Extra data

[Elliebo]

I don’t use my mobile data that much so the 2gb i get as part of my monthly package is plenty. Twice Ive needed more. Once was when I was in holiday abroad and I bought the £20 extra data and then a few weeks ago when I was in hospital and I bought the £10 extra data 

I am aware of the conditions in that this is a monthly add on until I cancel and obviously on both occasions I’ve cancelled before the billing period ends.

i am also aware that once I cancel the extra data I lose any data that is left up to the extra amount I bought.

is this really fair. If I pay for the extra data that month then I would expect to be allowed to use that data during that monthly billing cycle. I totally understand that no data, either that included in my monthly package or any extra purchased,  can be carried over into the next billing period but surely if I pay for a certain amount of extra data in a billing period then I should have use of that data during that billing period 

I think it’s bad enough that you can’t just buy a one off extra data as oppose to the way you do it now which is add it to the monthly package until the person cancels it. 

to me it’s underhand and devious. Firstly because you are taking data that I have paid for but I also imagine you hope people will forget to cancel or decide to carry on with the extra data.

I have been with you many many years, even though I could have sometimes got better deals with other providers. I wouldn’t like to even guess how much I must have spent with you over what is probably around twenty years

well this is the thing that has now made me look at Vodaphone differently and im

 Very disappointed with what you are doing with the extra data

[BandOfBrothers]

I agree to a point @Elliebo that when a person has paid for an extra data pack allowance then they should not have any remaining removed and should run until exhausted. I was pleasantly surprised when Vodafone allowed the normal tariff data to carry over for another month. (Im Payg) so their systems are not that linear where the allowances have to reset after 30 days  !

The 30 day refresh of allowances is a Mobile Network industry standard which i personally do not see changing anytime soon. 

Yes its all in the T&C's we agree to and sign up to.

[ToniCa]

@Elliebo

You've posted in PAYG, but, if you have a PAYG account, you get the full 30 days of any Extra, even if you cancel during the 30 days. And yes, is does automatically renew unless you cancel.

On the other hand, I think the £20 Extra must be a Pay Monthly item, as I've never seen any sign of it when I've needed an Extra for PAYG. And, for some reason, Vodafone seems to perpetrate something akin to legalised theft against its Pay Monthly customers.

http://www.vodafone.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/consumer/mobile/pay-as-you-go/vodafone-extras/index.h... despite its address covers Pay Monthly Extras as well, and PAYG rule 8 is in stark contrast with Pay Monthly rule 4. If I produced a document like that at work, I'd expect to be blasted out of the water by my manager.

[Elliebo]

Hi I agree but I’m not even wanting the extra data to last till it’s exhausted. I just want it to last for that billing period. My bill date is 17th so I cancelled the extra data package on 15th to make sure the extra data wasn’t just automatically added in the next billing period - that’s how it works in pay monthly- so I only had two days without mobile data but I think if you cancel and there is still a day or two till your billing period ends then the data should stay for that day or two and automatically go when the new billing period starts in the same way that my included data does. Even if I cancel it on the last day of my bill I still have one day with no mobile data. I know it’s splitting hairs but I just think it’s not a very customer friendly way of doing things ☹️

[ToniCa]

It could be that the impossibility of getting an Extra across the bill end lies at the root of the problem, though PAYG copes with more than one Extra, not in sync with each other, and not in sync with the main bundle.

As you say, it would be a lot better if cancelling an Extra meant it would last to the end of the billing period. 

[ToniCa]

A further thought, which might be relevant.

With PAYG, my experience has been that an Extra is always used ahead of the allowances from my regular bundle, regardless of the relative expiry dates. If the same applies to Pay Monthly, and you can foresee the need for an Extra in a particular month, would there be any mileage in buying it while you still had, say, 500MB of your regular allowance remaining? Then, if you cancelled the Extra a day or two before your billing date, you would still have the 500MB in hand to tide you over.

Of course, this bright idea only works if Pay Monthly behaves the same as PAYG in this respect, and looking at the details of problems that get reported on the two boards, it ain't necessarily so.

[Alex]

@Elliebo I'm sorry to see you're disappointed with how our extra data bundles work. 

I'll make sure your comments are fed back to the relevant team for review and I'd personally like to thank you for taking the time to express your feelings on the process. 

[Getafix]

Before when you added Extra Pack, Vodafone allowed you to use the full amount. At the time the Pack was not aligned with the Billing Cycle and you could cancel it anytime. And the prorated charge would be refunded.

This was open to abuse, and probably was as well. You could add a pack on 1st of a month, remove the pack on the 10th, so get 2/3rd refunded and still keep the full allowance. If they were to say prorate the charge as well data, what happens if you have used the all the data in that 10 days?

Vodafone changed it to align it with the monthly cycle. In the process they changed the conditions too. So if you cancel you lose whatever you have not used.

I agree that as you have paid the full amount, then you should be allowed to keep it. However as it is aligned with Billing Cycle, technically they are updating your Tariff. So when you cancel it the Tariff reverts removing the Extra. Easier to do it this way, then worry about ensuring that Tariff changes at the end of the month.

With this new way removes all the hassle of prorating bot the Charge and Data.

[Elliebo]

Sorry it’s my first post. I didn’t realise I had. Even posted in a category. I will change to pay monthly. The extra data defo doesn’t stay with you on pay monthly 

[Elliebo]

I don’t use my mobile data that much so the 2gb i get as part of my monthly package is plenty. Twice Ive needed more. Once was when I was in holiday abroad and I bought the £20 extra data and then a few weeks ago when I was in hospital and I bought the £10 extra data
I am aware of the conditions in that this is a monthly add on until I cancel and obviously on both occasions I’ve cancelled before the billing period ends.
i am also aware that once I cancel the extra data I lose any data that is left up to the extra amount I bought.
is this really fair. If I pay for the extra data that month then I would expect to be allowed to use that data during that monthly billing cycle. I totally understand that no data, either that included in my monthly package or any extra purchased, can be carried over into the next billing period but surely if I pay for a certain amount of extra data in a billing period then I should have use of that data during that billing period
I think it’s bad enough that you can’t just buy a one off extra data as oppose to the way you do it now which is add it to the monthly package until the person cancels it.
to me it’s underhand and devious. Firstly because you are taking data that I have paid for but I also imagine you hope people will forget to cancel or decide to carry on with the extra data.
I have been with you many many years, even though I could have sometimes got better deals with other providers. I wouldn’t like to even guess how much I must have spent with you over what is probably around twenty years
well this is the thing that has now made me look at Vodaphone differently and im
Very disappointed with what you are doing with the extra data