Get paid £40 for owning an iPhone 5S 64GB??

mapman_2

Well not quite, but late last year I posted a query about buying an iPhone 5S, and I've ended up paying £664.69 for an iPhone 5S 64GB on a 12-month contract that includes unlimited texts, calls and data. That's a £44.31 saving over Apple's list price for an iPhone 5S 64GB!

I said I would report back on my experiences, so here I am. Here's how it works:

Using MSE's Cheap iPhone checker I found this deal with Mobile Phones Direct:
Apple iPhone 5s 64GB: £244.99 on a 12-month Vodafone contract @ £47.00 per month with unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB data per month - which works out at £808.99 at the end of the 12-month contact. That wasn't the absolute cheapest deal (£795.99, also with Mobile Phones Direct), but the unlimited calls and data made the extra £13 worth it.

Mobile Phones Direct are probably one of the worst companies to deal with - you are waiting on the phone for ever for customer service, and I had to wait a month for delivery of the phone rather than the stated 13 days - but everything came right in the end.

When I registered with Vodafone I found that as my wife was an NHS employee I was eligible for the Vodafone Employee Advantage programme (vodafone.co.uk/vea) - so that gave me a 20% discount on my contract - bringing it down to £37.60/month. Total cost £696.19 with handset - which is cheaper than the cost of the handset alone at the Apple Store! (£709)

I've only just got the VEA confirmed - it is supposed to be registered within 30 days of a new contract starting, but again, with a little nagging, things finally came good - and I've been given a backdated refund.

Finally, I bought the phone through Top Cashback, which should give me £31.50 for a new Mobile Phones Direct contract. Now I haven't got that yet, and I'm not too hopeful reading the Top Cashback reviews, but that would bring the overall cost down to £664.69 - that's £44.31 less than the cost of the handset!

So, it's a lot to pay out both initially and monthly, but after 12 months the handset's mine and I'm free to go for the cheapest SIM-only deal. I'm rather pleased with this deal.

mije1983

Worked out well for you, but for anyone else I wouldn't bank on the VEA discount. Usually you have to purchase directly from Vodafone.

roonaldo

you wont get cashback on top of the discount you have received. but well done.

grumbler

mapman wrote: »

Get paid £40 for owning an iPhone 5S 64GB??...

...that would bring the overall cost down to £664.69 - that's £44.31 less than the cost of the handset!

How come?
What I see is that you pay £696.19 for owing it, i.e. the full price with £44.31 discount.

pepdavies

My car cost less than that lol

Rusty!

Pft... my car cost less than half that, I win

neil40

You would have to pay some people to have an iPhone!..haha

Zebrdee

Mmm, a lot of work and a lot of money for a crApple product, on a bad network. A £99 Moto G from Tesco is far better value.