Mum & Dad paid too much with O2 PAYG - Are you?

Fillyourboots

I feel somewhat guilty about having to post this but it may benefit another reader.

I understand the value in switching and shopping around - as any good moneysaver should - but I've unwittingly been letting my parents pay too much for calls.

I've been looking for better deals for both and I've found something suitable on different networks. I called O2 to arrange PAC details and found out that both were on a higher (legacy?) tariff for PAYG calls.

Both have have using O2 for a number of years now, and at least one of the SIMs was a BT Cellnet module. Both phones have now been transferred to O2's 'Basic' tariff.

To give you some idea of the difference this makes, a call potentially costing 50p now costs 15p. Before the last week, I naively thought networks always put their PAYG customers on whatever the going rate was - whether down or up.

I take two things away from this episode. Firstly, if someone has been using PAYG for a long time without changing network, ask them to check (or do so on their behalf) if they're on the cheapest tariff.

Secondly, should I be angry about this?

grumbler

No I am not.
And even 15p/min is far too much when you can pay as little as 8p on Tesco Lite tariff with the same O2 signal or just 3p if you switch to '3' (3g handset required).

http://mobilenetworkcomparison.org.uk/compare/

d123

Fillyourboots wrote: »

I feel somewhat guilty about having to post this but it may benefit another reader.

I understand the value in switching and shopping around - as any good moneysaver should - but I've unwittingly been letting my parents pay too much for calls.

I've been looking for better deals for both and I've found something suitable on different networks. I called O2 to arrange PAC details and found out that both were on a higher (legacy?) tariff for PAYG calls.

Both have have using O2 for a number of years now, and at least one of the SIMs was a BT Cellnet module. Both phones have now been transferred to O2's 'Basic' tariff.

To give you some idea of the difference this makes, a call potentially costing 50p now costs 15p. Before the last week, I naively thought networks always put their PAYG customers on whatever the going rate was - whether down or up.

I take two things away from this episode. Firstly, if someone has been using PAYG for a long time without changing network, ask them to check (or do so on their behalf) if they're on the cheapest tariff.

Secondly, should I be angry about this?

Be angry about what? O2 have been uncompetitive and expensive for years. Be angry with yourself for leaving them on O2 at all when they could have been paying far less per minute on a network with decent call charges.

macman

Telcom providers are under no obligation to put you on their cheapest tariff-any more than, say, insurers are.
They could equally have switched to giffgaff and got a cheaper rate on the O2 network.

cklass

macman wrote: »

Telcom providers are under no obligation to put you on their cheapest tariff-any more than, say, insurers are.

I don't think anyone expects to be automatically placed onto the cheapest tariff, but a lot of people aren't aware that they are not necessarily paying the latest rates like, say, you would on a standard energy tariff. This is something Ofcom really needs to raise awareness of because this is not a stupid assumption people are making, it's quite a logical one since you always have to pay the latest rates for pretty much everything else.

Fillyourboots

d123 wrote: »

Be angry about what? O2 have been uncompetitive and expensive for years. Be angry with yourself for leaving them on O2 at all when they could have been paying far less per minute on a network with decent call charges.

Harsh but fair. Anyway, this won't be a problem by the end of the week.