Roaming charges

[MrBlister]

I have had a Vodafone business account for more than 20 years. I'm exceptionally loyal.

However, I now spend over half my time in France, as I have house there, and, just recently, find I am being charged £2/day for just sending a text! Oh, and when you reach £12 extra in a month, you're disenfranchised - no more calls or texts.

About a year ago, much against my better judgement I was persuaded by one of your ultra-persistent telephone salespeople to add new device to my account, and  - "oh, why you're at it, why not upgrade your other two numbers to more data at no charge?"

Now I realise the reason for this push: this counts as an account change, and since it happened (just) before 11 August 2021, my devices are now charged £2 each per day even if they just send one text. I do not use data when out of the UK - it's switched off. I was not informed by the Vodafone salesperson this would be the result. (Remember, Vodafone, all your calls are recorded, you can verify this.) This is basically mis-selling, and there are laws against it. Obtained under false pretences. Normally when your persistent salespeople called, I always said I was happy with my package and wanted no changes. What caused my moment of weakness? My almost new Android phone (I have 2 SIM only accounts) even classifies the Vodafone sales number as SPAM, so I now don't answer it. Well, no wonder!

It's impossible to speak to a human at Vodafone. I've tried all the numbers listed and you just get ultimately referred to the chatbot and then disconnected. The chatbot is completely useless: I tried to explain my question and the next thing it said was: "I'm sorry you've cancelled your account". Say what??? This is the worst customer service I've ever encountered.

If this continues, that's exactly what I will do. Did I mention I'm bloody furious? No? Well, I'm bloody furious! There!

Tony Casey

[AnnS]

If you are away in France for an extended period due to owning a house, a local French SIM would solve all the roaming charges issues, this would work out a lot cheaper and you could still use your Vodafone numbers for incoming only.  Just keep data roaming and mobile data turned off and you wouldn't be charged a penny for the privilege.

Vodafone Business is very expensive for roaming with the £2.00 daily charge for each number and then there is the fair usage policy where roaming is only intended for short business trips.  Take a look at consumer contracts, they seem to be more generous and depending on the plan you take out, there wouldn't be any charges for using the phone in France.

[MrBlister]

Hi AnnS.

Thank you for your reply. I'll try to be a little more polite as my anger has subsided (just) a little, mainly as a result of a few glasses of wine.

Yes, I do have a French SIM, as does my business partner (wife), which is used for local data - we're not stupid, and we have dual SIM phones. My point is: I'm very much aware of the withdrawal of free data roaming, despite previous strenuous denials from all the UK providers that they would re-impose charges as a result of Brexit. I have data roaming switched off on my Vodafone SIM. SMS texts are a part of the mobile network infrastructure and cost the network providers absolutely nothing. I'm an engineer and used to work in this industry, I remember the GSM protocols.

I have had the same UK mobile number for around 25 years. I use it for business purposes. Hundreds of people use it. If someone contacts me with it, I reply using the same number because that's what people expect. People need to know they can reach me on the same number they did 10 years ago.

My point is that if I had not changed my account last year (under pressure and for reasons I now regret), I wouldn't be getting charged at all, because this only applies if your account was changed after 11 August 2021. Why was I not warned by the salesperson this would happen? This must have been known already and I regard it part of cynical plan. I got texts from Vodafone regarding data roaming changes, so I knew about that and adjusted accordingly.

In the grand scheme of things, this isn't going to break me. But, it's the deceit and underhand method of implementation that's absolutely p....ed me off. Not to mention that over many years, I've paid thousands of £ to Vodafone. Account history obviously counts for nothing. It's not as though I've chopped and changed over the years.

I'm just saying that if these charges are not lifted from my account, I will cancel it. I will change provider and never come back. And Vodafone will unfailingly get 1* in all future reviews, or 0* if permitted.

[Vash]

Totally agree, the same experiences. Awful , 

[chistery]

You get nothing for being loyal. Look around and see what else is out there.

[Vash]

Hi Chistery, what do you mean : "see what else is out there?"  Competitors? 

thx,