Batter down your annual mobile costs article Discussion Area

confusedkate

ricriley wrote: »

Hi everyone,

How do you rate my chances on getting a deal on the new iPhone?

I have seen lots of people getting deals on very expensive new phones like the Samsung Toco and Nokia N95. But what about an iPhone? Do they haggle with this or do they stick to their plan?

My £25 per month contract with O2 ends in a couple of weeks. I also have £7.50 per month broadband with O2 (Orange offer it for free) I might be able to use this as some bargaining power.

Thanks

Hi, my boyfriend was in a very similar position to you - he'd been with O2 for about 2/3 years, and wanted the iPhone when the contract was up. He tried to haggle with them about the price of the handset and tariff but got told straight away that it was basically out of their hands and that Apple set the prices (or something like that) so he had no luck. However that was when the iPhone had only been out for a few months, and theyve since dropped the price of the handset etc so hopefully youll be more lucky!!

eljmayes

confusedkate wrote: »

Hi, my boyfriend was in a very similar position to you - he'd been with O2 for about 2/3 years, and wanted the iPhone when the contract was up. He tried to haggle with them about the price of the handset and tariff but got told straight away that it was basically out of their hands and that Apple set the prices (or something like that) so he had no luck. However that was when the iPhone had only been out for a few months, and theyve since dropped the price of the handset etc so hopefully youll be more lucky!!

I do believe that when they release a Pay and Go option for the Iphone the contracts may be negociable to an extent- however with it likely to be about 350 quid to buy and locked to the O2 network it may be difficult to banter with them. May be worth dropping to a SIM only deal for a few months and waiting to see what happens;).

TreborOx

confusedkate wrote: »

Im new to this haggling business, and was looking for advice...

Have been with Orange for 18 months with the contract up for renewal in 6 weeks time, currently Im paying £35 (plus £6 insurance) per month for 600 minutes and 'Unlimited' texts (which is actually 3000 under a fair usage policy), of which i generally use around 1000 a month. I was just wondering how much people reckon I'll be able to save? I would love to get it for around £15/20 a month!

Also is it really worth paying so much for the insurance? Im sure I can get it cheaper through house insurance?

I've done this once before (17 months ago) - probably listed in this thread somewhere!

Basically, call them up when your contract expires, and ask them to match an offer you've received from Three / O2 / Voda etc; - so many minutes, texts etc for £15/month - - if they say they cant do it (and you can't reach some sort of compromise), politely decline and ask to be put through to the disconnections team.

Disconnections (A.K.A. Retentions) will ask why you're leaving them, explain that you've received a better offer elsewhere - - 'I'd prefer to stay with you, but you're operator couldn't come close to the competitors offering' etc....

Retentions team have a LOT more flexibility in what they can offer - it's their job to keep you signed up (for another 18 months) - and you'll be surprised at what you can get if you ask! Don't be too greedy, but don't be shy in asking for what you want.


If they can't meet your expectations, be prepared to walk away - terminate contract, and look for a new deal elsewhere.
That said, if you're 'pushing your luck' - and don't REALLY want to go elsewhere, then you can, at any point in the conversation, say that you'll need to go away and think about it - so 'please leave things as they are for now, I'll come back to you'.

It's a bit of fun, brinkmanship really. They want to keep you as a customer (as long as you're not asking for the moon) - so see what you can get - - it's a good idea to do a little research beforehand, see what other providers are offering, special offers, new phones (they might offer you a free phone of your choice, as they did me) - go in with your eyes open - be prepared to play the game. As long as the conversation remains polite/jovial, have fun - and remember, you can always back out if they call your bluff

re phone insurance - I've always declined the providers cover - mines already covered my home insurance, but you should check your policy for details.


That's my 2p's worth anyway......if you've got time to read all 20+ pages of this thread, you'll get some more ideas.

Hope this helps.

R.

qwerty2000

Negotiating after your contract has ended makes a big difference, talk politely, mention the competitors and don't be afraid to ask for an extra fiver off - they might!

After a misunderstanding (which worked in my favour - the extra fiver off, twice...) I managed to get get on Orange: New phone (needs a £40 contract in the Orange High St shop) 400 minutes 150 texts, free orange to orange calls (I think...) mobile data pack and 8Mbs unlimited home broadband for £27.50 a month.

boywoolner

If was on an O2's online 20 talker tariff and was fed up with having to wait 18 months for phone upgrade. I never used the amount of free minutes and texts allocated to me (I use 50 out of 125 mins and 15 texts at most), and because that was their lowest monthly tariff (except SIM only) I realised I should probably go on a PAYG. My wife's with Virgin Mobile so I planned to end my contract with O2 and join her. Apart from the odd work call, most of my calls were to her so I worked out that I'd average out at about £6/month with them and I could always get a phone from work for business calls (even though that meant carrying two phones).
When I called to close my account the girl at O2 offered me all sort of deals with 100s of extra minutes and texts, worthless to such a 'light' user like me, so I declined and arranged to leave them at the end of the month.
The next day O2 phoned to again ask why I was leaving. Because I 'd built up five years of 'loyalty credits' he guy offered me the same tariff I was on but knocked £10 off and offered me a new phone. The phone that he offered me (Nokia 6500 Classic) wasn't as good as the Virgin one that I planned to buy (the Sony Ericsson K770i). I said that I really wanted a phone with a good camera and flash so he then offered me the C702, because they didn't have and K770i in stock. Now that's an ugly phone which didn't get good reviews, cheekily I asked for a C902 or Nokia 6220 (both 5MP) but I guess I wasn't worth that much to him. In the end he offered me the Online 20 tariff with £10 off plus a credit of £150 on an 18 month contract. After the first month of my new contract, I can call up customer services and ask for them to send me a check for the remainder (£140) so I could buy whatever O2 Pay&Go I wanted. How could I refuse that?

KittaKatta

I am still happy on a pay-as-you go with O2, which costs me between £10-15 a month (21/2/09: now down to ca. £5.00 a month providing I top-up £10.00/month and I also get 300 text messages... Am always well in credit now...), but I have tried this out with my partner's contract with Vodafone for two years now, and every year we get better results:
1st year: we got the contract down to £15/month for 6 months from £35+, then £25.00.
2nd year (rather, 9 months later): we tried harder, we got a free palm phone (worth approx. £400.00 at the time), we got the fee down to £25/mth for 15 months (out of 18, but then we can re-discuss...) and free itemised charges. He hardly ever goes over the fee monthly fee

drench

I have 2 phones with Orange - the one in my sons name was out of contract. We wanted to transfer it to his name and get a new phone/contract. We were told the phone he wanted was £80 and that the best package was the one he was already on - but when I checked their website I found that as a new customer he could get the phone he wanted for free and get a better package for the same money he was already paying. When I said I wanted to cancel with them then just sign up as a new customer and get the deal we wanted they put us through to the retentions (no don't leave us) department and got what we wanted - a transfer to the better package / free phone all without the hassle of cancelling then signing up as a new customer. I was also told that the fact that we were out of contract gave us more flexibility.... mmm mmm interesting.

Skeenfleent

Chuffy wrote: »

Has anyone tried to end their '3' contract early following the change to their billing?
They're rounding up all calls under a minute up to a whole minute.
Previously a 20 second call would take 20 seconds out of your allowance - now it takes 60 seconds.
Calls over 60 seconds take the appropriate length.

If you make a lot of sub 60 second calls, this could make quite a different to your bill. This could be considered a detrimental change to T&C's and allow early termination of a contract.

Yeah, Orange did that, on my old PAYG £10 for 300 free txts bundle (66mins worth of call credit). They also made the full T&Cs damn-near impossible to find on their website only and not included in the SIM pack. Borderline illegal IMHO.
Anyway, it used to massacre my credit when I was out and about making calls to people who were on the tube.

VIRGIN (because they're also my ISP otherwise it's £15) offered me £10 for 300/300, then I forgot to top up so they cancelled it. They do not offer a simple fixed Direct Debit amount, instead opting for a billing system if you use Direct Debit (I could sit on my WAP button for example and have a huge bill by accident). This is highly annoying, as you then have to manually remember to top up each month. Anyway, they said they don't do that deal any more, but could offer 200/200. The girl was really abrupt about it. I'm not under the impression that mobile service providers' overheads are running at 33% inflation, so I declined to pay for 33% less service for my money.
One month of not giving them any money, whilst txting off the web etc. and I rang up about something else and casually mentioned the bundle, and they said they'd have a word with their finance department. About 20 MINUTES on hold, but I got my old deal back!
Now I'll just get a cheap ASDA PAYG SIM for occasional work use and I'm sorted.

W2S

I'm with 3 was on their 500 xnetwork mins for 15 pounds was spending about 50 a month

Just got 750 xnetwork mins 150 texts 50 video mins 50 pic messages unlimited landline calls and unlimited internet and emails and a LG Viewty for 32 pounds a month not a bad deal. oh and 5 pounds of download a month

:rotfl: :T

northantsnick

In July I got a new contract with O2 following an 18-month contract in which my bill varied from £35 (the fixed rate for 600 mins, 1000 text any network) to £185 (I shouldn't take my phone on holiday with me!!!)

O2 rang me a month and a day before my contract expired and said what a wonderful £35 deal they had which was exactly the same as the previous contract. To cut a long story short, said there were better deals on other networks and they immediately cut £15 off my monthly bill and I now have unlimited texts. So that's a new handset, 600mins, unlimited texts, any network for £20 a month! A bargain.

My friend who had just renegotiated their contract with O2 and moved onto the new £35 contract rang up and complained. He was immediately put onto the £20 deal too. Swiftly followed by his nephew!