Am I being greedy?

Chickusdickus

Hello, I've been with Vodafone for over ten years i think, give or take.

I've never paid more than £15 a month for a contract and never paid for a phone. My last contract was for £15 with 300 minutes and 1000 text. I was given a Sony Ericsson C90, after some serious negotiation, in Sept 08 on an 18 month contract (worth £400 or more at the time). Feb 2010 I went onto 30 day contract for £15 as this time around, and the first in ten years, they couldn't offer me a deal/upgrade that was better than the phone(C905) they gave me 18 months before.

\i was a bit miffed to say the least and couldn't understand it. I wanted an Andriod phone, but they said they were too expensive and the days of great upgrades like the C905 are gone for me. I even threatened to leave, sending a letter of intent, but they either called my bluff, or just weren't bothered, so i bottled it and changed to 30 day contract to have a rethink and check the offers.

12 months pass and I thought I'd call and try my luck.

Basically they offered me the HTC Desire HD for £82, with 300 mins, unlimited text, 500MB data on a 24month contract, for £20.42pm.

Averaged over the 24 months this is £23.84

Are you still with me?


I found a few deals, namely with Dialaphone and buymobilephones.net offering free phones on £25.53pm but with 600 mins unlim text and data.

Also the same deal as Voda but only 29.99 for the phone and not £82.

I called Voda today with my concerns. Basically they said, sorry there's nothing more we can do, we have offered you a great deal. You can always remove the data and bring your monthly down to £15.



Am I being greedy? I said i wasn't happy, why would i pay £82 for the phone when i get it for £29.99 elsewhere.

Plus at an average cost of 23.84 per month on paper, actual £20.42 + £82 for phone, is it worth me just moving to T-mobile for £25.53 per month, free phone, 600 mins, unlim data and text.

grumbler

IMHO new customers are likely to get a better deal nowadays.

Desire with 300min and 'unlimited' or 500Mb is available for free with below £20p.m. (after autocashback) 24-month contracts and with extra £30 quidco cashback.

http://www.buymobilephones.net/mobile-phones/HTC/HTC-Desire/85,35201,All,tt1,ct1

Chickusdickus

Thanks for your reply grumbler, but I have the Desire HD. It's a fantastic phone and I definitly want to keep it.

Voda contracts start at £25 for new customers with only 100 mins. plus £199 for the phone.



I'm thinking it's still a good deal, and wondering if i should just diable the data at £5 a month and see what my usage is like. After i pay £82 for the phone, monthly works out at £18.80 or so over the 24, but only £15.42 actual.

gjchester

Chickusdickus wrote: »

Thanks for your reply grumbler, but I have the Desire HD. It's a fantastic phone and I definitly want to keep it.

Voda contracts start at £25 for new customers with only 100 mins. plus £199 for the phone.

I'm thinking it's still a good deal, and wondering if i should just diable the data at £5 a month and see what my usage is like. After i pay £82 for the phone, monthly works out at £18.80 or so over the 24, but only £15.42 actual.

Long and short is loyalty counts for nothing these days its all about your spend

The plan you offered 300 minutes, unlimited texts and 500mb of data is available for £15 on a 12 moonth contract, so your paying £82 + 24 x £5.42 for the phone = £212

As you say the montly cost is effectivly £23.84 so your saving
£30 over the contract taking the offer, whereas you can get a £65 cashback theourh buymobilephones and maybe quidco.

Data is often now part of the bundle, and you may not be able to remove it. If you do beware that the out of bundle data costs can be expensive and it may be cheaper to keep it than buy the data outside the bundle.

Smartphones do use a lot of data even when apparantly idle as they check items such as email and weather. If you don't have data you must deliberatly bork the settings so it cannot connect.

All this really just proves you getting a slightly better deal than a new customer if they had gone direct, but a worse deal if they went via a reseller, but remember you can't guarantee quidco or cashback, but overall it's no better or worse than anyone else.

Chickusdickus

Thanks for that GJChester.

I can add or remove the data bundle anytime I like effectivley making it £15.33 per month, and to be honest so far, i've connected in home using Wi-fi. I left the house ealier and purposly used the network connection 3G just to try it and i downloaded a Data counter app.

I can also use the data without the bundle but at a cost of £1 per day, midnight to midnight or part there of it seems, or i may have to give notice to use it, possibly upto 24hrs, even then my dload limit is 25MB.


again on paper it works out to be 23.84 if i keep the data bundle too, but for 25.54 i ge tthe phone free and 600 mins with T-mobile.

To be honest my main concern has always been that mobile phones are a rip off, that's why i've never paid more than £15 for a contract in ten years, but i am a very light user.

The new Desire s has/is coming out soon so I expect things to change again, and being tied to a 24 month contract scares the bejeebus outta me.

Tmobile, thru buymobilephones.net are offering free handset, 300 mins and text, plus internet for 25.54 on an 18 month. I think this maybe the best option, but my head is done in and i can't think anymore.