Broadband services

[pally]

The Vodafone Sales team are signing up existing customers with new broadband, landline plans which sound attractive & cheaper but no mention that the GST is not included in the price, or other charges, like caller display.

5 days to opt out, but until the first bill arrives a few days later with the GST added on and there is no saving &

we are hooked into the 24 month contract.  They have a new billing system.

By then the old account is closed & new plan operating.

Totally misleading, unethical & illegal not to fully disclose all costs at point of sale.!!!

Many phone calls, but getting no-where.

[JulieCrengle]

Hi Pally

Email the Commerce Commission  contact@comcom.govt.nz

I have just done that, as our experience has been exactly the same.  We did want a new plan.  We did not ask for a new plan.  All we wanted was a replacement Sky decoder.  Vodafone insisted our existing plan was due to expire (I do not think that is true) and we had to have a new plan.  The new plan reads "Total $154.13 a month ".  It absolutely does NOT say "plus GST" - even though Vodafone now tells me its prices are always stated without GST (and I told them that's a breach of the Fair Trading Act).

In addition, we wanted to keep our landline.  Vodafone insisted the new plan includes a landline.  Of course, it doesn't - it includes voice calling over broadband but not our traditional landline.  Vodafone says it is too late to get our old landline back.  And in the meantime the new connection is not up, so we have no landline at all.

So - our request for a new Sky decoder has resulted, instead, on us being on a new plan we don't want, without one of the services we DO want !

Julie

[pally]

Hi Julie,

Thanks for that information.  You are probably in a worse position than I am, loosing your landline.

I am just gutted on being ripped off.

Dont know how they can get away without full disclosure.

Have put through a complaint, but of course have not heard back.

Will email commerce commision.

There is also a telco complaints outfit too.   See what works.

Goodluck,   Pally

[capcomnz]

@pally 

@JulieCrengle 

This sounds like typical Vodafone incomptence as normal.

You can read my thoughts on this embarrasment of a company here:

https://community.vodafone.co.nz/t5/Vodafone-TV-SKY/Vodafone-tv-not-connecting/m-p/228579#M6851

Perhaps @HamishSansom can get one of his manager buddies to look into this typical behaviour for you or are they still hiding away under their desks. Come on Vodafone step up.

There is a complaints page that can be done:

http://help.vodafone.co.nz/app/answers/detail/a_id/20058

But i find that they will respond to you saying they will 'escalate" to a higher team (or something like that), then close the complaint. They are cunning like that. You open it by replying to the email.

They do nothing about these. I consider its their policy to just keep the customer in the dark in the hope they will go away..

The process can also go through the Telecommunication Dispute Resolution (TDR) Scheme as well.

Have you also considered Fair Go.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/fair-go/contact-us

Sounds like something they would handle and I am picking the show must return to TV soon.

Good luck

[JulieCrengle]

Update:  After bombarding Vodafone with my complaint in various forums - and after emailing senior executives (Vodafone does, at least, make their executives' email addresses publicly available) our copper landline connection has been restored, and we are back on our original plan.  They can't give us back Sky on our old plan, for reasons I don't quite understand - but it turns out we can get Sky TV directly from Sky for less than Vodafone is charging !

I still think it is very poor form for Vodafone to be telling people that call in for "simple" things that they "have to" sign a new plan.  One would think that if Vodafone wanted to move customers onto a new plan, the better way to do it would be to contact all customers, explain why the old plan was being retired and what the new plans would include, and give the customer a decent period of time to decide what they want to do (go onto the new plan, or some other plan, or go elsewhre).  Simply forcing a new plan on customers is not exactly great customer service !