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back to article CPW and Vodafone finally make up

Customers wanting a Vodafone contract will be able to get one at Carphone Warehouse from 7 July, signalling the end of a two-an-a-half-year experiment to see how much power network operators actually had. Vodafone cut Carphone Warehouse out of selling contract connections back in October 2006, claiming that Phones4U had better …

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  1. Daniel Durrans

    And this affects the high-street how?

    I really don't care. With only five viable consumer networks in the UK all fully represented multiple times over on any UK high-street consumer choice is hardly limited or expanded by CPW having or not having Vodafone on board.

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  2. Sp1derba1t
    Flame

    retail games

    Worked in cpw for years now, and its never really caused an issue. im neither jublious nor joubious to have vodafone back. I recon they proabably only ever accounted for about 10% of all may monthly connections anyway! And those that where already with them where where just churned to better deals on better networks that valued customers more than vodafone. And as a previous vodafone customer i speak from both a sales person and consumer.

    vodafone where always coming crawling back, it was just a matter of time (tm)

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  3. AndyS

    less choice

    "...to offer 'more choice' to customers"

    Thus clearly stating that the original move was designed to limit choice to customers.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I assume-

    Brand loyalty is not a big thing for customers going into multinetwork stores. Customers staying with the network will get a good deal from the network itself.

    Customers going into CPW or phones4u would be open to any suggestion except, probably, the one they're with. I bet they didn't even notice if one was missing.

    The biggest hooks are the phone and the cashback.

    So the absences would only be marked when the phone was an exclusive to vodafone.

    In my experience, it's always better to do your own research them go direct to a network store. you'll say more, but it helps when things inevitably go wrong.

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  5. Tom 101

    Games...

    This would only really have made a difference if Vodafone had won the exclusive iphone contract. CPW would have killed to be able to sell the iphone in that situation. As it happened, O2 got the contract and CPW must have been very happy!

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  6. bigjok
    Thumb Up

    mighty vodafone

    vodafone tried to take carphone out of the equation back in 2006 hoping that the other network providers would follow suit and it would leave carphone without a viable business model, what actually happened was that the other networks rather than follow vodafone fought between themselves to get vodafones business from cpw. customers still shopped in carphone but they just didnt leave with a vodafone contract.

    how galling must it be for the vodafone hierarchy to come crawling back to carphone when they realised that that the exclusive 4u deal wasnt working, if i was in carphones position i would have eked out a much better commercial deal than was in place prior to the split

    carphone trundled on relentlessly with or without the ability to offer vodafone contracts, as the article headline suggests vodafone certainly now know who wears the trousers

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  7. SabitanD

    2 years & 10 months late?

    The whole 'pull out' from CPW was and has been a complete disaster, as well as being an amazing miscalculation by the senior leadership team. Who would choose to reduce their footfall so dramatically and at the same time be at the mercy of one ruthless player?

    Meanwhile, there has been little effort (or aptitude) to develop alternative distribution channels to make up the difference. It is just one in a series of very bad miscalculations from an out of touch and jaded management team that really needs a big shake up. No wonder the business has lost its no. 1 position.

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  8. Andy 97
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    Different times need different measures

    Vodafone has the best network in the UK (there is no doubt of that), but the CPW move was made at the height of the boom in the market. I would imagine the commission paid to retailers is high and this can put a hit in the bottom line.

    You can't blame them for trying.

    It's just business and I'm sure the CEO of CPW would agree.

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