Direct to Network or Carphone Warehouse

ccdorset

Hi,

I am looking to upgrade my iPhone from a 6S to iPhone 8 64GB.

In the past I have always got a deal direct with the network (currently I am with Vodafone on a SIM only deal for £18 per month - Unlimited Calls/Texts, 8GB of Data and Spotify).

I have seen a deal via Carphone Warehouse of £34 per month with O2, £99 for handset. This is for Unlimited Calls/Texts and 15GB Data. This seems a lot better than I can get direct (appreciate I would lose the Spotify that I currently have with Vodafone).

Just wondering what people's views are on Carphone Warehouse? I am a bit nervous about trying them as I have always gone direct in the past. Also not sure if this is a good time to buy or not, as I believe typically the new iPhone models are announced in September so prices on the 8 could drop?

Thanks

Frozen_up_north

Buy a SIM free mobile (do you really need to change it?)...

Your deal with Voda is very expensive, for the same money on Three you get 30GB and unlimited TV viewing (Go Binge).

Stick with SIM only and shop around.

ccdorset

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

Buy a SIM free mobile (do you really need to change it?)...

Your deal with Voda is very expensive, for the same money on Three you get 30GB and unlimited TV viewing (Go Binge).

Stick with SIM only and shop around.

Thanks for your reply.

I was just a bit unsure whether Sim Only would work out cheaper. I know normally it would, but with the Carphone Warehouse Deal the total cost over the 2 years would be £915. (£34 * 24 = £816 + £99 handset)

If I bought the phone Sim Only for £699, I would have to find a SIM Only deal for less than £9 per month to make it cheaper than the CW deal.

I've had my iPhone 6S for about 2 and a half years now. The battery performance on it is getting quite bad, so in need of a replacement ideally.

Brummie85

My only advice to you regarding taking a deal with CPW is that make sure it's what you want.

I ordered a Huawei P20 Pro fro their sister company mobiles.co.uk. On Vodafone, good deal - worked out to be a few hundred quid less then buying the phone outright. But then sent it back because I had a perfectly good S7 that i Could go SIM only on.

Then the screen on the s7 cracked the week after. So I went looking for a new phone.

The short versions of what followed is that I now seem to fail the Vodafone credit check via CPW/mobiles.co.uk on fraud protection, because I'm trying to take out another phone so quickly. When I speak to Vodafone directly, they say I'm good with them. I can have 2 lines unto the value of £150/m and there are no blocks.

CPW can't give me a straight answer as to what's going on with their system. One advisor over the phone told me to wait 90 days from returning the P20 pro, another in store told me the system said to wait 30.

I would have stayed with EE but the signal is rubbish for where I work. Vodafone have a mast on the roof, every other network is poor there.

If you are going the CPW way, looking at mobiles.co.uk might give you an even better deal. You can also sweeten it a bit more by using a site like Quidco, which is offering upto £42 for new contracts at both sites if you go through the Quidco site.

keith1950

They also do their own credit check to eliminate fraud so no doubt you are failing foul of this... when this has happened to me ( two orders within a short period of time ) I rang up , explained , and they put it through manually. They told me that two orders in quick succession triggers their anti- fraud measures.

isabellac

Brummie85 wrote: »

My only advice to you regarding taking a deal with CPW is that make sure it's what you want.

I ordered a Huawei P20 Pro fro their sister company mobiles.co.uk. On Vodafone, good deal - worked out to be a few hundred quid less then buying the phone outright. But then sent it back because I had a perfectly good S7 that i Could go SIM only on.

Then the screen on the s7 cracked the week after. So I went looking for a new phone.

The short versions of what followed is that I now seem to fail the Vodafone credit check via CPW/mobiles.co.uk on fraud protection, because I'm trying to take out another phone so quickly. When I speak to Vodafone directly, they say I'm good with them. I can have 2 lines unto the value of £150/m and there are no blocks.

CPW can't give me a straight answer as to what's going on with their system. One advisor over the phone told me to wait 90 days from returning the P20 pro, another in store told me the system said to wait 30.

I would have stayed with EE but the signal is rubbish for where I work. Vodafone have a mast on the roof, every other network is poor there.

If you are going the CPW way, looking at mobiles.co.uk might give you an even better deal. You can also sweeten it a bit more by using a site like Quidco, which is offering upto £42 for new contracts at both sites if you go through the Quidco site.

As far as I'm aware, you can only complete one Vodafone credit check through CPW within a certain period of time (I think it's 30 days but could be 90). I'm not sure if this also applies to mobiles.co.uk but would assume so, which would explain why it would differ if you went to Vodafone direct rather than one of their partners - seems like it's a fraud prevention tool put in place by CPW.

OP - I have always had good experiences with CPW in-store, the service is usually decent and my local store has a good selection of stock available to take home or for free next-day delivery. Seems like you get a free Currys PC World gift voucher if you shop at a CPW inside a Currys store as well.

mobilejunkie

isabellac wrote: »

As far as I'm aware, you can only complete one Vodafone credit check through CPW within a certain period of time (I think it's 30 days but could be 90). I'm not sure if this also applies to mobiles.co.uk but would assume so, which would explain why it would differ if you went to Vodafone direct rather than one of their partners - seems like it's a fraud prevention tool put in place by CPW.

OP - I have always had good experiences with CPW in-store, the service is usually decent and my local store has a good selection of stock available to take home or for free next-day delivery. Seems like you get a free Currys PC World gift voucher if you shop at a CPW inside a Currys store as well.

Vodafone used to have that rule whether you got it direct or not. CPW have their own limits which have nothing to do with a credit check.

ccdorset

isabellac wrote: »

OP - I have always had good experiences with CPW in-store, the service is usually decent and my local store has a good selection of stock available to take home or for free next-day delivery. Seems like you get a free Currys PC World gift voucher if you shop at a CPW inside a Currys store as well.

Thank you, that sounds good about the free gift voucher as well. I'll have a look in store as well to compare the offers!

isabellac

ccdorset wrote: »

Thank you, that sounds good about the free gift voucher as well. I'll have a look in store as well to compare the offers!

No worries the Currys gift card is for £25 so it's worth going to that type of store vs a high street one as the tariffs, etc. are all exactly the same, the voucher is just a bonus.

CPW also offer a price promise as they compare their prices with the networks daily, so if you find a better deal in an EE/O2/Vodafone store (and provide proof of it) they will match it and pay the first month for you. As I understand it due to the tariff variations they offer sometimes being unique they can't necessarily sell you the exact same deal that the network store would be offering in that instance but would instead credit you with the difference (for example, if it was 2 quid a month cheaper in the Vodafone shop, they'd give you back 24 x £2, plus the first month's cost) as a refund, or it would come off any remaining balance you had left to pay for upfront costs or what have you. In the past I've seen some Carphone offers come up to as much as £350-400 cheaper than the networks direct over the 2 year contract period which is pure madness.

Hope this helps!

AndyPK

Yeah wait a month and you should save a bit of cash.

I guess it's a 24 month deal !?

sdduk

CPW have had the credit check thing in for years.

I had the same problem and was told to leave it 3 mths which i did and then went through fine and i'm talking 10 years ago so nothing changed on there credit side for CPW.
Also i never had any problems with them