Vodacom cell upgrade

[upup]

My wife got a sms 3 weeks ago that she is due for an upgrade. I phone them today and apply for it. Vodacom said my wife must still pay till November R85 per month for the old phone. As she needs a new phone we took it.
I myself is on mtn, also got notified about an upgrade, phone mtn and I simply applied, and they courier it.
Why is Vodacom tell one you can upgrade, but still owe them money.

 

[FlashSA]

My wife got a sms 3 weeks ago that she is due for an upgrade. I phone them today and apply for it. Vodacom said my wife must still pay till November R85 per month for the old phone. As she needs a new phone we took it.
I myself is on mtn, also got notified about an upgrade, phone mtn and I simply applied, and they courier it.
Why is Vodacom tell one you can upgrade, but still owe them money.

Because you can upgrade in month 20 of your contract but you still have to pay the remaining 4 months of 20 month old handset monthly fee which is the R85 per month. Reason is the handset cost is spread over the 24 months contract which you signed.

 

[isie]

My wife got a sms 3 weeks ago that she is due for an upgrade. I phone them today and apply for it. Vodacom said my wife must still pay till November R85 per month for the old phone. As she needs a new phone we took it.
I myself is on mtn, also got notified about an upgrade, phone mtn and I simply applied, and they courier it.
Why is Vodacom tell one you can upgrade, but still owe them money.

Vodacom lets you upgrade a few months months early, but you need to pay the remainder of the original 24 months contract, its nothing wrong you still legally owe them for the phone they letting you get it early but you still liable for the old phone(handset fee) from just under 2 years ago.
MTN also lets you upgrade a few months early but in one of the very few nice things they cancel the remainder of the old contract effectively they write off your remaining debt

 

[bluepoole]

Jeez...this topic comes up every so often. I am still amazed about the fact that people still can't understand this concept and gets mad at Vodacom. You received a shiny new device at the start of your contract, you need to pay for it as per the agreed terms and conditions!

Maybe people are too used to car finance, where you still only have one installment after trading in your car on a new one - that is because you handed in your old car and settled it one way or another. With cellphones, you still keep the old device, you don't lose it, so you obviously have to pay it off.

Years ago you didn't have the option to pay off a handset - you either got a cheaper phone for free, or you had to pay in a certain amount over the network subsidized amount at the start of a contract. Now the networks make it easier for you to have a more expensive handset and pay it off, but then they get critized for that.

And every time someone complaint about this, the MTN okes come with "Ja but MTN wrote off the last 3 months' handset installments...." - well, good for them! If that makes them nicer than Vodacom, then so be it, then migrate to MTN. But Vodacom is not unethical or doing anything illegal by still expecting the remaining installments.