RED Hot contract terms (before 1 April 2015)

RED Hot contract

Pay monthly Airtime and Hire Agreement

Terminology explained (these terms apply to your whole agreement with us)

We, our or us – Vodafone Limited and anyone we transfer this agreement to under clause 20a.

You or your – the customer whose name appears on the airtime order form, the hire agreement, welcome letter or welcome email.

Agreement – these conditions, the airtime order form, the hire agreement, the price plan, the price plan charges guide, if you benefit from Vodafone insurance, the insurance agreement and the important product information document. If there is a conflict between what is said in these documents, then you should read the documents in the following order of priority:

a) the hire agreement;
b) the airtime order form;
c) these conditions;
d) the insurance agreement;
e) important product information document; and
f) the price plan charges guide.

Airtime agreement – the airtime agreement for the provision of airtime services as set out in Section A and Section C of these conditions together with the airtime order form, the price plan and the price plan charges guide.

Airtime services – the communications services you receive through the network and other services we may provide to you.

Hire agreement – the hire agreement regulated by the Consumer Credit Act 1974 signed by you and by us, which includes the hire terms and conditions found at Section B and Section C of these conditions.

Hire services – your mobile equipment hire services we provide to you in respect of the mobile equipment.

Insurance agreement – if you benefit from Vodafone insurance, the insurance agreement provided to you at the time you sign the agreement.

Charges – our charges for:

(a) airtime services, as published in our price plan, price plan charges guide or which we otherwise provide. These include the monthly line rental charges (billed for the month ahead unless we say otherwise), usage charges (billed after use) and any other charges for the airtime services provided to you or someone using your SIM card (for example, charges for voicemail service and itemised billing); and

(b) the hire services.

Key financial information – the key financial information shown on the front page of your hire agreement.

Minimum period – the minimum duration of the agreement shown on your airtime order form and hire agreement, welcome letter or welcome email. This period begins when we connect your SIM card to the price plan you have chosen.

Mobile equipment – the mobile phone, laptop or other equipment that we hire to you as part of the hire services and the SIM card used to access our airtime services including any replacement equipment provided to you under a warranty claim or that we provide to you under the terms of the agreement.

Network – the electronic communications systems we use to provide the airtime services in the UK.

Price plan – the package of airtime services you have chosen to receive as shown on the airtime order form, welcome letter or welcome email. We update this every so often.

Price plan charges guide – the terms and ‘out of price plan bundle’ charges for your price plan. Available in our stores and on our website at www.vodafone.co.uk. We update this every so often.

Good condition – the condition in which the mobile equipment must be returned to us once the agreement comes to an end. Charges will apply if you do not return your mobile equipment in a good condition. We provide more information about this in the important product information document.

Services – means both the airtime services and hire services.

Section A – Pay monthly airtime conditions

This section provides the conditions on which we supply the airtime services to you and how you must use those airtime services.

2 Your agreement period

a. We’ll continue to supply you with, and you must pay the charges for, the airtime services until we or you end this agreement in line with clause 16.

b. If this agreement ends before the end of the minimum period (whether by you or us), you must still pay all the line-rental charges until the end of the minimum period. This applies when this agreement comes to an end in clause 16, except if:

you end this agreement under clause 16Dc; or
we end this agreement because we are permanently unable to provide the airtime services to you.

3 Services and coverage

a. We will try to give you the airtime services when you want them. However, due to the nature of mobile technology, it’s impossible to provide a fault-free airtime service.

b. We will also try to give you access to networks in other countries (what we call ‘travelling abroad’). However, some overseas networks are limited in quality and coverage so any access to overseas networks depends on the arrangements we have with operators in individual countries. It’s worth noting that some of the airtime services you enjoy in the UK may not be available when you’re abroad.

4 Using our airtime services – the rules

a. It's your responsibility to make sure you keep to this agreement, and you follow our instructions on using our airtime services – even if someone else is using your mobile equipment.

b. You must never use your mobile equipment or our airtime services for anything we would consider is abusive, illegal, fraudulent, or a nuisance. Also you must never use them for any criminal activities.

c. You’re not allowed to sell all or any part of our airtime services to anyone else.

d. We’ve allocated you a phone number on the network. This number does not belong to you and we may charge you a fee if you want to transfer this number to another provider.

e. The SIM card, and the software within it, belongs to us and we license it to you so you can use our airtime services. We may change your SIM card or tell you to return it at the end of this agreement. If you need a replacement SIM card, we will charge you the going rate in our most current price plan charges guide.

f. If you use your mobile equipment to browse the internet, please bear in mind that we accept no responsibility for any content or services you access.

g. You must only use mobile equipment which we hired to you described in the hire agreement for connection to our airtime services.

5 Payment of charges for the airtime services

a. You must pay any charges, by direct debit, within seven days of the date on your bill. If you don’t want to pay by direct debit, we may accept other forms of payment, but we will charge you a fee each month. VAT will be charged if it applies.

b. If you only make a part payment of your bill, we will split your payment and apply it evenly against the airtime charges and hire charges. If you have more than one hire agreement with us, you can tell us how you want your part payment to be split between the hire payments under your different hire agreements with us. If you have more than one hire agreement with us and you do not tell us how you want us to split your payment, then we will apply your part payment against your hire payments and split your hire payments in the same proportions as the charges under each hire agreement.

c. If you owe us any money beyond your due date, and you do not have valid reasons for disputing the payment, we may charge you interest on the overdue amount. We charge interest at the rate of 2% above the base rate of Barclays Bank from time to time, calculated daily from the due date until the date you pay us, both before and after judgment. We may also charge you our reasonable administration costs as a result of you paying your bill late or failing to pay it. We will charge you an administration fee of no more than £100 if we have to transfer your account to a debt collection agency because you do not pay your airtime payments.

6 Losing your mobile equipment

a. If your SIM card or mobile equipment is lost or stolen, you must tell us as soon as possible so we can stop someone else using it. You’re responsible for all charges up until the time you report it missing to us. You must also continue to pay the line-rental charges for the minimum period. We draw your attention to clause 13 below which deals with what you need to do if your mobile equipment is lost, stolen, broken or damaged.

7 Changing airtime services charges and terms

a. We may occasionally change or introduce new charges for our airtime services. If we believe any change in our charges will not disadvantage you, we may include it without telling you. However, if we increase our charges, we’ll give you at least 14 days’ notice.

b. We may change or withdraw the airtime services at any time and we may change or introduce new terms to your airtime agreement at any time. If we do, we’ll give you at least 1 months’ notice of these changes. If these changes are to your significant disadvantage, you may have a right to end this agreement under clause 16Dc and we’ll tell you if you can do this.

c. We may need to change your phone number or other number. We’ll let you know if this is the case.

8 Call limit, deposit and part payments

a. We may set a monthly call limit on your account. We may increase or remove this after carrying out a credit check. You may be able to go over your call limit, but if this happens, you must pay all charges.

b. We may ask you for a deposit:

when we connect your SIM card;
to increase or remove your call and/or mobile internet;
if you increase how much you use the airtime services; or
to unblock your SIM card from contacting international numbers, using overseas networks or making premium-rate calls.

You can ask for a refund of your deposit at any time, but we may reduce your call and/or mobile internet if you do. We can use the deposit to pay off any charges you owe us (including charges for the hire services). When this agreement comes to an end, we’ll repay any deposit you’ve given us less any money you owe us. We will not pay any interest on any deposit we take from you.

c. If there’s a significant increase in your usage between bills, we may contact you and possibly ask for a part payment so you can continue to use our airtime services.

9 Suspending our airtime services

a. We can suspend or restrict your use of any of our airtime services (other than emergency services) if:

we believe our mobile equipment or the airtime services are being used in a way we do not allow under this agreement;
you have not kept to this agreement, for example, if you fail to pay any charges (including the hire charges) when due;
we have asked you for a deposit or part payment which you’ve not paid;
you go over your call or mobile internet limit;
we believe that you have entered into this agreement fraudulently;
we believe you got the use of any number, mobile equipment or services in an unauthorised, illegal, or fraudulent way;
you tell us that your mobile equipment has been lost or stolen;
you become bankrupt or make any arrangement with creditors or go into liquidation or an administration order is made or a receiver is appointed over any of your assets;
you do anything (or allow anything to be done) which we think may damage or affect the operation of our network or airtime services; or
the emergency services tell us to, or a law or regulation is passed which means we need to do so.

b. We will try to tell you when we suspend or restrict your use, but we do not have to.

c. When we suspend or restrict your use, this agreement will continue and you still have to pay all charges (including your hire payments) due during any period when we suspend or restrict the airtime service.

10 Credits if there is a failure of the airtime service

a. If we have to maintain our network or if there is a technical fault on our network that means you can’t use all our airtime services for three days in a row, we’ll credit you for the line-rental charges and hire charges for the period the airtime service was not available.

Section B – Pay monthly hire conditions

This section deals with the conditions on which we supply you with the mobile equipment. You must also read and refer to the hire agreement and the pre-contract information for the hire agreement.

11 Acceptance

a. We will only process your order for your hire agreement and mobile equipment once we have accepted it (including you passing our credit checks). This means this agreement will not start until you and we have signed the hire agreement and we connect your SIM card to the price plan you have chosen.

b. Once agreed, we may make reasonable changes to these pay monthly hire conditions and we’ll let you know of any changes that we reasonably believe are to your significant disadvantage at least 1 month in advance. If these changes are to your significant disadvantage, you may have a right to end this agreement under clause 16Dc and we’ll tell you if you can do this.

c. We may need to ask you for a deposit as security for your obligations under this hire agreement. We will tell you if this applies.

12 Ownership and insurance of your mobile equipment

a. The mobile equipment belongs to us at all times during this agreement. You must not sell, hire to someone else, swap or throw away the mobile equipment.

b. You agree Vodafone insurance will be added to this agreement to protect the mobile equipment against loss and damage for the duration of this agreement. We’ll tell you how much this costs at the same time you enter into this agreement. In some cases, you may be able to use your own insurance provided that it protects the mobile equipment against loss and damage. Please speak to a Vodafone representative about this. In certain cases you may not be eligible for Vodafone insurance and you must use or buy your own insurance – we will tell you if you need to do this.

c. If we allow you to use your own insurance policy to protect the mobile equipment you must maintain the insurance policy in accordance with the ‘How do I know whether my insurance is suitable?’ section of the important product information document. If you fail to pay the fees for Vodafone insurance when they are due or you fail to maintain your insurance policy as set out in the important product information document, we will treat this as a material breach of this agreement.

d. Please see clause 13 below, the important product information document and your insurance policy for the details on insurance, how to make a claim and your liability for your mobile equipment.

13 Looking after the mobile equipment and returns

a. You will be hiring your mobile equipment from us and must use it for your own personal use and in a manner we may tell you about from time to time. You must keep your mobile equipment in good condition and return it to us when this agreement comes to an end for whatever reason.

b. If:

you fail to return your mobile equipment to us in a good condition; or
you return replacement mobile equipment which is unacceptable to us; or
your mobile equipment is a total loss because it is damaged lost or stolen and not covered by insurance; or
you fail to return your mobile equipment at the end of this agreement as directed by us, you agree to pay us the charges set out in the important product information document which we will supply to you.

c. If your mobile equipment is lost, stolen or damaged, you must tell us within 24 hours of the incident so that we can bar your account and stop unauthorised use being made. You can find details of what to do and how to contact us in the important product information document.

d. If your mobile equipment is lost, stolen or damaged, you must make a claim on your Vodafone insurance or on your own insurance (if we have agreed that you can use your own insurance). We will use any insurance money paid out under your Vodafone insurance to repair your phone or to provide you with a replacement of the same or equivalent specification to the phone which is lost, stolen or damaged. If you claim on your own insurance you agree to pay over to us any insurance money you receive.

e. If the insurance money is not enough to cover the cost of repair or replacement, then you must pay us the difference. You agree to pay us back for any loss, damage, costs and expenses which we may suffer in connection with any loss or damage to your mobile equipment and which we cannot recover on Vodafone insurance or, if applicable, you cannot recover on your own insurance.

f. If your own insurance or your Vodafone insurance refuses to pay your claim for any reason, then you must do one of the following:

ask us to terminate your hire agreement. Clause 16 will then apply and you must pay the sums set out in clause 16E; or
tell us that you want to carry on with your hire agreement. You must then pay us the compensation for the total loss of your phone set out in the important product information document. We will provide you with a replacement phone for which we will charge you. We will tell you how much your replacement phone costs.

g. You agree to pay us the amounts set out in clauses 15f and 15g below.

14 The length of this hire agreement

a. This agreement will run for at least the minimum period shown in the key financial information on your hire agreement. Once the minimum period has expired, this agreement will continue on a month to month basis until the earlier of a) either you or we end this agreement as set out in clause 16; or b) 18 months following the day this agreement begins.

b. If the hire agreement continues beyond the minimum period, then you agree that it will continue on the terms and conditions set out in the hire agreement and you will continue to pay the hire payments at the rate shown in the key financial information.

15 Payment of charges for the hire services

a. In return for us hiring the mobile equipment to you, you agree to pay all the hire charges shown in the key financial information in full without any deductions for at least the minimum period of this agreement.

b. You agree to pay the hire payments within seven days of the due date on your bill. You agree that timely payment on the due date is a key term of this hire agreement. You can pay by direct debit. If you don’t want to pay by direct debit, we may accept other forms of payment, but we will charge you a fee each month. VAT will be charged if it applies.

c. You will be billed at the same time for the hire service charges as for the airtime services charges. You must pay these charges at the same time.

d. If you only make a part payment of your bill, we will split your payment and apply it evenly against the airtime charges and hire charges. If you have more than one hire agreement with us, you can tell us how you want your part payment to be split between the hire payments under your different hire agreements with us. If you have more than one hire agreement with us and you do not tell us how you want us to split your payment, then we will apply your part payment against your hire payments and split your hire payments in the same proportions as the charges under each hire agreement.

e. If you owe us any money beyond your due date, and you do not have valid reasons for disputing the payment, we may charge you interest on the overdue amount. We charge interest at the rate of 2% above the base rate of Barclays Bank from time to time, calculated daily from the due date until the date you pay us, both before and after judgment. We may also charge you our reasonable administration costs as a result of you paying your bill late or failing to pay it. We will charge you an administration fee of no more than £100 if we have to transfer your account to a debt collection agency because you do not pay your hire payments.

f. You must still pay the monthly hire payments even if you lose the mobile equipment or if it is broken or stolen.

g. If your mobile equipment is lost, stolen or broken and we have to provide you with replacement mobile equipment, you agree to pay our reasonable administration and delivery costs.

Section C – General

This section of the agreement applies to the airtime services and/or the hire services, as applicable.

16 Ending this agreement

A How we can end the hire agreement:

a. If any of the following events occur:

you break any term of the hire agreement (for example, if you fail to make a monthly payment by the due date) and do not put it right when we ask you in writing to do so or if it is not possible for you to put things right; you provide incomplete or materially inaccurate or misleading facts or information in connection with the hire agreement;
any petition is presented or proceedings commenced against you for your bankruptcy, or you make any arrangement with your creditors or you take or suffer any similar action as a result of debt;
any attachment order is made against you, then, we may, on or after the date specified in any default notice required to be served under the Consumer Credit Act, end the hire agreement and require you to pay all amounts which are due and payable under the hire agreement.

b. We will end the hire agreement if you ask us to do so because your mobile equipment has been damaged beyond repair, lost or stolen and your insurance claim has been refused.

B How you can end the hire agreement

a. You must continue with the hire agreement at least until the end of the minimum period. If you do want to end the hire agreement before the end of the minimum period, you can do this by giving us at least 30 days written notice. The amounts you will have to pay if you want to end your hire agreement before the end of the minimum period are set out in 16Eb below.

b. We change this hire agreement to your significant disadvantage (we will tell you if this is the case) and you write to us within one month of us telling you about the change. This does not apply if the change or withdrawal relates to services which you can cancel without us ending this agreement.

c. If, before the end of the minimum period:

you end the hire agreement under clause 16Bb; or
we end the airtime agreement (and therefore the hire agreement) because we were permanently unable to provide the airtime services to you;

In these two cases, you will not have to pay us the hire payments up to the end of the minimum period. You will just have to pay any unpaid hire payments you owe us plus any interest, costs and expenses you owe us under the terms of the hire agreement.

d. Once the minimum period has ended, you can end your hire agreement at any time by giving us at least 30 days written notice. The amounts you will have to pay if you want to end your hire agreement after the end of the minimum period are set out in 16Eb below.

C How we can end the airtime agreement:

a. We may end the airtime agreement at any time by writing to you if:

you do anything (or allow anything to be done) which we think may damage or affect the operation of our network;
within seven days of us asking you in writing, you do not do something fundamental that you have to do under this agreement (for example, pay the airtime charges when they are due); or
we are permanently unable to provide the airtime services to you; or your hire agreement ends.

D How you can end the airtime agreement:

a. You may end the airtime agreement during the minimum period on 30 days’ notice to us. Please note you will be liable for all charges (airtime charges and hire charges) detailed in clause 16 E below.

b. You may end the airtime agreement at any time after the end of the minimum period by giving us at least 30 days notice in writing. Your notice must include your phone number and your signature or appropriate security details. You must pay all charges during the notice period.

c. You may also end the airtime agreement by writing to us if:

we don’t do something fundamental that we should have done under this agreement (for example, if there is a complete failure of the network for seven days in a row due to something we have done), within seven days of you asking us in writing;
we tell you that there will be an increase in the line-rental charge (calculated before the addition of VAT) by more than the increase in the retail price index (worked out as a percentage) since the last line-rental increase and you write to us before the increase applies;
we increase your charges for the airtime services in the UK which has the effect of increasing your total airtime services charges (based on your usage in any of the previous three months) by more than 10% and you write to us before the increase applies; or
we change this agreement to your significant disadvantage (we will tell you if this is the case) and you write to us within one month of us telling you about the change. This does not apply if the change or withdrawal relates to services which you can cancel without us ending this agreement.

E What you have to do when the agreement ends:

a. If your airtime agreement ends, then this agreement (including the hire agreement) will also end. If your hire agreement ends, then this agreement (including your airtime agreement) will also end.

b. If the hire agreement ends before the end of the minimum period you will pay us all the unpaid hire payments you owe us together with all the hire payments that you agreed to pay us up to the end of the minimum period plus any interest, costs and expenses and damage/return charges you owe us under the terms of the hire agreement. If the hire agreement ends after the end of the minimum period, you must pay us for all unpaid hire charges, plus any interest, costs and expenses and damage/return charges you owe us under the terms of the hire agreement.

c. If, before the end of the minimum period:

you ended this agreement under clause 16Bb; or
we ended this agreement because we were permanently unable to provide the airtime services to you, then you will not have to pay us the hire payments up to the end of the minimum period. You will just have to pay any unpaid hire payments you owe us plus any interest, costs and expenses and damage/return charges you owe us under the terms of the hire agreement.

d. When the airtime agreement comes to an end:

we will disconnect your mobile equipment from our network;
you must return your mobile equipment to us as directed in the important product information document;
you will have to pay immediately all charges (including your hire service payments) you owe on the date we disconnect your mobile equipment from the network (including any charges for extra subscription services such as content services); and
you must still pay all the line-rental and hire payments until the end of the minimum period.

This applies when this airtime agreement ends, except if:

you ended this agreement under clause 16Dc;
we ended this agreement because we were permanently unable to provide the airtime services to you.

In these two situations you do not have to pay all line-rental or hire payments until the end of the minimum period.

e. If this agreement ends before the end of the minimum period, and you pay us the line-rental and hire payments for the rest of the minimum period in one lump sum, we will reduce the line-rental and hire payment by a rate we set. You can ask us how much this rate will be.

17 Liability and exclusions

a. We are legally responsible to you if our negligence causes death or personal injury.

b. We will not be legally responsible to you for:

loss of income or profits;
loss of use of the services;
lost business or missed opportunities; or
any loss or damage that is not directly caused by us or which we could not reasonably expect at the time we entered into this agreement with you.

c. We will not be legally responsible to you if we cannot provide the airtime services or hire services because of something outside of our reasonable control.

d. Except for fraud or where our negligence causes death or personal injury, we will not pay more than £3000 or 150% of the charges in the previous 12 months, whichever is higher, for each claim or a series of related claims.

e. If you are a consumer, the terms of this agreement will not affect any rights which you may have under any law and which we cannot exclude under any agreement.

18 Personal information

a. We and our group companies may use your information to:

manage your account, carry out customer-care activities and train our staff, including monitoring calls, emails or text messages that you send us;
monitor the quality and security of the network and test and maintain our IT systems;
analyse your use of the airtime services for marketing purposes, including, but not limited to, the calls and messages you send and receive and your location at the time these communications take place, as well as your browsing history and use of our websites;
send to the emergency services (if you make an emergency call), including your approximate location;
contact you with marketing messages if you have not objected. These messages may include marketing from other organisations, but we will not pass responsibility of your information to these other organisations. If you do not want to receive marketing messages from us, please contact us through our website or by calling 191.

b. We do not include your details in any directory or directory-enquiry service. If you want to have your information included in these services, you should contact us.

c. For more details on how we use your information, please read the privacy policy on our website.

19 Credit-reference and fraud-prevention agencies

a. You can ask us for information about how we use your details for credit checking, identity verification and fraud prevention when you take out this agreement. We will also release, to credit-reference agencies, debt-collection agencies and fraud-prevention agencies, details of your agreement with us including any change of address, payments you make, account balances, missed payments, disputes and queries. We, and other organisations, may use this information to help make decisions about other credit applications made by you or other members of your household you are linked to financially and to protect both our business and our customers from fraudulent activity. We may also use any information we hold to trace debts and assess claims. If you don’t pay us in full (for all charges), and on time, we may tell credit-reference agencies who will record the debt.

b. If false or inaccurate information is provided and fraud is identified, details will be passed to fraud-prevention agencies.

Law-enforcement agencies may access and use this information. We and other organisations may also access and use this information to prevent fraud and money laundering, for example, when:

checking details on applications for credit and credit-related or other facilities;
managing credit and credit-related accounts or facilities;
recovering debt;
checking details on proposals and claims for all types of insurance; or
checking details of job applicants and employees.

Please contact us at the address below if you want to receive details of the relevant fraud prevention agencies. We and other organisations may access and use, from other countries, the information recorded by fraud-prevention agencies.

20 Other important information

a. We may transfer this agreement to anyone at any time. If we do transfer your hire agreement to anyone, we will give you notice of the transfer as soon as we can reasonably do so. Your agreement is personal to you and can’t be transferred.

b. If you or we fail to enforce our rights under this agreement, it will not prevent you or us from taking further action.

c. When you use your mobile equipment, your number may be shown to the equipment being contacted. Your number will always be shown if you contact 999 or 112.

d. We’ll send you notices by post, voicemail, text or other form of electronic message and will assume for notices by post that you have received them 48 hours after we have sent them. If you have agreed that we can communicate with you by email, we’ll send you notices and documents by email to the email address which you gave us. If we have to send you a default notice under the Consumer Credit Act, we will always send this to you by post. We’ll send all bills and notices served by post, to the address you have given. You must tell us about any changes to your address. If you want to write or email us, please use the address shown on your bill. You can then assume we have received these notices 48 hours after you have sent them.

e. This agreement is under English law, unless:

you live in Scotland, in which case, it will be governed by Scots law; or
you live in Northern Ireland, in which case it will be governed by the law of Northern Ireland.

21 Complaints

a. If you have a complaint, please contact us. We’ll do our best to sort out your issues. If we cannot sort out the issue, you may ask that the matter is referred to an independent ombudsman under our Customer Complaints Code which is available on our website or by contacting us. You or we may bring legal proceedings in a court in the UK to sort out a dispute under this agreement.

b. If you are unhappy with our response on matters relating to your hire services and you are not a business customer, you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service at: Financial Ombudsman Service, South Quay Plaza, 183, Marsh Wall, London, E14 9SR. The Ombudsman can also be contacted by telephone at 0330 4401 614. If you are a business customer, then you may be able to complain to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman will be able to tell you whether or not he can look at your complaint.

c. Vodafone Limited is licensed and regulated by the Office of Fair Trading, Fleetbank House, 2-6 Salisbury Square, London, EC4Y 8JX. The Office of Fair Trading is the supervisory authority under the Consumer Credit Act.

Registered in England number 1471587 at Vodafone House, The Connection, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2FN.

Updated October 2012