Vodafone NZ in the Business 2.0 101 Dumbest Moments

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freitasm

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#6458 26-Jan-2006 22:47

Business 2.0 is one of the magazines I buy every month - alongside Fast Company and Wired.

This month's (Feb 2006), it comes with the 101 Dumbest Moments in business - 2005, and Vodafone New Zealand made it to position # 62:

"Can you hear us now? We're sor--"
Vodafone in New Zealand apologizes for cleaning out the prepaid accounts of customers who accessed its "absolutely free" service offering games, ringtones, and other downloads. The company declines to reveal how many customers were affected or how much money was involved in its hastily arranged reimbursement program.

I have to admit, this is not as nearly as bad as some other mistakes and bad decisions in the rest of the list...

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#27280 27-Jan-2006 02:35

Talking about 'free' stuff. Around about the same time they started overcharging me on GPRS, my news subscription disappeared (as in I was no longer paying for it) and I was STILL able to access it.

They fixed the subscription because I wanted the alerts that came with the package but then broke it again when they kept sending SMS alerts and tried fixing it to send MMS (I'm picky as I don't like the SMS alerts and their SMS abbreviations).

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Grantis

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#27365 28-Jan-2006 12:50

Yeah, that was abit of shocker by Vodafone I agree, but Telecom certainly ain't no saints either. Bearing in mind that the below links are successful prosecutions under the Fair Trading Act against Telecom Mobile;

Thousands to be compensated for Telecom Mobile clock fault

Telecom Mobile seriously misled customers, significant refunds likely

Telecom convicted for failure to disclose costs associated with telephone information service

Telecom Mobile pleads guilty to Fair Trading breaches

Telecom were pretty dumb to think they could get away it IMHO.

freitasm

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#27376 28-Jan-2006 13:25

Fair enough. But the topic is on Vodafone's - not Telecom's - business practices and slip outs, since this is the one that made to a list published by an overseas magazine.

I would equally post about Telecom NZ if the list pointed to them.

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#27377 28-Jan-2006 13:30

freitasm: Fair enough. But the topic is on Vodafone's - not Telecom's - business practices and slip outs, since this is the one that made to a list published by an overseas magazine.

I would equally post about Telecom NZ if the list pointed to them.

Since Vodafone is the worlds largest mobile network provider, they were obviously targeted.

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#27384 28-Jan-2006 15:28

I am the only one who is getting bored of Grantis and his constant barrage of anti-telecom and pro-voda dribble?

Get a grip man this is Geekzone not Gimpzone. For every bad thing Telecom does I am sure there are plenty more from Voda.

Who cares anyway - this website is about sharing knowledge and helping people. You don't seem to have grasped that yet. Why don't you try being constructive for a change!

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#27385 28-Jan-2006 15:30

@ Grantis:
How can you say that? I might have said it was biased if most or all the moments were targetting Vodafone but this is just ONE.

I'm sure the magizine didn't go out of its way to try and screw Voda. That would be bad journalism.

Being the biggest carrier means that any mistakes you [the carrier] make will probably effect more people - thus the more people affected, the more media attention... (most likely way off :P )

Just so you know, I'm not a Telecom fanboy either.

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alasta

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#27393 28-Jan-2006 16:15

Jama: I am the only one who is getting bored of Grantis and his constant barraged of anti-telecom and pro-voda dribble?

Get a grip man this is Geekzone not Gimpzone. For every bad thing Telecom does I am sure there are plenty more from Voda.

I think it's great that people are so passionate about the technologies that they believe in, but constantly bringing up Telecom's PR blunders is not a valid defense for Vodafone's wrongdoings. Companies which provide services in New Zealand, including Vodafone and Telecom, need to be accountable for their own errors irrespective of what their competitors may be guilty of.

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#27397 28-Jan-2006 20:40

This thread needs to get back on topic immediately (i.e. no more OT posts, or I will simply delete them).

Lets see if this idea flies, and we might have a place to air ourselves. But until then, GZ guidelines and on-topic rules still apply.

Please be respectful and, mindful of others opinions (no matter how you feel about them, or which side of the fence you sit on) at all times.

This applies equally to all GZ members regardless of whether they have posted in this thread or not.

Have a nice day.