vodaphone oddness

I'm not sure what's going on...

I bought a new phone before coming back to NA for a visit.  Vodaphone told me that I'd just need to buy a new SIM card and it would all work.  (The packaging said the phone is good for NA, Eur and Asia... staff said it wouldn't work in Asia... I bought it anyways.  I have a J-phone.)

Well, the phone needed to be unlocked.  OK.  I sent it to a shop in Vancouver, waited 3 days, and it couldn't be done.  The software for my model is unavailable, even in the UK.

The thing is working.  It shouldn't be.  I specified UK calls only in the contract.  A Canadian network is showing up on the screen, but I figure I'm paying for calls to be relayed back and forth from the UK.

Is that right?

Is there something else I should do?

Thanks for any insights in advance!

If it's a tri band phone it should just work.

The thing is working.  It shouldn't be. 

Let me check I've got this straight --  You haven't replaced the SIM card but are still using the U.K. Vodafone SIM in Canada, right?    In that case you would be connected via whatever local telco in Canada has an appropriate roaming agreement with Vodafone U.K.

I specified UK calls only in the contract.  A Canadian network is showing up on the screen, but I figure I'm paying for calls to be relayed back and forth from the UK.

You could well be paying for a "double hop" calls to the U.K. and back when calling another Canadian number.  It would depend upon the Vodafone configuration.  It may well be that calls to North America from the U.K. are barred but the restriction is overridden because you are already outside the country. 

Best thing to do is call Vodafone customer service and get them to check exactly what package and configuration you have.