Simplicity Update

mark_a_e

Hello all,

We believe things tend to be better the simpler you make them, which is why we’re always challenging ourselves to do exactly that. Your feedback in the Simplicity Survey has been at the very heart of this and today we are announcing changes in 3 areas to make it easier to manage your account:

Making vouchers easy – You told us that it is too difficult to convert a voucher into a goodybag, so we’re re-vamping our top up service when you call 43430. (See update at the bottom of this post)

Simplified pricing – Stepped pricing on calls & data can make it difficult to track your spend, so we’re replacing it with simple, flat pricing from 23rd March.

Bringing into line Pay as you go prices at home and in Europe – For the first time, making a call, sending a text or using data will cost the same whether you’re in the UK or the EU.

Please read on for more details.

Making vouchers easy:

If you’re having difficulty converting your voucher into a goodybag, you’re not the only one according to our simplicity survey.

Today, buying a goodybag from a voucher involves two stages: converting your voucher into credit and then converting that into a goodybag. This has to be done via the website.

By the end of May, we plan to launch new top up options when you call 43430 so you can buy a goodybag directly from your voucher. In addition, you’ll be able to queue a goodybag or start a new goodybag early, directly from your phone. For those of you who prefer to top up using a stored card, you’ll benefit from these features as well.

Simplifying pricing on Pay As You Go data

When asked about tracking your spend, you told us that managing calls and text is relatively easy, whereas data spend can be more difficult.

Data currently costs 20p per day for usage up to 20MB, followed by 20p/MB for the remainder of that day. This means that the amount that you pay doesn’t only depend on how much data you use, but can also vary wildly depending on when you choose to use it.

We’ve been crunching the numbers to see how we can improve things and we’re pleased to say that we’re able to move to a simple flat price of 5p/MB. Most of you will be better off with this new plan.

Simplifying pricing on the Hokey Cokey goodybag

With the £5 Hokey Cokey goodybag, the number of minutes that each member is able to use depends on the duration of incoming calls from people on other phone networks.

Not only can this feature make it complicated to track your remaining minutes allowance, it also makes it difficult to communicate the offer to new members. Plus when we took a closer look we found the majority of members don’t benefit from these additional minutes.

So from 23rd March we will simplify the Hokey Cokey so that it comes with a flat allowance of 125 minutes and we will increase the number of text messages which come with the goodybag from 300 to 500.

If you are buying the Hokey Cokey goodybag, then it will be available up to and including 22nd March to buy with it's current allowance. From 23rd March, the Hokey Cokey will not be available and the new £5 goodybag will be available.

If you would like to queue a Hokey Cokey goodybag, then you can do so anytime up to and including 22nd March. If you do this, then even if your queued goodybag is set to start on or after 23rd March you will still receive the Hokey Cokey allowance with your queued goodybag.

If you are recurring the Hokey Cokey goodybag and your current goodybag is set to expire on or after 23rd March, then your next recurring goodybag will be the new £5 goodybag allowance. If you'd like to change your recurring settings, then simply go to 'My Payment Details' in 'My giffgaff' at any time.

Bringing into line pay as you go prices at home and in Europe

Last but not least, when we saw that roaming prices are causing you some confusion, we wanted to take steps to make things easier, with particular focus on EU roaming.

From the 23rd March we are making some changes to our voice and text pay as you go prices so that for the first time the price of making a call, sending a text or browsing data will be the same whether you’re in the UK or roaming in Europe. If you have used up your goodybag allowance or are on pay as you go, unfortunately this does mean an increase for calls at home but also a small price reduction for texts.

Summary of pay as you go changes:

	Current UK price	Current EU price	New UK/EU price
Data	20p/day up to 20MB then 20p/MB thereafter	17p/MB	5p/MB
Call	10p/minute	16p/min	15p/min
Text	6p/text	5p/text	5p/text

We will be communicating these changes to anyone who is affected by them.

Mark.

"Making vouchers easy" update (27-02-2017):

This project is still in the works, but unfortunately has been progressing slower than planned. We have been going back and forth with the supplier and are now getting close to going live with the new service. Keep an eye out on the announcements section for launch news in the coming weeks. Gary.

jefflynn

Hi, on pay and go data is it still 20p for the first 20mb or 5p per mb straight away ?

@mark_a_e

cim

My first reaction was shame PAYG data could not have been squeezed down a bit more. 5p/MB will impact a few low data users?

The reduced EU roaming data cost is a more positive step I suppose...

But the UK PAYG voice increase seems like step in the wrong direction.

I suppose a large part of this is motivated by pushing lower revenue PAYG users towards buying goodybags?

And just to check - if you run out of goodybag/gigabag data does that stay at 2p/MB to the end of the goodybag or is that also affected?

Also - is the Hokey Cokey effectively losing the reciprocal free minutes aspect? (If so why continue to call it a Hokey Cokey?)

jefflynn

It won't push of toward goodybags but will push of to another network @cim

cim

@jefflynn wrote:
It won't push of toward goodybags but will push of to another network @cim

Maybe, but gg does not seem to compete that hard for PAYG customers - as far as I am aware PAYG is not that big a part of gg's revenue.

BTW I certainly read the PAYG data price change flat rate to mean "5p per mb straight away"...

kath72

I'm a PAYG user... It's a shame that the call cost have gone up so much ... 50% is a big increase

The reduced text cost are positive and I think the data charges are clearer though

It does not compare well to 3s 321 offer though

That's a great move with voucher top ups though and will save a lot of problems which arise now with people not realising they need to or unable to convert

blackfive460

At last, a reason for me to make a bit more use of giffgaff; 5p/MB in the EU will certainly be useful when I'm not 'Feeling at home'. 🙂

@mark_a_e

Just one question, will there still be a 4p/minute charge for receiving calls while roaming?

mydrawer

Hmm the pay and go rates are not good, My mum is currently using it but I will have to reconsider now - as too much of a gap created between gg and Threes 321 package

wilja

The voucher top up will be a much awaited improvement. It's not absolutely clear though about the Hokey Cokey goodybag minutes. Are the added minutes when someone from another network calls you being discontinued? If so Id be extremely disappointed. An extra 200 text is not really a suitable sweetener for taking away what at the moment is a fantastic addition to the Hokey Cokey. Most Hokey Cokey users are low users and probably don't even get half way through the 300 text given now.

ma2013

This is both good and bad news. Bad news for users of PAYG, so now calls are 15p per minute. That is too expensive in this day and age. The good is that UK and EU prices are in line with each other and data on PAYG is cheaper. Just too bad about the PAYG call costs!

mcilwraith

the paygo rate is way over the top.a 5p rise will just send lower users away from giffgaff.

the buy a goodybag from a number is really good news

mark_a_e

Hello all,

Wanted to try and answer some of the questions which have come up.

@jefflynn - the 5p/MB price will be what you pay regardless of when you choose to use data

@cim - The 2p/MB for members who are still within their goodybag or gigabag validity period will not be affected by this change

@blackfive460 - yes, there will still be an incoming call charge when you are roaming in Europe; however any data usage or outgoing calls/text messages will be the same price in Europe as pay as you go usage back in the UK.

Hope that helps.

Mark.

cps15966

mydrawer wrote:
Hmm the pay and go rates are not good, My mum is currently using it but I will have to reconsider now - as too much of a gap created between gg and Threes 321 package

I suppose it depends on how much she uses it. It will probably affect quite a number of people like your mum who are low users.

The 321 package on Three seems cheap but it depends on how much someone uses their phone each month.

For £10 top up a month on Three you'd get 333 minutes call time a month on average on the 321 package, which is only equivalent to 11 minutes call time a day or 76 minutes a week, thats without texts or data.

For £10 a month on giffgaff you can but a goodybag with 500 minutes plus unlimited texts and some data, so it all depends on how much she uses her phone.

If your mum is a very low user, then maybe 321 is a better option for her.

With anything like this, sadly someone is always worse off

donnie

This is terrible ,giffgaff are just screwing over payg customers they obviously don't want or value them any longer. i would love to see the survey data saying customers want huge increases in domestic rates to save a few pence of Euro calls that most don't make. Increasing the first 20mb data to £1 is also an indicator that payg users are not wanted. This is the first time I have been moved to criticise or complain about price rises. :smileyfrustrated:

bacc

Enter reply textit's obvious they've added 6p a minute on calls and change data price to 5p mb ready for when they have to charge the same for EU usage. It's bad news for pay and go users who will probably go to three now (if they don't get payback)

I use the £5 goodybag for the minutes only so that's been ruined for me as well. Noticed there's no data allowance again in that bag.

kevgaxx

Hi Mark

Full marks for simplicity.

The pricing is less impressive. There will be various winners and losers. Any PAYG users who have not yet found the impetus to head for 3 will have another think.

I particularly think that data could have been a wee bit cheaper, but hey hey..

The voucher top up & goodybag via phone is very welcome.

As mentioned by @cim hopefully the actual word " hokey cokey " will be consigned to the history books?

formulaone

Wow!

Can't wait for the option to be able to ADD a Goodybag from the top up line (43430) and being able to use a credit or debit card!

This is amazing. Great step forward giffgaff !! Well done !! 😀

ray2

@mark_a_e

really good to hear that you are simplifying buying a goodybag with a voucher.

but im not impressed you are taking the added minutes away from the £5 hokey cokey goodybag,some months when i have had the added minutes they have been a godsend to get me through the month.

i dont need 500 txt i really want to keep the added minutes on the goodybag,not a cool move giffgaff especially as there has been no real consultation on this,and if i remember rightly there was not a specific question on the simplicity survey that asked would we think that was a good way to go :smileyfrustrated:

i think you have slipped this one in under the guise of our feedback on the simplicity survey when that question was never asked :smileymad:

harrrrrry

cim:
I suppose a large part of this is motivated by pushing lower revenue PAYG users towards buying goodybags?

I think its more likely to push them to other networks.

Three PAYG is 1p per Mb and 3p per minute. I wouldn't want to use three for calls as they make it too hard to turn voicemail off and then keep turning it back on without being asked. But would probably use it for my data phone in the months when I don't need a goodybag.

For calls, tesco lite is fairly reasonable (8p per minute). But there may be better options other than three.

_trouble

Soooo in a nutshell less data for those on PAYG and less minutes for those on the £5 goodybag. More ways to cut allowances and cut costs. Not impressed giffgaff.