Is it true that getting a mobile from 3rd party website has drawbacks?

southsidergs

You could actually report the guy from Vodafone if you wanted, he denegrated another company with the lies which is a big no, no when selling

J_B

Have you considered a sim only deal - this is MSE remember

Heisenberg3000

southsidergs said:

You could actually report the guy from Vodafone if you wanted, he denegrated another company with the lies which is a big no, no when selling

Yeah, I thought it was pretty underhand, although if push came to shove I think the actual wording of the conversation was in the ilk of "with these third party companies you often have to be careful to watch out for issues such as _______" etc. - i.e. general and vague and so deniable

Heisenberg3000

J_B said:

Have you considered a sim only deal - this is MSE remember

Thanks - I hadn't, but your comment and another from a previous reply have made me look into it. As far as I can see, taking the MPD deal is still my best option. In case anyone else has the same criteria as me and is thus interested in my workings out: 

I want to get the Samsung S21 5G, and Vodafone were offering me to upgrade to it for £38 per month, plus £99 upfront, i.e. total cost of £1,011. (My current tariff works out at £28 per month, and I told them I didn't want to go higher.) On MPD I can get this phone but with an O2 contract, for upfront cost £280, and then monthly £21, i.e. total cost of £784, and I can trade in my old Samsung S9 for £115 (apparently).

The old S9 is starting to have problems (I swear they started suspiciously suddenly about a week before I got the message from Vodafone telling me it was time to upgrade...) so I don't really want to keep the phone and just get a SIM only deal for it. (MSE ultras would probably be horrified, but, what can I say, I love my phone, spend way too much time on it, and want a top class unit 

The other option would be just to buy the S21 separately, and then get a SIM only contract with that. However, as far as I can see, it is not actually possible to find the S21 available to buy for less than £648, on Amazon (via MSE's finder). Then I would probably look at Three's £6 p/m SIM only deal (4GB data). For 24 months (to be comparable to the above deals) then, this option would work out at £648 + £144 = £792, so actually a little more than just taking the O2 deal through MPD for £784 - and with that I get 10GB of data. Throw in the fact that MPD are saying I can trade in my old one for £115, and it seems like a no-brainer, even if that trade-in offer turns out to be dodgy.

All that I wanted to check in this thread is that the Vodafone retention team guy's scare stories about 'third party providers' were nonsense - and it looks like the consensus is that they are. So, thanks all, and I will happily go for this deal.

matelodave

Thanks for coming back, and it's refreshing to see that you've done your homework and know how much it's going to cost. As you say it looks like a reasonable deal, although I couldn't bring myself to pay that amount for a phone. My most expensive was an unlocked £150 MotoE4 from Tesco about four years ago and a paygo sim which is still going strong (TBH I doubt I've spent anywhere near the sort of cost you are contemplating on my mobiles and sims in 20 years)

Heisenberg3000

matelodave said:

Thanks for coming back, and it's refreshing to see that you've done your homework and know how much it's going to cost. As you say it looks like a reasonable deal, although I couldn't bring myself to pay that amount for a phone. My most expensive was an unlocked £150 MotoE4 from Tesco about four years ago and a paygo sim which is still going strong (TBH I doubt I've spent anywhere near the sort of cost you are contemplating on my mobiles and sims in 20 years)

When you look at it objectively it's eye watering, but it depends on usage and attitude. I pretty much run my life through my phone, work and pleasure... and I'm a real skinflint with most other things in life, pretty low outgoings!

macman

Heisenberg3000 said:

southsidergs said:

You could actually report the guy from Vodafone if you wanted, he denegrated another company with the lies which is a big no, no when selling

Yeah, I thought it was pretty underhand, although if push came to shove I think the actual wording of the conversation was in the ilk of "with these third party companies you often have to be careful to watch out for issues such as _______" etc. - i.e. general and vague and so deniable

Exactly. If you were to report every telcoms salesperson who strays from the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, then you wouldn't get much else done. 
This is what retentions staff do all day, every day: they know what wording they can get away with, and what they can't.

Daz2009

The only caveat I would say is from my experience virtual networks have had slower downloads speeds than the big boys.
I always buy my phones outright,sim free and then go with a network of my choice.I've been with them all,I'm currently with Plusnet.
I've even bought phones from the networks including Vodafone,chucked their sim away and put mine in.In the past you had to be aware sometimes the phones were locked to that particularly network but I've never had a phone that couldn't be unlocked if that was the case.I understand next year it will be forbidden to sell a locked phone

waseem432000

I have 2 EE contracts from a third party site (S10 and IPhone 11 from buy mobiles) and we never had any issues with speed and phones were brand new as well. I had a sim only deal with EE and the lowest they could go for an iPhone 11 was £52 with 20GB while I got that from that third party site for £41 with 60GB. When EE team gave me a call after I got my PAC code via sms, they tried similar lines with me as well that most third party sites won’t give the same level of protection (I mean it’s not like EE gave us private healthcare with a phone). They even told me that I couldn’t retain my EE number if I get a contract with EE via a third party site but I used that PAC code to move to VOXI for a month and then ported back to EE. I wouldn’t worry about anything Vodafone team told you as long as that third party site has good reviews. 

HonestJohn

MPD are part of AO so should be selling new product. Some companies sell phones that have been traded a few times. Maybe grey imports etc. Mobiles are a commodity item these days.