The Return Of Vodafone's Crazy Circus (Updated)

By Benedict Wee

Here we go again. A lively debate on the prices of the services and mobiles Vodafone NZ offers sprung up on Twitter and yours truly (as well as a couple of others) joined in to grill the telco about their high prices. Below are the exchanges that me and Paul have made and what I got out of the conversation.

The debate was already raging between other tweets when I logged on but I decided to only enter when Vodafone NZ made this remark:

I responded with:

Vodafone responded:

along with:

and:

This basically meant that they don't care for PrePay users as much as they do for those who are On Account (attached to contracts). And if you're not happy about their plans: switch telcos cause you're not their target group.

I replied:

and:

Vodafone:

and:

By now I know they were just bullshitting the whole situation. $29 for the Vodafone 541 is On Account and they were comparing it to a PrePay price in the UK.

Me:

First, Vodafone wanted to compare population size, which I did. After losing that battle they wanted to compare geographical size and challenged me to prove their phones were expensive:

which I did:

Again, after losing this battle they then decided to change tactics and go for their previous rediculous strategy of comparing PrePay with On Account:

Once again, they reiterated that they didn't care for PrePay customers as much. So I played their game and compared their On Account plans:

Vodafone NZ was trying to slip a quick one by comparing iPhones as Vodafone UK doesn't sell them and thus, there could be no fair comparisons. I chose the HTC Magic instead cause it was the same Vodafone branded smartphone offered in both regions.

Sensing that this battle was lost also, Vodafone attempted to change their stance with:

I responded:

The HTC Magic in the UK was free on a 24 month plan less than 6 months after it was launched. This is just them trying to coverup that fact that their phones are being sold cheaper in their overseas branches.

Even if you do not have a timeline for when the UK dropped their prices, take a look at any of Vodafone NZ's phones. None of them are free with contracts. Their attempts at justifying high prices are terribly weak and transparent.

The debate continued with them replying with the "UK is not NZ" argument they've tried to use before and after asking why is the same telco not offering a relatively similar price on their mobiles they replied that both Vodafone branches are completely separate entities that order different amounts of handsets so they're priced differently.

Vodafone stopped replying after my last message, guess they decided not to incriminate themselves anymore.

As you can see from the long exchange above, they claim that their phones are not ordered in bulk along with the head Vodafone branch for distribution throughout the world but instead, are made after the initial order which is why their phones are expensive.

Makes sense? I don't think so. Yes the phones are made by batches but they're still the same ol phones and saying that they have to pay more because of a smaller order is silly. If you owned a multinational corporation and made a product, wouldn't you order them in one big bulk and distribute them according to the market size? How do they explain that parallel importers (who are much smaller than the telcos) managed to bring in HTC Magics and sell them for $400 lesser than what Vodafone NZ asks for on PrePay?

Everything about what Vodafone NZ has said reeks of PR spinning, and a bad one at that. Proclaiming that they don't care for PrePay customers as much as they do for those On Account is a terrible statement to make considering most remain on prepaid plans do so because of the lack of value when you take up a monthly contract. I still stand by the theory that they're just exploiting the New Zealand market as they've got a strong hold over us which comes about from the lack of competition. It's about time we stand up to their tyranny and greed.

Price Check: Vodafone-made Phones And Modem Sticks.

By Benedict Wee

I've been saying that the telcos in New Zealand have been overcharging for their mobile plans and handsets for a while now -Vodafone being the worst offender of the three- and that finding an alternate method to get that iPhone 3GS or a better substitution to the crippled HTC Magic could easily be done on the internet.

But what about the phones that are made by them? Surely there wouldn't be any major price discrepancies with the other Vodafone branches overseas and that we'll get all the available choices they've got?

Well after quick search online it turns out that even then, we cannot catch a break from the red logo-ed telco.

Vodafone 541 Black

Date Checked: November 10th 2009

Vodafone UK:

40GBP/NZ$90.55

Vodafone NZ:

NZ$300

(before 1/2 price Holiday offer)

How about prepaid broadband then? After a comparing with the prices amongst the other stores overseas it looks like we're stuffed too...

Vodafone NZ:

Modem Stick costs NZ$99, comes with 512MB of data.

Prepaid prices are NZ$10 for 100MB or NZ$40 for 512MB per month.

Vodafone Aus:

Modem Stick costs Au$99/NZ$124.20, comes with 1GB of data.

Prepaid prices aren't available online.

Vodafone UK:

Modem Stick costs GBP35/NZ$78.80, comes with 1GB of data.

Prepaid prices are GBP15/NZ$33.75 for 1GB per month.

For something that they're heavily advertising everywhere, Vodafone NZ doesn't seem to mind that their holiday offerings are still far from the prices the rest of their sister branches are charging internationally. Maybe if they'd spend the resources they used to make mobile orchestras on giving us better deals instead we'd be able to actually get something fair for once.

Vodafone NZ link.

Vodafone Aus link.

Vodafone UK link.

Symphony Of Phones Doing Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture Is Wicked Cool.

By Benedict Wee

Vodafone's new ad is a perfect example of how you merge the old world with the new.

I may hate everything about the way they do things, but I have to admit they really know how to make great advertisements when they want to.

It also helps when you love classical music.

Source

Vodafone NZ - 1000 mobile phones. 2000 texts. One song.

Vodafone UK To Sell Budget Android Mobile HTC Tattoo Soon

By Benedict Wee

A quick browse in the mobile phones section of the Vodafone UK site has uncovered that the overseas telco will be selling the HTC Tattoo in October and we were right about the phone having interchangeable covers.

The Tattoo is HTC's attempt at producing a cheap handheld targeted at those with a smaller budget and introducing non-smartphone users to Android.

The launch date comes at the perfect time as rival provider; T-Mobile UK is expected to release their own low-cost prepaid Android phone -The Pulse- in the same month for only 180GBP/NZ$433. It makes sense that the HTC Tattoo will cost around the same price as the Pulse.

If we're lucky enough we could see the phone on our shores too but do not not expect to have the luxury of a similarly low price tag as the HTC Magic Vodafone NZ currently sells costs NZ$519 (it's free in the UK) with a (much worse) 24 month contract.

Drop The Rate, Mate! Campaign Stands Behind IT Minister's MTR Decision Process

By Benedict Wee

Matthew Hooton, spokesperson for the Drop the Rate, Mate! campaign has commended Steven Joyce's (Communication and Information Technology Minister) decision to reject commercial offers on mobile termination rates from telco duopoly Vodafone and Telecom and will instead wait for the Commerce Commission to make a recommendation before making a decision.

"My Joyce's anouncement last week indicates he has made a commitment to following the proper process, and that is to be welcomed," said Hooton, "His announcement creates a great deal of confidence that the current process will lead to New Zealand's market rules being brought into line with international best practice, brining more competition and lower prices for consumers."

New Zealand has one of the highest call/text/data rates in the world and lacks an "unlimited" plan option despite selling mobiles at a high price. A good example is Vodafone's attempt to charge NZ$250 a month on a 2-year contract for the Apple iPhone 3G last year. The plan was eventually made cheaper due to public protest.

Vodafone Sends Out Invites For Smartphone Night

By Benedict Wee

If you've signed up for pre-launch iphone 3GS notifications from Vodafone then you might have received an invitation to spend an evening with the smartphones they are currently selling:

As you have told us you are interested in the Apple iPhone, we would love you to come to our Get Smart evening so we can show you the latest smart phones. From Apple to Blackberry, HTC and Nokia, and we’ll also showcase the cool 3G Netbook and Vodem sticks.

There are so many cool things available directly to your mobile phone including Internet, email, maps, GPS, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. So, we thought it was a about time we hosted a bit of 'show and tell' where you can play with some of our leading smart phones and see things in action.

We will have our product experts on hand to give you demonstrations plus some nibbles so you can munch while you play!

If you have been contemplating getting a smartphone or smart device from Vodafone, we have a SPECIAL deal just for you on the night!

See you there!

The team at Vodafone Retail

It doesn't sound impressive unfortunately. There are no signs indicating that they'll be introducing any new models as the email suggests that they'll just be peddling old smartphones, 3G netbooks and Vodem sticks, relegating the night to nothing but a "late-night-shopping-at-one-store-with-finger food" event.

I'm also betting the SPECIAL deals that they'll be offering aren't something to write home about either.

The smartphone evening will be held on the 30th September (Wednesday?!) in the 3 major cities of New Zealand and will last for about 90 minutes.

No Really, What Do You Think About Vodafone?

By Benedict Wee

To celebrate the launch of the Samsung Ultra Touch S8300 phone, Vodafone is going to hold an exclusive party at the Zambesi Newmarket store in Auckland and they're giving out tickets to the first 20 customers who buy the phone from their online shop.

The S8300 comes with an 8MP camera, EDGE connection, a microSD slot, blah blah blah... look it's a plain ol' feature phone. It's not very interesting.

What does grab my attention is the information on the right column of the Vodafone blog (which I never knew existed) which show comments of older blog posts.

A quick click on any of the 'What People Are Saying' section brings you a list of complaints by current Vodafone users. And man are there many complaints. Here are some samples of enraged customer comments:

Quick tip: Be sure you know what links are provided in your blog as people might click them. If not you're gonna look silly.

Quick tip 2: Charging NZ$1000 for a WiFi-less, non-smartphone released to the rest of the world way back in March and trying to entice people into buying them by giving out tickets to a party is pretty silly as well.

Source:

Vodafone - Exclusive Party Tickets!