Pay monthly services

[nosaj]

Hello,

After only discovering the 44555 service recently, I've found it useful for checking my usage and allowance statistics. However upon ringing up this morning to find out my stats for the last few days, the message received stated

"Usages: see www.vodafone.co.uk/myaccount for info"

instead of listing them in the message as was usually the case. As a business user, the facility to see real time usage stats does not seem to be available to me via the my account section, s seem to have lost one of the only ways to view them. 

Can anyone shed anymore light on why this 44555 service has been changed?

[Dave]

Hi nosaj,

We have been changing the content of the messages recently, but that was to provide more information such as data usage.

I'm surprised that this has happened, as we're looking to encourage people to use our range of self-service channels for convenience and speed, so closing one off seems a little contradictory!

Can you confirm if that's still happening, just in case it was a temporary fault, and if not when exactly it started for me?

Also, what happens when you try to view the unbilled usage online?

This will help to see what the cause is, so we'll know if it’s something to get raised or something we need to fix on the account. If anyone else has the same issue, please let us know by posting here as that will help us to get this sorted.

Dave

eForum Team

[nosaj]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your reply. I have just tried the service this morning, and it seems to have changed, but now I am only getting info about my voice calls/minutes (up to 1 Aug) and nothing else. I purposefully sent a few txts and used my contract data earlier (as opposed to usual WiFi access) to see if this would reflect any change in the service, but so far it doesn't seem to have had any impact.

In the top summary of my unbilled usage, it again only shows details of minutes. The below section does list other things like text and data charges, up to 31st July, but it is a bit inconvenient having to download and add up all that data. 

The 44555 service was working relatively well up until last week, so not sure of the change.

Also, is there any plans to implement a web-based service like this for business users? From reading these forums, I understand the new account section has a handy usage statistics area for personal customers.

Thanks,

nosaj

[DaveCD]

Hi nosaj,

Thank you for your quick reply.

I have just called 44555 on my handset as I was aware there had been an issue with the service over the last couple of days, however this does appear to be rectified for voice and SMS and Data is currently being looked into.

What handset do you currently use?

The reason I ask is because if it is an Android handset or an iPhone you can download an application free of charge called My Vodafone, I have this on mine and it shows the Data usage remaining.

As for the web-based service for business users I do not have a great deal of information, but rest assured we constantly strive to improve our service and be the best.

Let me know if this has helped.

Many Thanks

DaveCD

[nosaj]

Hi Dave and thanks for your reply,

The service seems to be working again via the 44555 phone number. Am I right in assuming that this resets itself at the start of each month, and that I wouldn't see any info about texts/data on it until the system has registered that this type of usage has actually happened?

On another related 44555 point, I currently have a 'bolt-on' pack on my contract for 100 international texts. When I select option 1 on 44555, I get a text telling me my remaining minutes/standard texts, but it seems to cut off the info about international texts. It tends to read "For your '100'" and then just cuts off. Do you have any info on why it would not display all of the info?

I am on a Nokia E71 if that help

[Martin]

Hi nosaj

The balance checker will indeed refresh at the start of your billing cycle, that way it is easier to manage your usage.

I'm not sure why it is cutting off the international text information, can you try option 2 for me please and does this give you the amount that you have used?

Thanks

Martin

eForum Team

[nosaj]

Hi Martin,

Option 2 on the service only provides details of the allowances included in my price plan, minutes, standard texts and data usage.

Would it be possible that the phone I use has a certain character limit for text messages, and that's why the info from option 1 gets cut off? Is there any other way for a business user to find out how much of the international text pack bundle I have used?

Thanks

[Dave]

Hi nosaj,

It does sound like the SMS is hitting a character limit. The standard limit for the SMS is 160 characters, so can you check if your message is cutting off either then or at a multiple of that such as 320 or 480 characters? Can you also check if you get an additional text for me with the missing part of the text?

At this point, the two ways available to check on the usage for your international texts would either be to check the unbilled usage breakdown on my account or to call up and an advisor can tally this up. Business accounts are set up to allow for more than one number and an administrator to oversee online access, which explains why you may see differences between the two in the available services. 

I'll feed back about the additional packs showing on My Account, and in the meantime if you can let us know about the number of characters that the SMS is truncated to, we can look to get that flagged up as well for you.

In the meantime, if you want to leave any feedback on how I've answered your query today, please pop a few words here!

Dave

eForum Team

[nosaj]

Hi Dave,

thanks for your reply. i have had a quick check on the character amounts of the 44555 text message. A text received from option 1 (the text message that seems to get cut off) is approx 240 characters. Rather oddly however, a text received after selecting option 2 (one where I get all the info through) is approx. 365 characters.

I only ever receive 1 text per option selected, and have never received a 2nd text for option 1 like I have for previous things.

Any further ideas? Do Vodafone send an alert when nearing the limit of an extra bundle, like I have heard they do when nearing the end of your data limit? That would help if so.

Thanks

[Wayne]

Hi nosaj

Thanks for letting us know this. I’m not entirely sure why this is happening so we’ll need to get this investigated. I’ve sent you an email over to the email address that you registered with. All you need to do is hit reply and fill in all of the information it asks for. We’ll then get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks

Wayne

eForum team