Advice needed 3 (no loyalty discount)

Makeandsave

Hi, I am on a SIM only contract with Three £15 a month, I have been on this now for 3 months to try and save some money. I am getting
Unlimited texts,
Unlimited 3-3,
Unlimited internet
300 anytime mins.

The phone as had it now and is playing up so i want a new phone.

I rang up 3 today as i am in my last month with them and they offered me

Samsung Galaxy Portal Black
Unlimited Internet
Unlimited Email
Unlimited 3-to-3 minutes
200 minutes (anytime, any network)

http://threestore.three.co.uk/dealsummary.aspx?offercode=24TI20D034

plus a 1GB card, This will be on a 24 month contract. All this for £20 a month. The guy said this was the latest phone from samsung.

I was told i would get loyalty discount but today i was told on the phone they do not do it any more. Is the above deal worth it? I send about 700 texts a month and talk about 175 mins anytime and use about 400 mins 3-3. I do use the internet a lot just for FB.

Thanks everyone

Makeandsave

Sorry to bump this could anyone perhaps help that as a newish renewed contract with 3 and if you got loyalty discount?

parallax_20

Loyalty discounts normally apply to long term contracts 12/18/24mths. A 30 day rolling contract doesn't count as you're free to go elsewhere, whenever you like and you're not tied in beyond your 30 days notice.

For £20pm there's a few deals about with some decent smartphone, so I wouldn't limit my choice to just 3. But if you rely on the free 3-to-3 calls, you may not have much choice.

I left 3 a year ago and haven't looked back since. I've not seen a deal from 3 that has attracted me to come back.

Just a suggestion. I know Orange isn't for everyone, but you could get the Blackberry 9700 on a £22.50pm with (Racoon25) unlimited landline or (Dolphin 25) unlimited text with 500MB internet and get £160 cashback from Quidco, which would pay for the handset.

bigchiefally

Makeandsave wrote: »

Sorry to bump this could anyone perhaps help that as a newish renewed contract with 3 and if you got loyalty discount?

This probably isnt much help but...

I've been with 3 about a year on a month to month contract, maybe a bit less, and was wanting to get a new phone. They responded offering largely the same deals as I could see on the website and phones I did not want. They werent overly keen to help, but a lot of this could have been down to me wanting a pricey phone (HTC DEsire) they didnt have a great deal of stock of. I started my months notice with them and got my PAC, called back and found no improvement on my second call.

parallax_20

3 stopped doing any decent retention deals for quite some time now. Hence the reason why I left last year, so no surprise to hear things haven't changed much since.

Makeandsave

parallax_20 wrote: »

Loyalty discounts normally apply to long term contracts 12/18/24mths. A 30 day rolling contract doesn't count as you're free to go elsewhere, whenever you like and you're not tied in beyond your 30 days notice.

For £20pm there's a few deals about with some decent smartphone, so I wouldn't limit my choice to just 3. But if you rely on the free 3-to-3 calls, you may not have much choice.

I left 3 a year ago and haven't looked back since. I've not seen a deal from 3 that has attracted me to come back.

Just a suggestion. I know Orange isn't for everyone, but you could get the Blackberry 9700 on a £22.50pm with (Racoon25) unlimited landline or (Dolphin 25) unlimited text with 500MB internet and get £160 cashback from Quidco, which would pay for the handset.

Hi thanks I was on a 18 month contract before i went on the month to month, I have been with 3 about 5-6 years on contracts it is only the last few months i have been on month to month. I would stay on it but the phone has been dropped a lot (nights out etc lol). Will give them a call later and see if they can give me any better deals.

parallax_20

Use the Orange deal as a bench mark for them to match. Its always best to arm yourself with as many deals as possible and throw it at them to give more weight and ask for your PAC code if they don't play nice to show you are serious about cancelling if they don't play ball.

If you are dropping your phone a lot, having a touchscreen phone like the Galaxy isn't a good idea. If the touchscreen cracks after a drop, it'll be expensive to repair unless you have additional phone insurance that covers accidental damage.

If I were in your shoes I would look at a cheap handset on PAYG...Nokia 5230 comes to mind for about £75 and move to a SimOnly contract and pay slightly less on your monthly payments.

Good luck.

Lorac29_2

Ah, I also was with 3, 18 month contract and was after my "loyalty discount" when I wanted to upgrade. I had a specific price plan and phone in mind, and so first found out how much it would cost if I changed providers. When they offered me virtually the same deal as the others, I asked for more of a discount or the phone for free or free internet or something and was told it was not available. I was so annoyed with their attitude (which had been consistently bad) that I left 3 and moved to T mobile. I just upgraded yesterday after being with them for 18 months and got a new phone, 300 minutes, 300 texts and 100 mins of calls to NZ for £7.50 a month........you must admit thats not a bad loyalty discount!!
Otherwise, I would sign up to billmonitor.com......you can input how much you use and they will find the best deal for you.