Batter down your annual mobile costs article Discussion Area

mikeyd

mikeyd wrote: »

Just phoned o2 - was on the o2 200 tariff at £30/month (£20 after cashback scheme from phones4u).
I phoned up and told them I don't use anywhere near that many minutes and was thinking of downgrading to PAYG.
They offered to drop the tariff to o2 100 and give me that for just £10/month and then seeing as I didnt want a handset upgrade they credited my account £100 so I have effectively for 100mins + 100 texts a month for £20 for the

Managed to get this deal last year so was pretty pleased - Its about time to phone again and see what deal I get get this year.

I was just wondering what other peoples current experience are at getting upgrades with o2. Have they been offering good deals or have they cut back on this? Also, will the fact that they offered me this deal last year affect what deal they may offer me this time?

Any other information or advice appreciated.

garyparson

I'm still on the very old Genie contract, 50 mins off peak calls every day, silly amount of texts per month (500 or 750 I think), free wap. All for a massive £10 per month.

Can this be beat yet? I work nights so off peak isn't a big deal and don't use it that much anyway.

New_Collier

I :rotfl:



To Han 2505 - who wrote in Feb about sky high bills between her and her partner - dont think anyone responded - but if they did - please excuse me.
If it is just you and your partner that run up the bills - then vodafone family might be the thing. a £5 monthly charge and up to 4 vodafone numbers have unlimited calls of up to 59 minutes duration. Get one vodafone contract - and the others can be pay as you go sims. Works great for partners and kids.

thegasdoctor

Just managed to get this deal Monday 19th March 2007

"Old O2 250"

250 inclusive xnetwork minutes
100 texts

3 month Rollover
Free itemised billing
Free international traveller service
Free Voicemail Calls
Free Itemised Billing

Tarriff Price = £35 per month with £15 monthly discount = £20 per month Line rental.

Plus £100 Cashback for not having new handset

Total Annual Bill = 12 x 20 = £240-100 = £140 Per year = £11.66 Per month

Had to push quite hard, quoted the O2 deals currently on the one compare website which give O2 250 for £30 per month with 11 months free line rental.
I wasn't keen on this deal because of hassle factor (porting number and sending bills in at 6, 8,10 months to get the cashback)

The big plus for me with this deal is the 3 months rollover.

:T :T

greggers_2

Hi All,

I have been with O2 now for about 3 years and after I called the disconnection department (aka. The Please-stay-with-us department) to try some negotiating.

At the end of the each of my previous 12 month contracts, I have always phoned up towards the renewal date to do some barttering and each time I always made sure I got a newer handset and attempt to lower my tarrif.

After speaking with a friend who was on the O2 network & similar tarrif, it turned out he had also recently been given a new O2 tarrif deal which consisted of a £24 per month O2 400 tarrif over 18 months. So I phoned up and quoted this and as expected they also matched this offer.

However, I wasn't too keen on a 18 month contract so they offered this instead:
- £24 per mnth
- 250 min Xnetwork
- 500 txt msgs
- 12 months
- Sony K610i new
Now this was abit more appealing but I wanted to shop around some more and see what other offers were about.

After some web research, I found a tempting deals on 3 network that was based on a 18 month contract, 300 Xnetwork, 1,000 txt and also included Free MSN messenger for life* all for only £17.50 per month (*T&C apply). The new "£17.50 a month" seemed much more appealing.

So I called O2 back today (21 Mar '07) armed with this new set of barttering offers & figures. I stated I had previously phoned to see about renewal offers and I then went on to explain I had seen this great new offer from 3 which was only £17.50 a month, etc etc with MSN free for life. The lady was in the meantime checking my history with them and comparing my average usage. She said she could match the offer with this:
- £17.50 per mnth (incl VAT)
- 400 min Xnetwork
- 500 txt msgs
- 12 month contract
- Sony K610i new

I also confirmed that O2 do not and have no plans to offer the MSN service (send 10,000 msgs a month providing you are in a contract).

I also tried to blagg a bluetooth car kit and a better Sony phone than the K610i but I couldn't really push for any more considering the amount of calls & texts versus the monthly charge.

Still... £17.50 per month is not bad for 400mins + 500txt.

--greggers--

greggers_2

Update!

A week later and O2 sent me my new bill. After asking to have my new contract detail in writing, I was reassured by the O2 sales person that it would all be there.

I turned out that my bill had not only the incorrect tarrif details but also the wrong corresponding charges!

My tarrif had risen from the agreed £17.50 to a whopping £35.00! The lady explained they had (conveniently) forgetten to add my half price rental.

My package had changed also from the agreed 400 min & 500 text messages to a new confusing 2400 minutes + 100 texts.

So the lesson here is - "If you get something agreed, price matched, etc... DEMAND THIS IN WRITING AS CONFIRMATION".

Best of luck with the haggling!
--greggers--

greggers wrote: »

Hi All,

I have been with O2 now for about 3 years and after I called the disconnection department (aka. The Please-stay-with-us department) to try some negotiating.

At the end of the each of my previous 12 month contracts, I have always phoned up towards the renewal date to do some barttering and each time I always made sure I got a newer handset and attempt to lower my tarrif.

After speaking with a friend who was on the O2 network & similar tarrif, it turned out he had also recently been given a new O2 tarrif deal which consisted of a £24 per month O2 400 tarrif over 18 months. So I phoned up and quoted this and as expected they also matched this offer.

However, I wasn't too keen on a 18 month contract so they offered this instead:
- £24 per mnth
- 250 min Xnetwork
- 500 txt msgs
- 12 months
- Sony K610i new
Now this was abit more appealing but I wanted to shop around some more and see what other offers were about.

After some web research, I found a tempting deals on 3 network that was based on a 18 month contract, 300 Xnetwork, 1,000 txt and also included Free MSN messenger for life* all for only £17.50 per month (*T&C apply). The new "£17.50 a month" seemed much more appealing.

So I called O2 back today (21 Mar '07) armed with this new set of barttering offers & figures. I stated I had previously phoned to see about renewal offers and I then went on to explain I had seen this great new offer from 3 which was only £17.50 a month, etc etc with MSN free for life. The lady was in the meantime checking my history with them and comparing my average usage. She said she could match the offer with this:
- £17.50 per mnth (incl VAT)
- 400 min Xnetwork
- 500 txt msgs
- 12 month contract
- Sony K610i new

I also confirmed that O2 do not and have no plans to offer the MSN service (send 10,000 msgs a month providing you are in a contract).

I also tried to blagg a bluetooth car kit and a better Sony phone than the K610i but I couldn't really push for any more considering the amount of calls & texts versus the monthly charge.

Still... £17.50 per month is not bad for 400mins + 500txt.

--greggers--

chivas

Thought I'd add my story to the mix - although this actually happened before I read Martin's article!

A few weeks before my contract was due to expire o2 emailed me some handset upgrade options.

They didn't have phone I wanted (Sony Ericcson K800i) on the list so I phoned them to ask for it... only to be told that my monthly spend was so low it "wasn't worth their while to keep me on as a customer". She was very 'off' with me, then said that I could pay them £170 to get the phone I wanted, or increase my tariff to £45 per month. Humph!

So I waited the week or so until I could give my months notice on my contract and called them back.

me: Hi, I'd like to cancel my contract please
them: oh no, why would you want to do that?
me: well, I called you last week to discuss renewal and was told that "it wasn't worth your while to keep me on as a customer". So obviously I'd like to cancel, and can you give me my pac code please?
them: that can't be right, can I have your details please?
<details exchanged>
them: right, well, I think we should be able to do something for you. How about, we give you the phone upgrade for free?
me: That sounds better
them: also, we'd like to do something for you to prove that you are really a valued customer, how about we up your texts to 500 per month and half your line rental?
me: ok, I suppose I'll take you up on that!!!

So before:
300 texts, 300 minutes, old phone, £20 line rental, £25 avg monthly spend
After:
500 texts, 300 minutes, k800i, £10 line rental, £12 avg monthly spend

:T

I think this shows that it can make a difference who you speak to - so it might be worth trying more than once... the first lady I spoke to was grumpy and very short with me - the second was enthusiastic and happy to be offering me the deal!

Also, I think this was in the original post - it does make a difference to smile when you're on the phone. Make people WANT to help you - it works wonders!

bjiriin

hi, i am new to this battering method when upgrading. could anyone please answer my queries?

when talking to the customer service and comparing deals on the onecompare, do u guys compare deals from retailers and online retailers or deals directly from the operators?

also, when is the maximum length of time before my contract ends that i can start battering my network operator?

manuol1970

i also am on orange my original contract was £30 pound a month but my bills were coming in always over £100 it was about 3 months ago when my contract was up so i rang orange to tell them i was leaveing to go as pay as you go but they offered me a good deal well i think so for £35 pound a month and on a 18 month contract i get 1000 min to any network anytime unlimited texts and free phone insurance i think thats quite good??then i see that anyone with a contract of over 30 pounds or £35 could get orange broadband and orange talk so i gave them a bell after reading all the small print i decided to go with it so i get braodband and phone for extra £5 a month this gives me upto 8 mg broadband free call from my livebox to 01 and 02 numbers also international calls free too how cool ? ok the setup was a bit ackward with there custermer services similer to the network 3s but they tried to help me i found the best way to speak to anyone that could understand me as well as me understanding them was to ring orange from my handset which then is also free:) i have seen that orange have been slated for there orange livebox but i havnt had a problem mines worked fine ok had to wait a while for the phone service to be activated but was ok as i still had my old telewest line in so now its all setup and running ok have phone and broadband for an extra £5 a month on my contract phone which knocks it up to £40 a month for all 3 not bad hey??:D oppps almost forgot i got brand new orange spvm3100 which was about £400 got that free as well you got to try yippie happy all rounder

goldrush1984

I tried this method before, even tried to lower my package. my new bill received today was for £38!!!! shocker! my contract is up at the end of june but they told me I would have to pay for the rest of the months leading up to june to be allowed to cancel the account, basically pointless so i left it.

Is this allowed??