Batter down your mobile contract cost

System

I tried the same approach with Orange last December. Pointed out I was with them for 6 years, and spent a considerable amount with them over that time and wanted the special offer they were offering to new customers. The assistant was quite rude with me and said no, I pointed out to him I would therefore have to leave. He wasn't too interested and so I ended the contract and switched to Vodofone saving over £300 a year.

tcall

Am I right in assuming that if you get Orange to change your tariff and upgrade your phone you are tied into anouther 12 month contract?

System

in reply to Stickyticket make sure you look around when starting a contract as i recently went from 3pay to a 3 contract, finding that i could have gotta better deal i returned the fone to Carphone then cos they didnt try to match the offer i when asking & sure enough another shop matched the deal i'd seen on the net

So always shop around & dont be afraid to ask a shop if they can match a deal

monomer

I tried this about a year ago with Vodaphone and would certainly recommend that you are all very careful with this.
I was on contract that was costing me about £12 per month and spotted that I could get an almost identical deal from OneTel. As my boyfriend lived in a Vodaphone blackout zone but OneTel use the O2 network, this seemed like a good idea.
Vodaphone's special secret department (that they only let you speak to when you utter those magic words "going to leave") offered me £11 per month + 60 minutes + 50 messages. How could I refuse?
Only when the bills started coming in did I notice the tarriff name included "6 months 50%" in it. I queried this and was told that they had signed me up to a deal that would cost me £11 for 6 months, then shoot up to £25 per month. What was worse, I was locked into it for 12 months. This was the first I had heard of this and certainly wouldn't have agreed - who would agree to pay more? Duh! But they insisted they remembered the conversation, that their staff member had definitely told me of this and that I had definitely agreed. Several angry letters later, I just gave up in frustration.
I will be leaving Vodaphone at the first possible opportunity.

I can certainly relate to this story.

Vodafone's special department made me a deal last November when I tried to leave. I was on an old Leisure 500 tariff and they offered to put me on a 'Weekend and Evening 900' tariff which also claimed to have 50 free texts.

All seemed well when the new tariff kicked in, however after my first bill, I found that they were charging me for the text messages I had sent! When I rang them up, they firstly apologised and said that they'd put the 50 free texts on right away. Then they rang up and said, actually their system wouldn't let them put the free texts on - would I like to pay an extra £3 for them instead?

When I told that I clearly would not like to pay for them, and that the original deal had definitely included 50 free texts, they told me that their notes about the deal said nothing about having any free texts!

Now I'm wishing I'd recorded the original conversation because it makes disputing some of these things a bit difficult later on!

Just a cautionary tale to add to the warning given earlier.

needtosave_4

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
followed martins tip on friday and should be receiveing my sparkly new V600 today!
I was on talk 200 but always went over my minutes allowance and ended up spending an average of £60/month. I'm now getting 500mins + 30 free texts (for first 3 months only - but hey it's better than nothing!) and my new phone all for £25/month...saving me over £400 a year! I'm chuffed to bits!
thanks Martin! :-*
the whole process was dead easy and the guy i spoke to was really helpful.

gazman_2

Reply to above: needtosave

You`ve done very well - Who did you speak to because I`ve been really fobbed off !!

System

Wow!

I called Vodaphone back because - having exhausted all avenues towards trying to get an upgraded contract from them as per your article - I had forgotten to get the transfer code to allow me to move to another network with my old number.

Bingo!

This time the operator immediately offered me a handset upgrade (camera phone) AND reduced my tarrif by 40% whilst keeping the same free minutes AND threw in a Bluetooth headset - the cost to be credited to my normal account.

I am amazed - and exremely grateful to Martin's Money Tips. Anything I can do in return?

leostevo

I played hardball with Vodaphone and quoted them a few examples and they offered me 100 cross-network free minutes, 150 free texts for £22 a month and a new camera phone. Not the best on offer but good enough if you are a vodaphone customer

System

Just done a deal with O2

Was on monthly contract with 02 250, having 250 cross network anytime minutes and 100 texts for £38.00/mth

Spoke directly to disconnections and was offered the following

Go onto 02 400, having 400 cross network anytime minutes and 100 texts but with double minutes and texts for six months i.e 800 minutes and 200 texts at 20% below actual tariff price i.e £36.00/mth

Ask about phone upgrade from Nokia 3650 to 6600. Told cost would be £125.00

Asked if they could do better. Came back with the same deal be said if I agreed to pay the full tariff price of £45.00/mth they would give me the phone for nothing.

So call me Mr Pickey but I decided to say YES....

System

121 actually rang me up and Reduced my bill because I was not making enough phone calls. So credit where its due.....Thank you