Social pass gone from my wife and I's plan :(

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David321

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#277061 24-Sep-2020 10:19

Hi all,

Just wondering if there is anyone else here who has a free add on removed from their Vodafone plan? My wife and I struck a deal with Vodafone about a year ago, we switched to Vodafone home broadband (HFC Max) and also signed up to a Red+ Lite SIMO plan at $60 per month and also had my wife added to this for an extra $20 per month. All our Vodafone services cost a fair bit per month (not sure of exact figure) and we had Social pass given to my wife plus my cell plans meaning we had free data on certain social media which keeps us under our data limit of 10GB. We are heavy data users as my wifes family is overseas and she calls her parents etc on viber or Facebook messenger etc which can not always be done at home on the WiFi.

Yesterday I got a text from Vodafone saying our social pass was ending at midnight, I called the sales team at Vodafone who said it would cost $20 per month to have this added back to our accounts. I am not typically self entitled but I thought this was a bit rough, its a bit frustrating that Vodafone are now offering free membership to "The Market" (something I have no intention of using) and can not substitute that for social pass. I even offered to lock in to Vodafone for another 12 months if they gave us our social passes back, but was still told the only way to get it back is to pay an extra $20 per month.

Am I being hard done by here or is this the norm? I am tempted to look into what Spark can offer now, perhaps they can provide what Vodafone were giving me for the same price.

_David_

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#2573305 24-Sep-2020 10:23

All offers like this are normally 12 months and then they expire

trig42

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#2573309 24-Sep-2020 10:31

I'm amazed they told you it was ending and didn't just roll it over and start charging you the $20.

But, as above, mostly those things are 12 months (or term of your contract with them).

Dingbatt

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#2573379 24-Sep-2020 11:12

Isn’t their unlimited plan $80 a month? If so you would be better to go for that if forced, rather than pay the extra $20 for a limited service.

Just out of interest I got ‘socialiser’ when I signed up for my current plan on Spark but it was only for 6 months and has just ended. Went completely unused as I don’t do FB, Twitter, etc.

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Hammerer

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#2573465 24-Sep-2020 12:56

David321:

... Vodafone home broadband (HFC Max) and also signed up to a Red+ Lite SIMO plan at $60 per month and also had my wife added to this for an extra $20 per month. ...

Yesterday I got a text from Vodafone saying our social pass was ending at midnight, I called the sales team at Vodafone who said it would cost $20 per month to have this added back to our accounts. ...
I even offered to lock in to Vodafone for another 12 months if they gave us our social passes back, but was still told the only way to get it back is to pay an extra $20 per month.

Am I being hard done by here or is this the norm? I am tempted to look into what Spark can offer now, perhaps they can provide what Vodafone were giving me for the same price.

I've been with Vodafone for years and I'm on the same plans that you are. We expect to lose our Social Pass after one year because that was clearly stated in the T&Cs of our current deal.

But we have already avoided losing the social pass at least once because 2Degrees had a really good offer which tempted us to switch.

We've found that Vodafone have always given us a good deal only where a competitor has a comparable or better deal. We wouldn't expect to get anywhere without a comparable deal from a competitor.

As to Spark, they are usually most expensive option for us.

David321

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#2573486 24-Sep-2020 13:12

Great idea, I usually forget about the other players such as 2degrees, ill look into them also.

_David_

nztim

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#2573487 24-Sep-2020 13:16

We have mobiles with Vodafone because of daily fixed roaming and it if wasn't for that we would be gone - My Spark work mobile (despite it been an old iPhone 5s) out performs Vodafone in both coverage, data speeds, and call quality

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geekiegeek

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#2573491 24-Sep-2020 13:25

nztim:

We have mobiles with Vodafone because of daily fixed roaming and it if wasn't for that we would be gone - My Spark work mobile (despite it been an old iPhone 5s) out performs Vodafone in both coverage, data speeds, and call quality

Thinking you won't be using that roaming for a while. Maybe switch until travel becomes a thing again.

nztim

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#2573793 24-Sep-2020 21:36

geekiegeek:

nztim:

We have mobiles with Vodafone because of daily fixed roaming and it if wasn't for that we would be gone - My Spark work mobile (despite it been an old iPhone 5s) out performs Vodafone in both coverage, data speeds, and call quality

Thinking you won't be using that roaming for a while. Maybe switch until travel becomes a thing again.

The other part reason is wife and I are on a 40gb red share for $99 per month we each use more than 12gb ($46 skinny endless data) but less than 20gb each (red share) so we would each need to move to 40gb endless data which with skinny would push the bill to $140 ($70 each) and then wouldn't be able to move back to a red share plan as it has been grandfathered

..... been down this road before

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#2574199 25-Sep-2020 13:04

nztim:

We have mobiles with Vodafone because of daily fixed roaming and it if wasn't for that we would be gone - My Spark work mobile (despite it been an old iPhone 5s) out performs Vodafone in both coverage, data speeds, and call quality

nztim:

The other part reason is wife and I are on a 40gb red share for $99 per month we each use more than 12gb ($46 skinny endless data) but less than 20gb each (red share) so we would each need to move to 40gb endless data which with skinny would push the bill to $140 ($70 each) and then wouldn't be able to move back to a red share plan as it has been grandfathered

..... been down this road before

It's good to see the whole story which just shows how good the Vodafone plans can be compared with Spark/Skinny. Even if I lost my social pass, Vodafone is most likely to be the best value for money.

I wonder if the OP has found a better deal?

Quinny

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#2576529 30-Sep-2020 14:13

I am also on same as op (Red Share SIMO Lite with 2 extra users). Had message telling going up end October from 19.99 to 24.99 for each extra share and why don't I go to the Unlimited data at more for me and 30 for each share. I don't want unlimited data as we barely use 5g between us all (mostly on wifi). I just want an alternative for my sister who is blind and my elderly mum not to be shafted (as they were by PrePay). Very annoyed as no option but to pay. I expect Op will get the same message at some point :(

David321

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#2576532 30-Sep-2020 14:22

Yeah my social pass is no longer free and I just got a message saying the extra person on my plan is going to increase $5 per month. Getting pretty pissed at Vodafone right now, i have been with them for years along with my wife (she is shared on my plan) and have also had home broadband with them for years. Now within the last two weeks they have stripped social pass from us and also increased the price of our plan. What next?

Been meaning to get around to see what other providers can offer and I think the way Vodafone are treating is it will be easy to find a better deal, just need the time to get online and see whats out there.

_David_

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#2576549 30-Sep-2020 15:11

"Social pass" is really anti-net neutrality. The large incumbent content providers become even more embedded as newer providers can't compete with them with these types of preferential deals. Shame on Vodafone for doing this.

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richms

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#2576584 30-Sep-2020 16:33

Net neutrality is on the supply side. I have no problems with offering to zero rate things for a flat fee. It's just a problem with the amount of other stuff that goes on in these apps.

I've now moved all my phone's to the $40 unlimited plan and trundle along at the limited speeds. It seems fine except when multiple videos come up in instagram one after another then it bogs down and they go all ugly. Can drive around streaming twitch or youtube no worries.

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