ORANGE Playing Hardball with my upgrade options...

mkjones

Hey everyone (first post! :beer: )

Anyway, I have been with Orange for ages.

Thing is, I have an old smarphone, and its knackered.

I've had the same model phone for 2 years. I used my last 2 'upgrades' to get the same phone over again because at the time it was the only one I liked on the market.

The problem is, this model phone is prone to errors. Over the years I have learned to live with them but now, I've had enough! So I would like to upgrade NOW as the phone is on its last legs.

After probably 8 hours of calls to orange I have learned this:

I'm currently 12 months into an 18 month contract which means I can't upgrade for free/cheap for another 6 months.

If I want to upgrade now it will cost me £200 plus the cost of a handset, which is another £200.

I asked about 'buying out' my next 6 months they said it would cost me around £200 and I would still have to pay the handset fee for a new phone (£200).

I told them I would sign up for another 12 months NOW if they would give me a free/discounted upgrade, they said no. :mad:

I have pleaded that I am a loyal customer and told them how my last 2 upgrades were basically NULL as I have had the same phone as well as begging and pleading and saying I wanted to cancel my contract. I still get nowhere

Does anyone have any advice as to how I can get an upgrade now?

I am willing to pay £50 to £100 for a new, decent, working, phone. I am NOT willing to pay £400 for one!

Any help would make me very happy

chris_spackman

Buy out your contract.
When they have sent the paperwork and the money clears go to your local orange shop. If you have an old phone that works take it with you and you could get about £150 cash back over the term of your new contract ie £150 deducted from your bill. Try and get a pay as you go sim before you go in though,i will explain now.
You will get 10% discount for keeping you pay as you go number
£150 cash back if you have a phone that works with charger
So if you chose say racoon 35 you would get 700 xnet mins 100 texts unlimited landline calls.
This is where the discounts come in.
£35 - 10% = £31.50 - £8.33 (£150 cashback over 18mths)= £23.17 per month for Racoon 35

mkjones

chris_spackman wrote: »

Buy out your contract.

Interesting

If I buy it out, what should I expect to pay? The full amount or could I do the trick of throwing down to a LOWW tariff and paying that off?

chris_spackman

How much is your current plan per month?

reehsetin

chris_spackman wrote: »

Try and get a pay as you go sim before you go in though,i will explain now.
You will get 10% discount for keeping you pay as you go number

the sim would have to have been registered for over 6months
plus that would mean them changing their number

£150 buyback depends on the phone they want to take

basically, you have two options
pay the upgrade fee (this would be the £200) - allows you to upgrade early
buying out contract would be paying off the line rental so e.g. 6x30
the fact your talking about £400 in total im guessing you have to pay for the handset you want aswell?
what handset is it?

basically orange upgrades work via bandings, at the mo im guessing your band is 1 or 2 out of 5, the early upgrade frees were standardised recently in the next few months it should drop rapidly (from memory 2 months early is £50 early upgrade fee) so maybe waiting just a little while will help

chris_spackman

could be too get the payg sim,register it and continue to use your current phone etc and then do what i said before. My soon to be mother in law:eek: did just that and now she loves me!:A Yes you may have to change your number but hey...if it saves you a bit of cash then all is good.

mkjones

Its a £30 a month contract. I have a £10 loyalty discount on top of that however so it works out at only £20 for my line rental.

Sadly I really can't change my number, I have 1000s of business cards and promotional items for my business with this number. This is one of the reasons I'm worried about buying out my contract.

I would like the HTC Touch Dual handset which is about £200 if I upgrade now or early, hence the £400.

Looking at all your advice I think I will have to wait till around February and try again. In a few months my upgrade fee will be less and perhaps they will be in a better mood to negotiate after Xmas!

reehsetin

do you know what 'band' (orange upgrade term they may have mentioned it) you are?

Woby_Tide

mkjones wrote: »

I have pleaded that I am a loyal customer and told them how my last 2 upgrades were basically NULL as I have had the same phone

I'm not surprised they laugh you out if you're using that as a bargaining tool with them, you've had upgrades, the phoens cost Orange, if you hadn't taken the two upgrades you might have had a bit more leeway with them

mkjones

Woby_Tide wrote: »

I'm not surprised they laugh you out if you're using that as a bargaining tool with them, you've had upgrades, the phoens cost Orange, if you hadn't taken the two upgrades you might have had a bit more leeway with them

Sure, they were classed as upgrades but you would bet they wanted shut of these old phones just as much as I wanted one.

If I had worked it right I could have got a brand new phone a year ago, eBayed it for its RRP and used that money to buy an upgrade now :mad:

Anyway, I give up, for now. I will call them again in the new year to see if they will offer me anything.

neilied

i'm guessing your band 2 because of the loyalty discount. which handset do you have at the mo?
Anyhow return the hardball approach saying that you have had the same handset albeit upgraded for the past few years. even try going down the mis sold 18mnth contract route. all shops try selling the upgrade as 18 mnth only in fact phones4u only do this. who did you upgrade with last time? rules changed as of 27th nov 07. in contract upgrades can now only be done through orange direct or orange retail store.
contact orange direct get through to upgrades and haggle the amounts if kind they will drop your fee to £50.00. if not get to the i want to leave orange dept. the HTC touch is the latest in a long line of smartphones. these are the lowest costing phones you can get from orange. phone costs are dependent on tariff £20/mth = £99.99, £25/mth = £49.99, £30/mth or more and handset is free. they are being a bit beyond asking £200.00 also if you have a £20/mth surely the buy out is only £120 (but don't do it)

aim for £50 upgrade and £50 fee and if need be up tariff to £30 for 3 mnths then drop back to £20. DO NOT AGREE TO 18 MNTH CONTRACT. orange even now offer a 24 mnth contract.(never seen a handset last 12 let alone 24!!!!)