Vodafone Defends “Patronising” PAYG Price Increases

Vodafone has defended its controversial decision to charge its pay-as-you-go (PAYG) customers by the minute for calls rather than by the second, arguing everyone else does it.

Calls to the UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man landline and mobiles are affected, as are international calls and voicemail.

The operator said the changes will make it easier to keep track of how much credit they have left, a justification which users have called “patronising”, noting they will be charged more than 90 percent for some calls.

Patronising changes

“Calls on pay-as-you-go are getting simpler from 1 August 2013. No more complicated pricing by the second – just clear, straightforward per minute charges,” said Vodafone. “So if your call is a minute and 37 seconds long, it’ll be charged as two minutes. That way, you’ll always know exactly how many minutes you have left.”

However, Vodafone’s policy means that a call to a UK landline lasting one minute and one second long, which would have cost around 26p per minute using the old tariff, will cost 50p using the new one.

Unsurprisingly, customers are unimpressed and angry at having the changes presented to them as a positive, arguing that they are more than capable of keeping track of how much credit they have left. Others have said they will contact regulator Ofcom about the issue.

Everyone else doesn’t do it

“Many of our competitors already offer price plans charged in this way,” Vodafone told TechWeekEurope. “We believe that by offering propositions with a generous allowance of minutes, we continue to offer our customers great value.

“For example, our Talk Freebee package includes 1000 minutes over 30 days when a customer tops up £10 and Vodafone Freedom Freebee includes 100 minutes and 300 texts when a customer tops up £10.”

However, many customers on the Vodafone Support Forums said they only want to use their PAYG phones occasionally and have no such desire to sign up for any of the network’s Freebee offers.

While T-Mobile, Orange and Three charge by the minute, many of Vodafone’s rivals, such as O2 and Virgin Media charge by the second, although there is a minimum of one minute. O2’s calls are cheaper too at 15p per minute.

Last week, Vodafone announced it was teaming up with Sainsbury’s to launch a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) this summer, promising a range of value-for-money tariffs for users.

What do you know about UK mobile operators? Find out with our quiz!