Best time to call O2 about renewal?

t_r_davies

My first post so please be gentle

My 18-month O2 mobile contract (£30/month, 400 minutes, 500 texts, no data) will be ending on December 10th and I was wondering if any of the knowledgeable gurus here could recommend the best time to contact them regarding retentions etc., or will they automatically get in touch with me sometime in the next month or so to discuss the available options?

I'd like to stay if possible as their mobile service has been good, I signed up through mobiles.co.uk so got a 13-month half-price email-your-bill deal, plus I get £5 off my broadband. My current phone is a Samsung Tocco Ultra S8300 which has been pretty OK but I'd be interested in a smartphone if the price was right.

However from reading through posts on here it seems that there isn't much in the way of retention deals at the minute, although of course that may change by the time November/December comes around. As I've only been a customer for 18 months the deals they could offer, if any, probably wouldn't be all that great.

Any and all advice welcome!

Exhortation

You can only upgrade in the last 30 days of your contract if you are a "Blue" customer, which you will be only paying £30 a month. The best deals are almost always gleaned via the Retentions people rather than via the Upgrade system. The best way to get what you want seems to be persistence and patience. Once in the final 30 days of your contract just ring up two or three times a week and eventually - providing your request is reasonable enough - you should get what you want. Asking for your PAC code never does any harm either. Of course, the networks know the games we play as well as we do so it's all just a bit of a game of chicken. They want to give as little as possible for as much ,omey as possible and we want the opposite. It's a case of who blinks first.

gjchester

Used to be in the last 30 days, on a wednesday around the 23/24/25 of a month as thats the time people are trying to hit targets.

That said most of the offers these days seem to be standardised so probably you will only be offered what the computer will permit them to offer.

Guys_Dad

You need to act within the 30-day window preceding the expiry date of your contract. (Remember it is a rolling contract and it won't expire except for any action you take, such as cancellation or PAC-coding out).

If you really want to save money, then Sim-only is the cheapest way out if you can live with your phone for a bit longer. O2 will transfer you to a Sim-only and allow you to keep your number.

If you want to go for another cashback deal - an you have already had some experience of that, then the following will give you the best deal.

1. Ask O2 for a PAC code.
2. Go to CPW shop and, using the pAC code, buy a very cheap Alcatel unlocked mobile PAYG phone on Orange, Voda or T-Mobile and transfer your number to that phone.
3. After 3 weeks, get the PAC code from that network and then, via Quidco or Topcash, take out a contract with the best distance reseller deal you can find.

At the moment, your current reseller mobiles.co.uk are offering up £100 Quidco cashback as well as their own deal, but do beware. Currently, however, there are a number of threads about this company in which they have been reneging on cashbacks and generally being, how shall we say, naughty? The offers are tempting, but you must be prepared to follow their t&c as well as being prepared to go through MCOL if necessary. Read up on the recent threads on this company and also the "Cashback for Dummies" thread that is pretty comprehensive.

Now that may seem like a load of hassle, but it all depends upon just how much you value the saving as against the hassle and potential future hassle if your cashback doesn't come through.

But do look at the sim-only route.

Techhead_2

Actually O2 are quite flexible, unlike the other networks, if you see a cheap(er) deal with a third party, they will migrate your number without going through a pay and go porting.

One thing to bear in mind is that in the last few years, several of the providers have used up their retentions budgets well before the end of the financial year.

I would personally agree that a move to SIM only is the money saving way to go. It gives flexibility in the contract and cuts the tie between handset and contract.