Best Sim-only Deals guide Discussion

veryfastguy · 18 February 2018 at 11:43AM

MSE search lists this article as the only hit for FreedomPop but they aren't mentioned on the page (unless it's hidden in a GIF or something).
I've just been caught out by their £65 upgrade trial that they hide in the T&Cs for the "Free" SIM. You can cancel within a month, but they wait a month before shipping your SIM & don't email you with a warning.
My faith in MSE to save me from these scams has taken a big hit since I searched here before signing up!
Searching the forums brings up a closed post saying there's a permanent thread for this but without a link to it, & the forum search is broken - "Sorry - no matches" even though there are threads with Freedompop in the title.

veryfastguy · 18 February 2018 at 12:04PM

richjee wrote: »

Hi there just came across Freedom Pop sim only deals 99p for a sim card with no monthly fee and 200 minutes, 200 texts and 200 mb data.

Does anyone have experience with this, seems too good to be true?

they have 2 other deals &4.99 per month for 500/500/500 and £6.99 per month for unlimited/unlimited/2250 mb data

They hide a £65/year tariff upgrade trial in the "Free" SIM Terms & Conditions (which you can't avoid). You can cancel this upgrade trial within a month, but the really clever part of the scam is that they wait a month before shipping your "Free" SIM & don't send any warning emails that the trial cancellation is expiring. First you know about it is the £65 up front charge for the whole year on your card.
Why MSE hasn't broadcast this from the rooftops (or mentioned it in the Sim-only article) is a mystery. Spotting scams is why I come here, but my confidence in MSE is flagging, hence this post to help others.

[Deleted User] · 18 February 2018 at 12:20PM

craigr98 wrote: »

With PlusNet mobile texts fail to send on the first attempt, but used to get that with Life mobile also.

Must be a problem either with your local mast or your phone/settings/text app because it's certainly not an issue with mine.

drphila · 18 February 2018 at 8:26PM

veryfastguy wrote: »

They hide a £65/year tariff upgrade trial in the "Free" SIM Terms & Conditions (which you can't avoid). You can cancel this upgrade trial within a month, but the really clever part of the scam is that they wait a month before shipping your "Free" SIM & don't send any warning emails that the trial cancellation is expiring. First you know about it is the £65 up front charge for the whole year on your card.
Why MSE hasn't broadcast this from the rooftops (or mentioned it in the Sim-only article) is a mystery. Spotting scams is why I come here, but my confidence in MSE is flagging, hence this post to help others.

From a quick glance at their terms, I couldn't see anything about the statutory 14 day cooling off period. Under consumer law, the cooling off period only starts when you have been notified, or have agreed to T&Cs that explicitly tell you about this, or 365 days after you sign up, which ever is the sooner

Whether, legally, their own 30 day cancellation period supersedes this statutory requirement, I don't know.

More4me · 27 February 2018 at 11:59PM

d123 wrote: »

You know that’s not how contracts work, don’t you?

How does the network know in advance you want to download the last season of Desperate Housewives which takes 25GB of data or phone your cousin in Australia for a 17 hour chat?

You use the service and are billed for your use at the end of the billing cycle, if that doesn’t suit you then you’re a PAYG user.

Sorry to come in a little late here but why doesn't the energy companies or BT landline do not require credit card details, they will be billing us in future for current usage.

Personnely I think online retailers are overindulging with our personnel data. For example If I am buying a shirt online then they want to know my DOB, why? More data they have about us the more they will flood our inbox.

If you will be paying something with CC then yes you will need to furnish that detail otherwise why?

Simi_27 · 23 March 2018 at 12:01PM

I called up my network provider - EE and told them about the Three deal of unlimited texts, calls and 12GB data at £14 that i wanted to switch to as i was currently paying £22 with the increase. They offered me the unlimited calls and texts, 10GB at £15. Done deal!

jansel · 27 March 2018 at 10:02AM

BEWARE! when negotiating a 'deal' with Virgin. My Tale of Woe.

I was paying £9.27 per month to Virgin Mobile for a 30 day rolling contract. I found a better deal for £5 per month with iD mobile so contacted Virgin and spoke to their retention team. They then offered me a similar deal for £6/month which I accepted. I asked for confirmation by email but they said they aren't allowed to send outgoing email and that I will receive the new contract by post. I have now received my first bill which is for £13/month. So I contacted Virgin Mobile and they said that the person who offered me the £6 deal was not allowed to and they cannot honour this deal. The guy had the nerve to tell me that in any case I don't even use the allowance of mins/txt/data that I have in my £6 deal so I should take a lower allowance deal for £6 !! I asked to speak to the supervisor saying I wasn't happy with this treatment. She just said "Sorry, there isn't anything they can do". I am also a long standing Virgin Media customer with the 200MB Fibre BB, Full House TV and anytime phone paying £100/month. I reminded them that I will be taking my custom elsewhere but they didn't seem to care. So, in the first instance I cancelled my SIM contract with 30 days' notice and will now be doing the same for the BB/TV/Phone package.

[Deleted User] · 27 March 2018 at 10:08AM

jansel wrote: »

So, in the first instance I cancelled my SIM contract with 30 days' notice and will now be doing the same for the BB/TV/Phone package.

You're aware you'll lose your number? If you want to keep it stop the cancellation and ask for the PAC.

dazzaofdagenham · 27 March 2018 at 1:42PM

Currently have unlimited calls.texts and 16gb of data with Spotify for 19 pounds per month, thinks it’s meant to be 32 pounds per month as bill says 13 pounds per month of discount.

So the 1st year is almost over and I asked about a renewal of the same plan.
Vodafone wouldn’t entertain this and suggested I go for the higher plan of 25 pounds per month with the Spotify.

I declined this and asked for my PAC.

Got a call back with unlimited.calls.texts and 20gb if data with a Spotify subscription for 16 pounds per month.....and 2 months free.

Winnner winner chicken dinner :j:j

Timalay · 29 March 2018 at 2:01PM

Got a new deal with Tesco last week. Was getting 750 mins, 5,000 texts, and 6GB of data for £12.50. Now for the same money, I get everything almost the same except I now get 5,000 mins.