What has happened to favouring customer loyalty? 20 years and 5 contracts for nothing.

[Randal1]

I've been with Vodafone for over 20 years, and for the last 12 have had at least 5 phones on contract that all finished at the same time on a 2-year contract, and every 2-years as the contracts finished I would call Vodafone to discuss new contracts.  Normally through several phone calls and perseverance, I would eventually get offered a very decent discount across all contracts for 5 new (not top of the range) phones for the full 2-years, and I would keep my business with Vodafone as a happy customer.

So my current 5 contracts are finishing shortly and once again, I contacted Vodafone to discuss what they could offer with any discounts, only to be told that they can't do any discounts for me this time.  I've tried again several other times over the past week only to be told the same thing on each occasion., and yet researching through some comparison sites and I can get the same 5 phones I'm after on better contract deals for about 30% less all in and still on the Vodafone network, with other networks even cheaper.

I've tried one last time with Vodafone Retentions this evening and again, no discounts offered.  Then when I've asked for my PAC codes I'm being informed that they want to charge me for the privilege of them issuing the PAC codes to me because I'm still in contract with them for another 10 days.  Charge me??? Really???

I'd love to stay with Vodafone for all my phones, but it seems that customer loyalty and having 5 contracts with them for so long all account for nothing anymore.  So I guess I'll be taking my business elsewhere after 20 years of loyalty.

[HelpfulBadger]

I suspect Vodafone are just well on the track of "oops, we sell our services to large business and MVNOs too cheaply so have to put the price up and oh no no one wants to pay over the odds because customer loyalty to a business is rapidly dwindling" road (well done if you read all that and actually understood it).

As a note of interest, are you on the consumer or business side of Vodafone? I've heard business are a lot more flexible in terms of what they can offer.

In terms of the charge that you were told about, the charge isn't to get the PAC code, the charge would be if you used the PAC code immediately and your number was switched next working day as then your line would have been terminated before your contract was over. The person you were talking to should have said "the termination fee you'd pay if you transferred your number tomorrow is XXX, if you transfer your number after YYY there wont be a fee to pay." - At least in my experience getting PACs. If you get it and your number is switched after your contract is over there wouldn't be any charges.

[Randal1]

Thanks for the response @HelpfulBadger.  All my phones are private for my family and kids and have been so for the past 20 years.  Had another call today from them after I got my PAC codes saying that they could do a great discount for me to keep my business, and then proceeded to quote the standard price off the web for each phone and airtime contract.

Regarding getting the PAC codes, I was actually on the phone with them for 2.5 hours yesterday just to get a quote for one phone on the contract and to get my PAC codes, and the operator had to keep putting me on hold (over 15 minutes on one occasion) to discuss with her colleagues.  But your proposal for getting the codes is as I would understand it, but the operator was saying that I needed to pay for the PAC codes.  In addition, she was also saying that she would have to do 5 credit checks just to provide a quote for the phones to me.  Definitely didn't fill me with confidence that she knew what she was doing.

As it is, I can go to a 3rd party company, get the same phone with a better deal, and then be put back on the Vodaphone network for 30% less than I'm paying now per phone.  The only issue is, the operator said last night that I wouldn't be able to use the PAC codes for other Vodafone deals, and didn't seem to understand how it would work if I went back through a 3rd party.  Might be easier for me to just go with someone else instead.

[HelpfulBadger]

As for how you'd go about moving the numbers over to the new con contracts with the 3rd party, there are a couple of options -

1) You can use the PAC codes to move the numbers over to PAYG sims with another provider, and then get PAC codes from that other provider to move the numbers back over to Vodafone.

2) You can put in a 30 days notice to move the numbers over to PAYG with Vodafone, and then fill in the form to move the number onto your new lines.

Either way, the latter part of that step uses the keepmynumber form.

I'm not sure if they still do, but at one point if you went from Vodafone PAYG to pay monthly the credit (if there was any) on the PAYG lines was applied as a credit onto the new account. It's also worth bearing in mind that going through a third party using Vodafone (such as Carphone Warehouse/Mobiles.co.uk/Etc) would require both a new credit check and for Vodafone to allow double your current number of lines as the billing is done by them. If the third party is someone like Virgin Mobile (who use Vodafone in the background, but have their own billing and systems) then it's not as much of an issue, and if it's not Vodafone direct your PAC codes would (more than likely) work as intended.

[simax]

I gather EE are pretty much the same these days. The networks are under the squeeze now, the same as the rest of us.

One thing I’ve learnt over the last few years is that there is no such thing as loyalty anymore. If you see a better deal somewhere else, just go to them instead. And then in two years time when your contract is up, find the best deal and if it’s with yet another company, just move to that other company.

The mobile networks don’t owe you anything for loyalty - and likewise you don’t owe them any either.

[Randal1]

Thanks @HelpfulBadger.  Apologies for my ignorance but I've never done a PAC code transfer before as I've been with Vodafone for the last 20 years.

So if I decide to go through a 3rd party like 'Affordable Mobiles' for example, they are offering one of the phones and packages I am after, but for £20 cheaper than I could get it from Vodafone direct, but the package is also on the Vodafone network (which puzzles me as to why I can't get any deals direct with Vodafone like this).

So if I choose to go with this 3rd party, is it just a case of me also giving them my PAC code from Vodafone so that they can connect me back onto the Vodafone network through their line into Vodafone?  I'm just cautious because I use my phone for company business, and I don't want to disconnect from Vodafone on the one side to then be told you can't reconnect on the other with the same number, and then get left in limbo.

Really appreciate your advice.

[Amanda]

The easiest way to do this @Randal1 would be to contact us via 191 and we can arrange for your Pay monthly lines to be moved to Pay as you go (this takes up to 30 days). 

Then once you've got your new SIM's, fill in the Keep My Number form that @HelpfulBadger has mentioned above and we'll replace your new Vodafone numbers with the ones you want to keep 🙂 

[Randal1]

Thanks @Amanda.  It seems that what should be a fairly straight forward process has been made eminently more complicated by Vodafone.

So whilst I wait for the 30 days to pass to transfer all 5 numbers to PAYG, my contracts (finishing next week) will increase by the 30% that my discount was initially for the full 30 days duration.  No doubt it will probably take another 30 days for Vodafone to then connect me back to a monthly scheme afterwards.

In the lead up to all this, despite me being a 20 year loyal customer with 5 phones on contract, Vodafone won't give me any discount on any new contracts of phones as they have done with every new contract I've had over the past 20 years.

It's no wonder that people leave Vodafone, and I guess I'll be joining that line as well now to move to another provider because this has been an absolutely shocking experience in customer loyalty from Vodafone.

[Getafix]

Have a look at your last Bill for the date your Discount is valid till. It is usually longer than you minimum Contract End Date. You can continue your current contract till that date. Only thing that will change is if you have Entertainment, that will end.

30 day notice to move to PAYG and back to Monthly will be the easiest option.

The other option (Slightly Risky as sometimes things do go wrong and take longer) is get PAC for all, move all line to another Network and once activated, get PAC from them and move number to the New Lines you have got. If you decide to do it this way, suggest, use you PAC on Sunday, so transfers on Monday and get the PAC on Tuesday/Wednesday and use it immediately so transfers back within 24 hours.

[simax]

If you use your PAC on Sunday your number won’t port until Tuesday.

Best times for next day porting are by submitting your request before 5:30pm Monday to Thursday.