Getting a Vodafone Pay Monthly Phone

jjmax

I recently applied to upgrade my Ready To Go to Pay Monthly.
I'm going for the Business 200 package(about €60 per month), with the Nokia 6600(€79).
I'm going with Vodafone as I think they have the best coverage, and they don't charge for voice mail.
I have an excellent credit rating and a good relationship with both banks I deal with.
Vodafone came back and asked for €100 up front.
This has pissed me off.
It's the principal of the thing rather then the fact that I pay €100 that I will get back.
Why do I have to pay the €100 and others don't?
The dealer I was getting the phone through wouldn't argue the point with Vodafone, so I left and called them myself.
I was told by a guy at Vodafone that there was no way of changing this.
He did say that if I'd owned my own house, and had been in business longer then I might have gotten a more favourable outcome.
I have a few questions - Am I alone in this or do lot's of people get asked for this deposit? I'm pretty sure they do, so the real question is what about people that haven't been asked to pay the €100 upfront, what is your situation?
O2 charge 15c to check voicemail, which is something that puts me right off them, and they haven't got a great coverage in my area.
Don't know about Meteor, but I believe their coverage is fairly ****e.
Or am I wrong? Is there a good alternative to Vodafone?
I'm going to go to another dealer on Monday, and completely falcify my application - Home Owner, 10 Yrs in business, etc...., and see what difference that makes.
Vodafone's approach to starting business with a new customer has left me considering them in a very poor light, but I doubt they give a crap.

maccydoodies

I recently moved to meteor billpay and its the best. Ive been with vodafone rtg and i think they are a rip off. I pay €40 per month for 200 minutes to anywhere in the uk and ireland. ANything over that its 20c pm. Text messages are 9c and free to other meteor customers. Just thought id tell you coz so far its going great!! Not really relevant to original post but something to think about. Oh yeah i got a free nokia 3200(?) I think thats the model no......

BuffyBot

Don't know about Meteor, but I believe their coverage is fairly ****e.

The coverage is normally quite good on Meteor now, in comparison to what it used to be (and even then, I personally didn't have that many issues with it). It might be worth considering.

jjmax

Absolutely!
I'll look into Meteor now.
This is the sort of feedback I'm looking for, cheers.

Jammer

I paid the €100 deposit, i thought it was just because i was only 18.

In fairness, would u lend somebody you didnt know your PC, without having at least some come back?

jjmax

I know what you're saying Jammer.
But like you say, in fairness, if I asked a new customer to give me 100blips up front they'd tell me to f' off.
Vodafone seem to be acting like the cat who got the cream.
and.... I wouldn't lend my PC to anyone

astec123

Meteor customer for 18months now, coverage is excelent, and I have been to a few places about the munster area, the only time I got no signal was in the middle of nowhere. Well advised as the offers are best. And they are more competitive.

Gillo

The reason you were asked for the deposit was because you came out low in their credit score, it's nothing personnal. mobile phones are heavily subsidised when you buy them as a bill phone, and the operaters simply ensure that they will at least get the cost of the phone back by askign for a deposit.

Generally from my experience (sellign O2 phones) they don't ask for a deposit with sole traders / SME's. on the off chance that they did you simply get that money put straight on your account so you won't have to pay your first few bills.

SouperComputer

just got a contract form 02 last week.

I am a sole trader currently. My personal account was changed to TSB (big mistake BTW) three months ago.

No deposit needed except for roaming.

Have to agre with the guys about Meteor. Their coverage is grand. Even two years ago I got a phone call in the middle of the burren on 085. Should have stuck with them...... I might even go back. Your calls with them generally are about 40% cheaper.

RicardoSmith

I switched to Meteor and I have had problems with coverage around dublin city center and down the country. Maybe its my phone? I don't find it cheaper in terms of calls since I know of no one else with a meteor phone so most of my calls are to other networks. However what did drop my calls is switching to prepaid. It has chnaged my bad habits.

cuckoo

If you've gone with a bill pay phone make note of the day your contract expires, then on that day (sometime next year) do a quick bit of research to find out what the other mobile companies are offering to new customers. If you decide to stay with vodafone ring them up a few days later and tell them that while you've been happy with their service, you're thinking of switching. Throw out the details of a few deals the other companies are offering.

They'll try and tell you that you'll get an upgrade if you renew your contract, point out the other companies are also offering cheap phones.

At this stage you'll probably be passed up the customer service chain.

Be polite, and in a round about way put your cards on the table - what will they offer you to remain a customer of theirs?

I've done this in the past, and last year received 100 free text messages a month for 6 months, half price line rental for 6 months and a few other sweeteners - all for renewing a contract i was going to renew anyway as i needed the upgrade to replace my banjxed phone.

Btw, you're in a much stronger position to negotiate if you pay your bill by direct debit.

Pythia

Some of the answers they were looking for were:

-pay by direct debit
-own your own house
-have the same address over 3 years
-be in business 10+ years
-be with bank 3+ years

These would be the most important, although everything is taken into account.
Of course if they keep your application on file so if you apply again they will notice the other one. They recognise it by your name and date of birth.
Unfortunately it's just how they do business.
Maybe this time, apply in your own name instead of your business name for a personal a/c. They might not link this application to the previous one in that case.

robo

Same with me - had to pay a deposit for Vodafone bill pay - I didn't really mind, as I would get it back on the bill. That was 18 months ago.
But I have since changed to Meteor - Vodafone is a rip off. I was getting bills of about €60 to €70 a month and I wasn't using the phone that much! I am now pay as you go with Meteor - 2 weeks in and I have spent €8! And I probably have used the phone a bit more often than when I had the bill cos I can view my credit as I use it!
I was looking at the Meteor bill pay options and they had great deals and were giving free phones also...they really are trying to get people to change to them - but they are making it worth yourwhile!