How cellular operators rip you off

I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would willingly sign a cellphone contract in South Africa under such dubious terms and conditions.

I gave up on contracts long ago and have only used prepaid with my own second hand phone. I may pay little more, but I sleep a whole lot better at night! I refuse to be ripped off by these idiots.
 
yup. its as if some smug marketer is sitting there thinking i (with 2 degrees and three companies) am a moron. Well.. sorry to **** on your breakfast miss moneypenny... but i can smell your rat a mile away... pity many other customers are.. well.. morons.
 
THIS IS FOR VODACOM SERVICE PROVIDER COMPANY:

What contract lengths do you offer? 24 AND 36 MONTHS (36 MONTHS FOR LAPTOP DEALS)

What options do I have if I supply my own handset? IF YOU GO ON CONTRACT, YOU PAY A LESSER MOUNT FOR YOUR MONTLY SUBS.

Is this contract for per-second billing or per-minute billing? THE GENERAL RULE IS PER MINUTE WORKS OUT CHEAPER WHEN YOU TALK FOR MORE THAN A MINUTE. AFTER THE FIRST MINUTE, YOU ARE BILLED IN 30 SECOND INCREMENTS.

What happens after my 24-month contract is complete? Will you automatically renew it? NO. ONLY YOU CAN GIVE PERMISSION FOR US TO UPGRADE YOUR LINE AND EXTEND IT FOR 24 MONTHS AGAIN.

What penalties are there for cancelling my contract before 24-months? YOU WILL BE CHARGED THE REMAINDER OF YOUR CONTRACT SUBS AND VAS SERVICES (CAN BE DE-ACTIVATED ON REQUEST PROVIDED IT WAS NOT A MANDATORY VAS WITH PREVIOUS UPGRADE SUCH AS ITEMIZED BILLING BEING MANDATORY)

How much does the phone cost on its own? CASH PRICES MAY BE OBTAINED WITHIN STORE FOR HANDSETS

Am i paying interest on the phone price? CANT ANSWER

Do my free minutes roll over to the next month? YES....UP TO SIX MONTHS. AFTER YOU ENTER MONTH 7, MONTH 1 FALLS AWAY AS PER THE BUCKET SYSTEM WE USE.
 
My simple solution ... I go prepaid but get a new phone from my mothers contract. 2 Phones 1 contract (So what if I'm not willing to buy a mobile ;)) ... I'm not fussed if it's not the most powerful handset out there. If it makes and receives a call, does text and has an mp3 player then I'm happy :)
 
deweyzeph said:
I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would willingly sign a cellphone contract in South Africa under such dubious terms and conditions.

I gave up on contracts long ago and have only used prepaid with my own second hand phone. I may pay little more, but I sleep a whole lot better at night! I refuse to be ripped off by these idiots.
Click to expand...

+1000
 
After careful consideration I went over to CellC on controlchat 100.

I got a new Nokia 5230, 24 months contract, 150 airtime minutes and 100 free SMS'es.

Works out cheaper than prepaid.

ocleroux said:
Is this contract for per-second billing or per-minute billing? THE GENERAL RULE IS PER MINUTE WORKS OUT CHEAPER WHEN YOU TALK FOR MORE THAN A MINUTE. AFTER THE FIRST MINUTE, YOU ARE BILLED IN 30 SECOND INCREMENTS.

What happens after my 24-month contract is complete? Will you automatically renew it? NO. ONLY YOU CAN GIVE PERMISSION FOR US TO UPGRADE YOUR LINE AND EXTEND IT FOR 24 MONTHS AGAIN.
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Sucks on the free minute part... they should be enforced to let the customer use the free minutes up first before starting to charge the customer for any calls made.

As for the sunset clause - that should (and must) be made illegal.
 
Of the 8 questions most people already know at least 5 of the answers.

A Question you failed to add though is "are the free minutes for any network and landlines?"
 
I got a Vodacom TopUp135S for R99 pm... For R99 pm, im getting R135 airtime, got a free phone, and 200 sms bundle. Reckon I scored with this one. Do not think i'll go any more than this in the future.
 
The_Librarian said:
Sucks on the free minute part... they should be enforced to let the customer use the free minutes up first before starting to charge the customer for any calls made.

As for the sunset clause - that should (and must) be made illegal.
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Can you just explain to me what you mean Lib? On the Talk packages with Vodacom, you will use your includsive mintues first, then once that is exhausted, then Vodacom start charging as per the tarrif you are on. On the weekender, your inclusive minutes will be used during off peak hours...from 20:00 to 07:00 the following morning, weekends and public holidays. Any calls made outside those hours will be charged for according to the weekender tarrif and whether you are on per minute or PS billing.
 
You may save a little in the short-term with a contract, but you pay way over the odds in the long term. With prepaid you can use whatever phone you want for as long as you like with no forced upgrades, and no penalties for not upgrading. And you are in complete control of your monthly spend. If you're paying R200 a month or whatever on a contract then that is the minimum you have to pay no matter how little you use your phone. Yes, your minutes can rollover, but they will always get you in the end.
 
ocleroux said:
Is this contract for per-second billing or per-minute billing? THE GENERAL RULE IS PER MINUTE WORKS OUT CHEAPER WHEN YOU TALK FOR MORE THAN A MINUTE. AFTER THE FIRST MINUTE, YOU ARE BILLED IN 30 SECOND INCREMENTS..
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Per minute is cheaper when you talk in almost-whole minute increments. A 65 second call is cheaper on per second.
 
Upgraded my wife and myself to a Talk75S.
We were on weekender everyday.

Riddle me this: When a Talk75S works out so much cheaper than a weekender everyday why are only people with higher incomes allowed to get it?
 
deweyzeph said:
Yes, your minutes can rollover, but they will always get you in the end.
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If youf have a substantial amount of mintues that is carrying over every month and eventually you start forfeiting some of them as per the bucket system, then you are on the wrong tarriff and should request the sales consultant to suggest a better tarrif for you when upgrading.
 
Side note: Very happy with the new package compared to a weekender package. We also have very cheap phones but opted for a bigger game gift voucher instead of a phone.

PAYG would not work for us (we need to have a phone all the time, we live on a plot and have a daughter/real responsibilities) and would work out more expensive than this package.
 
ocleroux said:
If youf have a substantial amount of mintues that is carrying over every month and eventually you start forfeiting some of them as per the bucket system, then you are on the wrong tarriff and should request the sales consultant to suggest a better tarrif for you when upgrading.
Click to expand...

The key phrase being "when upgrading". Unfortunately you will be ripped off until your contract finishes.
 
deweyzeph said:
The key phrase being "when upgrading". Unfortunately you will be ripped off until your contract finishes.
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This will depend. You can have your package migrated at any time. If it is a downwards migration, then there will be a charge. You will be handed a quote stipulating the amount that will be payable to do the migration. If it is a upwards migration, then there will be no charge. A example of this would be from a weekender to a Talk package. The scenario would be a client making a lot of calls during the day which Vodacom charges for. In this case, a Talk package will be better suited.
 
I cancelled my contract last month which was up for renewal, I'm now on pay as you go.
 
ponder said:
I cancelled my contract last month which was up for renewal, I'm now on pay as you go.
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I have nothing again prepaid at all. Please dont missunderstand me. But this is a calculation I did for a friend a while ago. Hope its still the same....I think this was done after the new call rates came into effect.

Lets say you phone and talk for a hour on a Vodacom – Vodacom call.

Prepaid:
R2.60 x 60 minutes = R156.00

TOP UP 500:
PEAK
R1.90 X 60 minutes = R114.00 – SAVING OF R42.00

OFF PEAK
R1.02 X 60 MINUTES = R61.20 – SAVING OF R94.80

So it can give you a bit of a saving hey…but its up to you meneer….im just giving you the info.
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