Comments on: Vodafone won’t take SMS Text News reader’s cash for international calls

By: Darth

Darth — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:24:02 +0000

As my colleague Hopefullyuseful has mentioned the standard time to lift this type of bar without payment required is after 3 months of clear payments. To do it before the clear payments have been made a deposit would be required.

I’d also like to add that we can arrange this for your reader Ewan – To do this he can use the contact page on the main website (www.vodafone.co.uk) and select the contact us option, followed by the email option.

On this page your reader will need to write a brief email explaining what they wish to do, answer the security questions and if they include “FIT135″ somewhere in the body of the email and this will come directly to our team.

By: Hopefullyuseful

Hopefullyuseful — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:46:44 +0000

If you paid a deposti of around Â£200.00 you should then be able to have international and premium rate call barring lifted. It’s just a security measure to protect against high usage and fraud. It’s there to protect customers and to enusre that a customer has a good payment history prior to being allowed to call internationally and premium rates.

If you agreed to pay a deposit, the bar could be lifted. After 3 months clear payment history you could have it lifted without the need for a deposit. The rule has always been there as a security measure for all new customers. The deposit is just a work around for customers with your kind of circumstances to ensure costs are covered.

By: cyclist

cyclist — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 12:42:45 +0000

Interesting. Years ago I had a new O2 contract, and when I called up to try to get international calls enabled there was some time to wait normally. But when I explained I needed it sooner because I was going to another country they had a backup plan – make an immediate direct debit for the balance on my account as it was at the time, enable international then allow charges to build up to a similar amount at which point they phoned me again, debited again and took the limit off. Seemed like a reasonable compromise to me – O2 got the money quicker and limited their exposure, I got to make my calls and couldn’t unexpectedly run up a huge bill. Of course things may have changed since then.

By: Ricky

Ricky — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:36:14 +0000

It’s fascinating that the US market is so much closer in terms of policies. I know that AT&T has the same policy with international calling. Typically the line has to be active for 3 months before they’ll allow international calling, though that can be pushed through if needed.

I can most certainly see the reasoning behind this, as they don’t want people setting up accounts, charging up huge international bills, and then returning the service within the return period and not paying. However, that only accounts for the first 30 days (in the US), so I don’t completely understand a three month window.

By: James Whatley

James Whatley — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 23:23:47 +0000

*looks around for Amy Rose*

By: pat phelan

pat phelan — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:55:38 +0000

Thanks for the mention Ewan
I suggest Rebtel, create local numbers for your local contacts in South Africa and give the useless robbing Bah-stads as little as possible,
Vodafone are beyond useless in general-try using Vodafone’s Irish site and you will see what I mean.