This morning I went into Vodafone in Albany to buy a new iPhone 5S. According to Vodafone I was still on contract until Jan 2014, but I could pay a break fee to re-sign. The problem is, I'm on a $45 plan at the moment and I could only resign on a higher plan, the next being $59.

I asked if I could pay the break fee, go to "no plan" and then sign for the $39 plan. Apparently this is not allowed. I took my business to Telecom who were more than happy to sell me an iPhone on a $39 plan.

While it wasn't the service rep's fault (it seemed like it was a decision from his manager), it seems like it was very short sighted from Vodafone. I have been a customer on Vodafone since 1997 and wanted to stay on Vodafone, but they made it very easy for me to make the decision to switch to Telecom.

As I calculate it they lost $936 ($39 for 24 months) + the cost of the phone ($1199) = $2135. While that's not a lot for a big business, it can't be good to lose business like that.