Vodafone overcharging for friends for less calls?

Our man in Havana

I had noticed that voda were charging me 15c a min for off peak calls to my friends for less number and I challanged them on it.

Called helpline and they refered it to technies who acknowledged the error and credited my account for 1 call.


I told them that I belived that I was been systematicaly being overcharged since the change in tarriffs. They are refusing to investigate because they quote their T&C's that they are not obliged to give details of calls to customers.

I think this is bad. What do you guys think?

Would their T&C's stand up?

James

jesus_thats_gre

Look, I am one of the Vofafone "techies" ya happen to mention there.

It is as simple as this, there is the odd occassion where you may be over-charged for calls. When this happens to 1 person, it happens to at least 30,000 other people. This means that the problem is always identified and you are always credited back as soon as possible, you wont even realise it most of the time!

Regarding our reluctedness to investigate your over charing theory, I myself have been doing this job for three year and there has never been a case where a "paranoid" customer was correct about being consistently over charged. If you have not guessed, your more than likely wrong. Also, it is illegal to do this, as such the billing systems is checked at least three times a day. Thirdly, the T&C's will stand, trust me when I say a number of people have tried and failed.

If you still think your right, as unlikely as that is, you should record every usage of your phone over a long period of time and then compare what you should have been charged to what you have actually been charged. That way you will know you are wring or you will have proof that Vodafone are over charging you.

Cork

I rang Vodafone yesterday about "Friends for Less". I was charged 15c off peak to make a call to one of my 3 nominated numbers.

It so happened that, Vodaphone is not allowing the friends for less discount on calls made to a landline.

I think they have to be to 087s. I amy be wrong here. Could somebody clarify this?

sunbeam

They told me that if you already had landline nos. as your FFL you could keep them.

I tried changing one, but if you do that all landline nos. must be changed to 087s (on My Vodafone, anyway) so I left them as they are. As my RTG phone is out of credit I haven't checked what they are charging me for them though.

jesus_thats_gre

Yes, the friends for less only applies to 087 numbers. But you get reduced text rates on those three number, 8c each.

There is a problem with the charging with calls and sms to FFL numbers and they are aware of that. That is why when you call them, they will probably go "ohh yeah, we are aware of that and are trying to fix it"

Emmo

It sounds like a reference table issue, perhaps there where a few problems when the new rates where being input.

Why not see what O2 will offer you to swap to them or what gurantees they could give over thier terms and conditions?

Emmo

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by jesus_thats_gre


Regarding our reluctedness to investigate your over charing theory, I myself have been doing this job for three year and there has never been a case where a "paranoid" customer was correct about being consistently over charged. If you have not guessed, your more than likely wrong. Also, it is illegal to do this, as such the billing systems is checked at least three times a day. Thirdly, the T&C's will stand, trust me when I say a number of people have tried and failed.

If I request a copy of the call records under the data protection act 1988 they will have to supply me with the data within 30 days or face legal action. Terms and conditions that infringe on a persons satuatory rights or imply that you do not have rights are invalid.

jesus_thats_gre

Good luck to you on that one!!! Dont know how that will work out.. If ya give me enough money I will give them to ya, lol, I am only messing!!!

flywheel

Originally posted by Bond-James Bond
If I request a copy of the call records under the data protection act 1988 they will have to supply me with the data within 30 days or face legal action. Terms and conditions that infringe on a persons satuatory rights or imply that you do not have rights are invalid.

under the Exceptions to the Right of Access point 8 is highlights back-up data, although it does have a specific comment that archive data is subject to an individual’s right of access in the normal way

may be worth giving the DP office a buzz to see if they can give any guidance

i did notice Voda included this statement in reply to a Request for Information under the Data Protection Act:

In relation to call detail informaiton this information is archived and there is a cost of approx. Eur 50 per month for each month of data

hope you get some joy,
BrianG

flywheel

Originally posted by Cork
I rang Vodafone yesterday about "Friends for Less". I was charged 15c off peak to make a call to one of my 3 nominated numbers.

It so happened that, Vodaphone is not allowing the friends for less discount on calls made to a landline.

I think they have to be to 087s. I amy be wrong here. Could somebody clarify this?

You used to be able to pick three any 087 or landline numbers to save 20% on peak calls - but they changed that with the new Friends For Less promotion they launched recently where only 087 numbers can get a discount (on peak/off-peak/text)

Also noticed for the new set-up they say "Rates quoted above are promotional rates until the 31st of August 2003" - so what ever is going to happen in September...

Had a landline and 087 set on the float RTG SIM here - and they are still listed as the FFL numbers - just checked and the 087 number gets the discount, the landline was charged at full rate (no discount) - so looks like it's just ignoring the landline number that was set-up under the last Friends For Less system...

BrianG

sunbeam

Could it be that they are applying the old system to landline nos. and only giving a peaktime discount? Still haven't had a chance to check this myself....

flywheel

dunno... only tried after dinner (pasta always comes first!! )

will give it a shot in the morning - or if you get a chance to try first let us know how you get on

atb,
BrianG

Our man in Havana

Originally posted by DubWireless
under the Exceptions to the Right of Access point 8 is highlights back-up data, although it does have a specific comment that archive data is subject to an individual’s right of access in the normal way

may be worth giving the DP office a buzz to see if they can give any guidance

i did notice Voda included this statement in reply to a Request for Information under the Data Protection Act:

In relation to call detail informaiton this information is archived and there is a cost of approx. Eur 50 per month for each month of data

hope you get some joy,
BrianG

From http://www.dataprivacy.ie

You should also include any additional details that may be necessary to enable the organisation to locate your record; e.g. customer account number, staff number, or RSI number (if you are writing to a public-sector organisation). When requesting some types of record, such as credit records or Garda records, it may also be useful to provide a list of previous addresses, previous names, and date of birth. You may be asked to pay a fee, but this cannot exceed €6.35.

flywheel

that's right there is a nominal fee - although Voda didn't charge me anything for my request (which was a nice surprise) - i wasn't looking for call detail information though

just letting you know what they stated in a standard reply so you could be prepared / check it out before hand... (you might want to take it up with them - i didn't write it their legal dept. did!)

only offered the info as it seemed relevant to your situation looking for call detail info... the data protection act is aimed at personal data held about you... you'd need to investigate how it deals with data like billing/call details...

and you're welcome, btw

atb,
BrianG

RicardoSmith

I thought you could see your old bills online with vodafone. But maybe its only the current month. I always intended to make a excel macro to work out the billing exactly, but its sooo complicated I never found the time to do it.

flywheel

you're right - you can for pay monthly (bill) accounts - this particular issue was on a ready to go (pre-pay) account though

viewing the online bill is a handy service alright (when you can access it - does seem to be off line / unavailable a lot) - one problem they haven't addressed is that GPRS sessions are shown by connection time rather than by Kb (or per page since they started making their WAP charges more complicated!) - that also throws the monthly Unbilled Call Minutes total out (displays you have used 1000s of minutes if you keep lenghty GPRS sessions going!)

O2 manage to display the Kb value during the month for GPRS sessions in their online system, although they don't sum the value which would be handy - but at least they give you some meaningful information

BrianG

flywheel

Originally posted by sunbeam
Could it be that they are applying the old system to landline nos. and only giving a peaktime discount? Still haven't had a chance to check this myself....

just gave it a shot and got charged the full peak (50c per minute) charge to the land line number

BrianG

sunbeam

Originally posted by DubWireless
just gave it a shot and got charged the full peak (50c per minute) charge to the land line number

BrianG

Tried today and yes, I'm getting that too-although customer care claim I should be getting the discount. They told me to ring back in a few days when they could check the call on their system.

sunbeam

Rang them yet again today and was eventually told that there is a technical fault-discounts should work on landline numbers provided they are dialled from your phonebook and not entered manually. Sure enough this seems to work.:)

jesus_thats_gre

I work in Vodafone's Tech Support Team.

What you were told about dialling it from you phonebook is complete crap. The network has no way of distringuishing whether you have manually dialled the number in or selected it from your phonebook.

It probably works when you manually dial it but ya just didnt realise it.

Feck sake. :rolleyes:

sunbeam

Originally posted by jesus_thats_gre
It probably works when you manually dial it but ya just didnt realise it.

Feck sake. :rolleyes:

Well I tried to argue it with them, but they kept insisting :rolleyes: I was told ''well it is an Eircom number so the system is recognising a +353 prefix in front of it and won't recognise it as a friends for less number''. I pointed out that surely all Irish numbers, including 087s should be recognised as having a +353 prefix. Answer :''no they are not''. I was put on hold numerous times while the rep queried every statement I made and eventually was just too worn down to argue any further.

After reading the post by Dubwireless I actually did two timed tests on this. One of the numbers is my home landline number so the timing was pretty accurate as I was sitting beside it at the time. On these I was being charged 50c per minute.

Today after my rather long call to customer services I tried using the phonebook and got the discount. I didn't bother checking if it worked by dialling it in manually as I've wasted enough call credit on this already.