Third party “upgrade”

smeddum

My wife is going to upgrade her phone and would quite like a flip 3. Currently she is with Vodafone who seems to have split there calls and phone prices so she would end up paying over double what she is now and what I am paying this seems to be on all phones surprised I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere. On the moneysavingexpert comparison site she can get the same phone on Vodafone for half price through a third party having gone into store was told you can’t keep your number if you go through a third party with Vodafone and they can’t match the price. 

This seems insane business practice and totally unfair to hold onto the number. They are going to lose her custom and our broadband as that is up for renewal. Is this correct and is there anyway round it? Thanks

flaneurs_lobster

Splitting the costs of phone and airtime makes things more transparent and easier to compare deals.

If you don't mind paying for two airtime contracts for a month or so (can't imagine you would if you are going to be spending North of 700 notes on a phone) then get the deal from the reseller (as a new Vodafone customer), get a PAC from Vodafone for the old number, transfer it to a "donor" PAYG sim, then PAC again onto your new sim.

jon81uk

third parties can charge different prices, same as Tesco charge different prices to Waitrose.

There is nothing illegal at present about offering deals to new customers only either.

It would be worth checking if it is cheaper to buy the phone from Samsung (they offer 0% finance) and get a seperate SIM only tariff.

flaneurs_lobster

jon81uk said:

It would be worth checking if it is cheaper to buy the phone from Samsung (they offer 0% finance) and get a seperate SIM only tariff.

Good deal there at the moment, £150 trade-in for any smartphone, free Buds2 and a year of Disney+. 

smeddum

Thanks the Samsung deal with giffgaff sim seems the best deal. 

I am not saying third parties can’t charge what they want and Vodafone can’t, my complaint is with saying they won’t switch the number over without the complicated work around that was kindly suggested.

I personally don’t actually need transparency the same as I don’t need to know what I am paying for each part of a sandwich I just want a fair price which it isn’t close to on Vodafone. 

username

smeddum said:

Thanks the Samsung deal with giffgaff sim seems the best deal. 

I am not saying third parties can’t charge what they want and Vodafone can’t, my complaint is with saying they won’t switch the number over without the complicated work around that was kindly suggested.

I personally don’t actually need transparency the same as I don’t need to know what I am paying for each part of a sandwich I just want a fair price which it isn’t close to on Vodafone. 

I used to work in the industry and on the computer systems they use for third-party dealers at Vodafone there is no way of physically upgrading the existing Vodafone number. There's only a method for doing additional lines and fresh credit checks from scratch for a new connection.

In any case when the networks did allow a third party to do an upgrade, the commercial arrangements would be weighted towards new connections, with various bonuses, targets etc as opposed to the upgrades.

So even commercially it was not viable to offer a straight upgrade since the commissions that would be paid out by the network would be different sometimes by hundreds of pounds; if you were to look like-for-like on the same package as an upgrade vs new connection.

That's certainly not to say it is particularly equitable situation, however, that is the way the networks operate and no doubt some suit  gets paid many digits for supposedly getting "new" people to join the network.

Sadly nothing good in life is without its legwork. Summarised, the three routes you can take are:

- Use the PAC method and port your number to a different pay as you go sim as described, this will enable you to get the new subscriber offer if you wish to stick with Vodafone and like what you see online.

- Phone up Vodafone and talk to disconnections/retentions/leaving (whatever they are called) and haggle to see if they are able to offer anything?

- Buy/finance the phone and go for a sim card separately, on Vodafone or another network.