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Switching from PAYG to Pay Monthly

Marrea
4: Newbie

I think I have made a big mistake.  I received a “You’re eligible for a discount” email from Vodafone on 12 January, as follows:

 

“Thanks again for choosing Pay as you go with Vodafone.  As an existing customer, we want you to enjoy our best deals on data, minutes and texts – so why not move to one of our great-value Pay monthly SIM only plans?  There’s a range to choose from, and you’re eligible for an exclusive discount.  Take a look at a plan we’ve picked out for you below.  Red Extra 7GB plan.  For you, just £9.00 a month, 7GB of data, unlimited minutes and unlimited texts on a 12-month plan.”

 

This sounded attractive, so I applied.  Vodafone are currently doing a credit check and I am awaiting their response.  However I suddenly realised that I have £30 credit still on my PAYG bundle and I wondered how I get that money back.  To my dismay I have just found https://support.vodafone.co.uk/Pay-monthly/Understanding-Pay-monthly/1464003822/How-do-I-switch-betw... which states “Make sure you use up any credit you have left on your Pay as you go SIM, because we can’t transfer it to your Pay monthly account.”

 

If a switch from PAYG to Pay Monthly is made, is there a cooling off period so I can cancel and then wait until I have used up my £30 before I change to Pay Monthly? 

26 REPLIES 26

BandOfBrothers
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

 @Marrea 

 

Obviously something isn't quite going right here for you and your account status.

I would suggest to call 191 or use Live Chat to get this resolved , as well as leaving Samsung message on Twitter DM or Facebook Messenger for the Social Media Team's.

Customer services will instantly access your account to see what is happening. 

I wish all the best. 

Current Phone  >

Samsung Galaxy s²³ Ultra 512gb Phantom Black.

 

 

Amanda
Community Manager
Community Manager

I can understand your confusion @Marrea and I'm sorry for the conflicting information you're getting. 

As @AnnS and @BandOfBrothers have mentioned, we'll need to take a look at your account to see what's going on with the move from Pay as you go to Pay monthly - please get in touch with us over social media 🙂

Thank you AnnS, BandOfBrothers and Amanda for your replies on this.

 

I have today spoken to Ankita on Vodafone Facebook Messenger about my PAYG payments, on which she has reassured me.  After looking at my account she said I should ignore the text message I received yesterday as it was probably sent due to a technical glitch.  She confirmed that my current bundle would expire on 28 February and I have a credit of £25.13.  So hopefully all is well there. I also took the opportunity to ask her if she could give me any information about when my switch from PAYG to the £9 Pay Monthly Red Extra 7GB Plan would be confirmed.  I applied for this c.18th January after Vodafone sent me a “Switch to pay monthly now for a discount” email on 12th January suggesting that I move to one of their “great value Pay monthly SIM only plans” and that they had picked out that particular plan for me.

   

Ankita said that she had checked my account where she could see that my credit check “was not done successfully” and due to that my number is currently active in pay as you go.  I was slightly confused by this and asked if when she said that the credit check “was not done successfully” it meant that I would not be able to change to Pay Monthly, ie something came up during the credit check which somehow does not qualify me for Pay Monthly?  She wasn’t able to answer my question but suggested I contact one of the advisors on chat at https://www.vodafone.co.uk/paygcd who would be able to help me out.  I have not had time to do this today but will try and contact someone tomorrow. 

BandOfBrothers
17: Community Champion
17: Community Champion

You're welcome welcome @Marrea 

 

This isn't going smoothly at all for you is it  :Sad_face:

As far as I'm aware Unfortunately Vodafone UK are unable to provide a reason as to why a Credit Check has not been successful as their systems only show an acceptance or declined status.

They advise to contact one or more of the Credit Houses, Experian being one, in order to check that nothing wrong has been recorded there.
It doesn't always come down to a credit score problem, or a certain time at the address. As a quick example, it can be due to the amount of incoming to outgoing payments. If a customer has a mortgage and a car and something else on finance, then something else for the kids which is paid monthly, the credit check is ran to see if the customer can pay the finance (monthly cost) based on other payments per month. 
To add even a clear Credit File with good Credit Score does not guarantee acceptance. It's also good practice to let 90 days elapse before making another application in order to let the Credit Score recover.
Vodafone's help page is https://www.vodafone.co.uk/privacy/credit-checks

It might be beneficial to visit a Vodafone Highstreet Store and apply in house and make sure they do a manual Credit Check to see if that is successful.

However you wish to proceed I wish all the best. 

Current Phone  >

Samsung Galaxy s²³ Ultra 512gb Phantom Black.

 

 

Thank you BandOfBrothers for your advice and best wishes.  I have had further online chats with Vodafone this afternoon at https://www.vodafone.co.uk/paygcd.  I’m still none the wiser about my credit check “not being done successfully”.  They didn’t know anything about a Pay Monthly Red Extra 7GB Plan (a SIM only deal for existing customers) and implied that must have come from a third party marketing website, probably Uswitch.  I’ve just looked back at the email and it was dated 12 January 2022, was headed “You're eligible for a discount”, and gave the last four digits of my mobile number at the top.  At the bottom of the email it said “Vodafone Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for consumer credit lending and insurance distribution activity (Financial Services Register No. 712210) Registered in England and Wales. Company No 01471587. Registered Office: Vodafone House, The Connection, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 2FN.”  It all looks pretty genuine to me and there was also a link which took me to the Vodafone website.  I’m now going to have a rethink about whether I actually want to change from PAYG to Pay Monthly and if so I think the only way I’m going to get this sorted out is to go to a Vodafone store.  I need to get a new phone at some stage anyway because the non user replaceable battery in my existing one is past its best.

Re my online chat with Vodafone yesterday and being told they didn’t know anything about a Pay Monthly Red Extra 7GB Plan (a SIM only deal for existing customers), I thought I would try and post a screenshot of the email I received about this from Vodafone on 12 January.  Does it look fairly genuine?You are eligible for a discount.jpg

This is normally a straight forward process moving from Pay as you Go to a contract account, we're sorry to hear that in your case, this has been anything but straight forward. We know that you've contacted us on multi channels previously, we would recommend that you give our team call on 191 free from your Vodafone mobile or call into a local Vodafone store. When you're speaking with the team, if needed, the advisor can call through to our Credit Assessment department to review the outcome. As @BandOfBrothers has said, we're unable to provide the reason for the outcome, this could depending on many different things. Let us know how you get on 🙂

Thank you for this, MarkD.  I was planning anyway to visit the Hemel Hempstead store next weekend to see about getting a new phone to replace my existing one with its failing battery.  I shall ponder between now and then whether I seriously want to pursue changing to Pay Monthly or simply stay with PAYG.  I hadn’t really thought about changing to Pay Monthly but when I received that unsolicited email from Vodafone about the Red Extra 7GB plan at £9.00 it did make me reconsider.  After all, one big advantage would be that I wouldn't have to keep remembering to top up every so often!

 

As BandOfBrothers has suggested, purely out of interest I am going to contact Experian and see what they come up with.  I will report back on that and also how I get on at the Hemel store. 

Please do keep us updated @Marrea, that would be great. I think checking your credit reports, to find out what information is held about you and what accounts are showing as active is a really good idea. 

Well I’ve just completed the free Experian check and my score was 893 out of 999, which equals Good, and the comment “Your score means you should get good (but possibly not the very best) credit cards, loans and mortgage deals.”  I already have two Visa credit cards which I have had for years but recently was forced to apply for a third, non-Visa, card to keep Amazon happy.  You may have read about them threatening not to accept Visa any more.  I’m not sure whether that is actually going to happen or not now, so I may have obtained a third card for nothing!  My credit cards are always paid off in full each month by direct debit.  I don’t have any loans and our house (no mortgage) is jointly owned by my husband and me.

Anyway I shall let you know what happens after my trip to the Vodafone store next weekend.