Batter down your annual mobile costs article Discussion Area

Beautiful_smile!

jackarnott wrote:

Was on a very reasonable £17.50 12-month contract for the past three years, which gave me 500 Off Peak minutes and 500 texts. Only reading here did I think that I deserved more coming to the end of my contract!

Called once, made up an offer from 3 which gave me a w850i upgrade plus 400 any time minutes and 500 texts for £25 a month. The retentions guy said the best he could do was 250 anytime minutes and 1000 texts for £25, and the phone would cost £50. I told him I would call back after I had 'spoken' to 3.

Called back the day after, said I had now found an Orange deal (which does actually exist on onecompare) for £21 for a free w850i, 400 anytime mins and 500 texts. A long pause and then the guy offers me 500 anytime mins, 900 txts and a free w850i upgrade for only £20 a month! Which is £5 cheaper a month, £50 cheaper for the phone and twice as many minutes as the day before.

I salute any one who can push them further than this!

:money: Thanks for sharing this. It is worth asking. thanks again. yolanda

theogeorgio

My story with O2
Rang yesterday and i was offered for £17.50 500min xnet and 100 texts. Free voice mail, international roaming and rollover. Free phone Samsung E870 with bluetooth. Does anyone think can get better than this? I think i got the most they could do.

I found out that you have to call the disconnect team as the upgrade team cant offer as much.

Apex_2

debtfreein2007 wrote:

O2 story: coming to the end of contract. Currently paying £35 for 1000 texts and 400 mins. Told them I wanted to leave to T-Mobile PAYG (good deal at the moment). O2 rep made me an offer which I rejected right away. They then made me a second offer for £15 for 900 texts and 200 mins plus new phone. Nice! Going to pick the K800i (silver edition) and sell it on eBay for anything between £250-£340 (going on previous auctions). RESULT!

Now, one question! I make a lot of international texts but only to one number and it's an American number. I asked if they could include this one number in my free text allocation and they said there was nothing they could do. Is there any room for further haggling here? Has anyone got O2 to agree to any international texting deals?

Inat txts are not part of our plans nor will they be for the forseable future

Drew

Apex_2

Thora_Trumpet wrote:

I'm in a bit of a strange position in that I bought a phone in 1998 and a "contract" with what was then One2One and is now T-mobile in the shop on the same day.

I was a giddy lightheaded lass then and don't recall any time period being mentioned either on the contract or by the shop assistant and I've not renewed since then.

My phone bills have been escalating for the past few months, I text a lot and am paying £60-80 on a tarriff of £17-50.

I want to clarify the position re the "contract" but is it worth it? I really need to cut down the monthly phone bills though so will try this approach with them.

If it is a proper contract then you will be esp by now way outside contract and should be due a upg.

How ever you go be on a "puffl" which is basicly you paid a one off fee when you took the phone and so are not able to upg without paying price for phone, but the fact you said you pay a monthly sub charge makes me feel you do have a contract that has basicly expired.

Sorry i can not be of more help but i work for O2 not T-Mobile and so i am not sure of how they work.

Drew

dupuytren

I tried negotiating with O2 for since yesterday and Martin's technique did work to some extent but i'm not giving in just yet..

I call yesterday saying that I wanted to leave, and when asked why, I said 3 is offering a better deal. So the nice Irish guy on the phone offered me £15 a month for 200 xnet anytime minutes and 100 texts (I'm on that now for £30)..and surprise surprise he offered me a phone too which I was pleased about. So the selection - SE K610i, Nokia 6233, Nokia 6131, Samsung E900. As I was quite greedy I said I'm not happy with this, because I want SE 810i but he said I have to pay £49.99 for it. So I told him I need to think about it.

I tried again this morning, a different method ie saying that I wanted my PAC code, they transferred me to 3 different people, and the best they could do is offer me £20/month for 500 xnet mins and 200 text but still the same phone selections! If I were not fussed about the phone and do use 500 minutes a month, I'd probably take it. But I don't use that many minutes and there's no way I'm paying £20 a month!! I told them I think I still want less mins to pay less so they said ok and I can still choose the phones that I mentioned above. So should I just give in, and if so, which phone is the most worth it? Having said that, there are better deals online and I don't mind doing the redemption thing with e2save or CPW coz there are 15/month deals for SE W850i...

What shall I do to push them further??

Alex_Kane

Beautiful_smile! wrote:

Hi Alex, if you are on NTL telewest, it has join with Virgin, and offering free phone ( you can still carry your one in your pockets and sell the new one!!!) 300 texts, 300 mins for £10 a month with 'no contract'. Anywhere now you can have MUCH BETTER DEAL than the one you have. Wish you luck! yolanda

Yolanda, thanks for the tip, I am seriously considering it.

02 Retentions were offering
£10 per month 12 month contract
100 mins
300 txts.
(I do get a choice of S-E K750i, Sam E900, Nokia 6233 or O2 Ice) but I do not really need a new phone so they offered £100 credit.

Called Virgin tonight and they said that deal is available as I already have a Telewest account. (In fact I can get up to 4 of these deals).
£10 per month (no contract)
300 mins calls xnet
300 texts (not video/pics though, they cost 30p extra)
30 days notice to cancel.


I get a new Virgin sim (need 02 phone unlocked, should be easy enough).
I can keep my old number (can transfer my PAC from 02).
1 month roll-over (not sure if this is calls AND texts though).
If I run over my allotted mins/texts (unlikely) got up to £100 credit.
Paid by direct debit

Did not offer a free phone though, (can you offer any info on this?)
If I want a new phone, I would have to buy one and on this deal they were only offering the Nokia 112 or Motorola U6 Pebl for £29.95. (Happy to keep my D600 for now but U6 Pebl might be a good xmas gift for somebody I know on PAYG).

Thanks fo the info.

Ps. How can I get evidence of your "beautiful smile"?:p

Thora_Trumpet

Apex wrote:

If it is a proper contract then you will be esp by now way outside contract and should be due a upg.

How ever you go be on a "puffl" which is basicly you paid a one off fee when you took the phone and so are not able to upg without paying price for phone, but the fact you said you pay a monthly sub charge makes me feel you do have a contract that has basicly expired.

Sorry i can not be of more help but i work for O2 not T-Mobile and so i am not sure of how they work.

Drew

I did an upgrade with my phone last year so apparently my 12 month contract was out a few months ago. I just nailed em down to £35 pm. Maybe I'll have another go in a week or so but it took me 8 calls to get through to them in the first place.

Pastmaster

I'm about to renew with O2 this afternoon. I am currently on 200 x network anytime and 100 texts per month for £15. I didn't take an upgrade last year and got £100 paid into my account so was really just paying £80 per year in total.
I need an upgrade this year. The same number of minutes would do. I have 2 contracts - one for myself, one for wife (renewable in 6 weeks).
I've looked through this thread and it's clear that there are some really good hagglers out there amongst us. Can one of you advise me on what is available. I don't want to pay more than I am paying just now even with the upgrade./

Ta.

premist

hi everyone im a first time poster!

i currently have a contract with 3 and it is comin to and end at the end of january, i am on the video, talk and text 700 package which is costing mr £35 a month.

i am thinking of renewing my contract but only want to take out a 12 month contract not 18, and upgrade either to a sony ericsson k800i or nokia n73, and also reduce my line rental.

has anyone got any tips on how to haggle my line rental down and get a 12 month contract?

thanx

Alex_Kane

Signed up for the Virgin/NTL Telewest deal.

£10 per month (SIM only, not contract, 30 days notice to cancel)
300 mins any network
300 texts (not video/pic they are 30p extra)
1 month rollover for calls and texts.
this is all more than enough for me.

Spoke to my cable dealer first, said I was thinking of going with sky (which I was) and he restructured my tv/phone/internet package so I am £18 cheaper for the next 3 months then I can reasses my situation (did not have to sign a 12 month contract to get it, still the same services).

Then asked if he could do the same deal for the Virgin £10 mobile deal. So for the same 3 months they will give an extra £10 off my cable bill to cover 3 months of my mobile.

The Virgin package was giving the Lobster phone but now out of stock so only offering a Nokia 112? (basically a crap phone) but I could buy a Motorola Pebl for £30 if I wanted.

Went back to my cable company, told them this and asked if they would give me another £30 discount off my cable package for the next 3 months to cover the cost of what should have been a "fee phone". The said yes.

So
I have now rejigged my TV/hone/net package to £18 a month cheaper for next 3 months for exactly the same services.

Got a Virgin "Sim Only" (no contract) deal costing £10 a month giving:
300 mins xnet,
300 txts,
1 month rollover for both calls and texts.

Got another £60 in discounts from my cable company which basically means I get 3 months free calls/texts and a new Motrolla Pebl which is selling in Argos etc for £90-£100, which I will give as a gift and keep my Samsung D600.

All thanks to Martin and "Yolanda" aka "Beautiful Smile".
Guess who are at the top of my Xmas card list?

As they say "It's Good to Haggle":beer: