WARNING: Don't ring the 'freecall 440' number as Vodafone will bill you

Forums › One NZ (including Farmside) › WARNING: Don't ring the 'freecall 440' number as Vodafone will bill you

robbypreb

131 posts

Master Geek

#23881 10-Jul-2008 18:02

Just received the TXT saying that they were going to bill prepay customers $1 for calling their callcentre.

So I rung the freecall 440 number as stated in the text for more information. They have now deducted 72 cents from my prepay credit. Whats going on with this Vodafone NZ company. Now I have to phone their call centre to sort out the billing.

So a warning, don't phone the number or you will be billed. Many people probably wouldn't notice. Obviously it is very misleading.

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131 posts

Master Geek

#146277 10-Jul-2008 18:18

robbypreb:
Just received the TXT saying that they were going to bill prepay customers $1 for calling their callcentre.
So I rung the freecall 440 number as stated in the text for more information. They have now deducted 72 cents from my prepay credit. Whats going on with this Vodafone NZ company. Now I have to phone their call centre to sort out the billing.
So a warning, don't phone the number or you will be billed. Many people probably wouldn't notice. Obviously it is very misleading.

Phoned them up, and they have applied a credit back for that incorrect billing. However I was told that 440 wasn't a free phone number, even though it says 'freecall' on the text. This is very misleading. They also didn't have a record of the call, although they said it takes a while to update, which is strange considering the amount was deducted straightaway. It looks as though they could make a lot of money from those people who have phoned that number from the text they received, and don't check their balances before and after a call.

Not impressed with vodafones dodgy billing systems at all.

manhinli

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#146278 10-Jul-2008 18:21

Good to see that you got your credit, I got charged $2.41.

I'll call them soon.

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Batman

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#146279 10-Jul-2008 18:21

sounds like a case for the commerce commission - Vodafone WILL get stung with this.

robbypreb

131 posts

Master Geek

#146286 10-Jul-2008 18:29

manhinli: Good to see that you got your credit, I got charged $2.41.

I'll call them soon.

Actually one good thing to come out of this, is that with the credit that they topped it up with, that my phone now doesn't need topping up for another year :)

I don't know how many prepay customers there are, but if 50% phoned the number, that is some serious cash that Vodafone NZ has made.

manhinli

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#146287 10-Jul-2008 18:30

robbypreb:
manhinli: Good to see that you got your credit, I got charged $2.41.

I'll call them soon.

Actually one good thing to come out of this, is that with the credit that they topped it up with, that my phone now doesn't need topping up for another year :)

I don't know how many prepay customers there are, but if 50% phoned the number, that is some serious cash that Vodafone NZ has made.

Vodafone: We're going to charge you $1 to call us...

Customer: [Ah!!! Better call 440 to find out more]

Vodafone: Thanks, we'll take that too.

Either way, we all lose, and they win.

It's a pretty long call too. I'm on Motormouth, so it's $0.49 + per sec rate for me, but it would be a $1.78 call for most Supa Prepay users.

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TechnoGuy001

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#146292 10-Jul-2008 18:37

Man am I happy I didn't call that number, I nearly always ring those numbers to hear more about it.

I sure hope that this gets in the media and then force vodafone to credit every one!

Come on Vodafone how much of our money do you really need, first high iPhone plans now $1 just for calling you for help and now charging us for calling a "freecall" number!

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robbypreb

131 posts

Master Geek

#146296 10-Jul-2008 18:45

TechnoGuy001: Man am I happy I didn't call that number, I nearly always ring those numbers to hear more about it.

I sure hope that this gets in the media and then force vodafone to credit every one!

Come on Vodafone how much of our money do you really need, first high iPhone plans now $1 just for calling you for help and now charging us for calling a "freecall" number!

So do I. I just hope it hasn't happened in the past, because we tend to trust Vodafone, and expect that when it says 'Freecall' that they wouldn't make that type of error. Normally I don't check my balances before and after a call, so lucky I did this time.

manhinli

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#146297 10-Jul-2008 18:45

After 7 minutes, I got the refund (but only $2.30, but that's good enough... I'm not a hard pressing person), but just like the OP, my credit now expires a year from now!

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manhinli

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#146298 10-Jul-2008 18:47

robbypreb:
TechnoGuy001: Man am I happy I didn't call that number, I nearly always ring those numbers to hear more about it.

I sure hope that this gets in the media and then force vodafone to credit every one!

Come on Vodafone how much of our money do you really need, first high iPhone plans now $1 just for calling you for help and now charging us for calling a "freecall" number!

So do I. I just hope it hasn't happened in the past, because we tend to trust Vodafone, and expect that when it says 'Freecall' that they wouldn't make that type of error. Normally I don't check my balances before and after a call, so lucky I did this time.

I have a habit of checking my balance every time I go on Vodafone Live!, a call, a TXT and every now and then. This gets really useful (and the STK menu is pretty easy to access this too. 5 seconds to find out what could be a real big problem.)

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asbb1

42 posts

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#146309 10-Jul-2008 19:00

manhinli:
robbypreb:
TechnoGuy001: Man am I happy I didn't call that number, I nearly always ring those numbers to hear more about it.

I sure hope that this gets in the media and then force vodafone to credit every one!

Come on Vodafone how much of our money do you really need, first high iPhone plans now $1 just for calling you for help and now charging us for calling a "freecall" number!

So do I. I just hope it hasn't happened in the past, because we tend to trust Vodafone, and expect that when it says 'Freecall' that they wouldn't make that type of error. Normally I don't check my balances before and after a call, so lucky I did this time.

I have a habit of checking my balance every time I go on Vodafone Live!, a call, a TXT and every now and then. This gets really useful (and the STK menu is pretty easy to access this too. 5 seconds to find out what could be a real big problem.)

So far on my account i have been charged 1.41 for services which i shouldn't have been charged for. Every month this happens usually about $2.00 but i have never received any of this back. Don't get me wrong i have tried, i just give up trying to talk to CSR as they don't understand anything. I'm so tempted to cancel my account with vodafone and then refuse to pay disconnection fees and take them to small claims if they don't remove the disconnection fee and the reverse any bad credit rating.

Sus it out Vodafone, * *

EDIT RC: expletive removed

robbypreb

131 posts

Master Geek

#146322 10-Jul-2008 19:32

asbb1:
manhinli:
robbypreb:
TechnoGuy001: Man am I happy I didn't call that number, I nearly always ring those numbers to hear more about it.

I sure hope that this gets in the media and then force vodafone to credit every one!

Come on Vodafone how much of our money do you really need, first high iPhone plans now $1 just for calling you for help and now charging us for calling a "freecall" number!

So do I. I just hope it hasn't happened in the past, because we tend to trust Vodafone, and expect that when it says 'Freecall' that they wouldn't make that type of error. Normally I don't check my balances before and after a call, so lucky I did this time.

I have a habit of checking my balance every time I go on Vodafone Live!, a call, a TXT and every now and then. This gets really useful (and the STK menu is pretty easy to access this too. 5 seconds to find out what could be a real big problem.)

So far on my account i have been charged 1.41 for services which i shouldn't have been charged for. Every month this happens usually about $2.00 but i have never received any of this back. Don't get me wrong i have tried, i just give up trying to talk to CSR as they don't understand anything. I'm so tempted to cancel my account with vodafone and then refuse to pay disconnection fees and take them to small claims if they don't remove the disconnection fee and the reverse any bad credit rating.

Sus it out Vodafone, * *

EDIT RC: expletive removed

That is the problem, it actually isn't worth out time calling them up to get the refund for such small amounts. With this $1 per call thing they are doing, it will makes it even worse and insulting that we have to pay to report a problem. Who is going to pay $1 to report a 89c billing error. Either way Vodafone make money, even from their own billing mistakes. They really should be paying us for our time when they make these types of basic errors.

I guess we can email them after the 1st August if we encounter this type of problem in the future, but I don't know how long they take to reply, maybe a few days or a week.

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robbypreb

131 posts

Master Geek

#146325 10-Jul-2008 19:37

manhinli: After 7 minutes, I got the refund (but only $2.30, but that's good enough... I'm not a hard pressing person), but just like the OP, my credit now expires a year from now!

Just wondering what their reasoning for not crediting you the full amount back was? It does seem that they actually don't have our up to date account activity when you phone them, as they said that they didn't yet have any record of the 440 call I made, until their system updated itself. However the BAL txt I received, it did have a record of the call.

I guess if this is a widespread problem, they will have to credit all their prepay customers who made the call, unless this problem is lost in the iphone hype.

asbb1

42 posts

Geek

#146330 10-Jul-2008 19:43

robbypreb:
manhinli: After 7 minutes, I got the refund (but only $2.30, but that's good enough... I'm not a hard pressing person), but just like the OP, my credit now expires a year from now!

Just wondering what their reasoning for not crediting you the full amount back was? It does seem that they actually don't have our up to date account activity when you phone them, as they said that they didn't yet have any record of the 440 call I made, until their system updated itself. However the BAL txt I received, it did have a record of the call.
I guess if this is a widespread problem, they will have to credit all their prepay customers who made the call, unless this problem is lost in the iphone hype.

I think that someone should start a petition for vodafone to be forced to fix there billing issues and then send it to the commerce commission.

ahmad

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#146355 10-Jul-2008 20:22

I have ALWAYS thought it stunk that Prepaid customers CANNOT get an itemised bill on request.

It's not that they don't have it.

Why shouldn't we be able to request a list of charges? Even if it was only accessible online?

robbypreb

131 posts

Master Geek

#146418 10-Jul-2008 22:02

ahmad: I have ALWAYS thought it stunk that Prepaid customers CANNOT get an itemised bill on request.

It's not that they don't have it.

Why shouldn't we be able to request a list of charges? Even if it was only accessible online?

They probably don't do it, because they would get a lot more enquires questioning charges on the bill. Unless you pick up a billing error straight away with prepaid, you can't really prove there was an error.

I don't think petitions are going to do anything, bad media attention however will. I have seen them on fairgo a few times over their billing problems, so it looks like they do have ongoing issues with billing.

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