First ever contract. Can you answer a few questions?

Hebridean_2

Hi there.

I've had a PAYG Siemens A50 on T-mobile for a long time. A link from this site took me to mobiles.co.uk where I eventually chose to go for a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic on 02 600 tarriff (with a free Nintendo DSi).

I'm sorry if my questions are silly but it's only after I've sent my order that I'm panicking a little!!!

1. The Nokia phone I've chosen was 'free' with this contract. At the end of the 24 months, is that phone mine to keep? Can I choose to switch to a different price plan with 02, or even switch to another network, keeping my same phone?

2. 24 month contract with 02: It's discounted for 24 months - will pay £25 pm instead of £35. What happens at the end of the 24 months - can I cancel/choose a lower tarriff? Or will I have to pay £35 from then on? (Also - do I contact 02 at end of it, or mobiles.co.uk????)

3. Insurance. Mobiles.co.uk's terms and conditions recommend that I insure my phone. Have never done this before with my little Siemens A50 PAYG. Any advice on this? Should I contact my home insurers and add to that policy? Any idea what the replacement value would be and/or the sum I should insure for? Do you think insurance is a definite thing that I should do?

4. Gadget Phone Support and PhoneCare Insurance: free for first month then £2.99 and £7.99 respectively thereafter per month. Would you advise to keep one or both of these? My instinct is to cancel. Any advice?

Hope you can help. Sorry again for being so dense. It's just that it's a lot of money over a relatively long period of time and I'm imagining all sorts of problems!! Should probably have stuck with my old phone, eh?!!!

Thanks!


Carol

ssgtsnelly

Hi,
quick answers to your questions

1) yes its yours to keep, after the mininum term of 24 months with O2 then yes you can stay and "upgrade" which means you can get a new phone and/or change your price plan. Or as you said you can go to another network if they have a better deal.

2) normally at the end of the 24 months the price will revert to the full £35 as the dicount was only for 24 months, if you wish to finish the contract and move elsewhere after the 24 months then you must give 1 months notice, ie after the 23rd month you should write to O2 saying you wish to cancel after your last month.

3) insurance is personal choice, i normally take it as its not only the fact that you will get a new phone if the worst happens but mainly for me you are covered for malicious calls if your phone is stolen and you tell your network straight away. If you dont have insurance then you are liable for the bill.
The gadget insurance thing is total c**p dont keep that
Most home insurances will over cover you if the phone is stolen from that address so be wary.

Hope that helps a bit

esuhl

You should be able to find the answer to your questions in the contract or T&Cs, but generally speaking, the following would be the case:

Hebridean wrote: »

1. The Nokia phone I've chosen was 'free' with this contract. At the end of the 24 months, is that phone mine to keep? Can I choose to switch to a different price plan with 02, or even switch to another network, keeping my same phone?

Yes - the phone is likely to be yours to keep. It may be locked so that it can only be used on the O2 network, so you can a) cancel the contract and stop using the phone; maybe sell it b) transfer to another O2 tariff or c) unlock the phone so you can use it with any network provider (this could cost about £10)

Hebridean wrote: »

2. 24 month contract with 02: It's discounted for 24 months - will pay £25 pm instead of £35. What happens at the end of the 24 months - can I cancel/choose a lower tarriff? Or will I have to pay £35 from then on? (Also - do I contact 02 at end of it, or mobiles.co.uk????)

At the end of the 24 months, you will probably revert to the standard charge, i.e. you will be automatically billed £35/month from then on. If you want to cancel or change tariff, you need to give a month's notice (you can give notice after 23 months, so you don't have the contract for a day over 24 months). The contract is with O2, so you need to contact them to cancel.

Hebridean wrote: »

3. Insurance. Mobiles.co.uk's terms and conditions recommend that I insure my phone. Have never done this before with my little Siemens A50 PAYG. Any advice on this? Should I contact my home insurers and add to that policy? Any idea what the replacement value would be and/or the sum I should insure for? Do you think insurance is a definite thing that I should do?

Looking at how quickly phones depreciate in value, and the limited things you are covered for, and the cost of insurance, I would personally never take it out. It depends how often you lose things and how re-assuring you would find being covered for unauthorised calls. Buying insurance from the phone retailler is probably more expensive than buying insurance from other sources, so ask your household insurers whether you're already covered or how much extra cover would cost. Most importantly - check what the insurance covers you for.

In the past, I have looked at the cost of insurance and put the same money in a jar. It's surprising how quickly it mounts up, and would be enough to buy a replacement phone in a few months. If you don't lose the phone, you have a nice lump sum waiting for a rainy day!

Hebridean wrote: »

4. Gadget Phone Support and PhoneCare Insurance: free for first month then £2.99 and £7.99 respectively thereafter per month. Would you advise to keep one or both of these? My instinct is to cancel.

Gadget Support = Someone who will read the phone's manual for you and tell you how to send a text message. Just get a relative to show you for free! Or come on here and ask us the question!

Insurance @ £7.99/month = £191.76 after 24 months. You're the best person to know whether this is worth it. What are you covered for? Is there an excess? How much is insurance from other providers? How does the cover compare? How many phones have you lost in the past? Do you always lock your phone so that it would be unlikely that anyone would make unauthorised calls?

Hope this helps...

JimArnold

Above info is correct - I'll just add

1) O2 phones are usually not locked Try a sim from non 02 phone to check
2) after 23 months you MUST cancel (you'll need to check if they will allow an over the phone cancellation or you may need to write to O2) They make a lot of money from people who forget and the £35 charge rolls on
3) after you cancel you will almost certainly get a call offering you a new deal to stay on Have a look at the O2 retentions thread to see what is being offered Have a quick look now but definately in 23 months
4) If you decide to go to another contract then you can keep your number provided the new contract isn't with O2 - known as Porting or you can ask O2 to make it into a PAYG

esuhl

JimArnold wrote: »

after you cancel you will almost certainly get a call offering you a new deal to stay on

I have heard a number of stories where people agree a new contract verbally... only to find discrepancies in what they thought had been agreed. It would be a nightmare to take someone to court over a verbal agreement, so I'd make sure I had everything in writing before agreeing to anything.

If the network won't send you an email before signing you up for another year... they obviously don't want your business... or are trying to sign you up to something they think you would reject if you saw the details written down!