Contract Sim in PAYG phone

lucyjane1

I am on a contract with T mobile but it's very low use and only costs me £5 a month. I don't do anything too fancy with my phone so have always had fairly basic phones. In the past when I have renewed my contract and have needed a new phone T mobile advised me it wasn't worth getting a handset on the contract and was cheaper to just take a discount for not getting a new phone and going and buying a pay as you go handset and swapping out the sim. I have done this several times now over the years.

However, when I tried to do this today at Carphone Warehouse I was told I'm not allowed to do this. The sales person told me that they have been fined for allowing customers to do this as phone company's take a loss on pay as you go phones which they make up through the phones charges. He told me I would only be able to buy the phone at the "handset only" price of £175 instead of the PAYG price of £75 which I obviously declined. I explained that I would buy and use the £10 top you have to purchase but he told me that I'm still not then allowed to change the sim.

Has there been a change to the rules on this? I'm confused by the idea of a company being fined for what customers do with the phone after purchase. Surely, once I've paid for the phone I can take it away and use it as an expensive paper weight if I want to!

I can still buy the phone online (which doesn't ask me any questions about what I'm going to do with it!) but I'm worried now that I'm doing something wrong.

pmduk

Sounds rubbish to me. Got to a different branch and don't tell them what you're going to do. SIMs aren't locked to phones, so what can they do?

thommy

salesman was trying to pull a fast one on you. or, once he knew you wanted to have it for another sim, his professional conscience , for the good of his company, aka fear of the sack, got the better of him! absolutely no reason why you can't swap over the sim like you want to (as long as the handset is unlocked, which cpw phones usually are).
as above, just go to another shop or get it online. don't worry.

TwistedPsycho

I have recently done the same on a Vodafone sim. Bought the wife a Voda PAYG handset and put her Voda contract sim in...... works a dream.

ankspon

My wife has recently bought a PAYG phone from CPW and done exactly what they said you cannot do,they are talking BS.

cgk1

He was talking completely rubbish, take no notice of him.

lucyjane1

The consensus seems to be it's nonsense and I feel reassured that I'm not breaking any actual rules. I'm still confused as all he did was loose a sale (he seemed to expect me to walk away when he gave me the "sim free" price.) Maybe he couldn't be bothered going and getting the phone! I'll be be ordering it online tomorrow. Thanks

jayme1

yeah he's talking BS, you could have easily signed the 'sim only' deal and at the same time (or at the end or even 5 mins later) gone back as said I take this PAYG phone aswell, it would have worked perfectly just as you have done before.

pmduk

The only exception I can think of, which doesn't seem to apply here, is if you try and use a Three sim in a 2g only phone. I believe it costs three money as you're always roaming with another provider and they will cancel the sim.

lucyjane1

Well I went to a different CPW today (realised I was near a different branch) and bought the phone on PAYG. This sales person asked no questions about my current phone/ contract and what I would be using it for, jut pointed out that as a PAYG Android phone the internet connection would eat the credit quickly. Very helpful and efficient. I can only assume, as suggested, that the first salesperson was talking rubbish.

Thanks everyone