Vodafone Hartlepool: Unlimited calls, unlimited texts, any handset, £40/mth?
See this picture? This is what actually drew me into the Vodafone shop last week to enquire about the Nokia N95. I actually thought Vodafone must have released a new service plan that I hadn’t heard about.
Unlimited calls? WOW!
Unlimited texts? Oh now that is cool. Previously this sort of thing had only really been available to students.
Any handset? Oh my.
£40 a month? Just five quid shy of the popular Orange £35/month unlimited texts plan? Very cool!
Rather exciting, actually. Throw in unlimited data for an extra £15 a month or something and I’d be loving it.
So I popped into the shop. I asked them my data-related questions, then I asked them about the stuff advertised on the window.
“That a new service plan then?” I asked.
“What, er, well it’s called Vodafone Family, and it..” responded the chap in the shop.
“Ah right, ah right.. ok,” I understood.
It was bullshit. A come-on. There was a sign on the other window advertising the £5 Vodafone Family stuff. That’s hardly unlimited calls, is it? YES it’s unlimited between four other Vodafone numbers, but it’s DEFINITELY not what I, or anyone else walking by the shop, understands by ‘unlimited calls’.
I didn’t even bother asking about the unlimited texts bit. Screw that.
As I walked out, I checked out the really, really, small writing on the bottom of the hand-crafted posters….
It reads:
Minimum 18 month agreement. Offer excludes Nokia 8800 & Nokia N95. Terms and conditions apply.We were bullshitting with the Unlimited Calls bit. It’s only to four other numbers. But it got you in the shop, right?
Ok so I added the strikethrough text there 
Bit naughty. It might have been more accurate to have displayed ‘Most Handsets’ rather than ‘Any Handset’.
Ah well, leave it there, eh? We move on…
Black and white photocopied A4 sheets saying “free blah blah” in the window of a shop belonging to a global telco!!!??? I’d expect that from Marvellous Mario’s Mobiles under the arch at London Bridge station, but not Vodafone…!!
If I were the Branding Director at Vodafone I would have my driver take me post-haste to Hartlepool (having first found out where Hartlepool is and if I need my passport to get there). I would then make a public humiliation of the store manager and frog march him down to the nearest job centre.
So 10 out of 10 for initiative but 1 out of 10 for execution. But hey isn’t that the telco industry all over!!!
steve/itagg.com
Posted by steve procter on April 11th, 2007 at 1:31 pm.