Batter down your annual mobile costs article Discussion Area

drbob

Following the advice in the article my father just got the following deal from Orange retentions:

New HTC TyTn II
1000 anytime minutes
100 texts (he only sends about 50 texts a month)
250Mb anytime data package.

Cost £32.50/month - 18 month contract.

Previously he was paying £35/month for 750minutes and 1000 texts (no included data).

The first retentions agent he spoke to offered 800 minutes with no data for £35 then dropped that down to £30 but insisted that anytime data could not be discounted beyond £7.50/month extra. He said he needed time to think about it and hung up after asking for the offered deal to be logged on their system

Rang back and pointed out that he could get a Nokia N95 with 1100 minutes and unlimited mobile data for £34/month with three (£20/month 1100 minute package + £9/month for n95 + £5/month for data package) The agent then offered the £32.50/month deal.

Make sure you have time to negotiate when you call retentions - getting this deal took about 90 minutes of haggling over the two phone calls.

JamieM

I've been trying to get a good deal from T-Mobile but they only offer me what looks like their standard retention deal. ₤15 off a month for either a 12 or 18 month contract. Not very impressed with this as I spend about ₤200 a month with them (I call and travel to Africa a lot with work) Will give them one more try before I tell them to give me a PAC.

nmckay15

Ok, my contract expires on 4th May so I've just made my phonecall to Orange to upgrade my phone on a better tariff. It's not gone well!

I currently pay £30 pm for 325 mins and 150 texts on a 18mth contract.
I want the Samsung G600.

I got passed through to the disconections team when the first guy couldn't batter down my bill but they weren't helpful.

I told them O2 offered £15 a month for 200 mins and 200 texts which I'd be happy with, but that I also wanted the phone as an upgrade. They told me they coulnd't match O2's price and they best they could do was £20 pm and £69.99 for the phone!

That's rrrrrrrubish!

I wanted to stay with Orange as they currently give me free broadband, but that deal is terrible and they refuse to go any lower.

Has anyone got any tips......other than leaving and going elsewhere?

nmckay15

Update:
I decided to find a better deal elsewhere, and did, via E2Save, who I've used many times before. I then rang Orange back and straight away said I wanted to cancel. This time the guy on the other end was fab! He got me a better deal, the phone I wanted for free AND I can carry on with free broadband from them.

So the moral of the story is, try try again. It seems that different people can give you different deals!

jor_3

Having read martin lewis' fantastic advice I got a much better deal with vodafone. My 18month contract recently ran out so I rang up to negotiate. My contract had initially been a whopping £30 a month (1st 3months half price) for 200 mins talk time, 500 txt's. The problem with this is when I first went to get a contract I did not know how many txt's I sent a month and how long i spent on the mob talking. So this is a great weapon when re negotiating a deal. I rang Vodafone and asked how many mins and txt's i had used for the last 3 months. I realised I didn't need anything like the amount of txt's. So I managed to get a deal for £20 a month for an upgrade to an N73 nokia phone, 300 mins talk time, 250 txt's.
I then found out that I could get a better deal with O2, so I rang back 2 days later (within the 14 days to change contract) and demanded that they give me the same deal for £15 a month. They were hesitant at first... don't let this fool you, they are merely hoping that you will back down and give in. I kept stating that O2 was a better deal so I would have to move, they then gave in and gave me the deal.

The key is to know how many txt's and mins you use on average per month and then see what is available with other companies on a price comparison site. Then ring up your company and clinch the deal!:money:

Morporkian

Hi there,

My partner is on O2. He joined in 2004. At the time, it was the standard 12 month contract, which he has kept.
His calling plan used to be called, "O2 250" and it had "+ Double" after it, so Im guessing everything he had was double, for the same price. His new contract now says "Legacy".
He has 1000 minutes, 400 texts and 100KB of mobile internet data.
He pays £35 p/m line rental.

The thing is, he doesnt use anywhere NEAR that amount!
(We originally got that for him, as he was switching from Orange, so that all his calls to me would be free - Im on O2 PAYG and have been for about 8 or 9 years! - We chose that price plan, as it got us a free DVD Player at the time and we figured he could downgrade the next year. He didnt and hasnt up until now.)
The amount of minutes/texts he used last month was a whopping 81 minutes and 7 messages! However, he managed to rack up a lot in downloads etc (about £91 worth, which Ive told him off about and he wont be doing it again! lol)

I think he'll be better off on PAYG, but he renewed his contract in December and so we cant really wriggle out of it yet Has anyone had any success in getting the line rental down after, say 6 months?
That way he'll pay less until the contract ends, and then we change either negotiate for a brilliant deal (far less mins/texts for a very small price, while still be able to upgrade phone, as he loves to!) or put him on PAYG and he'll just have to learn to live with "buying a phone"! HeeHee

Thanks for any help - even if its just to tells us to switch him to PAYG (we have a free O2 PAYG Sim he can use anyway, so its not a problem.)

aphra_2

My contract with T-Mobile expires on 1st May so, on 2nd April I called them and told them what I wanted for them to retain my business. I really didn't need a better contract - I have never exceeded my free Flext minutes and I'm on the lowest tariff - but I did want a swanky phone, and I did want to stay with T-Mobile. "No deal", they said. "You can have the phone for £160 though". I suggested they try again and they offered me the phone for £10 provided I upgraded my contract to the tune of £15 a month. I told them not to be daft: why would I pay for minutes they and I know I wouldn't use?

At that point they said if I wanted to leave they would arrange to have my contract cancelled. I said I would go away and check out other offerings and get back to them. I checked their last offer on their website and found that it was exactly the same as they would offer a new customer. I started getting irate:-)

Meanwhile they sent me an email offering me a number of different renewal options which were all variations of 'pay us more and we'll give you the phone you want' or 'keep the crappy phone you have and we'll knock a fiver off your bill'. Further offers of the same ilk arrived after I told them that they disgusted me. I replied to that email with my online research. Carphone Warehouse were offering exactly the same contract, with T-Mobile, as I already had with the phone I wanted for £24.99, not their extortionate £160.

I waited two days for a reply and, when none arrived, I gritted my teeth and placed my order with CPW. A couple of hours later, when all the paperwork and credit checking was done, I received a text message from T-Mobile thanking me for taking out a second line! I sighed and decided to wait until my new phone had arrived and was working before cancelling my existing contract, just to be on the safe side.

Quite literally ten minutes later I received an email from T-Mobile offering me my desired phone free of charge on my existing tariff!

If only they'd done that in the first place they'd have had one happy customer. Now I am happy, but irked since I had to go to the bother of returning the CPW phone.

So, don't give up but, if you do, remember it might not be over even then! :T

davelaw_00

Ok so I was coming to the end of my 18 month o2 contract. I really wanted a phone with Skype on as I do a lot of long distance calling. I had been looking into VoIP (Skype) on mobile phones for a while and came to the conclusion that 3 were the only network that would allow you to use VoIP over a 3G network.

So two months before my o2 contract was up, I took out a contract on 3 which gave me unlimited skype calls and a decent amount of minutes and texts... I was satisfed.

UNTIL a few days after I sent my "termination of contract" letter to O2. They called me and asked me why I was leaving them. I explained that O2 didn't offer the service I wanted (VoIP). They aggreed that they don't offer that service and 3 were the best network to go with if you wanted VoIP.

HOWEVER, because they couldn't offer the service I wanted and because I had spend a lot with them (my bills were regularly £40-60) they said that they would give me a free 18 month contract, yes free. I asked whats the catch, there isn't one.

So basically I have my 3 phone, and this free 18 month contract on O2 with my old SonyEricsson phone. I am getting 1000 minutes and 400 texts and unlimited O2-O2 calls, for nothing, absolutely nadda for 18 months.

I just wish I had known this would happen before I took out my 3 contract!

mart007

Great tips on getting a great upgrade. BUT it doesn't always work! . I've been with then for 10 years and have always been really happy with them. We have two phones and the contracts are about to end so I called to check on an upgrade. Vodafone customer services said if I stuck with my current contract I could have a Samsung F490 for free. I wanted more so I called the department who deals with terminations of contracts and they said that if I wanted to change my contract then I would have to pay £180 (x2) for the phone. I played hardball and they called me back the next day. No change. I said I could get a better deal as a new customer (Free F490, an extra 200 minutes and loads more texts) and an even better deal with O2 or Orange. "Well it's a lot of hassle for you to swap your number over but if you want to go, it's your choice and I can't stop you!" I was lost for words. I was, to say the least, very annoyed. I wrote a letter cancelling my contract a little over a week ago and have not had any contact from Vodafone since then. So I guess it’s time to find a new supplier!

drbob

mart007 wrote: »

Great tips on getting a great upgrade. BUT it doesn't always work! .

Are you towards the end of your current contract term? There is no point trying to negotiate a discount if they know you're locked in for the next 6 months.

mart007 wrote: »

I wrote a letter cancelling my contract a little over a week ago and have not had any contact from Vodafone since then. So I guess it’s time to find a new supplier!

You'd be better off asking them for a PAC code so that you can keep the same phone number. You give the code to your new supplier and your contract with the old supplier ends automatically when the number is transferred. It's no hassle at all - your old phone continues to work until the number is switched over, the most you'll have to do is carry two phones for a couple of days whilst waiting for the number to be transferred. If you simply cancel without obtaining the code you will loose your phone number. Often they will only start offering the good deals after you have asked for this code since it usually signals that you really do intend to switch provider.