OK, you can stop nagging now... VFNZ Q&A with Russell Stanners posted

Forums › One NZ (including Farmside) › OK, you can stop nagging now... VFNZ Q&A with Russell Stanners posted

juha

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#12643 28-Mar-2007 22:31

Here.

Juha

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#65372 28-Mar-2007 22:42

It was good to see the responses, though some of the answers were not the ones that I was expecting (more in line with company policy/pr I guess).

Nevertheless, good to see a response.

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freitasm

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#65391 29-Mar-2007 07:38

I think the answers didn't meet the needs of the users.

If the mobile data international roaming charges are determined by the network to which the customer is roaming, should we then believe than T-Mobile USA, AT&T/Cingular, TIM, O2 all charge the same? Because the price is the same, except for Vodafone's own networks.

It's hard to believe, because networks in countries so distinct as Australia, Ital, U.S certainly have different costs. Or are they all a big cartel?

Mr Stanners obviously uses his Vodafone account during his travels, otherwise he would know that most hotels in the U.S. and Australia charge $30/day for Internet usage. Even a full monlth wouldn't cost more than $900. Saying that someone using 1/2 GB during the course of few weeks would pay $5000 in hotel bills is a not correct at all. What is not right is having someone paying up to $15000 on Vodafone data roaming instead.

Mobile data roaming is very expensive.

Also, saying that customers have offers according to their needs is not true. I doubt we would find any On Account customer that wouldn't like to have a $6 all-you-can-call rate to a nominate phone number, like Prepay customers have.

On Account generates a much higher ARPU than Prepay. Why not add another $6 to the mix?

And saying that 1GB Mobile Broadband is here to stay and not looking at higher caps plans is just, well, making way for their new ISP, IHUG...

Overall I am very disappointed with the answers, but no surprise there.

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Nightwyrm

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#65395 29-Mar-2007 07:57

It's good to see the majority of customers are happy with the services offered. Does that mean the "majority" are prepay?

Sounds like a new Tui moment: "Prepay doesn't have better deals than on account... Yeah right."

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#65399 29-Mar-2007 08:23

lugh: It's good to see the majority of customers are happy with the services offered. Does that mean the "majority" are prepay?

Sounds like a new Tui moment: "Prepay doesn't have better deals than on account... Yeah right."

The majority of Vodafone's customer base is on PrePay so I guess what you have said could be true!

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#65402 29-Mar-2007 08:29

Which makes me think that even though On Account generates a higher ARPU they are after the Long Tail.

Costs associated with Prepay are smaller, since there's no paper handling, invoicing, financial institution fees on accounts receivable, etc.

Also, Prepay means money in advance, on services that may not be delivered (how many people lost their credit due to timeout?), while On Account means money after services delivered and late payments, etc.

Perhaps they want On Account only for large organsations or SME, leaving general consumer market on Prepay?

I think it will be more and more difficult to open an account with Vodafone sometime from now.

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#65405 29-Mar-2007 08:40

Also, you have to admit... It makes perfect sense to go after the lower market segment, in New Zealand. This nation does not have the same income ranges as Australian or the U.S., so the lower market segment represented by Prepaid is much bigger.

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#65410 29-Mar-2007 09:00

I agree. The problem is Vodafone NZ seem very much in the mindset that PrePay and On Account customers are somehow different. Many other Vodafone networks offer identical (or similair) plans whether you're On Account or Prepaid, the main difference being you'll typically get a free phone or an extra perk for signing a term contract. Vodafone should be offering You Choose to both Prepay and On Account customers in NZ, their billing system is now capable of monthly billing so it's purely from a marketing perspective that they don't.

Sending out a bill even for a very efficient company can still be somewhere around $2 - $3 per month. Add to that the issues with bad credit and the gains to made made start to look quite significant.

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#65412 29-Mar-2007 09:20

sbiddle: the main difference being you'll typically get a free phone or an extra perk for signing a term contract.

I vaguely remember those days here (so long ago now) - that's how I ended signing on VFNZ in the first place. The rub is when you get a magazine with Aussie advertising where Optus or 3 is offering a decent spec phone gratis on a term condition. I questioned a VF store guy on this once and he said it's basically lack of competition in the NZ market that stopped them doing these offers.

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#65415 29-Mar-2007 09:56

Good to see a range of questions in there.

CrispinMullins

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#65419 29-Mar-2007 10:14

I think Mr. Stanners seriously underestimates the effectiveness of most Geekzone users' bovine effluent radars.

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#65420 29-Mar-2007 10:16

freitasm: Also, you have to admit... It makes perfect sense to go after the lower market segment, in New Zealand. This nation does not have the same income ranges as Australian or the U.S., so the lower market segment represented by Prepaid is much bigger.

What makes no sense, however, is to offer one market segment a great deal and ignore the other. Especially in the face of April 1st.

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#65446 29-Mar-2007 14:05

Agree 100% with Mauricio's comments. I notice that Russell didn't speculate on when BestMate would be available On Account even though he was asked a question about it, could this mean that Vodafone have done a U-Turn and are no longer looking at offering BestMate to On Account Customers? His answers to some of the other questions would seem to suggest so

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#65459 29-Mar-2007 15:50

adamj: Agree 100% with Mauricio's comments. I notice that Russell didn't speculate on when BestMate would be available On Account even though he was asked a question about it, could this mean that Vodafone have done a U-Turn and are no longer looking at offering BestMate to On Account Customers? His answers to some of the other questions would seem to suggest so

Looking at Vodafone's help section it says "BestMate™ on On Account will be launched in 2007."

This originally said early 2007. Their site is full of confusion though, by reading this you could probably argue BestMate applies to 021/029 numbers ported to Telecom.

"Buy BestMate™ and you can talk, TXT and video call to one Vodafone number as much as you like, anytime, for just $6 a month. This includes national calls, txts and video calls to one current 021 or 029 number."

dan

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#65804 1-Apr-2007 07:14

wow, that Q and A was unimpressive, sorry Juha, some good questions, but useless responses from Russell, i guess its to be
expected tho, Thanks for trying!