Vodafone boycotted over shops commission cut on top-ups
July 19, 2008
Top-up for Vodafone pre-pay are to stop being sold temporarily by thousands of independent shopkeepers because Vodafone plan to cut their commission.
In protest more than 6,300 stores have agreed to stop selling the top-ups Friday and Saturday, with Costcutter agreeing to stop sales for Friday only.
Under the plans Vodafone will cut the 6.5% commission on the top-ups to 5.5% from August 1.
Kevin Hunt, of independent chain Lawrence Hunt, started the petition last week and hopes to get a total of 10,000 shops to join the protest. Also Mr Hunt and another 150 other shopkeepers are offering Vodafone customers free SIM cards for alternative.
The symbol group, Spar, who have 2,600 independent storekeepers members have said they will be moving its corporate mobile phone account from Vodafone.
Trading Director of Spar, Chris Levis said “What has happened historically is that when one network drops rates they all follow suit. In the past we have been unable to make the phone companies listen but this time I have been surprised by the strength of feeling among our members. They feel if we don’t do something now then we are open game in the future.”
For more information on Vodafone see www.vodafone.co.uk
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