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freitasm

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#30238 2-Feb-2009 15:05
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Just received this press release - which comes with a funny tone:


Vodafone’s paper-based bill lives on


Well, that didn’t work, did it?


Late last year we announced we’d introduce a new online billing process that meant customers would be able to receive a TXT or email alert about their bill and could go online to pay it.


Nice idea, we thought. People will like that we’re thinking of the trees and the convenience factor will be a big plus. Certainly the trial group liked it, so we rolled it out to the public. To encourage customers along we also said we’d charge $1.50 per month for those customers who still want a paper bill, with that charge kicking in some time in the first half of this year.


And that’s where the wheels came off.


Our customers have told us they quite like the idea of online billing but they hate, hate, HATE the idea of being charged to receive a paper bill.


Did we mention they hate it? Well they do. And we’re going to listen to what they say.


So, being the company we are we’ve decided to do a U-turn, an about face, a 180: now you can get your bill in the post each month if you so want, and it won’t cost a penny.


In fact, we’ll go a step further – customers can opt to carry on getting the email or TXT alerts, they can get a paper bill posted out to them or they can chose to get their bill emailed out to them in PDF format.


And we’d like to say sorry for all the trouble. We’re not perfect. We’re only human but hopefully we’re grown up enough to ‘fess up when we make a mistake.







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tonyhughes
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  #193425 2-Feb-2009 15:08
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Very odd tone.... almost sounds like they are a bit p'd off.

Good on them for doing what the customer wants! (In this case)









alikat
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#193426 2-Feb-2009 15:12
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My personal favourite was on the 31st December 2008 at 9.14am, I got a txt to let me know my bill amount and they advised they would direct debit on the 5th of January, which was the next business day. Given that there were two public holidays and a weekend in there. At least they gave me 6 hours to call the bank and make sure the were sufficient funds so that I didn't pinged with a dishonoured payment.

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  #193434 2-Feb-2009 15:40
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I would expect some new plans soon with the competition looking to be heating up, but they will drop the paper bill on the new plans.

That way they are not taking something away, they are giving something newer and better.

Lets just hope its working properly by then or they may end up with noone to bill at all...




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  #193437 2-Feb-2009 15:44
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Good to see a company listening to their customers.

From a customer who is still to receive a TXT telling them their bill is available!

ajw

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  #193442 2-Feb-2009 16:02
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How about Vodafone backed off because they didn't want to upset their existing customers as NZ Comms and Telecom will be launching their new networks later in the year.

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#193443 2-Feb-2009 16:02
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sbiddle: Good to see a company listening to their customers.

From a customer who is still to receive a TXT telling them their bill is available!


Check your SMS inbox

Happy now

ZollyMonsta
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  #193449 2-Feb-2009 16:29
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Mine was 2 months overdue when I checked online last night and quickly paid it.  No sms recieved.




 

 

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freitasm

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#193452 2-Feb-2009 16:41
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My wife never got any SMS and she had to call or log to the website to check balances - which in itself was a mission because most of the times the Vodafone website would just timeout...

I wonder if Vodafone decided to backtrack on this because of decline on revenue from unpaid accounts, or just because of customer feedback?







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sbiddle
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  #193455 2-Feb-2009 16:48
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johnr:
sbiddle: Good to see a company listening to their customers.

From a customer who is still to receive a TXT telling them their bill is available!


Check your SMS inbox

Happy now


I'm happy. My uncle isn't though.

He needs the invoices for tax purposes and has been unable to get them online or by contacting Vodafone. Has sent 3 emails to which he's only received 1 reply that told him to ring 777 due to high volumes of emails. After waiting for 18 mins and slightly less the 2nd time he gave up and sent another email followed by a 3rd and is still to get a reply.

davidcole
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  #193506 2-Feb-2009 19:43
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freitasm: My wife never got any SMS and she had to call or log to the website to check balances - which in itself was a mission because most of the times the Vodafone website would just timeout...

I wonder if Vodafone decided to backtrack on this because of decline on revenue from unpaid accounts, or just because of customer feedback?





My wife had the same issues with their website, resulting in 2 months unpaid phone bill - and when you think how big a real estate agents bill would get....  that's a fair bit of dosh.

Txts just got forgotten about.  Glad to see they've back away from this stupid idea.




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  #193513 2-Feb-2009 19:57
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The bills will now be posted out free of the extra charge and customers can elect to continue receiving emailed .PDF documents or text massages.

Mmm.


Good to see that Vodafone have retracted that - kind of like the SIM locking incident really.


It's all about the people having their say.




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freitasm

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#193514 2-Feb-2009 19:59
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manhinli:
The bills will now be posted out free of the extra charge and customers can elect to continue receiving emailed .PDF documents or text massages.

Mmm.


NZ Herald managed to not add anything that we haven't read in the first post in this thread...





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  #193557 2-Feb-2009 23:15
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I'm confused, the press release says I can have bills emailed as an attachment - is this or is this not available?

brentbart
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  #193688 3-Feb-2009 13:23
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bender: I'm confused, the press release says I can have bills emailed as an attachment - is this or is this not available?


I understand that it will be available soon (or in the near future). You can call a CSR and get your email address added to your connection and it will start when its available.

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  #193726 3-Feb-2009 16:19
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My understing talking to the CSR on 777 today was you need to opt back into them..

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