Vodafone 'free texting' billed for

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#45381 4-Sep-2006 19:48

OK, then at times, Vodafone PREPAY isn't PREPAY.

Fullstop.

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#45382 4-Sep-2006 19:48

Exactly. Ultimately, unless you are told by Vodafone that those services are free... if you use them, you are expected to pay for them.

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My daughter is on 027 but has a prepaid VF so she can get & receive free weekend txt. Has no credit on the phone , never tops it up and along with most of her high school sent heaps of txts when they found they could.

Love to see how they are going to sort this one and get their money back from teenagers...worse case is the kids will dump the sim and get another one and plug it in their handsets.

alasta

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#45388 4-Sep-2006 21:07

wirelessluva: Love to see how they are going to sort this one and get their money back from teenagers...worse case is the kids will dump the sim and get another one and plug it in their handsets.

They won't pursue it, as they have no credit contract in place with their PrePay customers. In the grand scheme of things, it won't hurt them much to write off these charges in cases where a PrePay customer has no intention of ever topping up their account again.

Torque

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#45397 4-Sep-2006 22:43

And then add to the fact that the person goes out and purchases a new SIM pack.....

It's an unfortunate situation, yes, but glitches do happen. Vodafone mass markets their initiatives rather well, and so some txt-speak text message should set off warning bells in peoples heads.

Charge away Vodafone - you're a business, not a charity.

cranz

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#45398 5-Sep-2006 00:11

I dont see how Vodafone will sting people when they next top up.. I doubt the charging will stay in queue that long. I know a lot of the back charges were taken out on Sunday so if you still have credit you would have been charged, but if you had no credit they cant deduct it.

It was rather simple though. 4 Million+ txts sent and I wonder how many of those people bothered to check if it was real or not. Vodafone all ways sends you a txt (if you agree to promo material, like 90% of prepay customers do) if they offer a special/promo.

If its not from 'Vodafone' then its a hoax.

simon14

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#45401 5-Sep-2006 01:01

Yes i agree ppl are stupid for thinking it was real.

My agrument is simple though, I'm saying that if you had no credit on your phone, sent text messages, Vodafone shouldnt be able to take away your money next time you top up because thats not prepay!

However if you had credit on your phone, they have every right to take that away because that is a prepaid balance.

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#45405 5-Sep-2006 06:40

cranz:
If its not from 'Vodafone' then its a hoax.

Therein lies another issue - faking a message to say the sender is "Vodafone" is very easy to do. It's surprised me nobody has ever wasted a few $$ and sent out thousands of promo messages to random 021 numbers with the sender as "Vodafone" because it would create far more havoc than what this has done.

alasta

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#45407 5-Sep-2006 07:10

Torque: It's an unfortunate situation, yes, but glitches do happen. Vodafone mass markets their initiatives rather well, and so some txt-speak text message should set off warning bells in peoples heads.

Although as I pointed out in one of my recent blog entries, Vodafone themselves are guilty of using 'txt speak' when sending genuine notifications to their customers. I still think that people were stupid to believe the message in this particular instance but as Sbiddle points out, it wouldn't be hard to fool Vodafone's customers on a large scale.

Perhaps it's time they implemented a policy of not notifying customers of promotions via text message? Many of us find this practise irritating anyway.

riahon

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#45409 5-Sep-2006 07:20

I have to agree with simon_nz90 to a point but I am sure there is probably something in the T&C to dispute this. If a prepaid customer gives Vodafone $10 then they should expect $10 worth of service, no more. I sympathise with many who may have gone over innocently as it is not always practical to check balances constantly or keep an accurate account of how many texts have been sent.

However those that blatantly abused the fault and those dumb enough to fall for the hoax texts being sent around deserve to be charged. Customers have a responsibility to adhere to the service offered them.

Will be interesting to see how Vodafone play this out. Will it get to Fair Go status?

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#45419 5-Sep-2006 08:50

Lets look at another scenario comparing the scenario with banks - you can withdraw more money than your balance but if you do you're overdrawn and the bank will want their mony back or change you a premium to stay overdrawn.

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#45427 5-Sep-2006 09:58

sbiddle:
Lets look at another scenario comparing the scenario with banks - you can withdraw more money than your balance but if you do you're overdrawn and the bank will want their mony back or change you a premium to stay overdrawn.

True - but banks dont have occassional free promotions. It is part of the telecommunications culture that free specials occur from time to time. The mere fact that banks have a term "overdrawn / overdraft" is part of the banking service.
Vodafone have a service where they allow free texts at certain times. When it happens it can be either assumed that it is legitimate or assumed that it is a glitch. How does the consumer know? Unfortunately greed and ignorance will sway this decision.

Torque

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#45437 5-Sep-2006 10:46

From the same grain, it's somewhat akin to when ATM's have the wrong notes in the wrong cash draw or there is a glitch in the system - ask for $20, get $40, [ask for $40, get $80 et al].

Common sense should prevail and one should know that it's a stuff up. Instead, you got (as happened in Wellington a few years ago - an ATM in Cuba St Mall area) a line halfway around the block until the ATM ran out of cash. - And then people had the cheek to whinge when the Banks sent out letters saying they would be debiting accounts. . . . . . .

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#45463 5-Sep-2006 17:00

Funny, Friends of mine luckily seem to be smart enough not to forward me stupid chain and "VF are promoting Free topup XXX send to /XXX people and you will get XXXX messages.

IF it's delayed and you top-up, you should be requested to pay, though i hardly see how vodafone will spend hours of time to charge customers. You'll probably find if you top-up a month later it probably wouldn't take your credit.

mikman

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#45523 5-Sep-2006 22:54

Interesting to note all the telecommunications industry people saying that the customers should pay up for 'exploiting' a loophole in the system. I wonder how excited you'd be if a friendly man from RIANZ popped in to see you and charge you a retrospective royalty for the music you've downloaded for free (just exploiting a loophole in the system...)

In this case its a SNAFU on the prepaid system - VF should take the hit and that will be motivation to improve the system.

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