Batter down your mobile contract cost

System

Hmm.  I am with Orange on 200 min cross network tarif for £30 per month.  Have just spoken to them and they said that if I wanted to leave I would have to buy my way out of the remaining time in the contract and that was it!  No offer of matching the "3" tariff at all.  What did I do wrong???

Probably because you are still within your 12 month minimum contract period. If you are, they will make you pay to leave them.

However, that doesn't stop you moving to another tariff. They should be able to match "3"'s tariff on their "Orange Value Promise". Note that as you are still within your 12 month contract, you probably got a cheap/free phone and if you change tariff them the company that sold you the phone *might* be able to claw back from you the kickback they got from Orange that paid for your phone. The kickback they get varies depending on the tariff you are signed up to - if you move to a lower tariff then Orange will want some of their kickback back and the dealer may end up out of pocket. (so might come after you). Read the terms and conditions of your contract with the company you bought your phone from.

Mike

System

Well thank you very much, Martin!

I have been a customer of Orange for a few years and have been due an upgrade since January. Having read this wonderful article I did the same. I should receive my Motorola V600 tomorrow (with free bluetooth headset!) and I will be on, what they call, the Select 500 tariff. This will be £25 per month for 500 cross-network minutes and 30 free text messages a month (the free texts are only for the first 3 months - I couldn't get them for any longer!).

It seems to be a standard package as I pushed for more freebies (free insurance etc) but no luck.

It is also necessary that you are near the end of your contract to get this deal because I was previously a talk-share customer which means mine and my partner's phone bills were rolled into one. However I could not do the same for his phone because he upgraded in december and therefore still has another 7 months contract left. But come November Orange will be receiving another call from me requesting the Select 500 tariff for my partner's phone!

System

HI guys,

First post here!

F.Y.I. if you are an Orange pay monthly customer and you see another network offering a better package, they have the Orange Value Promise. They will match any network tariff and still keep you on Orange. You dont have to get angry! Though in my experience your call gets answered very quickly if you go through the "i am thinking of leaving Orange" route.


One tip though, check the call charges and small print!

Happy saving!!

MSE_Martin

Yes Magnus, but it unfortunately only chooses to match the other main networks, not 3 or Virgin.  Hence why this tactic is needed.

Martin

KemKem

Very peeved with T-mobile. Tried this before I saw the thread and they said that unfortunately since they became T-mobile they can't really be moire flexible.

All they offered was a £100 discount of an upgrade. Very little seeing as I had not upgraded my phone in about 4 years. Complained and was given my PAC number. ::)

Spoke to a manager and she said there was nothing she could do. She also mentioned that they had lost loads of customers.

Any ideas. Don't really want to move. Just want a new phone which costs £179.99

HELP

KK

System

I wrote about this on one of your boards a while back... it works for any customer based accounting service provider

System

Just phoned Viodafone as had been on 200 mins any network/time for £28 a month, told them about three and now have 400 mins a month for 25 quid incl VAT, a new Nokia 6600 and bluetooth headset
Cheers ML

System

Was on £15 per month for 30 free min with Vodafone. Now have 100 free min with 50 free texts plus new Nokia 6600 phone.
Many thanks for the tip.

System

I've been with Orange for 5 years. I'm paying £17.50 per month for 60 free minutes (no cross-over) and no free texts. My average bill is about £30 per month, with the majority of this going on calls to other networks.

I've phoned them and they told me it was not their policy to match Three deals as Three were 'commiting commercial suicide and would not be able to provide any level of service at the price they are charging.'

They have however offered the Orange Value promise to match deals with the big three - the deals we discussed were all much better than my current deal. (Cross-over calls, free texts)

Will do some more research and then phone for my termination number threatening to lift my ball and play somewhere else! Hopefully they will then offer me the three deal. Fingers crossed!!

Any tips?

Ardsman

Further to my message above I did not give up. The key to this is getting past the gatekeeper. I did research on the Orange Value Promise, and chose a deal through T-Mobile. When I called Orange and told them I wanted to do this - they immediately put me through to the Value Promise Helpdesk. Bingo!

They gave me details of the T-Mobile tariff. I then started to ask about the Three deal. I was then transferred to Customer Retention. I am not eligible for an upgraded phone until November. Upgrading the handset is the only way that they can match the Three tariff.

I now am on a better Orange tariff of £25 per month for 120 crossover minutes but still only tied in until November. And get this - they have given me a freephone number direct to the Customer Retention Unit to ring in November. The operator told me 'only speak to us because we have more flexibility than the people on the helpdesk.'

Roll on November.