Batter down your mobile contract cost

saver_natalie

Well you all seem to be having better luck than me at the moment. Haggling with Orange hasn't done me any good.

I'm in my 11th month of 12 month contract with Orange (having been with them for a previous year) on equiv T-mobile tarrif (750 off-peak mins to Orange/landlines and 50 texts for £13.99 a month) but as I no longer use anywhere near that many mins off-peak, and I use more texts than this and use the phone during the day, and occasionally to phone other networks, I've decided I need to look for a better deal (my bill has been in excess of £20 often).

So I phoned Orange to tell them that I didn't think my contract was working for me and was thinking about swapping to another network (told them about internet offers I'd seen on O2 etc.) and asked when exactly my current contract was up. The man on the phone didn't seem to care less, asked whether I'd be wanting to transfer my number and immediately issued me with my PAC code, saying that if I don't use it by a certain date then I'd still be connected to Orange.

I feel like I've completely done the wrong thing now. I don't want to leave Orange, I just want a different deal! I was hoping he'd suggest a different contract or deal I could go on. I know I'm not exactly the biggest spender but I would've thought they'd value my custom more than that.

Few questions: will they charge my next bill for issuing a PAC code? If I don't use it by that date, will they then charge me to get a new code?
Should I ring them again and try and get a deal, or just use a site like https://www.onestopphoneshop.com or https://www.e2save.com or https://www.chatterbox.com.

Ideally, I'd like 200 cross-network mins and about 100 text messages on Orange for under £20 a month if anyone can help me.

Thanks for reading.

virgo17

saver_natalie wrote:

So I phoned Orange to tell them that I didn't think my contract was working for me and was thinking about swapping to another network (told them about internet offers I'd seen on O2 etc.) and asked when exactly my current contract was up. The man on the phone didn't seem to care less, asked whether I'd be wanting to transfer my number and immediately issued me with my PAC code, saying that if I don't use it by a certain date then I'd still be connected to Orange.

Few questions: will they charge my next bill for issuing a PAC code? If I don't use it by that date, will they then charge me to get a new code?
Should I ring them again and try and get a deal, or just use a site like https://www.onestopphoneshop.com or https://www.e2save.com or https://www.chatterbox.com.

Ideally, I'd like 200 cross-network mins and about 100 text messages on Orange for under £20 a month if anyone can help me.

It is a sad fact that these days Orange don't consider anyone to be worth keeping if their monthly spend is less than circa £75 - £100. Occasionally someone will get a good deal but most people end up with the disinterested response that you received.

They won't charge for your PAC. If you don't use it, nothing will happen and your contract will carry on beyond it's minimum term. If you do wish to jump ship you will need to use the PAC within 30 days.

You may have some luck taking out a new contract via a dealer but in order to keep your number and stay with Orange you will need to port your number to someone like Virgin or O2 PAYG and then port back to Orange after a week or two.

If you pick a network other than Orange, you can port your old number straight into that network. There are some excellent cashback contracts around with people like Mobileshop or you could just pick a good normal contract with someone like O2.

Hope this helps.

V.

saver_natalie

Thanks virgo17.

I've just phoned onestopphoneshop to see if they could give me any way around having a new number. And they also said that I'd need to have a PAYG sim for another network first - but they said I'd need to keep that for 3 months before porting my number back across.

Anyone else know any way around it? I don't wanna leave orange but wanna keep my number. Could I go from orange contract to orange PAYG and keep my number?

virgo17

saver_natalie wrote:

And they also said that I'd need to have a PAYG sim for another network first - but they said I'd need to keep that for 3 months before porting my number back across.

Anyone else know any way around it? I don't wanna leave orange but wanna keep my number. Could I go from orange contract to orange PAYG and keep my number?

Hi again Natalie.

You don't need to keep the PAYG SIM for three months. Each PAC issued is valid for 30 days. You can't ask for another PAC for the same number until the thirty days has expired. Here is a typical way that keeping your number is done and staying on the same network.

Day 1 - Request your PAC from Orange.

Day 2 to Day 30 - Give the PAC to someone like O2 (free PAYG SIM) or Virgin. 5 working days later, Orange disconnects you and transfers your number to the PAYG account.

[At any time during this process get a new contract on Orange with the best deal you can find. Accept any random phone number that comes with the contract for the time being]

Day 31 - Contact the PAYG network and request a PAC. They will be able to issue one straight away as the first PAC was issued over 30 days ago. Contact Orange, give them the new PAC and request that they replace the phone number you received with your new handset with your old number you had been using on PAYG.

Day 38 - After 5 working days your original number ports back to Orange and the PAYG SIM is disconnected. The number issued with the new Orange phone is 'lost'.

That's it. A bit of hassle and remembering to do things at the right time, but it does get you your original number back on the new phone you just bought. Regretably, that is the only way to do it as you cannot 'port' within the same network (eg. Orange to Orange). If you try to do that it is called 'migration' and you lose the really good deals which networks offer to 'new' customers.

One final point. Yes you can close your original account and transfer the number to Orange PAYG. Orange will even send you a free SIM card to do this. However, having got there, you cannot go back to Orange contract with the same number without financial penality because Orange see you as 'bucking' the system.

Hope this helps.


V.

knuckledragger

virgo17,
I agree with your method except for one thing:

As soon as the OP's Orange number is ported onto the "mule" PAYG sim, then ask the new provider for a PAC. They don't have to wait for a 30 day period for two reasons- Firstly when a PAC is used (ie the first Port) then it is effectively killed. Secondly, when the second PAC is requested (to return to a new Orange contract), it is issued by O2 (or Virgin as above) and therefore has no bearing on that issued originally by Orange.

So the transition can be made sooner than you illustrated.

virgo17

knuckledragger wrote:

As soon as the OP's Orange number is ported onto the "mule" PAYG sim, then ask the new provider for a PAC. They don't have to wait for a 30 day period for two reasons- Firstly when a PAC is used (ie the first Port) then it is effectively killed. Secondly, when the second PAC is requested (to return to a new Orange contract), it is issued by O2 (or Virgin as above) and therefore has no bearing on that issued originally by Orange.

Hi,

Thanks for the response. The info I gave was based on personal experience. When I followed this route, the 'mule' network (Virgin) would not issue another PAC for the same number until the full 30 days had run, even though the port from Orange to Virgin occured 5 working days after the initial PAC was issued and as you say was effectively dead. Yes, the second PAC is obviously issued by the 'mule' network, but they wouldn't issue it until 30 days after the issue of the initial PAC.

It may be that different CSR's or networks deal with this in different ways but I think the OP needed to know what actually happened in my case, which may have been worst case scenario.

Cheers,

V.

knuckledragger

Curious, I did Tmobile to O2 PAYG to Tmobile in less than 3 weeks. This was just over a year ago. I wonder if your experience was due to the fact that Virgin effectively use another's network? Has anyone else experienced this?

peiluj

I've spoken to Orange on 3 occasions to try and secure a better deal but no luck. I haven't jumped ship yet but am in negotiation with Vodaphone who have been a lot more helpful! One thing I wanted to mention to others is that Orange don't automatically offer the same deals to existing customers as are available to new customers. I am after a tariff with fewer minutes but more texts, plus a specific phone. Orange were not interested, despite me saying I would move networks. I then looked in the "new customers" area of the Orange website which included a good range of tariff options under their "direct plans". For example, 100 X-network minutes and 500 texts - available with the phone I want for £25 p/m. When I asked why I hadn't been offered this in the first place I was told that Orange were not allowed to offer it to existing customers but if an existing customer specifically asked for it that was ok!

As it turns out they still won't let me change tariffs because they are "out of stock" of the phone I want and can't offer anything similar. I can't help feeling I'm being fobbed off but this might give some of you a bit more bargaining power.

saver_natalie

Thanks for all your help Virgo and Knuckledragger. Wonder why the guy on the phone said I'd have to be on a different PAYG network for 3months - I'd have thought that he'd have wanted to try to sell me a phone.

Anyway, I'll look into getting a PAYG sim card for another network. Think I'll avoid Virgin from the sounds of it and see which is the cheapest out of the others. With all the faff and buying a sim card, I begin to think is it worth it. But as I'll get a new phone out of a new orange contract eventually, and I won't if I just go to Orange PAYG, I guess I'll have to go through the faff. (I'm just musing to myself).

Do I need to buy much credit with the PAYG sim card does anyone think?

knuckledragger

saver_natalie,
if you get one of the free O2 sims that were recently seen on a thread here, then register it with O2 online, I believe that they put £2.50 worth of credit on it for you. If you then top up with £10, you get the 300 free texts (and you'll still have £12.50 credit on there). Or if you can do without making many calls, just use up their £2.50 credit. You shouldn't have to buy a sim!!