Vodafone to round-up call charges for pay-as-you-go customers

New plans from Vodafone to charge by the minute rather than by the second will mean the cost of calls will rise by up to 92%.

Millions of Vodafone pay-as-you-go customers will face steeper charges from next month after the company said it would be ‘simplifying’ the way it calculates the cost of calls.

From 1st August Vodafone will round up the duration of all calls made on a pay-as-you-go tariff to the nearest minute rather than charging by the second.

The changeover will see prices rise by up to 92% for pay-as-you-go calls.

The impact

The move will impact the cost of pay-as-you-go calls made to UK mobiles and landlines (starting 01, 02, 03), Channel Islands and Isle of Man calls, as well as international numbers and voicemail.

Currently pay-as-you-go customers are charged 25p a minute to call national, local (01, 02, 03) and other Vodafone numbers. This comes with a minimum one minute call charge, but thereafter calls are charged to the second.

Under the new plans all calls, no matter the duration, will be rounded up to the nearest minute and never down.

The switch means a call to another UK mobile lasting 62 seconds which costs 26p at the moment will be rounded up to two minutes pushing the price of the call up to 50p - an increase of 92%.

Outrage

Many customers received only a text message advising them to check out the changes to the cost calculation via the internet at vodaphone.co.uk/amends.

The online announcement Vodafone provided was titled: “Pay as you go pricing just got simpler” and read: “Pay by the minute – and always know how much credit you have left. No more complicated pricing by the second – just clear, straightforward per minute charges.”

“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.”

But many customers responded angrily to the news and the suggestion they found it hard to keep track of their credit balance.

One customer posted on the Vodafone forum: “Please don't patronise us. This is being introduced to make more money for VF pure and simple."

And another rejected the logic behind the move: “Had the text message this week re the changes to PAYG charges from 1st August 2013…This revision isn't making charges simpler. Vodafone are disguising the fact that they are actually increasing the cost of calls, in some cases quite substantially.”

Vodafone’s defence

Vodafone said that many of its competitors already chrged pay-as-you-go users for calls in this way.

Three, Orange and T-Mobile confirmed it rounded up charges to the nearest minute.

But O2 told Lovemoney that it offers pay-as-you-go customers per second billing after the first minute.

Vodafone stood by the fact that it was a value-for-money deal.

It said: "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 1,000 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."

What to do

As a pay-as-you-go customer you can move on without a charge, you just need a different pay-as-you-go SIM card.

Moving before 1st August means you won't be subject to this new way of calculating the cost of calls outside of an allowance.

To compare the best pay-as-you go deals check out Recombu.  

More on mobile phones:

The UK's worst mobile phone provider

EU mobile roaming costs cut again with ban to follow

1stFone: the mobile phone designed for small children

Mobile phone insurance almost impossible to claim on

Sainsbury's to launch mobile phone service with Vodafone

Mobile phone companies ordered to stop charging for 0800 numbers