I want to upgrade my phone but VF will not let me retain plan and discounts. Again

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › I want to upgrade my phone but VF will not let me retain plan and discounts. Again

richierich1968

92 posts

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#280144 29-Nov-2020 20:49

Hi all,

I’ve got a similar issue to a topic I started last year (https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=40&topicid=248703) around being forced to change plans to a more expensive one AND lose all of my loyalty discounts simply because I want to buy a phone on interest free and add it to my plan.

I’m currently on a Red+ plan with 40Gb and 2 sharers, but with my loyalty discounts I am only paying $70 in total - and under the new Large Companion plan my bill will double to $140 per month. Add to that the 2 phones I already have on interest free I have for the wife and daughter and I’m now at $280 a month. My new phone will take it to $350, which is over $4000 p.a; so you can understand why I’m so keen to keep my discounts.

It’s absolutely ridiculous that a loyal customer is forced to change to a more expensive plan simply because they want to add a new phone (while also committing to VF for another 2 or 3 years and becoming even more loyal). Jason Paris sorted this for me last year, for which I was extremely grateful; and I understood from his comments on the thread that he thought this was crazy as well and that things will change and customers will not be forced to move plans when they add a new phone to an existing plan.

Unfortunately it has not. Over this weekend I visited 3 different VF stores and spoke to the call center and was told the same thing - that I must re-sign on a new, more expensive plan and that on doing so the remaining payments on the 2 phones I currently have will become due in full (which is around $2000).

@JasonParis this is crazy - I want to buy a new phone and stay with VF for another few years, but you (VF) make it incredibly difficult and make me want to shop around. I called 2degrees to see what they could offer and they were happy to match all of the discounts I currently have if I move over to them...but I have the not-so-small-problem of a $2000 bill I’d have to pay on leaving VF.

Can anything be done Jason?

Thanks,
Rich

snnet

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#2612763 29-Nov-2020 20:52

You might just have to pay for another phone if you really want an upgrade?

Linux

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#2612775 29-Nov-2020 21:34

Just buy the phone retail and keep the discounts! Sounds like every 12 months you are going to want the latest and greatest phone but still owing $$$ on previous phones you already have

You really need to sit back and think do I really need this new phone!

richierich1968

92 posts

Master Geek

#2612846 29-Nov-2020 22:00

Linux:

Just buy the phone retail and keep the discounts! Sounds like every 12 months you are going to want the latest and greatest phone but still owing $$$ on previous phones you already have

You really need to sit back and think do I really need this new phone!

We upgrade phones every 2-3 years once they are fully paid for. Mine hasn’t been upgraded for a longer period and it is a bit battered, so I’d like to be able to upgrade it and put it on my plan - which is obviously what all the telcos want us to do.

Loismustdye

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#2612861 29-Nov-2020 23:10

So you have two expensive phones on int. Free on the same account and want to add a third to the same plan? And Vodafone said no, you have to pay off the other two phones before adding another third expensive phone on tick to the bill.
I would not have thought that was an unreasonable request from VF, seeing as you already owe them $2000 for the existing 2 phones. Regardless of the fact you want to upgrade your phone you still have a sizeable debt to them. They’re a telco not a finance company.

If you want to keep the discounts As someone Else said buy the phone outright.

richierich1968

92 posts

Master Geek

#2612866 29-Nov-2020 23:29

Loismustdye:
So you have two expensive phones on int. Free on the same account and want to add a third to the same plan? And Vodafone said no, you have to pay off the other two phones before adding another third expensive phone on tick to the bill.
I would not have thought that was an unreasonable request from VF, seeing as you already owe them $2000 for the existing 2 phones. Regardless of the fact you want to upgrade your phone you still have a sizeable debt to them. They’re a telco not a finance company.

If you want to keep the discounts As someone Else said buy the phone outright.

No mate - read my post. Vodafone did not say no to adding another phone - they said I can only do it if I change to a more expensive plan, and if I do that then I lose my loyalty discounts.

I believe I should be able to upgrade without being forced to change my plan and lose my discounts. That's what the issue is.

Linux

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#2612982 30-Nov-2020 06:35

If the plan is no longer in market then it looks like you can't

nitro

657 posts

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#2613109 30-Nov-2020 10:32

richierich1968:

We upgrade phones every 2-3 years once they are fully paid for. Mine hasn’t been upgraded for a longer period and it is a bit battered, so I’d like to be able to upgrade it and put it on my plan - which is obviously what all the telcos want us to do.

sorry, this won't help, but...

how are you looking at a third phone on 'interest-free', if you upgrade phones 'once they are fully paid for'?

surely you must realise that those plans aren't really 'interest-free'? you might have hit the limit of what they can absorb in interest for your handsets on the cheap-as-chips old plan.

never expected to see 'richierich' looking to finance a mobile phone. apologies, couldn't help it... peace.

i'd love to have a new phone every year, too... but i can't afford it either.

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richierich1968

92 posts

Master Geek

#2613123 30-Nov-2020 10:44

nitro:

richierich1968:

We upgrade phones every 2-3 years once they are fully paid for. Mine hasn’t been upgraded for a longer period and it is a bit battered, so I’d like to be able to upgrade it and put it on my plan - which is obviously what all the telcos want us to do.

sorry, this won't help, but...

how are you looking at a third phone on 'interest-free', if you upgrade phones 'once they are fully paid for'?

surely you must realise that those plans aren't really 'interest-free'? you might have hit the limit of what they can absorb in interest for your handsets on the cheap-as-chips old plan.

never expected to see 'richierich' looking to finance a mobile phone. apologies, couldn't help it... peace.

i'd love to have a new phone every year, too... but i can't afford it either.

I'm not sure re hitting the limit of what they can absorb in interest.

I think everyone is missing the point here - whether it is one handset or a million handsets, or any other addition to my service, VF will not let me keep the same Red+ plan that I currently have; I can only re-sign on the new Medium, Large or Extra Large Companion plans, which will double my line rental on the Medium plan. Staff at 2 of the VF stores I visited said they have lots of other customers in the same boat who are on an older plan and cannot make any changes whatsoever to it, without losing the plan and having to go on the newer and more expensive ones.

They said it was really frustrating (the staff).

antoniosk

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#2613132 30-Nov-2020 11:02

Part of the drive towards automation - which is meant to simplify life for staff, make things easily available to online portals and so on - is that you have to abandon more abstract permutations and combinations you dont wish to support going forward.

This really sounds like this years plans have got only a certain combination of plans mobile and products, and cannot possibly reflect the unique deals done for each customer. You've fallen into one of those combo's that the staff could'nt possible make happen for you.

It's got nothing to do with your common sense, but also leaves you stuck without a sensible way forward.

The proposed pricing does sound unreasonable, but I imagine the vodafone plans also do not compare; if it was'nt for the discounts you have been lucky enough to get, then voda sounds unaffordable. I am a little unclear on the phone discounts vs basic monthly payment though; if they gave you a genuine discount for term, that would complicate the automation even more.

I'm sure a manual intervention might resolve for this year, but as Voda have repeatedly stated they are driving towards better support, which moves simplification - and simplification means cutting down the specials, cutting down whats on offer and cutting what can be supported via a provisioning portal. You might need to reconsider your supplier 😄

________

Antoniosk

halper86

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#2613144 30-Nov-2020 11:11

The Red+ plan is no longer offered but people who were on the plan before the cutoff get to keep it for as long as Voda says. They will force you to upgrade to a new plan if you wish to finance a new phone. The hard truth is Vodafone is a business, not a charity, and by paying for their services you agree to their T's&C's

konfusd

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#2613157 30-Nov-2020 11:26

I don't know all of the ins and outs of our current interest free options, but I can confirm the key difference is that the plan you're currently on is no longer in market. Last year you were resigning onto the same plan; this year it is no longer available. You will need to resign onto a current in market plan in order to start a new interest free payment, though the resign would remove any discounts you have currently for a fixed term or 'for the life of the plan'.

I'm not 100% sure of the rules in terms of the two phones you are already paying off - though if you've had the same message from a number of Retail staff already it's safe to say they have checked your specific situation about how the interest free payment would be handled. Remember that you are technically resigning all three connections this time around since your main plan has to move to something currently in market.

Also note that it's not quite an apples to apples comparison - the current Endless Data companion plans get their own data bundle, so you're comparing 40GB shared across three connections under Red Share with 40GB for each connection (120GB total) with Endless Data companions.

I volunteer my time on here, and all opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

BlinkyBill

1443 posts

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#2613174 30-Nov-2020 11:45

I think what the OP is saying is that his current plan let him add a new phone last year, once Paris got involved, but when he attempts to do the same thing a year later, he is being asked to change plans.

But it seems that his current plan is no longer offered by Vodafone, so their systems aren’t up to sustaining new phone adds to the no-longer-current plan.

It seems to me the OP should just purchase a phone directly, rather than try for an in-plan purchase. That seems to be the best way of retaining the current plan he is on. After all, it’s not realistic to expect grandfathered arrangements to persist forever - things change, evolve, and move on.

snnet

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#2613535 30-Nov-2020 18:14

I understand your issue about being forced to change to a more expensive plan in order to get an additional phone interest free, but I can see where vodafone, as a business, are coming from -- you might be loyal but you're actually paying peanuts. The phones are interest free, and, sure, there will be margin on hardware but it won't be enough to sustain for a going concern for the period of time and the plan that you are currently on in this day and age. What's in it for them? Sorry, that's how business works.

Quinny

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#2614643 2-Dec-2020 11:36

I tried to add someone onto RedShare and they could not. I was escalated a long way and at the moment there is zero option bar the Endless Data plans which I don't need or want and are more expensive. Really frustrating as my total spend is almost 300 a month and I would ditch all of it but seems everyone is the same - being pushed to endless data plans