Vodafone’s “simplified” charge policy hits customers

Vodafone angered its UK customers by implementing “simplified” call charge changes. The new company decision would raise prices up to 92% as the mobile operator announced it will charge by minute not by the second. This means that if a phone conversation lasts 62 seconds the customer is charged for 2 minutes.

Pay-as-you-go customers were notified by text message advising them to go online at vodaphone.co.uk/amends to find details of the change. The way message about change was communicated with users infuriated many customers: “Pay as you go pricing just got simpler,” the message said: “Pay by the minute – and always know how much credit you have left. Calls on Pay as you go are getting simpler from 1 August 2013. No more complicated pricing by the second – just clear, straightforward per minute charges.”

The message kept piling on with an explanation that said if a call is one minute and 37 seconds long, it will be charged as two minutes. “That way, youll always know exactly how many minutes you have left.”

A spokeswoman for Vodafone confirmed that all these calls will be rounded up, and that the company would not be rounding down the cost of calls, if a call lasted slightly over a minute. Angry customers have turned to Guardian sending messages like this one – “So, Im too thick to work in seconds as well as minutes, and Vodaphone are therefore making life easier for me. To reward themselves for being so helpful, they are, in effect, going to charge me more for my calls.”

The struggling operator is, of course, dressing this up as a benefit for its subscribers, claiming the simplified charges will help users know better how many minutes they have left in their accounts. The change is going to hurt mostly users who make short calls while the ones who make long phone conversations are almost not going to feel much the difference.

However, this is not the first time Vodafone done a rounding on peoples bills. In October 2011 it did a similar trick to customers on monthly contracts. Everyone who took out a contract before February 2011 had their bill rounded up to the nearest 50 pence.

Vodafone Group Plc lost 0.12% in New York trade yesterday but its year to date advance stands at 14.11%.