02 downgrade issues

TwinklesMum

I took out a contract with 02 in May 2010..i rang in March 2011 to say i was in hardship as hubby lost his job and i asked if i could downgrade my tariff..i was offered a £25 per month tariff. I came away after saying i wanted to speak to my hubby etc before i took it up.

after a delay i rang them back. Explained my situation etc and was told "oh no way would you have been offered that tariff" I AM NOT A LIAR!! I know what i was told..so i asked to be put through to cancellations. He did agree i could have been offered that tariff but im unable to have it now as ive "gone past" 12 months into my contract.

ATM im on £35 a month iphone tariff..i am quite a big data user so have to have a bolt on for £5.11 too. He said i could drop me to £31 per month, but that doesnt have data allowance and id have to pay an extra £10 per month for data!! Do ur maths n thats MORE than i paying now. Hardly an incentive to keep customers huh?

To cancel early it will cost £420!! Im really in 2 minds now to just not pay and go on payg or keep haggling to see what i can do with them.

What would u do in my situation?

spiro

Most recent contracts no longer appear to allow you to downgrade part way through the contract.
When you say "to just not pay ", you will end up with the baliffs round.

albionrovers

It's a contract. If 02 pulled a good contract away from the customer half-way into the fixed term then there would be uproar?

Hammyman

TwinklesMum wrote: »

To cancel early it will cost £420!! Im really in 2 minds now to just not pay and go on payg or keep haggling to see what i can do with them.

What would u do in my situation?

If you go on PAYG, you'll still have to pay the monthly fee or the £420 termination fee.

You signed a contract. To get out of it you have to pay. If you don't pay they will take you to county court and get a CCJ against you then followed up by bailiffs.

grumbler

TwinklesMum wrote: »

IHe did agree i could have been offered that tariff but im unable to have it now as ive "gone past" 12 months into my contract.

*I think* they are talking rubbish. You cannot downgrade earlier, but you can downgrade to the next lower tariff at any time after passing the middle of the contract. Check the T&C of your contract.
However, this will not make much difference as the next lower tariff I see is £32 and doesn't have data included.

..i am quite a big data user so have to have a bolt on for £5.11 too. He said i could drop me to £31 per month, but that doesnt have data allowance and id have to pay an extra £10 per month for data!! ...

What would u do in my situation?

Cut your data usage? Use WiFi?

coolesticeking

Contact O2 in writing and explain your situation:

Telefonica UK Limited Correspondence Department
PO Box 202
Houghton Regis
LU6 9AG

I did this and they as a gesture of good will dropped my tariff down by £15 a month and was a huge help.

BRSurvivor

It seems odd that they would offer you a £25 per month tarriff. O2s T&Cs when you took your contract out allowed you to downgrade by £5 per month after half of your contract was up. Since then they have changed T&Cs so that you can only downgrade once after half of your contract has elapsed.

So, in theory you should be able to downgrade to the lower tariff (which is now £32 including the 500MB internet bolt on), and you will then be on new T&Cs. The new T&Cs allow you to downgrade once, so you may be able to convince them to downgrade you again.

Alternatively, downgrade once to £32, then cancel your internet bolt on, and you'll be put on the lower one, saving £3 a month, so £29 a month to pay. If you want out, that's 12 x £29, so £348. Sell your iPhone 3GS to help pay for it?

Wintermute

grumbler wrote: »

*I think* they are talking rubbish. You cannot downgrade earlier, but you can downgrade to the next lower tariff at any time after passing the middle of the contract. Check the T&C of your contract.
However, this will not make much difference as the next lower tariff I see is £32 and doesn't have data included.

Yup, if you took your contract out in March 2010 then you could downgrade your tariff once after 9 months, at which point you'd be moving to new T&C which state you can only downgrade your tariff once and only when you're at least half way through your contract (so it could be at the 12 month point). So assuming you've not downgraded your tariff yet you can downgrade it once today and once again next month, but it does have to be to one of the newer tariffs, there's no way around that.

grumbler wrote: »

Cut you data usage? Use WiFi?

Seems like the most logical option, obviously if you're downgrading your tariff you're going to get less in terms of allowances, if you want the same allowances then don't lower your tariff. If money is so tight then 1GB of data is a luxury, despite having unlimited data I very rarely go over 1GB of data despite the fact that I very rarely use wifi, go for the £6 - 500MB option, you wont get charged if you go over, but you get unlimited access to BTOpenzone & The Cloud. If you had downgraded to the £25 tariff when you were offered it you would have only had 500MB.

Contracts don't suddenly become null & void if personal circumstances change and what O2 have done is within their T&C, while I don't doubt that you were offered a goodwill downgrade of going from £35 to £25 that was just a goodwill gesture and it's not something that needs to be kept available indefinitely. If you're intent on getting on that tariff the new inequivalent will be £27 and that will give you slightly more than the £25 tariff would (20MMS + tethering), call O2, be polite (don't accuse anybody of calling you a liar) and explain the situation and ask for the call to be pulled & listened to then if the call backs up your story move to the new tariff as they will honour that agreement, but don't try and fight for the old £25 tariff as it's not possible and it is your own fault for waiting this long before trying to take them up on the offer.

hello2007

I had my iphone stolen and downgraded from £40 to the £31 and then downgraded the following month to £20.50. O2 were really helpful and I had no problems. I lost my old unlimited iphone data plan but there was no point staying on it if I had no iphone.

Burnley_Lad

Claiming 'hardship', and then continuing to want to use your iphone? bloody hell!

TwinklesMum

Burnley_Lad wrote: »

Claiming 'hardship', and then continuing to want to use your iphone? bloody hell!

Where in that message did it say I would be continuing to use my iPhone?? Huh?? FYI I am selling it hence the reason for a downgrade in tariff!!