You are the weakest link – goodbye! (Vodafone Network)

Member Name: Technical Tobes

Product:	Vodafone Network
Date:	23/02/01 (525 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good coverage, lowest call rates

Disadvantages: Reward scheme withdrawn, poor value for money

I’ve been, or should I say was, a Vodafone customer for years and until now was very happy. As of today however, I’m turning Orange – at least in the mobile sense!

Before I start ranting about Vodafone, I see it as only fair to point out the plus points of the Vodafone network. I’m not going to list all the different tariffs and prices as this would be, firstly a mammoth task and secondly, of very little point since their tariff guides are available online via their website or at any mobile phone shop & are likely to change fairly frequently.


/###/ GOOD POINTS /###/

// Coverage //
Vodafone has arguable the best overall network coverage. Before you all start commenting things like ‘I think One2One’s coverage is better’ etc etc, let me clarify this statement a bit.
Naturally, all networks will have some places where they are better than others, for example a couple of miles away, One2One is the strongest signal, Vodafone medium and Cellnet non-existent! Vodafone however, has the best chance of getting a signal country-wide, in fact, while travelling I’ve never been in a situation where my Vodafone mobile could not get a signal – this is in contrast to my Girlfriend’s, first One2One and then Cellnet mobile. Orange seems to be the only other network with comparable coverage.
Naturally, you want to check out you location’s coverage first before deciding on which network to go with, although all are generally good these days unless, like me, you live in a rural area.

// Call Costs //
Vodafone has the best call rate of all the networks, however you will need to get the ‘local-saver’ option to benefit. With this, as I have (on the Vodafone 60 plan), you end up with local off-peak calls at 2pmin, non-local 5p/min & daytime local calls at 5p or 10p during the day.
This of course, is only of great use if you make a lot of calls, l
ocal calls being the majority. This tariff works out at around £20/month – contract only.
There are of course countless variations so you really need a booklet to look through, although in general, Vodafone call rates are cheaper than the other networks.


/##/ BAD POINTS /##/

Now I’ve listed all the good points that I can see with Vodafone (there used to be a lot more!), I can get on with enlightening you as to why a long-term Vodafone customer like me would want to leave…

// Reward Scheme – withdrawn //
I’m rather into collecting Air Miles as this can make travelling abroad a lot cheaper. I was therefore rather pleased when, a couple of years ago, Vodafone introduced their reward scheme that gave you Air Miles for your usage of their network. Although not a particularly generous portion of Air Miles (only about 50 or so a year), this was a good reason for me staying with them.
Last month they withdrew this scheme stating that they have already reduced the average mobile phone bill of their customers by so much and withdrawing this scheme would allow them to do so further (b*ll*cks!!).
This was particularly hard to swallow, as my average bill has stayed exactly the same since joining, if anything it’s actually gone up!

// Vizzavi – ‘devamped’ - crap! //
At the same time as the above, Vodafone revamped their website (renaming it to Vizzavi in the process) and sent me loads of rubbish about how good the new site will be and all the amazing new services it will offer.
In effect, they took away the two and only two services I used with the site, namely the ability to forward email and free text message email alerts.
They added all kinds of rubbish that I can’t believe anyone actually wanting. A few internet search engines (wow – we really needed them), crappy news etc text message alerts – which just serve to bug you with po
intless information and, well, that’s about it. A new look and, well, nothing special at all really.
To make matters worse, most of the basic features you’d expect to find (like text messaging for example), were not available for a good month after the new site was launched, hence the new site is next to useless for me.
Oh, and they changed all the users password etc to get in – complete messing mine up which I still haven’t bothered sort out as it’s not worth it.
Bottom line:- the old site was quick, easy and had lots of useful and powerful features. The new site has all the power (and useful) features removed and all kinds of junk added.

// Customer Services //
I have worked in the retail business (my Girlfriend still does) and know all to well how Vodafone operate their customer services.
Basically, if you a contract customer, you stand a fair chance of getting to speak to someone – eventually.
If you are a ‘Pay As You Talk’ (PAYT) customer, you have next to no chance of getting any decent service.
Vodafone split the two and have a dreadful record when it comes to sorting out problems with PAYT customers. When I used to sell mobiles, I’d actively push customers towards another network to avoid the hassle of any and frequent problems

// Value For Money - not good! //
Vodafone seem to be lagging quite a way behind now when it comes down to value for money. Although you may think I’m contradicting myself as earlier I said they have the best call rates, this nowadays, has very little to do with the package, let me explain…
While Vodafone call rates are the lowest, you must remember that with all tariffs and networks you get a free number of minutes (60 with Vodafone 60) so the majority of user will never get to the stage when the call rates apply, I rarely use up all 60 minutes in a month – and the rollover anyway.
What is more of an
issue is the following (applies more to contract phones)…
- Line rental: Vodafone are about the same as the other networks.
- Text Messages: Vodafone are the most expensive @ 12p per message which is double that of Orange @ 6p.
- 0800 Numbers: Vodafone charge for 0800 (free) calls.
The most important out of these is the text message charge, text messages are booming now and Vodafone are really stinging their customers at this rate.
Although the free 0800 calls may not see that big a deal, it annoyed me some time ago when certain companies were offering free WAP access via an 0800 number – which was thus only free for Orange and One2One customers. It’s also annoying having to pay for freephone numbers!


Overall then Vodafone really annoyed me over the last couple of months with lots of junk mail advertising the fact I’m getting more value for money with them over the last few years (which I haven’t!) and their new improved all singing & dancing Vizzavi site which is, in my opinion, crap compared with the old one. And of course, to top it all, they withdrew the last thing that I thought was good about Vodafone – the Air Miles rewards.

Vodafone – you are the weakest link - goodbye!



Thanks for reading, all comments & ratings welcomed,
Tobes (TT).

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