RPI Price Increase 2019 - Applied to Handset?

[geekl33tgamer]

Just need some clarification form the experts here. Vodafone addded the published 2.5% RPI increase to my mobile bill this month. They've added the cost to my entire mobile phone bill.

My issue with this is that the contract price monthly included a handset as well. So, they've also added a price rise to the hardware as well after I purchased it - Is that allowed?

I thought the price rise was apply to Airtime only.

[BandOfBrothers]

So if a contract monthly tariff consists of the airtime and phone as separate entities how would one define how much is for the phone and how much for the airtime ?

My understanding is that the phone is provided as a perk of a full monthly contract.

Which is one reason the monthly tariff does not go down after the 24 month contract term ends. It drops onto a 30 day rolling contract I thought. 

A person upgrades or stays on a rolling contract.

My apologies if I'm confused over this.

Can someone link to a Vodafone official page etc that shows how to breakdown the two parts i.e. monthly tariff to pay for allowances and phone.

I'm aware other networks do this and as such two direct debits are taken i.e. one for the phone and one for the tariff.

[GSpeak]

This may be a case of miss-selling and potentially as big as some of the bank shenanigans. At the time of purchase it is reasonable to expect the RPI, (Annual Price Increase), approved by the regulator would only apply to the Vodafone Airtime, (Vodafone's Regulated Core Business), part of the contract and not the Device Purchase, (Not Vodafone's Core Business, through 3rd Party and under different Regulation and Regulator). Also it is reasonable to expect the Device Purchase Price to be fixed in order for consumer to compare Vodafone and third party Partner deal offered against all other deals, (Partnered or otherwise) , in the marketplace. With RPI, (Annual Telecom Increase), applied to Device Purchase Price mis-selling is suspected and would normally be determined by either or both Telecom Regulator, (Vodafone Airtime Contract), and FSCA, (Third Party Instalment Purchase Contract which should have been Fixed Price). With an Annual Increase of for example 10% this represents a massive increase in the purchase price of a handset which was not transparent at the point of signing contract. 

[chistery]

If you are still on an RPI increase, then you have an old contract and you agreed to an RPI increase on the whole cost. This was part of the contract you agreed to. There was no separate handset and airtime plan back then.

[GSpeak]

Miss-selling is decided by the regulators and the courts and not any member of this forum and certainly not by any party to the miss-selling. Do you think the banks were aware of the forore they were unleashing at the time of their miss-selling, the class actions it would bring about, the billions of pounds it would eventually cost them and the resultant massive regulation crack down on the financial sector. Unfair contracts and unfair contract terms are nothing new and are often discovered and remedied in retrospect. 

[WelshPaul]

Why are you replying to a topic that was started over three years ago?

[GSpeak]

Why not. Miss-selling is not a new thing and remains a very hot and lucrative consumer issue, worthy of revealing, pursuing, resolving and remedying. The longer miss-selling continues, (or is permitted to continue), in any commercial arena the greater that worthiness, the greater the wrong, the greater the numbers of exploited/wronged, the greater the tainted profits and the greater the repayment and punitive awards. 

[MarkD]

Hi @GSpeak, we can see this thread was started in 2019, to clarify, if your mobile contract started before 9 Dec 2022 the monthly bill will increase each April by the RPI figure published by the Office of National Statistics. We have now moved to our new Vodafone EVO plans, this means the device agreement and airtime plan will be on two separate bills. Any annual price increase will be applied to airtime side of the contract and the device agreement will remain unaffected. 

[geekl33tgamer · Accepted solution]

To resurrect my old thread here, Vodafone actually credited my bill each month for the remainder of that contract I talked about in 2019. The credit amount cancelled out the price rise they apply to the hardware as back then they only offered single bills for the whole lot.

It was agreed by Vodafone that a RPI rise on the credit balance still owed for just the hardware is not legal, due to changes brought in by Ofcom also in 2019.

It's a non-issue now as like many other customers I upgraded at the end of that contract and Vodafone no longer sell these plans. I make 2 payments - hardware and airtime separately - and only the airtime payment increased this April gone in line with RPI.

Hope this helps anyone who may still just about be on these older tariffs, as you should NOT have paid RPI increases on your hardware.