Does Vodafone care anymore about retaining their customers?

[ElMartinez83]

Hello,

I have been with Vodafone for probably 12 years now and usually when it comes to upgrading the contract, I was genuinely very pleased with the way’ Vodafone was acting to retain me as a customer. As an iPhone fan, every two years I was able to get the brand new model with a 20-25% loyalty discount on the data plan. And although the total costs with this discount weren’t cheaper than Vodafone’s competitors, due to this little “special” treatment I have always decided to stay with Vodafone. But it appears that something must have changed with the company’s perception to retain customers since despite several (disappointing) discussions with Vodafone’s agents, no one seems to be bothered about me leaving the network for the first time ever. I even have my PAC number ready…

Don’t get me wrong - I am not expecting miracles, but if I compare the total costs of Vodafone non-discounted deal for Iphone 14Pro, 256 gb and 100 gb plan of 1885 across 24 months vs threes 1491 (for the same deal) then surely the choice is obvious here.

So am I missing something obvious here or did they actually stopped caring about retention of their customers?

Sorry for the rant but it’s so disappointing…

[AnnS]

With the new Evo contracts @ElMartinez83 here Evo the device is separate from the airtime part of the contract. 

The only part where you would be able to negotiate would be the airtime. 

The other alternative is going third party. 

[ElMartinez83]

Hi @AnnS  - that’s exactly what I was hoping for - a discount on my future airtime (which on many previous occasions I had offered to persuade me to stay for another 2 years).

So Unless I am simply not talking to the right personnel (I have said I am planning to leave, so surely it must be right department), for some reason Vodafone for the first time ever is happy to lose me as their client. Sad but as I said - competitors deal which is 400 gbp cheaper across 24 months is a lot…

[AnnS]

Third party resellers often work out a lot cheaper @ElMartinez83 go for a new contract and move the number to the new contract, the quickest way to do this is by porting out the number you wish to keep and porting back in on the new third party contract.

The only thing to be concerned about is the April CPI price increase, going with Vodafone you only pay this on the airtime part of the contract, with the device and airtime bundles together, you pay on the full price.

Other than that if you are not satisfied, port out and go with a different network.

[simax]

In anticipation of the MASSIVE CPI+3.9% price increases looming, I took the decision to buy my iPhone 14 Pro outright and move from PAYM to PAYG. Now only paying £15 a month for a bundle and prices not subject to CPI contractually. And if the bundle prices go up, I’ll just go.

[ElMartinez83]

Hi @simax @AnnS  - so if I understand your comments correctly- if I go for the bundle - “airtime + new mobile phone”, when the price increases next year, I will get hit on the WHOLE package rather than just the “airtime” part of it? And therefore subsequently from April I will be paying more not only for the airtime but also for the phone which of price hasn’t changed?

[simax]

On EVO, you only pay the CPI+3.9% on the airtime contract, not the device loan. If you go via a 3rd party (such as Carphone Warehouse) where it’s still traditionally a subsidised handset and a large airtime agreement you’d pay CPI+3.9% on the whole thing.

[JamesBand5]

It certainly is disappointing. One would hope that Customer loyalty for such a long time counts for something. 

One other option would be to get a Device plan from Apple directly and then have maximum flexibility with a 30 day rolling Airtime contract for your SIM. 

[simax]

If you go down the sim free route for a device, my strong advice would be to AVOID 30 Day Monthly Sim plans. Pay as you Go is usually far better value.

For example, I pay £15 on Voda PAYG for:

Unlimited minutes and texts

20GB data that rolls over if I don’t use it all in a month.

The same 20GB on a 30 Day monthly sim is £33! Plus the data doesn’t roll over if not all used. 

No brainer really.

[hrym]

Another thing that can be worth doing is to wait until the price increase has applied and then renew.   You'll go back to the headline price until next year.   Assuming you're going for a 24 month contract (usually by far the best value), you'll only pay one year's price increase before you can do the same thing again.   The only time it's worth not doing that is if you've got a deal that effectively gives you more than you're paying for (I have 3gb for the price of 1).   Only when the cumulated increases put the price too high is it worth signing up again.