Batter down your annual mobile costs article Discussion Area

kelz85

I had come to the end of a 12 month contract with O2. It was £30 a month for 250 mins and 100 texts. Ive been with the for over 3 years but told them I could get a better deal with 3 mobile. After a bit of negotiating, they offered to put a £360 credit on my account! I had to enter a 12 month contract and keep my existing phone, but its basically a free contract for a year, with none of that cashback business! Im delighted!

risquenun

My business contract is due up next month. I have been paying £76 pm for 2 handsets, 400 minutes, 2mb data, unlimited o2 to o2 calls and free voicemail
I followed Matin's advice and ended up with customer retention.
They checked my useage and we negotiated 2 new phones (nokia N95 8gb, Samsung U900 soul) 300 minutes, unlimited o2 to o2, unlimited data, insurance on Nokia,10 unlimed landline numbers,free voicemail. I insisted on a 12 month contract and got it all for £51.12p a month- result.

Suzykat

I'm with 3. I just called to haggle and found it very difficult to get my point across and the foreign call advisor very hard to understand. He couldn't even offer me anything better tht the prices they had on their website! I thought I could try Vodafone as it was mentioned in Martin's email that they do free mobile web browsing for new customers. This is in fact NOT TRUE! This is only available on one price plan for new customers and would end up costing me more than my current deal!

phnar

My contract with o2 expired yesterday, so naturally I shopped around for the best deal. I was after unlimited texts, a new handset and no fewer than 500 minutes per month for about £30.

o2's starting point was unlimited texts, a new handset of my choice and 600 minutes for £35 per month, so I told them I'd shop around and get back to them. I phoned Orange and they offered me that deal for £27.50 per month.

So, I'm back on the phone to o2. I explain that I've been offered a better deal by Orange (although I told them they'd offered it to me for £25 not £27.50) and while I wanted to stay, I couldn't turn down an offer than would give me an extra tenner a month in my pocket.

After a bit of back and forth, the helpful assistant connected me to the retentions department. It appears that once you're through to these guys, you can start having a bit of fun.

I explained my requirements to the very, very helpful and polite woman and she said that they'd be happy to match Orange's offer. At this point I decided to tell them that I was still leaning towards Orange because of the Orange Wednesday cinema offer and their magic number feature (unlimited calls to one Orange phone number). So, the woman looks at my previous bills and notices that I use the internet quite a lot on my phone. So, she offers me unlimited internet usage too.

With a little bit of charm, a tiny fib and a lot of persuasion, I've got unlimited texts, unlimited internet use, 600 minutes per month and the new Samsung Soul phone for £25 per month. I consider that to be a very good deal.

kissmeimposh

I've ditched my two mobile contracts completely, and have gone with my own moneysaving technique for PAYG. For my use, what I spent on contracts in one month now lasts me close to five months by buying discounted top-up vouchers online.

MikeL28

Have just negotiated with Vodaphone, exactly as per Martin's Brief - and it worked. By threatening to move to the 3 offer, I got my existing plan reduced to £13 p.m., 75 mins X-network p.m. (I only use about 30...) and ?undreds of Texts, with a new Nokia 3109 (Tri-Band for my use in USA) (OK - I'm simple), with an 18 month contract, which is fine by me. They had previously offered me the phone + 60 mins LANDLINE ONLY & NO texts. It may not sound much but by following Martin's suggestion, I just said NO until they gave me what I actually wanted. So it's worth persevering, even if you think you are a poor negotiator. THANK YOU!!

kazza2

Did you know, if you have any Virgin Media package you can get a pay monthly SIM only contract with Virgin Mobile for £10 with no minimum contract length.

randomnut

I tried these haggling shenanigans a few months back when it was time for my renewal. Eventually I was offered 400mins+1000texts, plus unlimited o2-to-o2 calls for £15 a month, plus a new sonyericsson w890i. Pretty sweet deal!

Even better sucess, was a month later a friend of mine haggled the same deal, but also got 12 months 8meg o2 broadband thrown in free! Got to say i'm a bit jealous!

confused31_2

ive just ditched my one contract with tmobile and gone for the 30 day contract solo 15 pound a month deal which you can cancel within 30 days.

Kept my own phone and i get 350 minutes and 650 text a month, im going to do it with the missuss phone next, i cant stand these long contracts.

confused

jamez79

Hi,

I just had to tell someone what a good deal i got from O2 and how easy it all was too!

I was on the old 'Genie 100 Anytime contract' paying £10 per month for 'Unlimited' texs to any network and 100 Anytime mins to landlines and O2 mobiles. The only down side to this contract was i couldn't send or receive MMS, use WAP and as i hadn't upgraded in 10 years, i had to have second hand phones off friends and family as there were no better deals around for £10 per month.

After reading this article, I called O2 and explained that i was really happy with their service and £10pm line rental, but found that i spent money on xnetwork calls. I analysed my usage and found that i text alot and use about 70-80 mins of calls per month. I explained that Orange do a contract called Dolphin 15 which for £15 per month (18 month contract) which gives unlimited texts and 100 x-network mins, which would suit me fine. Plus they'd give me a new phone for free (Nokia 6300 or similar). I said that I didn't want to leave o2, but as i spend £25 per month at present, i could save £120 a year with the Orange Dolphin 15 plan. They put me through to retentions and i spoke to a really helpful chap there who doubled checked my usage with me then came up with the following offer:

Online 25 package (with a discount) - Unlimited texts, 200 mins x-network mins, Unlimited O2 to O2 calls, 18 month contract, new Nokia 6300 phone. All for £10 per month!

I didn't have to argue or push hard for that deal either. They seemed genuinely helpful and the only bit of bartering i did was to get a better phone by explaining that on the o2 web site, it says existing customers get the same as new customers plus a bit extra and i had been loyal to o2 for 10 years, so what could they do. They gave me a Nokia 6500 slide for free instead.

I'm really chuffed. :j

Regards,

James