Batter down your annual mobile costs article Discussion Area

chivas

goldrush1984 wrote: »

Is this allowed??

Short answer - yes

You are committed into a contract, so have to complete its full term. The bartering only really works when you are around about contract renewal time.

So if your contract is due to expire June 01, and you have to give one months notice of cancellation, you should start the bartering process around May 01 timeframe - i.e. the earliest possible date that you can give notice of leaving.
You might be able to get away with it a week or two before that tho - so it's always worth a go

mikeyd

I got nowhere trying to get a deal with o2.
Currently I am on the O2 100 tariff (100 mins + 100 txts) a month, which is £25pm, but last year they discounted it by £15 pm for the next 12 months so I was just paying £10pm. (Also got £100 credit for not upgrading handset)
I knew I wasnt going to get a deal this good this year but what they offered was awful.

I was wanting the SE K800i and tried to see what I could get it for. But I was offered nothing to stay with them - I tried to see if I could stay on the o2 100 tariff but get a smaller discount on the line - I tried to get them to do it for £20 pm but they wouldnt do it. Other offers previous to that were 50mins+25txt for £19, which is almost double what I was currently paying for less than half the minutes and texts I currently have. They also said they could do 100 mins + 50 text bolt-on + 20texts o2 treats for £18 pm but the phone would cost me £60.

I have asked for my PAC code and will probably move to Vodafone PAYG as I can get the K800i for £140 from play.com.

Very disappointed in o2 but they did nothing to try to make me stay - one of their customer service agents told me it wasnt worth their while financially to keep me as a customer.

TreborOx

Firstly, Thanks to Martin :beer: !!

I've been "out of contract" for sometime now, but hadn't got round to making a change.

The newsletter prompted me to call Orange this evening. I wanted a new phone (SPV M3100) - and was told that it would cost £50. not bad, but I thought I'd push my luck;) "oh, that's a shame, can you put me through to the disconnection team please?" ....

..."Hi, this is [name] how can I help?"

"I'd like to terminate my contract, as I suspect I can get a better deal elsewhere"

[some discussion]

Final outcome:

I've got the new phone for free.
700 any-network minutes a month
200 text messages
Unlimited land line calls
10MB Data package [already had this at £6/month - but kind chap has applied a £5/month credit to offset this - - and also mentioned that if I cancel the data package, the £5/month discount will still apply!]

final price £36/month! :j

Good? It gets better! I mentioned that the website is currently offering a £100 credit on all new contracts of £25+/month (though it does say exclusive online deal) ---- and he threw that in as well!! effectively works out at 3 months free of charge.

I'm very pleased with the outcome! I know this isn't a competition, but do you think I did well?

metalmickey_2

I Just called O2 and was offered the same crap deal as MikeyD 2 posts above. Im on 200mins 500 texts for 14.99.

they offered me 75 mins and 300 texts for £20 a month...

a whoppin 125 mins and 200 texts less than on now for more money!

I'll wait a week and call em back... i spoke to some bird called Jade so if you get her just hang up and call straight back to see if you can get someone else...

MM

lynxptc

I got 500 mins and 100 texts for £25/month with Orange.

ms_mark

My partner and I can't fault 3. After years of poor and overpriced service from T Mobile and Orange respectively we moved to 3. When we signed up to 3 (via E2save) we got deals that were better than our previous contracts even before the cashback from E2save. When our 12 month contracts were up with 3 we each negotiated excellent renewal deals direct with 3. I got the Talk and Text 600 package (normally £30pw) for 12 months with 1st month 1/2 price and last three months free and a new N70. My partner did even better; 3 were offering on their website for new customers only an LG phone with 750 mins, 150 texts, 50 video mins 50 mms and £5 of downloads for £17.50/month for the whole of an 18 month contract AND a two year warranty on the phones; she got the same deal by asking them to match the offer they were making for new customers. In each cas the phone arrived the next day. Faultless!

I know other people have had issues with 3, but if they can keep up this service I won't be going anywhere else.

M

jimbojones23

I tried this around two and a half years ago and got a pretty good deal out of it. I called and threatened to quit, and as a result was offered half price line rental for life! Admittedly, I was on O2's most expensive tarriff, but the beauty of it was that the offer of half price line rental applied to whichever tarriff I chose to subsequently switch to. I have since switched tarriffs at least twice, and have enjoyed half price line rental on all occasions - and will continue to do so for the life of my time with O2. I also got a free upgrade to whatever phone I wanted, including ones that weren't at the time available free, even to new contract customers.

I am definitely going to haggle when my current contract comes to an end, see what else I can milk from them!

Cheers

Missy.A

I thought I'd just add my tuppence!

I have a contract with Orange (that I only got 6 months ago on a 12 month contract). It was a pretty good deal at the time with CPW (effectively £15 a month for 50 inclusive minutes and 100 texts but top of the range phone).

It was for my son so I upgraded it to the dolphin 35 tariff (£35 for 250 texts and 250 mins) a month or so ago as he was going over the texts allowance!

I looked on their website and it says for the Dolphin 35 on a 12 month contract I would have 300 mins and 500 texts.
I immediately got onto them and said I'd like the new allowance for no extra money...
They said no, as I got the deal through CPW and not directly with them!
I said I actually upgraded with them.
They said they still couldn't do it
I said I would be prepared to go down a tariff for a month but still pay enough so I wouldn't lose my caskback deal and then just upgrade to the better tariff a month later. I said I didn't mind doing all that and it wasn't really a problem for me but they'd get less money from me for a month.

The lady went away and then said they could give me 300 mins and 400 texts for the same money. They could only give me 400 texts as that was coming up on her screen.
I'm quite happy with that as my son uses about 300 texts so I agreed and obviously made sure that my contract was not extended in any way!

A_GRAY

New To This Money Saving But Followed The Advice And Saved! I Was On Vodaphone Anytime And Haggled To Get From 30 Mins A Month For £15 To 75 Mins Plus 50 Text For £11.75 12 Month Contract.
A Word Of Warning. Watch Out For Those Who Phone You Offering A New Deal On Behalf Of Your Provider. I Got An Unsolicited Phone Call Offering £25 Cash If I Stayed With Vodaphone. In My View A Con As They Pretended To Be Vodaphone. When I Asked To Speak To Their Customer Relations Dept To Cancel My Contract ( As Per The Haggle Advice) I Was Told That He (they Had Just The One) Had Gone Home. Then I Found Out They Were Not Who They Proported To Be At All!

Eastham_41

I was ready to leave 3 network last October. Rang to cancel the contract and was offered what amounted to a free years worth of calls and texts. As long as I was happy to keep my old phone, they would credit my bill with £250. All I have to do is keep to under 200 mins & 100 texts per month. Anything over that amount, I have to pay for at the end of the year. They send me a statement so I can keep an eye on what I am using, but so far I haven't come close to using all the minutes & texts.
Of course this is only of use if you are a light user like me - if you usually have big bills, I doubt they would do this deal - but it made me happy!
:T :T :T