Yet another example of Vodafone web page confusion: Free Herald, twitter, Google Maps and Bump

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › Yet another example of Vodafone web page confusion: Free Herald, twitter, Google Maps and Bump

1 | 2 | 3

335 posts

Ultimate Geek

#505605 12-Aug-2011 15:31

Now if I Was Vodafone - I can either say "That is lame - it is so obvious"... Or listen to their customer and do something about it.

What would you like them to do? There is a big heading at the top of the picture in the screen shot saying "Our pick of iOS apps". How would one make the fact that it is referring to apps clearer than this?

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#505609 12-Aug-2011 15:36

uglyb0b:

Now if I Was Vodafone - I can either say "That is lame - it is so obvious"... Or listen to their customer and do something about it.

What would you like them to do? There is a big heading at the top of the picture in the screen shot saying "Our pick of iOS apps". How would one make the fact that it is referring to apps clearer than this?

Get rid of the "Free" statement.

uglyb0b

335 posts

Ultimate Geek

#505620 12-Aug-2011 15:56

Even though it's very clearly a reference to free applications?

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#505628 12-Aug-2011 16:08

uglyb0b: Even though it's very clearly a reference to free applications?

Yip. Because like others have said, it sounds like a free service.

Its the very reason why vodafone was fined by the com com for the $1 per 10MB deal. It has to be spelt out.

Its sort of like with my current ISP SNap, I have free youtube/google. Meaning that all my google apps on my PC are free, and that includes the data. And thats a hell of a lot more than just free to download the free apps. If i was suddenly now finding that i was being charged for that data - would they be free?

simon14

1889 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#505648 12-Aug-2011 17:33

BlueToothKiwi: Yeah I saw that BraiiGuy..

Anyway - I think Vodafone should do a deal (like they have done with Sky)... and give users a dataplan with five common sites everyone wants ...

For me - I want on my iPAD to access the following sites with 'free' Data - and I will be happy to pay a fixed price for (say $10/ month):

- Google Maps
- NZ Herald
- Telecom Xtra mail server (and or Gmail server)
- Facebook
- Twitter

Everything else (including Geekzone, Trademe, YouTube) I can wait for a Wi-fi hotspot for...

Until Vodafone come up with something like that - I am going to walk around with my iPad with no SIM card! [I probably have a long wait]

Don't you think it would be a bit odd for Vodafone to offer you free data access to a competitors email server? That doesn't really make sense.

wreck90

780 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#505661 12-Aug-2011 17:55

Byrned: Well, it just goes to show that the "lowest common denominator" needs to be allowed for. For instance, I find it very clear that when I get off a plane in Aus, and I get 3 sms messages telling me what the costs are to use data and other services, I understand what the costs are, apparently Campbel Live viewers don't think it is as clear.

It is confusing.

Not everyone in the world happens to be a geek.

simon14

1889 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#505664 12-Aug-2011 18:00

I honestly don't see how this is confusing.

It clearly says: "Our pick of iOS apps" and then lists the aps and the price for those aps. Some apps are free, others you have to pay for. The aps in question are free....

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#505731 12-Aug-2011 20:16

simon14: I honestly don't see how this is confusing.

It clearly says: "Our pick of iOS apps" and then lists the aps and the price for those aps. Some apps are free, others you have to pay for. The aps in question are free....

Are they free? To use them you going to pay! So its questionable, and confusing for most people.

uglyb0b

335 posts

Ultimate Geek

#505740 12-Aug-2011 20:32

If you got a free car you would still have to pay for petrol. It kind of goes without saying.

muppet

2570 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#505747 12-Aug-2011 20:38

simon14: I honestly don't see how this is confusing.

It clearly says: "Our pick of iOS apps" and then lists the aps and the price for those aps. Some apps are free, others you have to pay for. The aps in question are free....

I used to think like this when I was young. Then as I've grown up, I've met people in daily life that are SUPER smart at things, yet will be tripped up by wording like this. I promise you there'll be many people who will get "free app" vs "free to use" mixed up.
Laugh at them, sneer at them, feel as superior as you no doubt are to them, that doesn't change the fact that people DO get confused by this. They'll glance at it quickly, don't pay attention, but most importantly don't understand that "free app" doesn't equal "free app that costs to use"

I'm still amazed that people managed to incur huge bills on Vodafone Live, it's not hard to figure out what's on VF Live vs to Internet. But they did.

Audiophiles are such twits! They buy such pointless stuff: Gold plated cables, $2000 power cords. Idiots.

OOOHHHH HYPERFIBRE!

Klipspringer

2385 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#505750 12-Aug-2011 20:42

muppet:
simon14: I honestly don't see how this is confusing.

It clearly says: "Our pick of iOS apps" and then lists the aps and the price for those aps. Some apps are free, others you have to pay for. The aps in question are free....

I used to think like this when I was young. Then as I've grown up, I've met people in daily life that are SUPER smart at things, yet will be tripped up by wording like this. I promise you there'll be many people who will get "free app" vs "free to use" mixed up.
Laugh at them, sneer at them, feel as superior as you no doubt are to them, that doesn't change the fact that people DO get confused by this. They'll glance at it quickly, don't pay attention, but most importantly don't understand that "free app" doesn't equal "free app that costs to use"

I'm still amazed that people managed to incur huge bills on Vodafone Live, it's not hard to figure out what's on VF Live vs to Internet. But they did.

Agreed, but its this sort of thing that lands Vodafone in court.

muppet

2570 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#505751 12-Aug-2011 20:45

BraaiGuy:
muppet:
simon14: I honestly don't see how this is confusing.

It clearly says: "Our pick of iOS apps" and then lists the aps and the price for those aps. Some apps are free, others you have to pay for. The aps in question are free....

I used to think like this when I was young. Then as I've grown up, I've met people in daily life that are SUPER smart at things, yet will be tripped up by wording like this. I promise you there'll be many people who will get "free app" vs "free to use" mixed up.
Laugh at them, sneer at them, feel as superior as you no doubt are to them, that doesn't change the fact that people DO get confused by this. They'll glance at it quickly, don't pay attention, but most importantly don't understand that "free app" doesn't equal "free app that costs to use"

I'm still amazed that people managed to incur huge bills on Vodafone Live, it's not hard to figure out what's on VF Live vs to Internet. But they did.

Agreed, but its this sort of thing that lands Vodafone in court.

That was pretty much my point, yea.

Audiophiles are such twits! They buy such pointless stuff: Gold plated cables, $2000 power cords. Idiots.

OOOHHHH HYPERFIBRE!

nigelj

856 posts

Ultimate Geek

#505757 12-Aug-2011 20:54

To be honest, I'm with johnr/Vodafone here. The page is purely an info page about iOS/Apple devices, there is no sales information on the page, the closest I can see on the page is; "Data plans for the iPhone".

"Free" at the best of times is confusing, there are always exceptions, but I'd like to point out the following:

The title: "Our pick of iOS Apps" is effectively "Vodafone's favourite iOS Apps"
All links in the "Our pick" section goes to iTunes/App Store, not a Vodafone promotion
Apart from the separate section there is no reference to the pricing/charging/not charging of data.

What the post does highlight, is (in my opinion) the education issue where the response is: "But you told me Facebook was free, I accessed [insert random site] via Facebook, but you charged me for it", or "You told me app X was free, but I got charged $x for downloading it from the App Store/Android Market".

What Vodafone could/should do is just remove "Free" from after the name of each app, or turn it into a sales pitch with something to the effect of:

"Like on all mobile platforms, these great applications (and others) may require a data connection, we at Vodafone have great Mobile Data packages which you can view here" right under the whole she-bang.

If you really do think the page is misleading though (personally I disagree, it's 99.9% clear, just not 100% clear imo), the best place to take it, is Advertising Standards Authority. But I certainly would be surprised if they agreed.

muppet

2570 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#505758 12-Aug-2011 20:57

@nigelj I don't think anyone's really suggesting it's misleading. Only (as you point out) the use of the word free CAN cause confusion to some people.

Your suggestion is exactly what I think (and I would guess others) are suggesting is the right approach. 95% of people are smart enough to realise this isn't Free everything. But you might as well protect yourself as best you can against the other %5 who are, sadly, ninnies.

Audiophiles are such twits! They buy such pointless stuff: Gold plated cables, $2000 power cords. Idiots.

OOOHHHH HYPERFIBRE!

Phexx

415 posts

Ultimate Geek

#505767 12-Aug-2011 21:23

I think that, although the title of the webpage suggests that Vodafone are solely talking about applications, people assume that free next to something means that it truly is free to use.

Admittedly, when reading the first post I think the same as Tim, the apps would have free data usage. I think that Vodafone NZ did not say anything false, but were not clear as to what was actually free. If they removed the free next to the app, it would make things much more clear.

1 | 2 | 3