Well, it looks like Vodafone is in Ofcom hot water again!
In October of last year, Ofcom published their year-long investigation into Vodafone’s breach of customer protection rules. The investigation concluded with Vodafone being fined a jaw-dropping sum of £4.6m.
The investigation came about when Ofcom was notified of Vodafone’s continuous incorrect billing for Pay-as-you-go customers and their mishandling of customer complaints. Customers lost £150k during this period.
And here we are in the next chapter of Vodafone and Ofcom’s story.
In August last year, Vodafone updated their roaming policy to pay-monthly customers. The new policy meant that customers holidaying outside of Europe could be charged a daily fee of £5 for using their minutes, data and text.
This means that sending even one text message abroad could result in a bill of £5.
Roam further covers 60 destinations. Any other destinations outside of these are charged at a standard roaming rate. Previously you were able to pay the standard roaming charges or opt into WorldTraveller which charged you £5 a day to use your UK allowances outside the EU. Kez
— Vodafone UK (@VodafoneUK) December 17, 2017
Vodafone’s list of roam-further destinations
Of course, customers were not happy.
@ Vodafone mandatory roaming charges at £5 to send one text to family. I'm a flight attendant so need options pls
— Kat Green (@Kattle) August 11, 2017
Following an intervention from Ofcom, customers facing the roam further charge have been given extra time to decide if they want to leave their contracts without paying the fines.
