Batter down your annual mobile costs article Discussion Area

feifeiwu73

Does anybody think pay £100 up front, £14.50permonth. Get 500 mins, unlimited texts, unlimited data, 24 months contract is good deal for Samsung galaxy note 2 lte is a good deal?

grumbler

Well, 24*14.50+100=£448
I don't think that you'll find it for this price even on PAYG or sim-free.
IMO, it's a very good deal, but make sure that you've got it right and get everything in writing before agreeing.

windowshopper100

Feifeiwu73, would you mind saying where that deal is. I haven't seen that model for much less than £480 handset only from reputable sellers.

I've not really been looking for a contract, after reading advice to others on here (thanks to grumbler, et al), but this one does sound rather too good to be true.

As advised, I'd quite like to see the small print.
Thanks

Oasis1

Chef_Hermes wrote: »

So now I have churned my phone.
& this is how it works. I went to a third party shop. Explained the situation. I've ported my number to another sim (&company) for 1 day, I've already opened another Three account with the phone & deal I want (still £13 pm cheaper than Three) then tomorrow I pick up my new phone from the shop & we port my number back to the Three handset.

Moral of the story: At Three loyalty isnt rewarded & are clearly making massive profits if you buy direct from them. At no point has Three given me a reason not to do this 'churning' or justify why they cant/wont match the third parties offer.

I don't understand what churning is?

Oasis1

I wanted an iPhone 4s and found a deal on mobiles.co.uk for T-Mobile providing 500 mins, 3000 texts and 1GB for £49.99 upfront and £26 per month. Works out at £674 over two years.

I'm currently on 3 mobile so I called up to end my contract which up until that point was basic, but I'd been with them for 3 years with varying contracts. They then offered me £29 upfront cost, £27 per month and 500 mins, 5000 texts, unrestricted internet use & 2000 3-3 mins. This is what I'd call unlimited as I'm not a massive user but will make use of extra minutes. This was just £3 extra over two years and great to remain on three, stacking up more loyalty points and not worrying about going through a third party.
There were 2 slight drawbacks though;
1. The phone will be 'refreshed' which means it's never been used but has been opened. But its been checked to make sure it hasn't been used or damaged and there's a 14 day cooling off period so I can check to ensure its not damaged myself.
2. Going through topcashback I would have been able to get £30 cashback for that deal. I mentioned this and they went to their manager a few times but wouldn't budge to lower or remove the upfront phone cost. However, mobiles.co.uk have some poor reviews saying their phones are damaged and cashback isn't always guaranteed so I wasn't too bothered about getting that extra £30 off. Was a little annoyed at being charged £5 delivery cost, though I did specify the date of delivery.

If the iPhone 4s costs £449 then considering the contract, I've paid off the price of the phone over two years and the minutes/texts/data works out to be £9.50 a month. Which I think is pretty good, right?

I'll let you know in a few weeks if I'm happy with it all. Fingers crossed.

grumbler

Be careful with 'cooling off' at '3'.
They have a notorious restrictive clause in the policy:

When we say “unused” we mean:

You’ve not made or received any calls (voice or video), sent or received any texts (unless from Three), or been on the internet with your device (excludes syncing as part of the switching on process). For Apple devices, you’ll also need to make sure you’ve not removed the cellophane wrapping.

How many minutes do you actually need?
300+3000+1Gb is available for £0+24x£26 on T-mobile with come cashback I guess (buymobilephones).

Oasis1

grumbler wrote: »

Be careful with 'cooling off' at '3'.
They have a notorious restrictive clause in the policy:

How many minutes do you actually need?
300+3000+1Gb is available for £0+24x£26 on T-mobile with come cashback I guess (buymobilephones).

Thanks for the heads up about the cooling off. They did mention about making no calls etc but its good to see the actual policy in writing.

Admittedly that offer you mentioned would save me £50+ overall. However, I currently use around 200-300 minutes but am restrictive with them and would like to use more, so the 500 is a benefit perhaps worth the extra £25 a year (+2000 3-3 mins which my family are on). Also unrestricted data is a great bonus. I realise 1GB is quite a lot anyway, but unrestricted means I can download things that I would otherwise perhaps have to be at home on my laptop to do so. I'm also quite happy to be staying with three. It wasn't a false threat, I would have moved to T-mobile if they didn't lower their prices. The prices listed on their website are ridiculous.
Staying with them may prove useful with deals in the future as I'd have a total of 5 years of loyalty once this contract finishes. We'll see..

phil09

With Three, I managed to get the One Plan (1mth rolling) down to £21 from £25 per month. I just told them the truth about the lack of correspondence from them, no paperwork delivered as promised, additional charges automatically, and I was fed up of everything and had found a better deal anyway and I got my Pac code from them. The next evening I received a callback saying we can offer you the same deal but for £21 per month instead. I tried to get them down to £20.. but to no avail, and then accepted this offer.

niatom1527

DD wanted new samsung phone, tariff had expired but she wanted unlimited data, phoned virgin explained long standing customer and wanted to upgrade, got 46.00 tariff for £26.00, free ins worth 7.99 per month even refunded postage chg of 7.99.Normally hate phoning virgin but got lovely man who explained everything clearly and concisely including downloading app to track phone ,also even on silent can set off alarm to alert you to where phone is if mislaid near you ,also explained tracker map! Cannot say how much I was impressed by chap I spoke to a real asset to virgin- very rare these days!

Oasis1

Oasis1 wrote: »

I wanted an iPhone 4s and found a deal on mobiles.co.uk for T-Mobile providing 500 mins, 3000 texts and 1GB for £49.99 upfront and £26 per month. Works out at £674 over two years.

I'm currently on 3 mobile so I called up to end my contract which up until that point was basic, but I'd been with them for 3 years with varying contracts. They then offered me £29 upfront cost, £27 per month and 500 mins, 5000 texts, unrestricted internet use & 2000 3-3 mins. This is what I'd call unlimited as I'm not a massive user but will make use of extra minutes. This was just £3 extra over two years and great to remain on three, stacking up more loyalty points and not worrying about going through a third party.
There were 2 slight drawbacks though;
1. The phone will be 'refreshed' which means it's never been used but has been opened. But its been checked to make sure it hasn't been used or damaged and there's a 14 day cooling off period so I can check to ensure its not damaged myself.
2. Going through topcashback I would have been able to get £30 cashback for that deal. I mentioned this and they went to their manager a few times but wouldn't budge to lower or remove the upfront phone cost. However, mobiles.co.uk have some poor reviews saying their phones are damaged and cashback isn't always guaranteed so I wasn't too bothered about getting that extra £30 off. Was a little annoyed at being charged £5 delivery cost, though I did specify the date of delivery.

If the iPhone 4s costs £449 then considering the contract, I've paid off the price of the phone over two years and the minutes/texts/data works out to be £9.50 a month. Which I think is pretty good, right?

I'll let you know in a few weeks if I'm happy with it all. Fingers crossed.

Phone received and after checking for damage and finding none I began to use it. Now I have realised the camera hardware is faulty where half the image doesn't focus. Now have to go into apple store to replace it. Through calling up Apple have found out that I only have 190 days left of warranty, even though I only bought it two weeks ago and was guaranteed a full year. The phone was also registered in someone else's name. Was told it was 'refreshed' which meant it had been opened but not used. Beginning to think they lied on the phone so once I've got the new one they'll be getting a piece of my mind...