3 deals just got more expensive as of 30th Nov midnight!! AHHHH!

Golfpro_2

The deas are being pulled back a little , keep an eye on this, the 3 deals might be stopping when it comes to the rediculous we have all enjoyed in recent years.
I was watching e2save yesterday to see if they would pre-empt this 30th nov deadline, three are going stopping the first three month at half price which seemed to help the retailers with there cashbacks.

I noticed at 11.30pm ish that e2save had suddenly upped the price of the lg8330 from 9 months foc on 12m to 7 months foc on 12 months.

The lg 880 which was my choice had gone more expensive again, i did have them sort of pricematching but looks unlikely now this side of the 30th as they had to go check before and then it wasnt exactly a match, it was plus £60 on a comparitive deal. They aint going to do it now if the first three months are not discounted.

So late last night i decided to take the plunge and order three seperate phones from Mobile rainbow who, i know are not long in business, just 4 years i`m told, but they had the talk and text 600 at 9 months foc for 12m contract. Total outlay £90 over the term. THE PHONES ARE FETCHING AS of YESTERDAY £255 ON EBAY, so i'm going to use my old phones A1000 for the year ahead sell the lg8380 on ebay x 3, if i get them and get my cashback that way early then any cashback in the future at 6 m and 12m is happy days if it happens and not brill if it does'nt!!
They had the best cashback terms, 6.12 months by redemption send in top copy of 6th bil etc etc to them within 28 days of receipt, which is a good point because lots are saying 28 days from bill date, and that bill date on three invoice is usually 14 days before you get it leaving you not 28 but 14 day portal to get it into them.

My point here is i think watch closely the deals at present as three are announcing a new strategy which might impact on the cheap deals for us, and spend a little more on a popular phone and flog it to make money speculate more to accumulate more! if you are new to it, and dont have an old 3g you can get one off ebay for peanuts, let me know any horror stories with mobilerainbow!!

michaels

All discounts have disappeared on mobile rainbow at the moment - looks like you did the right thing - were you talking about the u880 rather than the 8330?

Amba_Gambla

is it something just in the lead up to christmas where they know they can sell phones anyway without the silly offers, or is it something a lot more permanent?

blueghost

Amba_Gambla wrote:

is it something just in the lead up to christmas where they know they can sell phones anyway without the silly offers, or is it something a lot more permanent?

i saw somewhere it said they had reached their sales figures and didn't need to get any more customers

Golfpro_2

michaels wrote:

All discounts have disappeared on mobile rainbow at the moment - looks like you did the right thing - were you talking about the u880 rather than the 8330?

No idid mean the lg8380, its a new one out from LG its smaller than the other 8330 and so on...you know the ones they do that all look the same.
It looks smaller etc. if you tap it lg 8380 into ebay they are fetching strong money, i tracked one with 36 bids that went for £255 new. Again it was some guy selling his new contract phone and using the old one he had.

You cant get the lg880 for love nor money, the best deal on that was £120 or £9.99 a month, after redemption with simplyG, thats gone last night, i had e2save matching it almost, which is a miracle but they would do it for 9.99 for only 10 months you pay £60 for last two months. i did prefer this phone but i`m only selling them on anyway and cant imagine it fetching more than the lg8380 if it fetches circa £250 again.

But e2save's original deeal which sucked now sucks even more since midnight so they wont honour that cash back now cos its gone anyway on simply3g.

I tried to get three referrals through quidco by going in and out three seperate times, but the order process screws you a bit at mobile rainbow as when you sign back in after purchasing one its still there the next time, so had to remove one and do it again. Then they ring you back and tell you only two per customer on one card, and if i want another one it only 7.5 months foc not 9 months as the deal changed overnight, so i gave them another card and processed all three from yesterdays order numbers on 9 month deal. i had to let slip the referral thing.if i had more time i would have set up three different quidco`s and place three sep orders last night for three rebates and 2 referrals.
But getting my dear elderly mother out of bed for a call in the night to get Credit card details didnt seem worth £20 or so. Ho HO!

punjabi_munda

NOOOOOOOOO I was just going to buy a phone from mobile rainbow in about a week...just my luck! Is this going to be a temporary thing or permenant????

punjabi_munda

can anyone help me and answer my questions please?

waterstar

punjabi munda asked

"just my luck! Is this going to be a temporary thing or permenant????"

I suggest "three" are trying to reposition their business and the perception of "three" by potential customers. So "three" would like it to be permanent, but whether it is will be down to market forces.

"Three" started off with a fairly poor selection of handsets and poor reception/call quality in many areas and hence they were having to sell their service on the basis of lots of free calls/texts in the monthly charge and then offer further "discounting" by half price rental and subsidies to dealers which could be passed back to the customers as "cash back".

Recently "three" have improved significantly the handsets they offer and for many built up areas improved call quality as they install more base stations.

I believe "three" are now testing the market to see if customers will buy "three" at prices comparable to Vodafone etc.

For example, even leaving aside "cashback", the revised prices from "three" commencing 1st December are quite an aggressive increase.

e.g. the Nokia N70 was offered by "three" on "talk and text 600" up to 30 November at three months half price rental.

After 1st December the N70 on similar tariff is full £30 line rental for 12 months PLUS £69.99 for the handset. A total increase in the cost over 12 months of £115! (although currently you do get double texts for the first 3 months)

When you look at the offers from e2save.com across the entire range of "three" tariffs and handsets it really does appear that subsidies to dealers have probably also been dramatically cut back.


But the mobile phone industry has always been like this. Formerly it was probably "T-mobile" who were the leaders in terms of aggressive pricing and the inclusive minutes etc. Over the last couple of years it has been "three" who have been the market leaders as to tariffs, pricing etc.


Interesting to note the current "three" offers based around "double texts for three months" only runs to 31 December. As to what pricing will be maintained in the future does very much depend on market forces.

just my opinion, hope this helps

mellachick

I was told that they can only advertise a particular advert for so long before they have to legally class the 'special offer' as there standard tariff rate ,, and they have to wait 2months before they can use an offer again.
So Feburary time there offers will probably start up again .. although like somebody already said theyve probably reached there sales targets and dont need to cos even at full price they are stil cheaper than the competitors.
I went into phones4u a cpl days ago and got a really good deal as apparently some of their branches are struggling and if you push them enough they offer you something good .. they matched a 9month half price line rental for me on a 12 month '3' contract on the brand new LGu880 and the phone was free. Also got a really good deal on the Nokia N70. Both phones are beautiful and im well happy with my deal :j