnected and lose any unused credit.

They could also face losing their number altogether if they don’t reactivate it within the following six months

Those that will suffer in this cut back will be the elderly and those in need that keep a mobile phone just for emergency purposes.

The Consumers’ Association of Ireland said that while it was reasonable to try and re-use old mobile phone numbers, it was “completely unacceptable” that customers lose any credit remaining on their phones.

Chief executive Dermott Jewell said: “It’s the closest thing to putting your hand in someone’s pocket and taking what’s there.”

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/vodafone-to-cut-off-inactive-phones-and-take-unused-credit-2073796.html

Easy solution is to make at least one call in the 8mts, if people are aware that the number will be canx and credit taken. Its the law that they can take the numbers back and recycle them if there not being used. All networks do this.

jimoc

bunghoe wrote: »

Easy solution is to make at least one call in the 8mts, if people are aware that the number will be canx and credit taken. Its the law that they can take the numbers back and recycle them if there not being used. All networks do this.

Problem is, Vodafone have stated that you need to top-up within the 8 months, not make a call.
So for someone with for an extreme example, 200 euro credit on their phone that they haven't used up yet, 8 months after their last top-up they get deactivated, even if they were in the middle of a call.
Vodafone need to clarify whether an active phone is considered as one that is still being used, or one that has been topped up.

Shelflife

bunghoe wrote: »

Easy solution is to make at least one call in the 8mts, if people are aware that the number will be canx and credit taken. Its the law that they can take the numbers back and recycle them if there not being used. All networks do this.

Yes you need to top up, even though my phones were used 4 times a week at least they still disconnected them even though i had plenty of credit on them.

this is unfair as i have paid for the credit, i am using it , but because i am not using it as fast as vodafone would like they disconnect the phone without warning.

sharp practice imo

ardmacha

All that has changed here is that 12 months has become 8 months. For €10 every 8 months you can keep the thing going. And in Vodafone you can transfer credit to other Vodafone prepaid numbers so someone living abroad can move any extra credit to family members etc. Try keeping your gas, electricity, landline, cable TV etc connected without paying anything or even as little as €10.

91011

reading this thread shows that unfortunately there are too many people in ireland that do not want to take any responsibility for their own lives. They want to be minded evry part of the way and for every company they give 2 cent to, the company must bend over backwards for them even if they themselves couldn't give a damn hoot about anything or anyone.

on prepay, you in most cases get a free or heavily subsidised phone. most people will top up regularly and the phone compnay will make a profit, but some people want the free or subsidised phone, top up once and then expect the phone to be available for their use at any stage in the future without giveing the providing compnay any extra revenue, thus putting extra cost onto other users.

maybe vf should revert to line rental charges of €25 a month like eircom?

Yawns

91011 wrote: »

maybe vf should revert to line rental charges of €25 a month like eircom?

they do it's called bill pay.

I know your not technically paying for a line but your still paying a certain amount every month

Yawns

And the point most people are unhappy with is the fact that there is already a system in place to deactivate a number that has made or recieved calls in say 12 months, so why not just use this system.

Shelflife

91011 wrote: »

reading this thread shows that unfortunately there are too many people in ireland that do not want to take any responsibility for their own lives. They want to be minded evry part of the way and for every company they give 2 cent to, the company must bend over backwards for them even if they themselves couldn't give a damn hoot about anything or anyone.

on prepay, you in most cases get a free or heavily subsidised phone. most people will top up regularly and the phone compnay will make a profit, but some people want the free or subsidised phone, top up once and then expect the phone to be available for their use at any stage in the future without giveing the providing compnay any extra revenue, thus putting extra cost onto other users.

maybe vf should revert to line rental charges of €25 a month like eircom?

91011 but i bought 2 sim cards ,no phone, i topped them up and they were in use every week, but what vodafone are saying is yes you have paid for your credit but you are not using enough for our liking and shut your phone down without warning.

what they want use to do is to keep topping up the phone with more credit than you need.

sharp practice imo.

trishasaffron

91011 wrote: »

reading this thread shows that unfortunately there are too many people in ireland that do not want to take any responsibility for their own lives. They want to be minded evry part of the way and for every company they give 2 cent to, the company must bend over backwards for them even if they themselves couldn't give a damn hoot about anything or anyone.

QUOTE]


If you understood the point I made earlier about the friend in Asia the fact is that he cannot make a call within 8 months on the phone because he lives on the other side of the world (where the vodafone does not work so even if he tried he couldn't make the qualifying call) capice?

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

ardmacha

If you understood the point I made earlier about the friend in Asia the fact is that he cannot make a call within 8 months on the phone because he lives on the other side of the world (where the vodafone does not work so even if he tried he couldn't make the qualifying call) capice?

There is no requirement to make a call, only to add credit, which can be done from any Internet browser. Perhaps your friend does not understand the Internet?

missyfirefly

isn't there only a certain pool of numbers that the regulators allow the networks to use so they need to recycle the unused numbers...

Yawns

yes missyfirefly but Vodafone are using the method of spend money or lose the number and they are giving a shorter period of time than other networks who will usually only disconnect a number after a period of non use. Vodafone are doing it after a period of nonpayment.

Our man in Havana

Is it too much to pay €5 every 8 months? I fail to see the issue here.

Shelflife

Bond-007 wrote: »

Is it too much to pay €5 every 8 months? I fail to see the issue here.

Using an extreme analogy, if you bought a bottle of whisky from your local shop and they came to your house and took away the half bottle you had left because you werent drinking enough , would that be acceptable?

you have bought and paid for the credit, they shouldnt be allowed to take it back from you because you arent using it quick enough.

Yawns

I won't lose my number as I do top up every few months, but there was some stage where it would only be maybe once a year. As I say I use my house phone mostly. Only on mob if I'm out n about and need to meet someone.

So when I need a top up I do it by €20 and that does me for months. Should I be penalised if in the future I top up and it lasts me say 9 months? It has happened so it can happen again, I know i have 6 months after the 8 month deadline but why should I be forced down this route while there is a perfectly acceptable alternative

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

the groutch

is topping up a phone by a fiver twice a year really that big of an ask?

Yawns

nope not that big of an ask. IS it that big of an ask to get them to use a system that is already in place?

Rather than spend money on a new system, deal with problems as will happen, then stick the charge onto it's customers in the future? I can see more expensive calls per min etc being made in the future.

I bought a prepaid phone to do as I wanted. I topped up when I needed credit not because the phone company needed me to top up. If I wanted to pay a bill with them every 8 months that's fine, I'd know in advance and not accept their conditions and went somewhere else. As I said already I have no problem topping up but hey €20 gets me a few months as I use the house phone.

marymc

Couldn't be bothered reading the whole thread, but Meteor did this to me. Clearly it's not just Vodafone. And when I called to ask about it, I was put through to some thick yobbo up in Dublin with zero social skills.

At least when you call Vodafone, you can understand the accent, and they seem to be required to pass some form of IQ test before being hired.

lucy2010

eth0_ wrote: »

This is nothing new and has been going on since pre-pay phones first came on the market in Ireland!

8 months is plenty of time, imo.

Yes agree this has always been the case with the providers. Advise to the client on purchase was always make 1 call or txt a month to keep it active ( just so they wouldnt forget). It also meant they never lost their credit in the days where credit expired.The numbers go into aging & are reused.There are so many people out there with multiple numbers over the years they need to do it to ensure supply of numbers . It may seem severe as seen in the media but it has actually always been the case.

davoxx

vodafone does not have any bill details for pay as you go, and i'm sure that every now and then that they charge me extra, buit there is no way to prove this, i can not tell how much each call is costing.


on the whole this is unacceptable, and i for one will leave vodafone once my credit is up. I think that we should all do this as the company as a whole just keeps getting worse and worse.

philcsl

Yawns wrote: »

My house phone is a cheaper option for calling mobiles so why not use it instead. If they offered me a better deal I would get rid of house phone and use mobile only. It's not up to the customer to attract the business, it's the other way around.

For your landline you pay €25 per month before you make or receive a call. If you don't want to make any outgoing calls you still pay €25 per month or your number is cut off.

On your mobile if you just want to receive calls you top up by €5 every 8 months, which is 63c per month, plus you have €5 of credit to make calls 'in case of emergency' of that is your reason for having a mobile.

Will Full Mobile Number Portability you can keep your number and move to any other network so it would be a good idea for you to do this and select a network who's terms of business better suit your needs

Yawns

With my home phone I have the broadband package so that deal is better for me. Most of my calls are landline so are included in my package. There is currently about €30 worth of credit on my phone, has been there a few months. I havn't used my credit yet. When I use it all I will go top up, as I have always done. Now I must top up every so often even if I have credit in my phone.

I know it's only a small amount, but it's the principle of it really. There is a different system already in place for inactive phones and there numbers get recycled. Why now are Vodafone implementing a new system whereby you must pay to keep your phone active.

I'd understand if they did it to inactive phones, or phones with no credit. But now I am basically being punished for not using my mobile phone a lot.