Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Chriswright03
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Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by Chriswright03 »

Having had to change earlier this year to an unlimited plan in order that we could carry on using Vodafone here without paying the £6 every day we use it today I received an email from them changing it all again.

Basically because they say I have been here for 12 months under the fair use rules they are going to start charging us if we continue to use the phone here and not in the UK.

"From 18 January 2021, if you use your phone abroad in any of your plan’s inclusive roaming destinations for 62 or more days in a four month period, and your usage in those destinations is more than your usage in the UK we’ll send you a warning email or text to let you know when this happens."

"If after 14 days of us sending you a warning message your roaming usage continues, you may be charged the following extra charges to use your phone in your inclusive roaming destinations:
• Calls: 3.3p a minute

• Texts: 1p each

• Data: £3.13 for each 1GB"


Just tried to contact them on line but the page will not load. I guess they are having a lot of Ex Pats trying to do the same.

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by alphamike »

Might be just as well to bite the bullet and get a local sim card, albeit you'll have to register your phone, or buy another one here.

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by Chriswright03 »

Yes I can see that looks like the best way forward. I wouldn't mind but I was sold the contract by them in the full knowledge that we are here most of the year. We have been back on the island since the end of February so not been using it for 12 months here and we hardly ever use it to make calls and only use data very occasionally. I wouldn't mind so much if it didn't mean having to mess about registering the phone I have which I really do not want to change and then to maybe use a Vodafone sim from here.

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by alphamike »

I do sympathise with you, but once you're into a contract, Vodafone can obviously do what the heck they like. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
They haven't bothered me so far, but my Vodafone sim is PAYG and I don't use it here, other than to send a text to keep it live every 3 months or so.

Again am in agreement with you, it's such a faff to register a phone. If it all could be done at Turkcell or Telsim rather than have to visit 3 different places, would be a dawdle. Maybe one of these days they will get it online.

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by Chriswright03 »

Having spent over an hour on an on line chat with three different agents two of which were managers when I requested the matter be escalated I am no further forward. Same old lie trotted out it is the rules set by the UK Government for the industry.

Apparently they have now decided to enforce the roaming and fair use rules whereas before they didn't. I did mention that out of my 25gb allowance this month with nine days left to go I have used 133mb of data and never once have I sued anything like my allowance. Fair use it would appear is more concerned with you being out of the UK longer than 62 days in 4 months than just how much data or allowance you are using. I have 30 days from today to leave the contract without penalty so can either do that or just turn data off after three months.

Having been forced into having to go to an Unlimited Max plan at twice the cost of my previous contract to avoid paying the £6 charge each day the phone is used for a call, text or data here it seems now that my time with Vodafone has come to an end.

So yes will have to look at registering my current mobile as I like it and neither wish to change it nor pay money out for a Turkish phone. My wife has a UK PAYG sim with the minimum credit on it simply to retain her UK number. I may go down that route and then as my phone is dual sim get a local one as well.

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by alphamike »

Sorry that you have got nowhere, really sickening when you were paying a good deal more. I suspect a lot of people here will be affected by this change in policy. Wonder if they will cut off their PAYG customers then? Will wait and see if an email arrives.

If you are here a good part of the year, depending on your usage, might be worth getting a contract with Telsim or Turkcell, as even if you are elsewhere, you can still pay online to keep it live, you can still do it with PAYG, but I have no knowledge of how it works. I'm with Turkcell and the basic fee is just over 5TL per month...calls and data are extra of course.

At least you will have 90 days from when you get a local sim to get it registered here.

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by Chriswright03 »

I have a sneaky feeling it will be Turkcell as opposed to Telsim which is Vodafone! Still going to either register this phone or buy a cheapie which is annoying. Still a lot of people have far more to worry about that this sort of nonsense,

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by alphamike »

I am sure that it's Telsim who are Vodafone here.

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by jofra »

alphamike wrote:
Tue 08 Dec 2020 5:40 pm
I am sure that it's Telsim who are Vodafone here.
While Telsim prance about displaying the vodafone signs on their shops, try topping up your UK vodaphone at one of their shops - "No, sorry we can't do that for UK phones..." - personal experience last year!

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by Groucho »

Bite the bullet. Get a local PAYG sim. Check your local friends to see what the majority use and go with either Telsim or Turkcell as the calls you make will eat-up less units if you have the same network as the majority of your contacts tbh we've lived here 15 years and have only ever had Turkcell PAYG. With WiFi just about everywhere we hardly make any actual phone calls. Even to our kids we use Skype or Google Home/Duo daily. So it works out about £1.5 a month to keep it topped-up. Which you do online once every three months.

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by Chriswright03 »

alphamike wrote:
Tue 08 Dec 2020 5:40 pm
I am sure that it's Telsim who are Vodafone here.

It is alphamike. My wording wasn't good was it? Read it again just now and realise I could have worded that better.

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by Chriswright03 »

Groucho wrote:
Wed 09 Dec 2020 4:42 am
Bite the bullet. Get a local PAYG sim. Check your local friends to see what the majority use and go with either Telsim or Turkcell as the calls you make will eat-up less units if you have the same network as the majority of your contacts tbh we've lived here 15 years and have only ever had Turkcell PAYG. With WiFi just about everywhere we hardly make any actual phone calls. Even to our kids we use Skype or Google Home/Duo daily. So it works out about £1.5 a month to keep it topped-up. Which you do online once every three months.
Yup intend to do that Groucho. In fact I cannot recall the last time I made an actual phonecall on the network as all I do is via wifi in the house. I do tend to use it t Google stuff when out but only because I can and not because I have to so that can be done without. I use the phone for a sat nav but I have off line maps with Sygic so can use them.

I think it will be Turkcell as I have had my fill with Vodafone. I will just get a PAYG sim as well and then top it up as you say. Still have to faff about to register the phone of course but just another hoop to jump through and in the whole scheme of things at the moment I am sure I can cope with that. Stupid thing is I bought a Turkish phone when we got here 2 1/2 years ago but as it was a pain to top up and I never ever used any of the data I decided to not use it then like an even bigger idiot gave the phone away. Doh!

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by alphamike »

No problem CW, I reread again and can see where you are coming from. What a pain that you gave away phone from here.

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by ljarvo »

This is going to be a big problem for many of us - it’s not going to be that easy to just use a local number - by the way I do have a local mobile as well

I still work - not full time but have had my mobile number for over 20 years and it’s how people get hold of me

Also the big problem will be the internet banking etc that will send a text to your UK mobile to complete a transaction...most UK banks won’t use a foreign mobile number

So what will the solution be .. .having to post my SIM back to the UK then get someone else to text me the verification code!!

Another problem arising through Brexit in my opinion ...

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by Chriswright03 »

I will change my account to a PAYG only and when we did this earlier this year with my wife's phone she was allowed to use the same sim card. So hopefully not a massive problem. Main thing for me is to keep the same phone number that I have had for years because as you say for things like the bank.

There was a link to contact them in the email but of course it did nothing, presumably because they are so busy with many others in the same boat. It gives 30 days from the date of the email to cancel the contract without penalty. I am undecided at the moment what to do. I know the extra charges aren't very much but of course these changes may well be applied to the PAYG sim as well who knows?

I may just switch off roaming once they send me a warning text but then why continue to pay them for Unlimited Max if you can't use it? My big issue is that it is due to their fair use policy which implies that by being here we are costing them money. I fail to see how that can be in my case as I have never used up any of the allowance in a given month since I changed earlier this year.

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by SunnyParkers »

Chris, I am, and have been on the unlimited plan for a couple of years. I have just changed it to an unlimited sim only at £23 per month. I got the same email. Admittedly we are not here all year, but for me the key bit was the 62 days in 4 months AND using more data here in UK. As I read it they won’t impose charges if you use more data in uk than here so my plan is to use up a lot more data when back in UK. Don’t know if that’s an option for you ?

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by Chriswright03 »

It is this bit that is confusing really.

"From 18 January 2021, if you use your phone abroad in any of your plan’s inclusive roaming destinations for 62 or more days in a four month period, and your usage in those destinations is more than your usage in the UK we’ll send you a warning email or text to let you know when this happens. "

That to me implies that not only do we need to be here outside of the 62 days BUT we need to be using it more than we do in the UK. In that event I imagine I will be OK as in the UK we use it for internet as we have no land line. It doesn't say 'OR' so who knows how they will interpret it. Thing is even if they do charge extra it isn't much extra but the principle is still there for me. So I have to make a choice of leave before the 30 days are up to save being penalised or bite the bullet and carry on as we are. In reality staying as we are will be cheaper than registering the phone and less hassle but Vodafone having put us in this position in the first place by removing TRNC from their roaming as they did and now want to make us pay more. Not impressed but the devil you know and all that I guess.

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by Chriswright03 »

Having got literally nowhere the other day after over an hour with the on line chat I have just filled in an on line complaint. I seriously doubt it will change anything but will report back once I receive a reply.

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by Chriswright03 »

I was contacted by email last night telling me to expect a phone call before 8pm UK time to discuss my complaint. I did receive the call and spoke to a very helpful man who, like many others I guess was working from home. Whilst he agreed with what I had said about neither Turkey nor the UK being in the EU he stated that they had received no other instructions other than what we already know about.

I was informed that I could still leave within the 30 days without penalty. I explained that the cost wasn't the issue and it was the principle that Vodafone are in reality doing something that must be illegal quoting EU rules when they don't apply to either Country from the 18th of January 2021.

So the upshot of it is either leave without penalty or stay and cope with the new rules. In reality the cost isn't worth worrying about and although I am still adamant about the principle there is no better option for me other than stay as I am. As I am adverse to constantly banging my head against a brick wall I agreed to close the complaint. As a gesture of good will £20 has been credited to my account.

As and when we will be able to return to the UK in safety I will explore other options although I suspect other companies will be pretty much the same.

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by ljarvo »

Chris - I am trying to talk to an actual person as Vodafone any advice?

It takes ages to talk to people on line driving me mad

Do we have to pay a roaming charge now or is it just the calls and texts we make?

Thank you

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by Chriswright03 »

If you talk to someone from the call centre you will be wasting your breath. I made a complaint hence they rang me but to be fair even though the Guy was friendly and polite he still couldn't change anything. My understanding of it is after yesterday the charges 'can' be levied but only if you use it more than they allow (see below) in which case they will send you a warning text.
From 18 January 2021, if you use your phone abroad in any of your plan’s inclusive roaming destinations for 62 or more days in a four month period, and your usage in those destinations is more than your usage in the UK we’ll send you a warning email or text to let you know when this happens.

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Post by ljarvo »

Thank you

Had an long chat with an ‘online’ person

I really got the impression they don’t want our business if we do not reside in the UK

They offered a few times to put me through to the termination department and for me to give me 1 months notice!

They even suggested it would be much cheaper to get a local mobile contract which I do have anyway ...

Anyway let’s see how it goes as would still rather keep my UK number

It’s just disappointing as I took this contract out on the terms it then offered

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by Chriswright03 »

I had the same impression. This must be illegal really as they are imposing rules made by the EU when neither the UK nor the TRNC are in the EU. Who is going to take on a company as large as Vodafone though? Yes we are sticking with it merely to keep our UK numbers. I doubt the price difference will affect us by much if at all but having changed from £11 a month to £22.50 a month because they changed the rules last year and removed TRNC from their EU roaming I think this is a bit off..

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Re: Vodafone moving the goal posts yet again

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Post by wrymouth »

I don't know if this is helpful but I took out a contract with Vodafone last year via Fonehouse. This gives calls and data free while in Turkey (TRNC). The cost is £26 month but with cash back this reduces to £16 month; I have already received my first 6 months (£60). Of course this does not alter Vodafones changed usage policy but the contract is substantially cheaper. My only caveat is that I have not yet had the chance to use the phone in Kibris so at the moment I can only speculate that I can use the phone as though I were in the UK. I should add that I also had to change my phone number although this did not turn out to be as much of a pain as i had feared.

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