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…