Batter down your annual mobile costs article Discussion Area

Sunshine_lady_3

I just managed to get a deal I'm pretty happy with! I'm with Orange and have been for about 5 years. I was previously on a £30 tariff which included 400 mins and 500 texts but was regularly paying £50 a month because I use the internet a bit from my phone.

I called and went straight through to the 'thinking of ending your contract' option. I didn't ask for anything just asked if they could send me my PAC code, the guy immediately asked why I was thinking of leaving Orange so I told him I wanted an i-phone. As Orange can't offer that the guy immediately started offering me money off my deal and a range of phones that offer the same as the i-phone.

I let him talk me through the options and made out I wasn't sure what to do. Ended up being offered a new phone (with free memory card to increase storage capacity), 400 anytime minutes to any network, free calls to landlines, 550 texts, a data bundle and free broadband for £19.50! Maybe I was just lucky with the guy I got through to but he was genuinely quite helpful and I think I got an ok deal!

downes69

Rang Orange back today, played the I-phone exit strategy. Got offered 800 minutes, unlimited text 80 mg internet and a new Samsung S5600 fo £19.57. Was paying over £45 per month. :j

albinohawk

Orange, contract up for renewal 17th June.

I was on a 100% cashback deal with OSPS before (no way I would have paid £30pm for 100mins/200txts otherwise!), and was going to do the same thing. So I rang up Orange to check the exact date my contract expired, and to request they shuffle me over to payg while I found a new 100% cashback contract.

The guy at retentions offered me:

• Nokia 5800 (silver)
• 200 x-net mins
• Unlimited txts
• 80MB data

18 month contract for ~£15. I beat him down to ~£10 pm but couldn't get him to add an additional 100 mins. V happy though - admittedly more than i would have paid with CPW/e2save/OSPS but I am a sucker for shiny new gadgets!

Fork86

Hey guys, just wanted to share my experience with Vodafone's so called 'upgrades' department.

I am currently 14 months into my 18 month contract with vodafone, which I currently pay £40 pm for (600 Xnet mins, 200 texts and unlimited landline call)... which is practically crap compared to what you can get nowadays.

As I am now eligible for an upgrade, I asked for the N97. My offer was a TWENTY FOUR month contract for FORTY FOUR pounds a month; 750 minutes, 250 texts and unlimited landline calls...

Unbelievable, considering you can get MORE on an 18 month contract on their website, let alone their 24 month deals.

I am absolutely perturbed by their exorbitant offer. I guess they've given me a reason to defect to 02 and get an iphone 3Gs. I just have to wait a couple of months... Although I'm pi**ed off enough to pay the severance and leave Vodafone now. :mad:

MrNobody808

Fork86 wrote: »

Hey guys, just wanted to share my experience with Vodafone's so called 'upgrades' department.

I am currently 14 months into my 18 month contract with vodafone, which I currently pay £40 pm for (600 Xnet mins, 200 texts and unlimited landline call)... which is practically crap compared to what you can get nowadays.

As I am now eligible for an upgrade, I asked for the N97. My offer was a TWENTY FOUR month contract for FORTY FOUR pounds a month; 750 minutes, 250 texts and unlimited landline calls...

Unbelievable, considering you can get MORE on an 18 month contract on their website, let alone their 24 month deals.

I am absolutely perturbed by their exorbitant offer. I guess they've given me a reason to defect to 02 and get an iphone 3Gs. I just have to wait a couple of months... Although I'm pi**ed off enough to pay the severance and leave Vodafone now. :mad:

I am in a similar situation, or at least i will be come the 22nd of this month. Although i am perfectly happy with my Vodafone contract, which i have had for the past 2 and a half years, i like to upgrade my phone whenever possible. Looking around various, the phones i will be looking at will be the IPhone, the HTC Hero, and the Nokia N97.

Last year, i was looking to get the Samsung Tocco, and i was looking about various sites to see what was on offer. Instead of calling up Vodafone, i decided to try and upgrade online, via their website. By doing that, i received a Samsung Tocco, for a one off payment of £15, but better still, as i was renewing my contract, i was able to change it from 18 months to 12 months, and and i got the first 3 months, half price again, as it was at the start of my 18 month contract.

I will be trying to upgrade again on the 22nd and my first port of call will be the Vodafone website. If that fails to offer a good deal, and the retentions department at Vodafone can't match the new customer contracts on offer by other networks, i will simple take my PAC and move to another network.

The ball is in our court, and its up to them to give us a good deal if they want to keep us as customers. If you are not getting anywhere with the deals they are offering, just request your PAC and move on.


(Also, if you are going to get the N97, make sure that unlimited internet is part of any deal you take, as the N97 require internet access to function to its full potential.)

Vodafone

Hi Fork86,

It's a shame to hear about your recent experience and I'd love to see if there are any other options we can offer you.

MrNobody88 makes a great suggestion of trying the online upgrade tool which you find on the home page of the Vodafone website.

Should you still not be able to find the deal you're after send us email using the 'Contact us' form. In addition to your details you'll also need to state 'FAO Web Relations' in the subject bar and within the body of the email include the URL for this thread and the code FIT135.

As soon as we've got it we'll then be able to take a closer look at this for you.

Thanks,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

sian230

I took out a contract with Orange in November 2008. It was for a brand new touch screen LG Renoir with free PS3 (Christmas present for the boyfriend) and due to it being one of the newest phones out at the time and the 'free gift' that came with it, the contract that I had to sign up for was an 18 monthone, being charged at £65 per month. At the time, I thought that this would be fine and it was easier than buying a PS3 outright, but as the months grew on, I really resented such a large monthly payment. This plan covered me for 2000 x-network naytime minutes and unlimited texts, but I was only using 80minutes a month (but definately needed the unlimited texts!). So last week I rang Orange and asked them to have a look at my account. I explained that I was on a very steep contract considering that I didn't use the minutes etc and asked if there was anything they could do to help me.

He looked on the system and agreed that I was spending much more than necessary and asked if I would like to change tariffs so that I received 200 x-network minutes per month and unlimited texts. As you can imagine, this was way better than I expected. I thought they would fob me off with saying that there was nothing they could do etc, but to come back and speak to to them when my contract was up. So, to get £40 a month off was unbeleivably!

Perhaps it just depends on who you get to speak to as to what they will do for you? this man was really friendly as have been many of the other Orange contacts I have spoken to.
I also asked about a new phone as mine is broken and he found out that my insurance was through car phone warehouse due to the internet site that i had ordered the phone from and told me that they charged £8 a month cover and £50 excess and advised me to look into this as it would be cheaper elsewhere, so this is what I am doing at the moment.

So...have a go if you think you are paying too much!

My brother also said that they have a section on their website where it asks you to log on and then it advises you if there is a better tarrif for you. He saved £15 a month doing this.

Good Luck,

Sian

Fork86

Vodafone_company_representative wrote: »

Hi Fork86,

It's a shame to hear about your recent experience and I'd love to see if there are any other options we can offer you.

MrNobody88 makes a great suggestion of trying the online upgrade tool which you find on the home page of the Vodafone website.

Should you still not be able to find the deal you're after send us email using the 'Contact us' form. In addition to your details you'll also need to state 'FAO Web Relations' in the subject bar and within the body of the email include the URL for this thread and the code FIT135.

As soon as we've got it we'll then be able to take a closer look at this for you.

Thanks,

Lee

Web Relations Team

Vodafone UK

Thanks for the reply Lee.

I did actually try the online upgrade option, but was offered a deal totally unrelated to my current one as it offered approximately a third of the minutes I currently receive, and I was not given the option of any other plans.

I will however email your team.

Thanks again.

tylerjaffa

I'm with O2 at the moment...having done my research I've found the best 'new deal' is with O2 but through a third party website - does anyone know if there is anything to stop me signing up for a brand new contract and then transporting my number?

Vicki

gbarlow

I wonder if some one might be able to provide me with some advice. My contract with T-Mobile is coming to it's end. I am currently on the Flex 35 package and i get it for £25 including VAT. I want a new phone - the LG Viewty Smart and would like to reduce the tariff if possible as well. Is this a reasonable request?
Also, does anyone know where i might be able to get the best deals for the HTC Touch Diamond 2 with a similar tariff to what i pay now for approx. 400 mins minimum and 200 texts?
Thanks Guys