My Vodafone contract is now at a point where I can upgrade my handset, so after a lot research I decided I was going to go for the V1605 (HTC Hermes).
I really liked the look of the v1605, My previous handset (before my current N-70) was an i-mate jam (also an HTC device) I really liked it. The only drawback with the Jam was that it had no keyboard – dialling a number or sending a text with the touch screen could be a right pain, so when I upgraded last year I decided to go back to a Nokia handset until a decent Windows Mobile handset came along.
A couple of weeks back I was in my local Vodafone store upgrading Laura’s phone and got talking to the guy about my imminent upgrade, he told me that I would be able to have “any handset I wanted” as a free upgrade. So imagine my annoyance when I walked into the Vodafone store in Crawley today and they told me it’d be £200 to upgrade to the V1605!
I decided to call Vodafone customer services on 191, I spoke to someone in the upgrades department that said that the best price they could do the handset for was £150, I could however have the V1415 (HTC Vox) free. I my opinion the v1415 is not as good as the V1605, despite the fact that it’s a Windows Mobile 6 device (the 1605 is WM5), it has a slower processor & no touch screen.
I said that this wasn’t prepared to accept anything except a free upgrade to the V1605 and I’d go to T-mobile to get it otherwise. They put me through to someone in their customer retention department. He asked why I wanted that particular handset, I explained that I wanted a Windows Mobile device with a touch screen, keyboard & wi-fi. Vodafone don’t have any other handsets (currently) that meet that spec at the moment and eventually he agreed to upgrade me to the handset I want for free, it’ll be delivered tomorrow.
So to summarise, when upgrading your Vodafone handset:
- Do your homework, decide exactly what you want before you talk to Vodafone
- Call 191, don’t upgrade in store
- Be as specific about why you want the handset as you can; this limits the customer service rep’s chances of being able to persuade you to take another model
- Stick to your guns
- Threaten to go to another network
And with any luck you’ll be successful too.