Changing your name with Vodafone

How do I change my name with Vodafone?#

Vodafone's help page points you to its online name change form, which it calls the easiest way to tell it about a new name or title. You fill it in and upload your proof in the same sitting, so nothing goes in the post. Neither the help page nor the form distinguishes pay monthly from pay as you go.

The form asks what you want to do: change your name, change your name and title together, change only your title, transfer your account to someone else, or change a trading name. For a new name, it then asks why the name changed, and your answer decides what Vodafone asks you to upload.

What to upload#

Vodafone calls it proof of identity, but for a change of name it means the document behind the change:

For a passport, the form asks that all four corners of the page are visible, that all the text can be read, and that there is no reflection from a camera flash, a light or a window. The same care helps with a deed poll: photograph the whole deed, flat, so that the signatures, the witnesses' details and the date can all be read. Because Vodafone takes an upload, your original stays with you for the organisations that want to see it, as will organisations accept a photocopy or a PDF? explains.

What else the form asks for#

• whether the account is a personal or a business one;
• every Vodafone mobile number you have, and every account number, since the form asks you to include them all;
• the email address registered to your My Vodafone account, which is where Vodafone sends its confirmation;
• your date of birth, and the address registered to My Vodafone;
• your previous title, first name and last name, and the new ones.

You finish by confirming that the information is true and accurate and that you are authorised to ask for the change.

What happens next#

Vodafone says it aims to make the change within 24 hours of your submitting the form, that you will get a confirmation email, and that it will be in touch if it needs more information. Its pages do not say that anything else on the account changes, such as your plan, your bill date or your Direct Debit.

Once the name is changed, a bill in the new name is useful elsewhere. When your evidence for a new driving licence is a deed poll, GOV.UK asks for one document in the new name issued in the last 12 months, and it lists a mobile phone bill among them (changing your name with DVLA).

Business accounts#

The same form covers sole trader and small business accounts, including a change of trading or company name; Vodafone says a larger organisation should call its dedicated customer service team instead.

Handing your account to someone else#

A new name for you is not a new owner. To pass your number and contract to someone else, Vodafone has a separate transfer of ownership form, and its help page sets the conditions: your airtime and any device loans must be paid off in full, and the new owner must be 18 or over and agree to a credit and an identity check. A transfer takes 24 hours for a personal or sole trader account and five working days for a small business account. Broadband moves only between two personal accounts or two business accounts. An EVO Device Plan cannot move at all: it stays in your name, because it is a credit agreement, and must be paid off before you ask.

If you only want someone to help run the account, you can add them in My Vodafone with limited permissions. Vodafone says you cannot give anyone full permission that way; full access means a transfer.

If you are with Three as well#

Vodafone and Three both now belong to VodafoneThree, but the two keep separate accounts. Vodafone's page for customers joining from Three says Three and Vodafone bills stay separate, and that anyone with products from both must update their payment details on each account separately. So tell Three too, by its own route: on a pay monthly account, changing your name with Three means a letter with a copy of your document, not an online form.

For other phone, broadband and energy companies, energy, water, phone and broadband compares what each one asks for.