Batter down your annual mobile costs article Discussion Area

se631

Hi newbie here

I enquired about a contract with vodafone last week and before i knew it the sales man had signed me up, i came off the phone a little stresses and worried about what i might have signed up to.

My phone came yesterday but I haven’t opened the box up yet, there was no proper paperwork with it either, I called them to check and I have 14 days from the 15th April (last week) to send it back if I decide that I don’t want it.

The contract is for 18 months, I get 600 minutes free & unlimited texts. For the first 15 months I pay £17.50 including VAT then the last 3 months I pay full price at £35.00 so that’s a total of £367.50 for the 18 months working out on average £20.41 per month £15 - £20 per month usually, occasionally more if i'm in a chatty mood or arranging something etc, or say at Christmas time, i'm on the tariff first 3 texts are 12p then all after that are 9p and the first 3mins of calls are i think 36p and then 5p after that. I use bebo and email to chat to a lot of my friends, this saving me some credit. I had a look at the vodafone site and I see there is something called vodafone "simply" for pay as you talk, Pay £10 a month and get unlimited texts in the evenings and at weekends? But that’s just evenings & weekends for the texts. i think one of my friends is on this, i'll need to check.

I can't figure out whats best for me. I think I’m just a little freaked out by getting tied up in to something for 18 months. as i'm quite young and have never done anything like this before, but then again it might be ok.
Yesterday I didn’t use my mobile at all. So it’s not every day that I use my phone. I would probably use it more if I was paying for it just to use it up, but it’s not essential I guess as I use the internet to get in touch with people when I’m low on credit or even just to save credit.

Any suggestions much appriciated?

Thank you

cobra

se631 wrote: »

Hi newbie here

I enquired about a contract with vodafone last week and before i knew it the sales man had signed me up, i came off the phone a little stresses and worried about what i might have signed up to.

My phone came yesterday but I haven’t opened the box up yet, there was no proper paperwork with it either, I called them to check and I have 14 days from the 15th April (last week) to send it back if I decide that I don’t want it.

The contract is for 18 months, I get 600 minutes free & unlimited texts. For the first 15 months I pay £17.50 including VAT then the last 3 months I pay full price at £35.00 so that’s a total of £367.50 for the 18 months working out on average £20.41 per month £15 - £20 per month usually, occasionally more if i'm in a chatty mood or arranging something etc, or say at Christmas time, i'm on the tariff first 3 texts are 12p then all after that are 9p and the first 3mins of calls are i think 36p and then 5p after that. I use bebo and email to chat to a lot of my friends, this saving me some credit. I had a look at the vodafone site and I see there is something called vodafone "simply" for pay as you talk, Pay £10 a month and get unlimited texts in the evenings and at weekends? But that’s just evenings & weekends for the texts. i think one of my friends is on this, i'll need to check.

I can't figure out whats best for me. I think I’m just a little freaked out by getting tied up in to something for 18 months. as i'm quite young and have never done anything like this before, but then again it might be ok.
Yesterday I didn’t use my mobile at all. So it’s not every day that I use my phone. I would probably use it more if I was paying for it just to use it up, but it’s not essential I guess as I use the internet to get in touch with people when I’m low on credit or even just to save credit.

Any suggestions much appriciated?

Thank you

I suggest you read others as well as my post here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=560336&page=77

Whatever you do don't trust Voda as they are a bunch of liars.
I was verbally offered a 18 month deal on Samsung Steel 250 mins + 100 texts.
I was offered:
15 months half price (of £25) £12.50 x15 = £187.50
3 months full price = £25 x 3 = £75.00
£50 credit to my account = -£50.00
Totaling £212.50 divided by 18 = £11.81 per month

I accepted the deal and ported my number to them.
Then the fun began as when the paperwork came I found that it was not what I was offered.

The paperwork was:
15 months at full price £25 x 15 = £375.00
3 months half (of £25) £12.50 x 3 = £37.50
NO CREDIT ON MY ACCOUNT
Totaling £412.50 divide by 18 = £22.92 pm

Needless to say I was horrified so I rang them.
I was told that they will revert the discount that was offered but not the £50 credit.
According to Voda, the obnoxious woman who gave me that deal should not have given the £50 credit to my account as that deal was for last year only.
As it was within fourteen days I asked for my PAC code.

Then I got a phone call from their retentions and said that yes, now they will honour the deal which was first agreed.
I told him that I'm not NOW verbally agreeing to anything until I have in writting.

He then sent me this e-mail:

Mr *****
Please see below our offer of a new upgarde
Samsung steel (L810) free of charge
250 minutes anytime any network + 100 texts - £25.00 with 15 months half price
£50.00 credit on your bill
18 month contract
If you would like this deal please e-mail back and we will send you a letter to confirm you may also print off this e-mail as proof of the deal
Thanks **** @ Vodafone
*******
Outbound Retention
Vodafone UK
E-Mail lee.hackney@vodafone.com

Registered Office: Vodafone House, The Connection, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 2FN.
Registered in England

I replied with a copy of this mail that I accept the offer.

When I hadn't received their reply (as I was concerned about the lapse of the Pac code) I was told no such credit can be given and now the deal was straight without any discount.

SO IF ANYONE STILL THINKS THEY CAN GET A DEAL GET IT IN WRITTING.

EVEN THEN I WOULDN'T TRUST THEM.

SO MY ADVICE:

KEEP AWAY FROM VODAFONE AT ALL COST.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

sporedude

Hmmm another excuse for Cobra to spread his hatred of Vodafone..........

cobra

sporedude wrote: »

Hmmm another excuse for Cobra to spread his hatred of Vodafone..........

You don't suppose work for Vodafone do you?

Oh thanks for your PM

Private Message: Troll Today, 11:24 AM sporedude
MoneySaving Stalwart


Join Date: Jan 2009
Post Count: 416
Thanked 79 Times in 72 Posts


Troll
Stop trolling all the forums about Vodafone, Just because you had a bad experience doesnt mean everyone will.

jbuds14

Hi all,

I am a complete newbie to this site and this is my first post so apologies for any mistakes. I have recently come to the end of an 18month contract with vodafone and am looking for advice on how best to haggle a bargain with them.

My previous contract was the anytime750 with unlimited texts on the sony erricson w810i. This was a £35pcm contract and after insurance and VAT totalled up at approx £47pcm. I use nearly all 750 minutes and a fair amount of the unlimited(3000) text messages. The only other things i used my phone for were music and taking photo's.

I have been with vodafone for 3yrs in total now, so figure i should have a bit of wieght to haggle with. I am not sure what would be a reasonable price to ask for, for a similar tarif when talking to the retentions? Also i have no knowledge of phones so any opinions on what models are 'hot' right now would also be appreciated.

Thank you

rev_henry

gordonplatt wrote: »

i am a PAYG with orange.
i aked for my PAC code
Why they asked
I want a iphone
Please speak to Retentions.
They offered me for £24.46
1100 mins
200 text
unlimited landline
250 mg a month (for another £5) 500mg
A FREE HTC Touch Hd
Thank you Orange
Gordon

Erm, since when did retentions do deals with PAYG customers? Might try my luck asking for a PAC on an orange SIM I have lying around. Can anyone expand on this?

nickpatti

has any one been able 2 get a phone company 2 match a cash back deal? ive been with orange for 5years and have had some good up grades. i am now gettin 700 mins 100 txts for £25, 18mouth contract and a samsung g600 which i can upgrade now. i used the comparison sites and they give better deals but with cash back

loopylu4848

After reading your guide, I called Orange for a better deal - I was on a contract that gave me 300 mins and 200 texts for £45 per month, but was regularly receiving monthly bills at £70-£80 - :mad:

I followed your guide and I didn't even have to bargain hard, they gave me a new Blackberry curve phone (with GPS and all that jazz), 400 mins and unlimited texts and Blackberry internet acess for £15 per month!!! :T

I got my first bill through a couple of days ago, I can't believe how little I pay now!! You've saved me £1170 over the 18 month contract term. :rotfl:

Thank you all, You're Heroes!!:A

darrenforster99

I've used this trick a number of times to get a better deal, the only company who has recently stopped caring about loyalty are 3.

Firstly I've had my 3 phone for about 3 years (out of it's contract, but I'd never really bothered upgrading).

I then decided that I really wanted to upgrade to a Motorola V3xx RAZR. It was an amazing phone and I really had my heart set on it, it was only available on 3 with one big thing an "18" month contract! Ok so I wanted the phone but wasn't prepared to sign up to an 18 month contract for it (the longest contracts I ever sign are 12 and I think a lot of people should start telling these firms where to shove their 18 and 24 month con-tracts and maybe they'll cut their contracts back down to 12 months (or even in the case of 3 a superb 6 months!! wow a new phone every 6 months!!). The main reason I don't want to sign an 18 or 24 month contract on a phone is because phones update so quickly and an 1.5 yr old phone or even worse 2 yr old phone is so decadent (although I did survive with my Motorola A1000 for nearly 3 years, and it took Apple another 3 years to get a phone that is just about as good as an A1000!))

I phoned 3 up to see if I could get the V3xx on only a 12 month contract, they told me at the start they only offered it to new customers as it is such an old phone we want to give our existing customers much better phones (they tried to fob me off with a basic Nokia at first on an 18 month contract, I wangled them down to a 12 month contract. They sent me the Nokia and I took one look at it and phoned them up to tell them I couldn't believe what they'd sent me (I had a Nokia like it about 5 years ago, apart from the fact it had a "VGA camera on it - the RAZR had a 2mp camera on it!) it was appalling and that if they can't get me a RAZR V3xx then I would be forced to cancel and go to someone else (Carphone Warehouse were offering the earlier RAZR model on O2 at the time on a 12 month contract with cashback). Funny enough they told me they had one RAZR in stock but it was refurbished, I could have it on a 12 month contract as long as I waivered the right to the 7 day cooling off period. I signed straight up, brilliant deal. I kept the phone for over 12 months (about 18 months so in fact I could have signed an 18 month deal, but my main plan was to hope Motorola were going to release the A1200 in the UK (sadly this never appeared)). The A1000 was the best phone I had apart from the camera being poor on it, and the RAZR was the best phone I've ever had for all round ability (apart from when I left it charging at the World Scout Jamboree after just getting it and someone stuck my name to the phone over the logo and pulled the logo off the phone along with the sticker only a few months after getting the phone).

Then finally I decided to upgrade again, the main reason for upgrading this time though was because my mum had also just come out of her contract with Carphone Warehouse. For the past 2 years my mums phone (it's actually registered to me) has been free, apart from for 2 months line rental at the start.

When we first got the phone (a Motorola L6) it was on a deal with E2Save - 10 months free by redemption on 12 month contract on O2 £30 a month, so we signed up and just paid £60 for an entire 12 month contract, including a free Motorola L6 (actually the amount of use we've had out of the phone we've had more than our £60's worth). We followed all the rules for redemption and got our full cashback (making sure we sent all our bills back by recorded delivery).

Then after the 12 months we were going to cancel the phone off and get a new one on a similar deal with E2Save again, however cancellations were so helpful, instead of cancelling off and starting a new contract they told us if we sign a 10 month contract they would give us £300 autocashback, no redemption (that's £30 a month x 10 - £300 = £0!!). Great deal absolutely free contract with no redemption so we signed up.

At the end of this year though at first we were told they couldn't do us the autocashback deal again (didn't think so), but we could have 3 months cashback by redemption on an 18 month contract. hmmm... I don't think so. At this time as well 3 had just launched their £15 a month 6 month Skypephone S2 contract. I looked into this and decided the best deal would be to upgrade my RAZR to an S2 on a 6 month contract and get my mum a nice new S2 on a 6 month contract (it's £90 over the time and afterward the contracts over we can always gain some of that money back by selling the phones to CEX). I called 3 up to upgrade my phone to an S2 with the 6 month plan. I was shocked - 3's attitude was that phone is only for our new customers you can have the S2 but you'll need to sign an 18 month contract, but if I cancelled my contract I'd lose all my loyalty bonus which allows me to have such a good phone on an 18 month contract (yeah what planet are these idiots living on???). I called them up about 3 times to try and haggle the deal down onto a 6 month contract like they were advertising in the shop. In the end I thought forget this, this "customer loyalty" from 3 can't mean that much so I went into 3 in the Trafford Centre and they explained to me that to 3 this loyalty scheme means nothing and is just a way for them to get people to sign a new 18 month contract instead of a 6 month one.

So much for customer loyalty. So when I was in there I signed up to 2 new 3 phones both on 6 month contracts. I then proceeded to cancel the other phones.

Now that I was well and truly in cancellation mode O2 suddenly offers me the 10 months free on a 10 month contract with autocashback deal again (excellent!), even though I've now got a 6 month 3 phone I thought might as well take the 10 month deal as well it's not costing anything so when the 6 month 3 contract runs out just cancel it and return to O2.

As for the 3 phone I phoned up 3 who now tell me that they could have given me the S2 on a 6 month contract and that I should take the phone back to the store and they'll sort out cancelling it and put me on this new one as an upgrade. I was fuming. If 3 had told me this beforehand I would not have signed that new 6 month contract and the 3 store wouldn't take the phone back 'cos the 6 month deal excludes you from the 7 day cooling off period. I then cancelled my other phone with 3 and just kept it as a Pay As You Go for 6 months with just an answerphone message to tell people to call me on my other number (I was quite glad about this as it cost 3 money to keep that phone going as PAYG for 6 months - stupid 3 because their customer service people are so poor at their job it lost them money and really annoyed and upset one of their loyal customers).

Now I'm out of the 6 month contract with both the phones, can't see me stopping much longer though with 3 I might change both phones to an e2save deal. 3's customer service were appalling, when I went to cancel the first phone I called them on 3rd April giving them 30 day notice, they ignored the 30 day notice, the next month I got the normal bill, nothing about disconnection so I called them again, at first they claimed not to know anything about the call and told me that I'll need to give them another 30 day notice (this time I got the guys name and then I also e-mailed them to ensure they've got it in full writing). At the end of the call the person said oh yeah I do notice you called cancellations up on the 3rd April I'll have to check whether or not it should have been cancelled or not (not too sure what that means I mean it's a bit late now I'm still getting screwed by 3 out of another month). Finally when I was cancelling the phone the guy was going on and on for about 30 minutes trying to give me all the deals they had (despite me telling him that I had at least 4 months free on a O2 phone and that none of their deals are going to go anywhere near bettering a "free" contract!).

At the end of the day the 3 customer service person really did get on my nerves and I was going to keep the other phone on 3 but now I'm tempted to go to e2save Orange who offer a better deal and as I find e2save's customer service far better than 3's.

downes69

Rang orange today, pay £35 per month, they would only offer 600 mins and unlimited texts for £24.50. That came with a phone. Pointed out that the SIM only deals were better but they were not moving. Will ring back again and try someone else.