Help - Contract haggling with O2

SalfordSlim

Hi all, wonder if anyone can help? (First timer here so please bear with me and excuse the lomng winded post!)

My 18 month contract with O2 runs out on 14th July and I'm looking to upgrade to the HTC Desire. My current contract with O2 is the first one I've ever had as I was always on pay as you go, therefore , in all honesty it's bobbins! (£20 p/m for 125 texts & 100 mins). For the last 6-8 months I've been way over my allowances and my bill has been coming in at between £45-£55 each month:eek: (and I wouldn't consider myself a heavy phone user at all).

Now I thought I'd do a bit of research on Omio and see what deals were out there for the Desire. Both Vodafone & Orange were doing deals at around the £30 p/m mark which included 600 mins, unlimited texts, free handset & 1gb internet. This would do me nicely so I thought I'd ring O2 and get them to match the deal. Having told the saleswoman what I was looking for, whilst mentioning the Vodafone & Orange deals, I pulled the old "well if you can't match the deal then I may as well switch providerr" line. I was promptly put through to Retentions. Here I spent 20 mins speaking to a lady who could only offer me a similar deal at £35 p/m and didnt seem at all willing to negotiate. Now I used to be an Estate Agent for my sins:) so I would consider myself reasonably skilled in the art of negotiation, however, she wouldn't come down to £30 so I told her I would have to take my custom to Vodafone or Orange and she just let me go without even flinching! I did also mention the fact that I had been paying between £25-£35 extra than my current contract for the past 8 months so they had been coining it from me to no avail.

Now I'd love to stay with O2 as family are on the network and generally I have been happy with the service provided. Am I asking too much by asking them to drop a fiver off their advertised deal taking into account the amount they have fleeced me for recently?

Any advice would be much appreciated, cheers.

Oscar_The_Grouch

Hi there

O2 have been widely reported on this website as being real sticklers for their contract prices. The Desire is a phone that alot of people want, but getting it at the price you want can be difficult.

Sometimes, the retail shops (Carphone Warehouse, etc) will have better deals than O2, but still with O2. It may be worth speaking to them and seeing if they can match the best deal you've got, whilst still with O2. It will be a bit of a faff keeping your number, but here is how it's done:

1. Buy a Pay As You Go sim on another network (Orange are best I think)
2. Get your PAC code from O2 and use this to switch your number to the PAYG sim.
3. Once the number has ported over to the new sim, give it a day and then phone them for the PAC code
4. Give the new PAC code to Carphone Warehouse (or whomever you purchase the phone from) and they will switch the number back to O2.

If the other firms can't match the deal that you are getting elsewhere, you have to decide whether it's worth the extra £90 over 18 months or £120 over 24 to stay with O2. Personally, I like the coverage and customer service at the mo.

Oscar_The_Grouch

Errmmmm..... HTC Desire on O2 for £30 a month, but it doesn't say what the web access is:

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/buy/HTC-DESIRE-30N24-FCONO

SalfordSlim

Cheers OTG, advice much appreciated. There's CW round the corner from work so I'll nip in at lunchtime and see what they can offer.:)

rosmersholm

Super huge thanks to Oscar. Used the CW deal that you mentioned - and finally got through to retentions for a negotiation.

Unbelievable. 5th attempt.

Unlted o2-o2 calls
600 mins
Free phone (HTC Desire)

and a drop from £35 to £33.

O2 World first?

:T:T:T

lapie

Hi rosmersholm - congrats on getting O2 to budge with their contracts! I've been having this exact same problem with O2 and the HTC Desire - and I was just wondering if you rang up O2 directly and quoted this Carphone Warehouse offer to them? I had been planning to do that anyway, and was just wondering if it's worth a try, since they were so inflexible when I spoke to them.

I've been a customer for 10 years (since the BT Cellnet days), and have always found their customer service shocking, but all my family are on O2 so I'd rather not change.

rosmersholm

Rang up O2 upgrades via the free customer service line - quoted the CW offer in full and then he put me through to retentions - where then a customer service agent made me give the exact details of the CW offer (as in the link above). Then after hearing it - he then made the counter offer. I was shocked because I had rang before to ask - but nothing - they would not budge. Maybe I could have bettered the counteroffer but the unlimited o2-to-o2 calls seemed fantastic (plus no £50 charge for the phone and included data and wifi)

Not read about any other person getting O2 to budge in bargaining - but this seems like a good start.
The discount from the £35 a month was referred to as a customer loyalty bonus on my confirmation emails. Given that I have been a customer for only 6 years - you would stand a good chance of the same (or better) offer!

Good luck - it can be done!

MyUserNamesTaken

http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/shop/pay-monthly/htc-desire/

You pay You get Phone cost Plan length £30.00 600 minutes
500 texts
Flexible Booster
Unlimited* internet FREE 24 months

You can use the flexible booster for unlimited texts or unlimited landline calls. Seems a better deal, and T Mobile has a 3gb FUP for their internet, unlike O2's 500mb FUP.