Porting Away from Vodafone - 6 weeks left on contract

breeno

Hey folks. I'm seriously sick of the signal issues in my area since they switched of 3g.

Contract expires 4th December. Are there penalties (on top of the cost of the remaining term which I'm ok with paying as I signed up to the contract) for leaving early? Or could they reject the port?

Raichų

Hi OP,

Vodafone ECC (early cease charge) is simply the remainder of your term multiplied by the amount you pay per month.

So in your case with we’ll say two months remaining you’ll just be charged your plan cost x2. You won’t have any other penalties etc for breaking the contract & considering what’s left in your term you may be able to negotiate with them to just let you pay your current bill up to the time of porting and leave the December payment be.

if you were to port out today for example with 6 weeks left you’ll be billed November & December in your final bill. They can’t reject the port unless your account is currently in significant arrears.

breeno

Cheers for the quick response!

Raichų

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122765829#Comment_122765829

no worries! If you give them a call they may be willing to let you out of the contract now without any penalty due to the issues you’re experiencing.

That said I don’t know Vodafone’s specific policy on the matter it may require a lot of troubleshooting and “escalating” which would likely all in all take about as long anyway!!

Suppose it’s no harm to give them a call anyway. I wouldn’t personally be happy to pay for a service that isn’t working right but I do understand just wanting to get it done and dusted and move on.

If you are in an area not covered by 4/5G then you will need to stick with Eir or GOMO for your new network by the way; Three Ireland are also switching 3G off very soon.

GIMP

Definitely make a complaint regarding the deteriorating signal, if you get nowhere with that ask for a reference number to escalate to Comreg. Is the 3g switch off recently, they may be upgrading the network in the coming weeks. I know in my area 3g was switched off with little notice but they did upgrade to 5g.

Raichų

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122766708#Comment_122766708

I don’t think comreg can or will do anything about it anyway.

eronayne

Deffo worth creating a formal complaint with them.

if they are unable to resolve the complaint within 10 days you be entitled to escalate to comreg.

VFI will also be required to include your complaint in a report to comreg, they might be happy to leave you out of your contract around day 5. unless of course they resolve the signal issues.

Raichų

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122768629#Comment_122768629

for what reason would you contact comreg? VF (or any other network for that matter) is not obliged to provide you with a data signal and I’m nearly certain it will be stipulated in your contract that any access to 4/5G is dependent upon the signal availability and your device being able to use it also.

I wouldn’t be going and making a scene with Vodafone about this because at the end of the day it’s not an obligation on their part and if I was the OP I would be asking nicely. Kicking up a fuss won’t help the situation at all and comreg cannot do anything about it because access to 4G or 5G is not part of a network’s obligations.

GIMP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122769063#Comment_122769063

Absolute nonsense!! Don't heed this, if the complaint results in the op getting out of contract with no penalty then it is well worth complaining! The whole reason this has occurred is because of a decision by Vodafone to change or weaken the signal via 3g switch off, they effectively are not providing a service that they previously were!

Years back I had similar issues with a different network, I got out of contract free and moved to another network with better signal!

Raichų

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122769202#Comment_122769202

I didn’t say not to complain to Vodafone and look to be released from contract early. What I said was; going in with threats of comreg etc are not going to get a speedy resolution with 6 weeks left in the contract the OP would be wasting their time.

Vodafone are not required to provide a 3G signal or any data signal actually there’s no regulation to state they must. A provider will generally release you from a contract when the service isn’t working or available post signing the agreement.

Anyway if you read my first posts I clearly advised the OP to call Vodafone and discuss ending the contract now without penalty considering but further advised that provision of 4/5G is not required unless stated in their agreement. Providers cannot and will not promise any minimum level of service, coverage or data speed.

The 3G switch off has also been approved by Comreg so I can’t see them upholding a complaint about it or indeed punishing VF for the customer being unable to use it.

You’re also assuming the OP has a 4/5G compatible device, is in an area with coverage and many other things so your demand they have a solid case is assumptive at best. As I said yesterday OP, contact VF and just explain you want to move to another provider that offers 3G as the lack thereof on VF has become more than you can put up with and can you be released from contract early.

It’s unlikely they’ll refuse but if they do I would raise a complaint internally and if you wish to comreg should the resolution be unsatisfactory but they are very unlikely to do anything as I said they have sanctioned the 3G switch off and unless your agreement with VF promises access to data services as part of then they haven’t done anything to breach their agreement or obligations from my perspective.

Raichų

also OP I’ve known Vodafone to be pretty decent about offering refunds to customers for some of their last payments if there’s been service issues or not charging for periods outage if you ask nice enough.

That is partly why I wouldn’t go in going mad initially.

MarkR

If service has degraded in your area, lodge a complaint and you'll probably be able to exit the contract with no fee.

breeno

Thanks for all the replies folks. Vodafone asked me to get a new sim to rule out a sim related issue. Spoke to a guy in branch today who sorted me with an esim (first esim, very impressed with that tech) and he mentioned that they've been inundated with similar complaints from customers.

Unfortunately as expected its not sim related and still seeing the same issues this evening. Will contact again tomorrow and hopefully find an amicable solution.

breeno

Update for anyone who cares but Vodafone, after a bit of back and forth, were very fair and allowed me to exit the remainder of my contract without penalty due to my service issues.

Very impressed with the customer service. Shame I can't stay with them.

Ported to 3 to try it out for a month and immediately I've gone from circa 1mb/s to 300mb/s 5g.

Cheers again for the advice.