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Crazy John’s/Vodafone
Australian mobile provider Crazy John’s is set to finally close in September this year as Vodafone retires the brand and brings 100,000 remaining customers across to its suite of plans. However, the telco has warned that not all plans provided by the online-only Crazy John’s brand will be “replicated” at Vodafone.
Crazy John’s has ceased offering plans to new customers, and existing customers are being warned that their service will be “deactivated” by September 30, 2014, their SIM will stop working and users will lose saved data such as messages and contacts on this SIM.
“For most Crazy John’s customers, we’ve been able to create a replica plan at Vodafone,” said a notice on the Crazy John’s website. “To get started, you’ll need to swap your current SIM for a new Vodafone one by your allocated transfer date.
“Unfortunately not all Crazy John’s plans are able to be replicated. If your current Crazy John’s plan cannot be replicated on Vodafone, don’t worry — we still have some exclusive plans we can offer you.”
Vodafone has described the move as “the last stage of a transition to a single brand”, bringing Crazy John’s completely under the Vodafone umbrella and closing the book on one of Australia’s more recognisable mobile retail chains.
After opening its first store in Victoria in 1991 and growing its footprint across Australia, Crazy John’s was bought out by Vodafone Hutchison Australia group in 2008, a year after the sudden death of the company’s founder, John Ilhan.
Just five years later, in February 2013, Vodafone announced it would be closing all Crazy John’s retail shopfronts and begin winding down the business, ceasing upgrades and closing off prepaid services in August 2013.
Vodafone’s Director of Sales, Ben McIntosh, described the closure of Crazy John’s as the end of an era.
“We have a great deal of respect and admiration for the company John Ilhan founded 23 years ago,” said McIntosh.
“Crazy John’s was a dynamic, energetic company that generated goodwill by putting the customer first. Over the course of our seven-year association, Vodafone has learned a lot about retail and customer service excellence from Crazy John’s and its staff.
“We understand we need to respect this legacy and we’ll always seek to be the brand that pulls the mobile phone industry closer to the customer’s needs, not the other way around.”
