Batter down your annual mobile costs article Discussion Area

wezwee

I'm due for upgrade in several weeks, and i've caught my eye on T-Mobiles latest offers (i'm currently on T-mobile through CPW) and saw a deal that would suite me well for £10 on a 24 month contract but +£60 extra for the phone... so far I see that its new customers only... and im paying £15 for 100 mins + 100 txts.

I havn't dealt with an upgrade before as this has been my first contract phone. Would I have to deal with CPW or T-Mobile directly for the upgrade?

And do you think they'd offer me a better deal than that? ie. give me the phone for free?

nickmack

O2 through CPW aren't exactly trying that hard to retain my custom.

After calling twice a day for the last week, I finally had some time to talk to them and they gave the usual waffle about upgrades.

I told them I was interested in the W995 as I knew their deals on this were poor. Sure enough I was offered the standard tariff. When I put forward the much better deal on Vodafone, the only incentive they could offer was I could have the phone delivered tomorrow.

Needless to say, the call ended pretty rapidly after this. I can't believe anyone actually signs up a standard customer services offer?

wezwee

I got my upgrade about 2 hours after my previous post All I did was text UP to 150 on my phone to see when I was elegible for upgrade and if i had any offers open to me, then got a phone call a few minutes afterwards from T-mobiles loyalty scheme.
She told me I could either have a reduction on my current plan or choose a new phone, of which I responded I liked a phone and deal on the t-mobile website which she seemed fine with.

Now I have a HTC Touch2 with 100 mins, unlimited texts & unlimited internet all for £10 a month for free arriving tomorrow morning!

edit: and also the last 2 months of my current contract have been forfeited and a new contract replaced it! WOO

catnamedog

I am normally good at haggling, I don't have any hangups about asking for stuff. However, when my 18 month contract with o2 was up, I was completely stonewalled by the "retentions" dept.
The woman I spoke with asked me what I wanted by way of a new contract. I said that I wanted unlimited free internet and email. She told me that it was available on their sim-only tariff.
I said I wanted a new phone, so she offered me some of their standard on-line phones, some of which were at an upfront price. I said that as a long-term customer (I've never been with any other company), I would expect a better deal. She said that all she could offer me was what was on the website. After a bit more tooing and froing, she suggested I take the £20.00 a month sim-only deal. I refused, so she organised a code to be sent to my mobile which enables me to go to another service provider!!
Needless to say, I have gone with the sim-only deal because its a 30 day contract, and does actually include email as a free "extra". Now I'm waiting for a good deal to show up.
Still gob-smacked at o2's flippancy.

Redruth_Girl

I rang Orange on Friday to ask if I could change my contract to a touchphone as I through illness have lost tops of all my fingers, still have thumbs but thought a touchphone with stylus would be ideal for me they would not do it. My contract is out 1st October I was so upset about this and now feel angry with Orange I will not be going back to them. Thanks for reading this.

Bootsaholic wrote: »

My daughter works for 02 Retentions so I have a good insight as to how it all works.

I am on Orange ovp 100 xnetwork mins for £23.50 at the moment and my contract runs out this month.

I rang them up to see what they would offer me.

They offered me the same deal but with 200 mins, no texts and a 3150 phone, I already have a 6630!

We had them on loud speaker and my daughter was amazed at their lack of customer skills!

They didn't even try to keep me and I am thinking I will be much better off on a payg sim from 02 with spend £10 and get 100 mins, I was spending £23.50 for the exact same thing from orange!

She said that they are constantly monitored on 02 and they have to try their hardest to retain customers. It doesn't matter what time of month either, they have to try and keep them no matter what the date.

They are allowed to offer lots of options and cheap tariffs, its a necessary part of their job and if they don't make the effort to keep the customer, they lose valuable bonuses.

Hope this helps people who ring 02 to change their tariff, give it a try, the 02 people are lovely!

scroogess

Many many thanks for your advice. Due to start a new contract I told Orange I was planning to leave when my 700 minute plus texts £35 a month before cashback ended (I got my cashback cheques by the way).
They offered me a £10 deal with 200 mins, unlimed landline, I forget how many texts and a nice new little phone. I was cheeky and asked for a second one on the same deal for hubby. Yet online I had been offered nothing like this deal.
Incidentally I always look for your advice when I am planning to spend money now - usually go to your site and get myself redirected to where I want to go and I have saved a great deal of money. Thank you so very much. Can't understand why everyone doesn't do it.:j:j:j:j:j:j:):):):):)all the way to the bank....

alexalexalex

catnamedog wrote: »

I am normally good at haggling, I don't have any hangups about asking for stuff. However, when my 18 month contract with o2 was up, I was completely stonewalled by the "retentions" dept.
The woman I spoke with asked me what I wanted by way of a new contract. I said that I wanted unlimited free internet and email. She told me that it was available on their sim-only tariff.
I said I wanted a new phone, so she offered me some of their standard on-line phones, some of which were at an upfront price. I said that as a long-term customer (I've never been with any other company), I would expect a better deal. She said that all she could offer me was what was on the website. After a bit more tooing and froing, she suggested I take the £20.00 a month sim-only deal. I refused, so she organised a code to be sent to my mobile which enables me to go to another service provider!!
Needless to say, I have gone with the sim-only deal because its a 30 day contract, and does actually include email as a free "extra". Now I'm waiting for a good deal to show up.
Still gob-smacked at o2's flippancy.

if i were you i'd try calling back and speaking to someone else to se what they can offer you.
I had almost the same thing happen to me last time i was upgrading with o2 and got told that for the phone i wanted i would have to up my monthly tariff by £10-£15 and pay £200 for the phone!!! I went on the sim only 30 day contract for a month or 2 because it was way better than my previous contract anyway and called back a few weeks later, spoke to someone much nicer who ended up getting me the phone i wanted for free and a tariff with lots more minutes and texts than i ever use for £5 more than the sim only one.

for the amount of time you are locked into a contract now (unless you stay on the sim only and dont get a new phone) it's definately worth calling back a few times to try and get a better deal

TreeofLife

Hi,
First time contributor to Martin's sites............

I re-negotiated my Pay-Upfront for Life contract that I have had for 8 years (50minutes landline calls per month) to 300 minutes, unlimited texts, free landline calls for £10 (SIM only 12 months)
They were great at O2 polite and friendly (I suppose they would be if you are renewing, but I appreciate it)

This is just a start to sorting out my finances, it's very difficult when you have mental health problems and it all caves in......

sarahroo

Hi
I upgraded my o2 phone this morning - I asked if they could give me a better deal, or if I would have to leave o2.
I got - (price match on 3)
*500 mins
*unlimited text
*unlimited data
*a new phone
for £25 a month!
24 month contract - with manufacturer's warranty for 24 months.
Thanks for the tips!!

[Deleted User]

I am currently with Orange (second phone with them on contract), can upgrade my Bold 9000 - the contract ends in May. I am waiting., and waiting.., and waiting for the Xperia X10 to become available.., its the only phone I want because the HTC hero has the MS 6.5 OS which I gather is a bit clumsy, I don't want an Iphone, and I want a large screen phone with quick internet access plus any other apps I can lay my hands on lol (what can I say, I like my gadgets lol).

So far the release date of the Xperia X10 keeps being put back another two weeks.., its now expected end of April as far as I can tell (a customer services person told me this). But meanwhile my blackberry model is proving a bit troublesome. The scroll wheel stopped working and another one was sent to me last week, now the new phone has just gone dead on me. I DO need a working mobile lol. My stepson went thru 6 replacement Blackberry 9000's in as many weeks.., all defective on arrival. I suspect I'm having the same problem (I'm not known for wearing out phones, honest).

Does anyone have any updates on the release of the Xperiea X10.., I don't know if I will be waiting for months, and if the blackberry is gonna keep letting me down I may have to go for a phone that at least works, even if I don't want the model.

Also, as I am probably going to be ordering the Xperia as soon as its released.., any tips on getting it for the best deal possible (as I assume its going to be a high demand phone).

Altho the Blackberry 9000 is a good phone, after 18 months of it, I'm totally bored of it somehow (oh dear that makes me sound so spoiled lol).