Batter down your annual mobile costs article Discussion Area

baztheref

I had 4 phones on contract with O2 for my kids. My daughters contract was up and she wanted an iPhone 4. I looked on website and price to upgrade was same as new subscriber and contract same price. Vodafone were offering same contract 74p cheaper (they swallowed the VAt increase) and were offering 3 months half price. I spoke to retentions twice and the best I got offered was 200 minutes free. I have now moved her Vodafone and will do same when all contracts are up if O2 won't budge. Amazing lack of foresight on their behalf I think!:mad:

pauli123

I recently wanted the lovely new Sony Ericsson Arc on 3 and initially they just offered me it with the one plan for £40 p/month for 24 months (exactly the same as new customers) even though I have been with them for over 5 years and used to get a customer loyalty discount which they claimed they no longer do and refused to give me anything else but this! Told them I was unhappy then at the third call I asked to go straight through to cancellations as I wanted to leave them out of principle for not appreciating loyal customers like myself anymore and argued that I had been treated unfairly by them. They suddenly offered me the same plan with the same phone for just 18 month contract for just £35 p/month! Saving of £320!! Thank you Martin for your haggling tips!!! Had to share this as I'm so happy and now excited to receive my new phone on friday!!

Woodsy

I think I've just got a rather good deal.

The Text 900 package with 3 which is 900 mins, 5000 texts, 1Gb (extended to 3Gb Internet), £10 of international calls a month for £15 inc VAT (inc £5 discount)
Its a 24 month deal but they started it from now rather than in 2 months time when my original contract was ran out.

They originally wouldn't give my the Desire HD on that tariff so I opted for a HTC Wildfire.
I wasn't happy with the phone after I received it so I phoned back and said I wanted to cancel the deal. I casually mentioned that I would be looking for a Desire HD and they guy said that he would phone me back.
20 mins later he offered me the Desire HD on the same tariff!

Very happy with that :j

flexrider

Hello everyone

After reading the article i wanted to share my story

I used to be a loyal customer with orange i started as a sim only customer my first year then subcribed for 2 more years with 1300 mins unlimited text and 500mb with a loyality of 7% for 26.88 pound a month and at the time a LG arena Km900 mobile....Rubbish phone in my option

However in my opinon i spent far too much on that contract my bills were coming in at over 280 pounds a month, in my final days of the contract they offered me after Martins tips they offered me less minuites for 35 quid a month and a two year contract try haggleing every day but was felt like i was worthless trying decided to look around


Spotted the online deal for Sim only on vodafone 900 mins,unlimted text unlimited internet 20 quid a month 30 day rolling contract,

when signing up received cash back also of 20 quid. first month free i beleive and paid for a phone from ebay which is the HTC wildfire.

so to recap
orange
29.90 odd a month for contract and phone(exc.calls) 538.20 whole term
with billls included(1,566.88p) spent in total of running of contract
3 years service.

vodafone
80 quid for HTC on ebay for new phone
20 quid cashback on signup
900 mins free
unlimit text
unlimited internet (total including tariff= 100 pound 20 quid a month sim only) total for year 100 quid,no contract tie in cancel in 30 days if desired but not going to,

:T:T:T:T thanks martin.

caroline1973lefty

vodaphone £10 / month for:

900 minutes
unlimited texts
free non-geographical numbers (0870, 0845 etc)

quite pleased with this. asked for my PAC code and they offered me this deal for £15 but i refused (genuinely was planning on going Gaffgaff), they then called back and said we can do that for £12.50 or name your price so i negotiated down to a tenner.

G51shopaholic

I've been O2 customer for over 10yrs.

Signed up to their 1/2 price line rental for life (they also offered double minutes). They said it wasn't the life of the contract but the life you remained an O2 customer.

I used to get 2000 Xnet mins for £70 then changed tarrif at renewal in 2006. I changed to £35 tarriff which at that time got me 800 mins.
When it came to renewal in 2009 I had alot of problems getting them to honour the promise and had to go all the way to the Omnibusman but I won and O2 renewed.
In 2010 I renewed without any trouble, now I get Xnet 600 mins + 200 free bolt on, I also get unlimited texts for £17.50 but had to commit to 18mths.

This is up in Aug although I can upgrade in July but I'm being told that iphones & blackberries have seperate tarriffs and my 1/2 price promise won't apply.

jraward

G51shopaholic wrote: »

I've been O2 customer for over 10yrs.

Signed up to their 1/2 price line rental for life (they also offered double minutes). They said it wasn't the life of the contract but the life you remained an O2 customer.

I used to get 2000 Xnet mins for £70 then changed tarrif at renewal in 2006. I changed to £35 tarriff which at that time got me 800 mins.
When it came to renewal in 2009 I had alot of problems getting them to honour the promise and had to go all the way to the Omnibusman but I won and O2 renewed.
In 2010 I renewed without any trouble, now I get Xnet 600 mins + 200 free bolt on, I also get unlimited texts for £17.50 but had to commit to 18mths.

This is up in Aug although I can upgrade in July but I'm being told that iphones & blackberries have seperate tarriffs and my 1/2 price promise won't apply.

I, sadly, have been utterly stung by O2 now; here's the story.

I have been a customer with O2 since 2007, gone through a variety of different contracts eventually settling on the following:
£35 /m
600 anytime xnet minutes
oo texts (unlimited - infinity symbol)
oo internet

The time has come to upgrade so I dutifully called up upgrades to see what was on offer before going the retentions route to get a better deal. here's what I was offered:

24 month contract
£37 /m
New phone (iPhone 4 16GB) for £140
600 xnet anytime minutes
oo texts
500MB internet

Off the bat, that's more than I am currently paying, it also gives me less (500MB data as opposed to oo). I asked about more data, she said the new plan with 1GB would be £41 /m.

The maths here tells you that, to get to anything that approaches my current plan, I'll be paying an additional £144 over the 2 years, in addition to the 60 for the phone, as well as the charges when I (inevitably) go over my usage allowance. A minimum of £200 increase in bills.

I won't go in to details about what happens after this, because frankly it's rather boring but involved bouncing between 7 different representitives on different days, over the phone, in store, speaking to managers here and there and getting nowhere except getting the phone reduced to £62 - the price plan 'physically can't change'.

There are a few things here that have bothered me enough to write here:

1) I can't keep my price plan and then pay a contribution to the phone to renew the contract; they HAVE to put me on one of their new plans - it's a business decision.
2) The price plan I was offered was not, as is advertised, a 'better deal for existing customers'.
3) I can't do anything to my plan if I want to keep it - not even add a bolt on (which to me means they shouldn't really be called 'bolt ons')
4) THIS statement:
97% of people find that 500MB is enough
combined with THIS statement
---

Luigi, hi, it's Matthew. I'll pick up your data question. The first thing to say is it's very early to say in the UK, as we've started implementing the tiered data pricing from the first of October. The good news is, as we expected, customers' usage pattern has continued to increase, so more and more users are actually moving into the band where we think there will be excess charges to pay.

The second thing I would say is we're also looking at how we increase the level of penetration by some further tiered pricing on data. But we're still working on that one. So good news that data use is going up and more people are moving into the bands where we will charge. And, secondly, we're looking at options of actually driving that data usage penetration faster.

---
telefonica.com SLASH en/shareholders_investors/pdf/rdos10t3-transcript.pdf

Now, with data usage rising, I don't see how a year-old statistic can still hold true. This isn't that you think I will have enough data, it's because you've oversold your service and people that use it now aren't allowed.

The big issue here is that I use a lot of data, and the condescending 'do you know how to use WiFi' that each and every one of the reps said to me doesn't help. I use data when I have to, and I use it a lot. I use it for a constant stream of e-mails, I use spotify, I download large acad and pdf documents to view on site where there's no power, let alone WiFi, and yes, the reason I chose oo data was because I knew I was going to be using a lot of it (average 1.5GB a month).

So with bartering, threatening to leave and obtaining my PAC I have managed to get nowhere, and am now going to leave. I just wish I bought the iPhone simplicity tarrif, but I didn't realise this would be the result of my loyal service to O2, the £5-6k they've had from me obviously doesn't mean as much as it should.

What REALLY frustrates me is how I've been sold data to encourage use, and then they've slipped in charges and higher tarrifs to continue to use it. Gone are the days of getting a new phone every year and a couple quid off the tarrif to keep you with them.

Bye bye O2, hello 3. I hope some of you have better luck than I do. I think the days of consumer power seem to be gone in this respect, a shame indeed.

chinesegirl

Hi I'm new on here and have query on behalf of my son. he very unfortunately damaged his phone. He is with O2. He needs his phone as it is his life line when he is away as he is a HGV driver. When he called his insurance they said he was not covered for accidental damage.
So phone o2 to see if they could do anything for him as he has been a contract customer with them for age. The person he spoke to said that he could get antother phone if he upgraded. as he was not sure he left at that time so could think about. When he phoned them today they stated that the only way he could get another phone and upgrade if he paid off his present contract. As he is only a few months into this one it would be a ridiculous amount. Is there anything else he can do ??

mobilejunkie

Buy a cheap phone and use the sim in that.

PeeJayJay

I just have to write this as it happens …. Do I laugh or cry? Despite two visits to two different Orange shops, several painful phone calls and being held in a queue (don’t you just love “press 1 to wait for 60 minutes, press 2 to wait for an hour, press 3 for further frustration. We are getting an exceptional level of calls [as they always do no matter what time of the day I call]“).
I am aghast that Orange effectively refuse to help.
My current Sony-Ericsson handset has been brilliant, much used and now drops calls frequently. I need a new phone. I’ve spent £thousands with orange (I added up my bills for the past six years). I am not entitled to upgrade until September, it is now June. How do I get a new phone? I am happy to pay. Orange’s response? “You can’t – why don’t you buy a PAYG phone and use the existing SIM in that?”
“Can’t I pay for a new phone?” No.
Can’t I have a new 24 month contract ? No
Long story short, I agreed to pay an exit fee of about £136 and have been given a pac code to allow me to keep my phone number.
“So I can have a new contract with Orange then and keep my number?”
“No, you can only keep your number with another provider.”
“So you actually aren’t allowing me to stay with Orange, pay some money to terminate current contract, pay some more money for a new one and keep my number?”
“That’s right.”
So despite being a customer of Orange for six years, paying £thousands as a heavy user, offering more business they have thwarted all my attempts to give them more money so I can get a new phone that works.
Dumbfounded? That’s one way of putting it!