Batter down your mobile contract cost

emmajames_2

Thanks for the tips Martin. I'm with Orange as well and my monthly bill has become prohibitively expensive relative to the new deals which are out there. I followed your advice, phoned up "thinking of leaving" having previously looked at the competitors and was offered a cross network package, talk and text 600 ie 500 minutes and 100 texts (which the cs rep increased to 160 when he saw my usage). Plus he threw in a nokia 6230i and gave me 6 months half price rental based on the deal I was reviewing on the net. all this for only £20 for the first 6 months and £35 (including insurance) for the following 12 months. Saving me about £30 - 35 a month! This is one area I won't be complacent about again. Many thanks

cindyhove

I'm also with Orange and its getting expensive! Is it best to go to the shop or try the deal on the phone?

knuckledragger

cindyhove,
Orange retentions- 0800 079 2288.
Good luck.

trinity36

i've been with O2 for the last 11 months, and on the look out for a better deal (and spanking new fone for free) was paying £45 a month for 200 mins 250 text plus insurance, but thanks to my kids, the past 3 bils have been quite high. Nosed around and picked my fone - the nokia n70, now the best deal......
phones4u were doing 3 - 600 mins, 400 txts, plus video extras, all for £27.50 (half price for the first 6 months then £45 which i could cut to £30 by only having 500 mins & 100 txt), did abit of umming and ahhhing, and got the salesman to give me 3 months free insurance and £30 credit applied to my account. I thought id done well.......

Then i contacted o2

they asked me why i wanted to cancel, and i said because my bills where too high and i couldnt afford it, so they offered me 500 mins and 200 txts plus the phone i like, for £19.00 a month!!!!!
Get lost 3, bargain?? i worked it out, my o2 call saved me nearly £500 in wasted money to 3. And besides that, the signal from the is the worst, i phoned them about a problem with the 3g, and the signal cut out!!! they had to call me back on a landline. What a joke.

Ps i've had a few bad experiences with 3, they maybe cheap, but they are the worst network going

saver_natalie

Well done trinity36! Sounds like you've got a mega deal there!

I'm gonna give Orange another try on the phone before faffing with all the porting and temp. numbers etc. - Orange have sent me a letter asking me to reconsider my leaving them so will phone up with this in mind. Plus, a friend of mine has just managed to secure 500mins&100texts plus new phone for £30 a month on Orange with 6 months half price. I'm gonna phone them armed with loads of deals and see what they can offer me.

Edit/update:
Just phoned Orange retentions and the bloke said he can't offer me a deal cos my bills for the past 6 months have been cheap and I haven't gone above £20. He said I'd pay £25 for 200x-net mins and 100 texts when I said T-mobile would do it for £15 (not sure if they would, but hey!). It seems that if I'd gone over my bills then I'd have got a better deal. How annoying is that! So I can either go to O2 PAYG, then back onto Orange, or use my phone more during the day for the next few months and see if they give me a better deal then! Any advice?

leeegglestone

Around October time I got a Sony Ericsson K750i on Contract.
I think 5 Months Rental at 5.99, 200minutes 100txts per month free. I never use my Minutes

My last direct debit was £30 and every 4statements I can claim back my Line Rental. Over a year I claim back £130

Ive read some posts about ringing up about your mobile, threaten to cancel & they push to give you a better deal, especially if you have been activated for 6 Months.

Do you think I should, and can you do that even if you have signed up to a 12month contract?

It seems silly me generating 2400 minutes a yr , which dont get used.
I got it from E2save - part of carphone warehouse.
Is my best bet to wait until my contract is almost up? Then again I have some O2 simcards for pay as you go i could use then

virgo17

saver_natalie wrote:

So I can either go to O2 PAYG, then back onto Orange, or use my phone more during the day for the next few months and see if they give me a better deal then! Any advice?

Natalie,

I know this may have been mentioned before, but do you _really_ need to stay with Orange. Over the last 6 months Orange have adopted a very hard nosed approach to what they consider low spenders. I doubt very much that if you stay with them for a few more months and push your spending up a bit it would make any difference to the deal they offer you.

In these days of inclusive cross-network minutes do think about another provider. I went to O2 and ported my number over. I am delighed with the service and can check my usage and bills on line. My deal incudes cross-network anytime minutes and text messages. I got the deal from Mobileshop. Here is a link:-

http://www.mobileshop.com/mobile-phones/o2/contract-mobile-phones/nokia-3120.php/PNEWO231200004

It includes 12 months free line rental by cashback and double minutes and texts for the first 3 months. If you need a better quality phone, Mobileshop have them but the number of free months reduces accordingly.

Have a look and see what you think. Mobileshop are a sound company who I have used many times before. I have no connection with them in any way.

The only think to bear in mind when porting your number to O2 is that you need to indicate this on the application. They won't let you run with the initial number and port your's over a month later.

Hope this helps.


V.

saver_natalie

Thanks again for your help Virgo17.

Kinda do need to be on Orange unfortunately because pretty much all my friends and family are on it, and even in an age of cross-network mins, as a lot of them have PAYG or packages with just mins to Orange/landlines, it'd be difficult.

Thanks for showing mobileshop though as I've only been looking at onestopphoneshop and e2save up till now.

mobilemad

Thanks for the very useful tips, I managed to get an offer for Select 500 on Orange with 60 txts and they have allowed me to keep everyday 50 on Line 2. Really pleased with this !

Does anyone know if voicemail calls are included in the Select 500 tariff, I'm getting mixed replies. Also do the minutes roll over?

Cheers
CK

saver_natalie

Aaarrrgghh....don't know if I'm doing the right thing. I stupidly clicked on the 'enquire about upgrades' thing on e2save yesterday and a woman has just phoned me and persuaded me to get an Orange contract through them and just get a new number. This will probably mean that I'll have a new number every year now. Was gonna do the port into PAYG then port out again but she says ppl are getting wise to that so may not work. Anyone done it very recently?

I've got free O2 and Virgin PAYG sims arriving soon so may as well try porting my current number anyway as I have nothing to lose and see if they allow me to port it out again.