Vodafone non contract pager.

[EyeCloud]

I have a Vodafone non-contract pager and can send SMS to it from a Vodafone mobile (PAYG or Contract) but not from other mobile networks. Is that correct?

SMS sent from a Vodafone contract mobile come out of it's included text allowance when sending to the Vodafone non-contract pager - but sending from a Vodafone PAYG mobile costs 12p per message (even if I have a text messaging pack for say 500 SMS messages). Is that correct or should it be taking them out of the pack credits?

Thanks...

[Ben_H]

Hi @EyeCloud 

I can see your email reference [#9954649] is in our queue from 1 April.

Cheers,

Ben

[EyeCloud]

Received an email about this from someone at Vodafone - basically said:

"It seems that you have received pager from third party service provider. In this case, please contact point of purchase so they can guide you accordingly."

Which seems to be missing the point / passing the buck? The pager was not purchased direct from Vodafone but is on the Vodafone paging network.

Vodafone pagers accept SMS messages from Vodafone mobile phones. I have a contract mobile (direct with Vodafone) and a PAYG mobile (direct with Vodafone).

When I send a text message to the pager from the contract mobile the text comes from my inclusive minutes - no problem there.

When I send a text message to the pager from the PAYG mobile the text is charged even though I have a plan that includes text messages. I would have thought the texts from the PAYG mobile to the pager would have come from the included minutes (as they do on the contract mobile) but they do not?

[EyeCloud]

So I replied back and got a reply just to say:

"I am sorry to inform that we do not have access to your account. Hence, I would request you to contact point of service."

The form I completed contained all the details of the numbers - so not sure why they would not have access to my account and what is 'contact point of service'?

Basically the issue is Vodafone pagers accept SMS messages from Vodafone mobiles (both PAYG and Contract). The SMS sent from my Vodafone Contract mobile to the pager come out of the inclusive minutes = fine. The SMS sent from my Vodafone PAYG mobile to the pager get charged even though the PAYG mobile has a text allowance = that seems incorrect?

[Sukhi]

Hi @EyeCloud 

We'll be in touch as soon as we pick up your email.

Thanks,

Sukhi

[EyeCloud]

I am VERY disappointed with this support and it's almost a month since this thread was started.

I was asked to escalate this (which I did) and have received responses via email but they typically take around 2 days to reply to each of my replies and seems they are more interested in making any reply rather than actually answering the question.

Initially an email trying to just get rid of the issue saying I need to speak to the people who supplied the pager - when the issue is with the billing / PAYG SIM supplied direct by Vodafone for SMS sent to the pager.

Then another email asking for security questions when if they had looked I had already provided a lot of details that should have been sufficient. They asked the last time I topped up, how much it was for, the SIM number and the balance on the phone. I provided the exact details for the top-up amount, date and balance but did not have the actual (long) SIM number.

So got a reply back to say it had failed (when I verified the details were correct) and now asking for the last 3 numbers dialled. Bear in mind they already had my name, address, post code and all the emails were being sent from the same email address the SIM is registered to.

Now this SIM is mainly only used for SMS (which if they checked are to the pager and mobile numbers I had supplied). So you can perhaps appreciate why it feels like I am getting the run-around rather than someone actually trying to resolve this.

I am just trying to find out why SMS sent to a Vodafone pager are essentially free (included in my text bundle)  when sent from my contract Vodafone mobile but they are chargeable (not included in the text bundle on my PAYG mobile).

** Please provide details of your complaints procedure and escalate this to a manager **

[Retired-Laura]

Hi @EyeCloud

If you reply to last email we’ve sent to you.

We’re able to escalate this internally via that route.

Cheers,

Laura

[EyeCloud]

The last email I received was asking for another security confirmation - last 4 digits of the payment card registered on the account. Seems a lot of security / questions for something that is not really account specific - for instance I'm not asking for changes to the account or to make a payment. Plus of course they already had a lot of verifiable information (name, address, email address, exact credit balance, exact date and amount of last topup).

So yes I did reply to confirm the last 4 digits of the payment card (as well) - so perhaps I'll hear back in the next few days. Of course this issue (that I would have thought fairly straightforward) has now taken over a month - so yes would still like it escalated to determine why ;-(

[EyeCloud]

Just received a reply to say that SMS sent from a Vodafone contract mobile are free to a Vodafone pager - but not SMS sent from a Vodafone PAYG mobile (even with a text pack / add-on). Seems a bit strange when it's all within the Vodafone network - maybe someone should look at that?

I've asked if there are any text add-ons or packages for PAYG where they would be included and to confirm they are free for all Vodafone contract mobiles.

Anyway at least I now have an answer. It's a shame it took over a month though and time was wasted asking security questions when they really were not needed as it was just a generic question (and not account specific).

[Retired-Sarah]

Hi @EyeCloud

We’ve received your latest email response and we’ll be in touch as soon as we can.

Thanks,

Sarah

[EyeCloud]

Got a reply - just suggesting I upgrade that PAYG SIM to a contract one as then the SMS to a Vodafone pager would be included in my inclusive minutes. Does not really answer the question of why they are not included in a PAYG inclusive minutes - but feels a bit like flogging a dead horse now ;|

In summary - I appreciate not many people use pagers these days but for some uses they are the best option. So it's great that Vodafone let you send a SMS from Vodafone mobiles to Vodafine pagers - just a shame PAYG customers (even with SMS includise add-ons) have to pay for theirs whereas contract users do not.