Batter down your annual mobile costs article Discussion Area

grumbler

Honey_Bear wrote: »

I think this must be a misunderstanding.

Maybe - on your side.

My understanding of PAYG was that I could top up on a random basis. What you're suggesting is that I sign up for a PLAN at £5 a month.

No. You can topup at any time and every time you topup you get something extra/free, depending on the amount, that lasts for a month. The credit remains unaffected and can be uses on anything outside this 'extra'. However, as I said, Orange PAYG prices are not competitive.

When I read, on the Orange website that they will no longer be 'supporting a PAYG tarriff', I tend to believe them.

Well, post a link then to the page saying this.

coys_2

I have been with T-Mobile for ever, well, since 1999, when it was called One2One.
My contract came up for renewal last May (My contract is a Flext 25 which cost £22.05 pm +VAT and a 50% loyalty discount = £13.27 pm usually)
They told me that i was eligible for a phone upgrade as well, and i could choose from a range of phones at no extra cost.
I took the offer of a phone and agreed to stay if my contract stayed the same, i was assured it would be!
Yesterday i took a look at my account and found that T-Mobile have been taking the full amount and not giving me the "Loyalty" discount..and this has been happening since i renewed the contract in May!!
I called them and asked the usual questions, "what is going on" "can you please sort this out and return it to what we agreed on"... i was told that "nothing can be done" because.. "You upgraded"..I WHAT?
After a while the person i was talking to said, "To be honest, i think you have been Mis-sold on this, why would you give up such a discount just to get a FREE phone, it doesn't make sense, hold on and you can talk to my manager"..i was on hold for about 5 minutes and she returned to say that her manager was not in today and neither is the Ops manager, she will leave a message for them to contact me as she will be out of the office for the next 3 days.
Has anyone else experienced the same, or similar, and what did you do to get it resolved, if you did get it resolved ?
Apologies for the length of my post.

grumbler

coys wrote: »

...They told me that i was eligible for a phone upgrade as well, and i could choose from a range of phones at no extra cost.
I took the offer ...
"You upgraded"..I WHAT?

Why the question mark?

.. what did you do to get it resolved, if you did get it resolved ?

The only you can do is to keep complaining, preferably in writing.

• Making a complaint
• Complaints code of practice

However, bills and statements exist to be checked, not ignored. It is unforgivable not to do this for half a year. If there was no any confirmation by mail/e-mail, the first that any reasonable person would have done is checking the details in their online account.
And the record of the telephone call that could be helpful in your complaint is unlikely to exist after 6 months.

ScillyJohn

I'm a long-term customer of Vodafone (they provide the best coverage in the areas I use my phone), and wanted to upgrade from my ancient Nokia 6300 to a shiny new smartphone. The cheapest on-line Vodafone tariff for a 32GB iPhone 5 is on a 2yr contract, with unlimited texts and calls and 1GB data, was £209 up front, £37pm (= £1097 over 2 years). The cheapest similar deal I could find from other providers was with O2; unlimited texts and calls, 1GB data, £295 upfront and £26pm (£919 over 2 years).
I spoke to Vodafone Customer Services last week (30 October), and queried the expensive on-line tariffs. The operator was quite blunt, telling me they are not allowed to touch the advertised tariffs and he happily provided a PAC code there and then for me to move to O2.
Somewhat disappointed with this initial response, I did nothing for a couple of days. I then got a call from Vodafone querying why I was leaving. When I quoted the O2 £178 tariff differential the agent immediately offered to either a) match the O2 rate, or b) discount the phone to FREE on the £37 monthly tariff (which works out at £888 over 2 years - or £209 cheaper than the advertised rate).
I think I could have got an even better deal, but was happy to take the free 32GB iPhone 5 offer! The iPhone is still the most expensive, but at least I've saved £209!
Almost a bargain compared to the Apple Store price; £599 for a 32GB iPhone 5.

strwberrysuprise

Hi, I'm just after some advice.
My T Mobile contract is up for renewal today and I'm not sure where to go from here.
I want to get an iPhone, preferably the 4s. The deals on T Mobile though are quite rubbish. They have one which is £31 (previously £26 a month ago) a month, unlimited everything and £69 upfront. I don't want to pay that much though.
So this morning I was researching contracts and found one with Tesco Mobile. It is £20 a month, 750 minutes, 5000 texts, 1GB internet and £100 upfront. Obviously a much better deal.
But here's my problem.. Tesco online are conpletely out of stock, havent checked my local store yet though. And I don't really want to leave T Mobile if I can help it.

Those of you in the know, what do you think the best thing to do is?
Go in store at T Mobile and see if they will match it. Or phone their customerc service and threaten to leave? Or just forget T Mobile altogether and just go with Tesco when they are in stock?

grumbler

Check T-Mobile Retentions thread.
I think it's unlikely that they will match Tesco in general and this special deal in particular, but you have nothing to lose. Just get a PAC and wait.

jasonwatkins

If anyone is interested, the Carphone Warehouse are doing a 30 day Virgin Sim Only for an effective £10.80 a month for 1,200 minutes, unlimited texts and 1gb of data.

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/buy/VIRGIN_SIMCARD_VM006_D114C

The "proper" price is £12 a month, but they're offering a 10% cashback deal on the price. The woman I spoke to couldn't confirm if it would be paid monthly or if it would be paid in one lump sum though. I still never quite get why it can't be easier to apply these cashback sums directly to your monthly payment - I suppose in this case, most people (including me..) would likely just spend the £14.40 if it came as a one-off lump sum payment.

leithman1

Thanks to an offer from CFW, we were genuinely going to leave TM and only phoned up for pac code. We had no expectation that they could compete with CFW.
The advisor asked why we were leaving at the end of the 2 year contract and I was honest enough to tell him the offer. They did not do the same phone anymore but gave us the upgraded model free, unlimited texts (cfw was 5k texts), 200 mins, (cfw was 250 mins) and 750gb. All for more than £1 less than the cfw dealHad no hesitation in staying with them.
Phone arrived promptly with a bill for the phone plus completely different plan and also much more expensive. Called billing to query and they were baffled as to how we got the deal we did. Had to arrange to phone us next day to allow them to investigate. compliments to the CSA, she tried phoning us early the next day and then called us at the arranged time. we ended up with free upgraded smartphone, 200 minutes, unlimited texts and 500gb. for more than £1 less than CFW deal. We had had contracts with TM for a number of years so this ended up being an unexpectedly great loyalty bonus from them. It seems they do sometimes value their customers. Still watching bills closely though to make sure a glitch does not bump up the plan though. Well done TM.

leithman1

strwberrysuprise wrote: »

Hi, I'm just after some advice.
My T Mobile contract is up for renewal today and I'm not sure where to go from here.
I want to get an iPhone, preferably the 4s. The deals on T Mobile though are quite rubbish. They have one which is £31 (previously £26 a month ago) a month, unlimited everything and £69 upfront. I don't want to pay that much though.
So this morning I was researching contracts and found one with Tesco Mobile. It is £20 a month, 750 minutes, 5000 texts, 1GB internet and £100 upfront. Obviously a much better deal.
But here's my problem.. Tesco online are conpletely out of stock, havent checked my local store yet though. And I don't really want to leave T Mobile if I can help it.

Those of you in the know, what do you think the best thing to do is?
Go in store at T Mobile and see if they will match it. Or phone their customerc service and threaten to leave? Or just forget T Mobile altogether and just go with Tesco when they are in stock?

I'd be tempted to call retentions and ask for the pac code saying that you are considering moving and need it in case you decide to go. tell them why and say that the deal is too good to ignore.
They might just let you go, but it's worth seeing how it goes. At the end of the day, you might still have to make the same choice but not giving ultimatums sometimes pays benefits. Be nice and polite and treat them as well as you would like to be treated.

Fkohn

I was paying 43 GBP p.m for a 18 month price plan with Three that included a lot more voice and data than I required.

By using Martin's haggling techniques as my contract neared its renewal date, I managed to reduce my monthly cost by over 35 GBP (425 GBP p.a)

Contract Specs:

* 12 Months
* 200 Voice Minutes
* 2000 Three to Three Voice Minutes
* 5000 Texts
* 500 MB Data

- 6.90 GBP p.m