Can I haggle down my current contract? I'm one year in with Vodafone, extortionate!

joecre01

Hello, I'm almost a year in to my two year contract on my HTC HD2 phone with Vodafone.

The phone was free on the £30 a month contract with unlimited texts, 600 minutes and a large browsing download limit. But I still think £30 is way too much, especially now I know friends have mine simply threatened to switch provider before entering a contract and saved £10 a month!

Is there any way possible I can blag it to Vodafone to try and save a bit on the contract, saying I'll cancel for example. (any way at all?!)

The contract was organised through mobilephonesdirect

Any replies are greatly appreciated;

Cheers![EMAIL="joecreighton@hotmail.co.uk"][/EMAIL]

mackemdave

Saying that you will cancel your two year contract after a year is really going to make them sit up isnt it...Id say you aint got a hope in hell of getting it reduced....would you be happy if they came along and increased your charge mid way through your contract....

Interhacker

Lower you tarif with them, you`d get less minutes but less monthly fee

Wintermute

You can maybe get your line rental down by moving to a lower tariff, but of course you'll get fewer minutes. If you hone up and argue that you can't afford £30 a month line rental they're not going to take your threat of cancelling very seriously as you'll have to pay around £360 to do that. Basically if you've entered into a 24 month contract to pay £30 a month you don't have much bargaining power if you're only 12 months into the contract.

joecre01

Okay cheers guys, I really do only use about a third of my minutes, my knocking 3 or 400 minutes off the tariff, and with some good bargaining powers, what do you guys reckon I could save monthly? Would it be worth it?

gjchester

joecre01 wrote: »

Hello, I'm almost a year in to my two year contract on my HTC HD2 phone with Vodafone.

Whats the plan called. If it's YOUR PLAN (YP on the bill) then theres no reductins over the life of the contract permitted.

joecre01 wrote: »

The phone was free on the £30 a month contract with unlimited texts, 600 minutes and a large browsing download limit. But I still think £30 is way too much, especially now I know friends have mine simply threatened to switch provider before entering a contract and saved £10 a month!

Plans change all the time, I be if you get one in a year you'll be paying less for more service than your friends who'll be stuck in their plan.

Threatening only works when your out of contract or at the very end and can freely switch. You are contracted for £30 PCM for 12 months. You can leave but that will cost you £360 more or less in early termination fee's.

You just don't have any bargaining power in this situation.

joecre01

Great, an answer that explained my position simply. Cheers mate, I guess I'm stuck with this shocking phone at it's shocking price then, oh well, c'est la vie. :rotfl:

Buzzing for January 2012 though?

Guys_Dad

joecre01 wrote: »

Great, an answer that explained my position simply. Cheers mate, I guess I'm stuck with this shocking phone at it's shocking price then, oh well, c'est la vie. :rotfl:

Buzzing for January 2012 though?

You have highlighted the problem of contracts here. The main disadvantage is that they tie you down for 24 months. Irrespective of your contract handset giving up the ghost half way through or loss of signal due to masts down or you moving house. So why do people enter into these deals like lemmings?

The lure of a shiny new phone - the bees' knees on day one but a "shocking phone" some months' later, and the good deal at £30 per month becomes rubbish as prices go down.

So stop and think before next time. Would a £10 per month sim-only deal give you the minutes and texts you need? Or a £15 one? The difference between the £10 per month sim-only and your current £30 per month contract means that you are paying £480 more over 2 years, less the cost of a new mobile every 2 years if needed.

That is £480 for a glitzier device to talk and text to your friends and family? Not taking into account the opportunity to go for special reduced deals like T-Mobile's (or was it Tesco's) £7.50 per month.

Now I know that there are some people who use their phones for other purposes and I am well aware of the advantages of Windows, Android and Blackberry phones, but in truth, many of the people buying them have no need of the extra facilities they provide and simply get them as fashion statements. But if you are not one who needs more than a basic mid range phone, then why incur the extra 2-year cost, plus, as you can see from many,many posts on this forum, the potential problems of a 2-year commitment?

Techhead_2

joecre01 wrote: »

Great, an answer that explained my position simply. Cheers mate, I guess I'm stuck with this shocking phone at it's shocking price then, oh well, c'est la vie. :rotfl:

Buzzing for January 2012 though?

Next time, remember the shocking choice you made this time and do your homework.

Vodafone

Hi Joecre01,

There isn't any way you can negotiate on your contract once into it. It would only be when you are due and upgrade within the last seventy days towards the end of it.

It does depend on which price plan you are on whether or not you can drop it down to one with less minutes and texts. If you would like us to take a look you can email us here http://goo.gl/LqgN with WRT135 in the subject and we will check it for you.

Thanks,

Heidi
Web Relations Team
Vodafone UK

System

mackemdave wrote: »

Saying that you will cancel your two year contract after a year is really going to make them sit up isnt it...Id say you aint got a hope in hell of getting it reduced....would you be happy if they came along and increased your charge mid way through your contract....

Probably something Vodafone would do.