3 contract stuck!!

trooperdog

Hi just a quick one,

I have a contract on 3 for around £55 per month ive still got about ten months left.

I lost my fone a few months ago but didnt have insurance so have reverted for payg for the time being,
What im wondering ( and please leave the sarcasm) is...

Is there anyway I can get out of my contract, replace or renew or just reduce it???
Cheers TD

spadoosh

Why did you go to payg?! You ask for a replacement sim and buy a handset to place the new sim in.

The answer to your question is you can ask, they are likely to say no, or at best really sign you up to a new extended contract.

Im guessing you have a mobile now so why havent you put the contract sim in it?!

trooperdog

dunno its just a cheepy from tesco will they give me a new sim??

grumbler

In his article Mobile contracts: How to escape them early... , apparently updated in March 2011, but outdated in fact, Martin claims that at '3' you can downgrade to the lowest tariff in the second half of your min term. However, I am pretty sure that it is not the case and you cannot downgrade at all, let alone cancel. However, you can call them and appeal to their goodwill.

How have you 'reverted' to PAYG and for how long? What's the problem with just buying a new hanset? Very decent handsets like OSF2 / Vivacity are available for well below £100 and can be unlocked for free.

ETA: yes, '3' will give you a free replacement sim card. Just call them. I think they should have done this automatically when you called them to report your phone+sim stolen.

sdduk

trooperdog wrote: »

dunno its just a cheepy from tesco will they give me a new sim??

Why not they may or may not charge you for the Sim but it will only be about £5 if they charge

then you can use your contract again i can't see them upgrading you just yet but when you get to about 6mths left they might but there no harm in asking for an upgrade they can only say no

Apart from that there's nothing else you can do they won't just cancel your contract because you lost the phone it wasn't there thought you lost it.

zibbsy

I got out of my 3 contract a few months ago under the grounds that signal strength had become inadequate in my house, and college. After multiple calls and false promises I left the network with no charges.

Don't lie of course.
Tell them upfront you've lost your original handset and that was your main reason for taking the contract out in the first place.
Try mentioning you're willing to pay a discounted price to "upgrade" your handset.

Guys_Dad

zibbsy wrote: »

I got out of my 3 contract a few months ago under the grounds that signal strength had become inadequate in my house, and college. After multiple calls and false promises I left the network with no charges.

Don't lie of course.
Tell them upfront you've lost your original handset and that was your main reason for taking the contract out in the first place.
Try mentioning you're willing to pay a discounted price to "upgrade" your handset.

Careful they don't treat that as a "new" contract and tie you in for another 2 years.

Unlocked handsets are available from Carphonewarehouse for a pittance.

zibbsy

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Careful they don't treat that as a "new" contract and tie you in for another 2 years.

Unlocked handsets are available from Carphonewarehouse for a pittance.

True.

I'd avoid the carphonewarehouse. Their handsets are rather steep.

I'd consider buying a like-new phone from cex.co.uk
They have a hundreds of local stores.
They have a grading scheme on handsets. A being the best, C the worst.

HOWEVER, if a handset is sent to them without a box, manual, software CD's etc, they will atomically grade it C, knocking off about 20% off the grade A price.

I picked up an HTC Desire HD for £180. Not a single scratch on it.