PAYG Handset Pricing Complaints

causerino

Hello All,

First post so sorry if its in the wrong section!

I have began looking at buying a PAYG handset to replace my current contract phone as I don't use it enough to warrent being on contract.

I find it very annouying that phone companies can advertise phones at being a certain price but then when you go to buy it they can add up to 20% to the cost by saying you have to buy a top up with them. Surely that's not allowed?

My example is this;

I walk into the Orange store to purchase an Orange San Francisco phones. This is priced on the shelf as £99.....Perfect, just the right price I want to pay. So I go to buy the phone, and the till rings it up at £119. I queried the cost and the staff member informed me that for this phone I have to buy a £20 top up with the phone. End of story.

I have looked around and I can buy the phone online from Orange, but with a £10 top up, but no where without a Top Up at an additional charge.

How can a shop advertise a price on the shelf, which is a price at which you can not purchase the item? There has to be some consumer right so they can not force you to pay an additional charge to buy an item?

Anyway, I would like some thoughts from you lot on here, I hope I am not the only person who gets annoyed with this?

Thank you!!:)

Wintermute

I'm about to buy a Orange SF and pretty much everywhere I've seen it has been clearly advertised as £99 with a £10 top up or similar. the networks aren't stupid, they know people buy phones to use them on other networks so you're forced to buy a top up while buying the phone and most of the time if you're an existing customer they'll transfer the credit onto your existing account if you phone up customer services, if you're not just do what I'm planning to do and donate the top up to charity via one of those SMS services.

I don't think anybodies rights are being violated, if you don't like the terms & conditions for the sale then buy elsewhere (you can buy the SF unlocked, both branded as orange and unbranded, but it's more expensive).

Biggest_Mint

Say the phone retails at £150. The networks can offer it for £100 if they get a PAYG connection that is worth £50 to them. The forced top-up is to get a connection. All companies do it, and it's how PAYG prices are lower than SIM Free (untouched by network) .

lucylucky

You could buy it from Play for £99 which includes £10 airtime (don't forget quidco)