Vodafone India has introduced 'post-to-pre talk time transfer' service,
which will enable its postpaid customer to seamless transfer balance to
a prepaid customer. The only catch here is that both the postpaid
customer and the prepaid one will have to be in same circle. This
service is currently available in Mumbai, Maharashtra & Goa, West
Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh circles and
the company is expected to launch it in other circles in a phased
manner.
Speaking on the launch of this initiative, Vivek Mathur, Chief
Commercial Officer, Vodafone India said, "Post-to-pre balance transfer
is a special initiative to empower our customers and help them remain
connected always. This latest initiative addresses a latent need within
customers groups, thus enabling them in controlling spends and assuring
uninterrupted service. This initiative is an example of the Customer
First belief in Vodafone India that has become part of our mission. We
constantly seek unique ways to make ourselves more relevant to our
customers' needs and tastes. The Post to Pre Balance Transfer service s
one more way of demonstrating to our customers that we truly live by our
message, 'Power to You'."
It is noteworthy that the Vodafone has
already been offering prepaid to prepaid balance transfer for quite
some time now. The way this service works is that the subscriber who is
transferring the balance will have to dial *130# and follow the
instructions at the IVR or alternatively dial *130#*Amount*Recipient
Number#.
After the transaction is complete both the sender and the
recipient will get a SMS stating the balanced transfer. For postpaid
to prepaid transactions one can transfer a minimum of Rs. 50 and
maximum of Rs. 100. Additionally, the person transferring the balance
will be charged service fee of Rs. 3 per transaction.
The other
thing to note is that a single recipient can receive maximum of three
transactions in a day. However, the maximum amount that can be
transferred from a single postpaid connection or received by a single
prepaid connection cannot exceed Rs. 1000 per month
As per the
company, this service will be of special benefit for those postpaid
Vodafone customers who have family members, domestic staff, friends or
office staff using a prepaid Vodafone connection and are in dire need
for balance.
In a time where subscribers are aware of online
banking and online recharges, not sure if this balance service is really
of value. The most important thing in any online recharge is that one
does not have to pay any transaction fee, however small or recharge it
may be and there are no caps. Moreover, there are plenty of site
offering free benefits with online recharge, we are not sure if this
scheme as relevant today as it might have been a few years ago.