It's the end of the road

[Stravonian]

I've been with Vodafone for over 30 years. I currently have 5 iPhones and 2 iPads on my account. I'm paying over £3,800 per year for this, for my family. I've upgraded every 2-3 years during those 30 years without a single problem.

But now for upgrades, with their new EVO thing, Vodafone wants me to submit to a hard credit check for every  phone upgrade. This means 5 of these on my credit file every 2-3 years.

Who on earth is going to want that stain on their credit file and being exaserbated every 2-3 years? I certainly don't.

Believe me, I have tried and tried and tried to remain with Vodafone but, due to this, it looks like my custom of 30 years and £3,800 per year is no longer wanted.

The frustrating thing is, the more phones you have on your account, the worse this problem becomes. In a nutshell, Vodafone no longer has a practical and reasonable way for their best customers to remain with them.

GiffGaff here I come. 😞

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @Stravonian 

That would indeed be a shame to leave Vodafone as I note from your post to date they have provided good phone's and a good network and data connection where you live , work and commute and network features over the 30 years you've been with them without a problem.

Other networks may not offer such connections or data speeds or deals especially MVNO networks when it comes to choosing new phone's.

I appreciate that for most a clear good Credit Score is important if and when they need to apply for a mortgage or loan etc but until then it's really just a number the Credit House's supply to help a lender determine whether they want to accept or not.

I'm sure your aware of this already.

A Credit Score recovers usually after a 90 day period and as long as a person doesn't have too many searches in a relatively short period of time conducted then the Credit History should be fine.

Indeed these searches help provide a better understanding of your financial health.

Most hard searches typically remain on a person's Credit File for 12.months.

https://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/guides/searches-and-credit-checks. 

All that said it's entirely your own decision on how to proceed and I wish you well whether you remain with Vodafone or use a Pac or Stac etc to transfer to a new network.

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/help-and-information/cancel-your-account. 

And https://support.vodafone.co.uk/Joining-leaving/Joining-Vodafone/1450581392/What-are-PAC-STAC-and-INF... 

I wish you all the best.

[AnnS]

Quite understand your reasons for being cautious taking out Evo contracts for all your family @Stravonian .  It's not only Vodafone that have the device and airtime separate and it does have some benefits.  For example: only paying the yearly April CRI increase on the airtime.

You mention Giffgaff, they will only offer SIM only or PAYG and you would need to purchase the devices.

If your family is into social media take a look at Voxi here: Voxi , still Vodafone but with added benefits and works out cheaper.

Apart from purchasing the phones outright and going SIM only, the other alternative is to go third party where the phone and airtime won't be separated, the only problem will be transferring the number to the new contracts.   As mentioned on previous threads, you would need to PAC out the numbers you wished to keep to any other network on PAYG and back in on the new contracts or ask Vodafone to put the numbers on PAYG and move the numbers that way.

[Stravonian]

Thanks for your answers.

While these are practical solutions, the issue I'm highlighting remains and my reason for posting was in the hope that someone from Vodafone might reaslise how frustrating this is.

The bottom line is,, Vodafone does not have a reasonable and practical way for their best customers (paying the most) to remain with them.

Who is going to want to juggle all these credit checks? It wouldn't even surprise me if they fail you on the credit checks for contracts that expire later due to the checks already made on earlier expiries.

Terrible customer retention planning.

[WelshPaul]

These are loans and do far more damage to your credit file than a hard search. Plenty of alternatives out there to choose from! Good Luck.

[simax]

O2 have a similar scheme called “Refresh” however the difference with them is that when you upgrade you do not have to have another credit check done.