Batter down your annual mobile costs article Discussion Area

cmelissa

stumostro wrote: »

Im currently on an O2 simplicty contract, which is a rolling contract, £20 600mins, 1000txts, but i want a new phone.

Has anyone had success in getting a new phone from O2 without compromising the already good contract? To get the same amount of calls and texts on a new contract would take it up to £35! Although i could easily cope with reducing the mins down to around 100/200, but that doesn't seem to be an option on the website without having to pay for the phone.

Hi, I had this exact situation, and came out with an amazing phone AND cheaper contract!
I was on O2 simplicity, £20 for 600mins 1000txts & unlimited o2-o2 calls (and I don't use all these minutes by far - I normally use 200-300). My phone stopped working and I decided that I loved the LG Viewty that Vodafone was offering on a £25 contract for 600mins & unlimited txts.
So I called up O2 with full intention of cancelling, not haggling, and told the (very kind) woman that I wanted to cancel my contract, as I specifically wanted the LG Viewty, which 02 does not do.
In the end she offered me £15 for 400mins, 1000txts & unlimited o2-o2 calls, with the new LG Renoir (as the cheaper LG was out of stock), which is the newer version of the Viewty and with that amount of minutes would normally cost £30 a month and £150 for the phone itself!
I'm thrilled, I was getting sad at the prospect of not having a new phone, but was scared of losing the fantastic simplicity deal - now I've got both and more!

rash.m2k

cmelissa thats a DAMN good deal!!!!

18 months or 24 month contract?

alicediggory

After reading everyone's stories, I gave this a go and got great results!

I noticed that for the past few months I had been spending more than my £35 contract (usually £6-7 more). My contract expired so I went into the Orange shop to alter my contract terms and upgrade my phone. I was told that even though I had previously been told I had 1000 texts (and 500 minutes) for £35, I actually only had 75 texts. This was why my bills were high. I was shocked and asked what they could do to remedy this. I was offered an expensive £40 contract and a limited range of handsets. After 5 years of being an Orange customer, I didn't think this was good enough.

So I had a quick look on the internet and saw lots of better deals for new customers. I rang Orange customer services armed with this information and got through to the disconnections department.

I was instantly asked how many minutes and texts I wanted, and what handset I wanted. I chose 600 minutes, unlimited texts and an LG Renoir for £19.57 a month. I added an internet bundle for £7.50 and was also given a 10% for being a loyal customer (which the shop told me I would lose).

This means I now pay £25 a month, have an excellent phone and a total yearly saving of £240.

Success!

peterudd

I was coming to the of end of a rather onerous 18 month cashback deal with Orange (and a local retailer), which had worked out at a net price of £16.66 a month for 225 mins/100 texts.

To cut a long-ish story short, I threatened to switch to PAYG and ended up with 300mins/100 texts and free calls to landlines for £4.89 plus a new (if modest) phone.

That's a bit more like it! :T

bb21

Does anyone know if the deals are starting to disappear due to the credit crunch. I tried with both O2 and E2Save on the phone for about half an hour each today. The O2 guy just wouldn't give C905 or Renoir away for £20 a month even with 200+200 on the plan whatever I said (nice things) so he just let me cancel. The E2Save lady just said very blatantly that if I could find £20 plans for getting C905 free then I should take it as even the C902 would cost more as she could find.

Given that there are less posts on successful haggling on here in the last couple of days, wonder if the phone companies are starting to tighten up their deals?

acyasm

Having been sucked into a contract I hated having half way through I had to wait till it was time to renew, I was paying £40 a month to vodafone which gave me:

500min (any network)
1000 texts
Stop the Clock (between certain hours no matter how long i talked for it would only take 3min off my allowance)

Being a student I found I couldn't afford it and told them so when it came to renewing, in exchange for not having an upgrade and keeping my old phone (Sony Ericsson k800i) they reduced my line rental to £15!!!!!!!!!!! for all the same mins and text allowances, they even let me cut my contract to 12months rather than an 18month one!

amazing! thanks again to martin! if you dont ask, you dont get!! :rotfl:

dinallo

Hi All

Just wanted to let you know my experience with 3.

I recently decided that my 3 contract really doesn't fit my user needs. I was on 500 mins with no texts for £15 per month. Reality being that with texts this was more like £30 per month.

After a long conversation, I managed to get my PAC code, saying that I was going to 02 as their simplicity plan at £20 was worth changing over to (and I have O2 internet, so that would give me £5 off a month anyway).

They couldn't match it (do your research first so you know what's out there!)

Anyway, they called me to make another offer a week later, and again I declined.

Then this week, I got another call with another offer. Apparently, this is their 'final attempt' team to keep you on contract.

I was offered two alternatives - £5 inc VAT for 750 texts and 150 mins, or £8 inc VAT for 1000 texts and 300 mins plus a new phone - Sony Erricson W910i in Black.

I didn't agree straight away, had a look on the internet and decided I actually preferred the Nokia 6500 which they have on PAYG at the same price for the phone.

Called them back today, and after some haggling (them telling me that this was a one time offer which had expired, and me saying that I had told them I'd get back and this is the deal I need), they finally agreed. Took about an hour though. I went for the higher cost offer, since, I know if I had to change it in the future I won't get the same kind of offer.

Lifetime - £8 for 1000 texts, 300 voice mins, 50 mins of Video calls per month plus a new phone!!! :T

Well pleased, and I can send off my old phone and get another 20 quid!

Give it a go!!!!

Guesthouse

I'm a long standing T-mobile customer because like all my family we just pick up the phone and talk whenever we want. I've been through the old days when you would get 2 rings from someone expecting you to call them back because they didn't have any talk time, it was before 6pm or whatever.

With my T-Mobile plans it's always been a case of use your minutes and texts whenever and wherever you want.

Anyhow, after 18 months with my trusty D750i, paying £25 a month for a fixed minutes/texts combo (I forget how many) I looked at hundreds of cashback/free Wii/free laptop offers and called T-Mobile to cancel. The bloke worked hard.......hummed and hawed.....and said "I'll call you back in 30 minutes".

Result? £20 a month for the Flext 45 package (a high priced package at the time and with what they claimed as a £180 call allowance per month). The only snag was I had to keep my perfectly healthy D750i as they wouldn't spring for a brand new Sony Ericcson too and since I'm no follower of fashion for the sake of it I took it.

Unfortunately, the D750 finally expired but thanks to eBay I got a brand new T-Mobile spec K810i for half list price.

I now text and call a lot more than before but in truth I've only once used more than 50% of my allowance. Still, I'm paying less than before with virtually no chance of running out of credit.

scrimpandsave

I find this really interesting, my boyfriend has a £30 deal with o2 for £20, 400 mins, 1000 texts, unltd o2 calls. I've always felt miffed having been with 02 since I was about 14, a good 8 years, and not having any discount. His discount was awarded for being a customer for years and threatening to leave. I'd like to do the same, but would like an xda or iphone so I think they'll tell me I can whistle!
I know vodafone will offer a blackberry storm for free with 600 mins and unlimited texts for £35, but o2 will charge £96 for an iphone and put me on an iphone tariff, and this tariff is not going to satisfy the amount of minutes I need anymore having been on an unlimited o2 to o2 calls package. Due to iphone contracts giving you free internet the free calls go. I don't want money off anything specifically, I just want to keep my unlimited minutes. Is threatening to go to voda really going to work in this case, I just don't think it will. My contract is up next month, I guess we'll see.
For everyone out there though, if you've been a customer for years, esp with o2, threatening to leave could get you a tenner off!!

laurahughes

My contract with 02 just came to an end.

They have just introduced today a new 'rolling contract', basically you are on a rolling one month contract so you are not tied in for months on end and you can change at any time.

Only thing is you don't get a mobile phone upgrade with it.

I've got 300 any time, any network minutes, 600 texts and free 02 to 02 calls for just under £15 per month. For £20 a month you get 600 mins and 1200 texts!!!