Old BTCellnet PUFFL tariff - credit balance

Stuart_W

I have an old BTCellnet (now O2) Pay Upfront for Life SIM card from 2002.

I received a text from O2 today advising bill has been produced and my 96p credit balance will be carried forward.

Any other PUFFL users out there had the same? Not had a bill or made a chargeable call for years so surprised to see a credit.

thefirs

Install the o2 app and have a look at your past bills.  The credit may date from way back, or perhaps a small credit for loss of service. They'll refund it if you ask.

millie

Mine has shown that I have unlimited calls and texts and 500mb of internet included for the last few months. I have made a few short calls to test it and have not been charged. If I had more internet included I could cancel my other contact with ID Mobile.

PutYourWelliesOn

I paid for BT Cellnet All Time PUFFL £199 back in the day, giving me 50 free minutes of monthly calls to landlines. Then O2 changed it to include free texts, later still, to unlimited calls and unlimited texts, and then added free 500MB data per month. Emails come out from Telefónica UK Limited now and then advising of price hikes etc. I'm never sure if these will apply to me until the bill comes in due to the nature of the Pay Up Front for Life principle. Now, the latest email says "from April 2025, the cost of your airtime plan will increase by £1.80 a month." - Well, to my mind that implies it's a notice not intended for me since it assumes I'm already paying them something which I'm not — and I don't normally exceed the limits so it's currently £0 a month.  I am concerned that the O2 services added gradually over time are a way to eliminate the real intention of a PUFFL contract. So I am watching this space to see what happens.

PutYourWelliesOn

PutYourWelliesOn said:

 "from April 2025, the cost of your airtime plan will increase by £1.80 a month." 

According to newspaper reports O2 and other companies have to specify how much a contract will rise by as dictated by OfCom. Previously, increases were expressed to users as a percentage linked to inflation. So I was on a £0 contract and if they said it was going up by 8%, 8% of nothing is nothing so I would expect no increase. Now, I'm just not sure.

flaneurs_lobster

I got one of those "Pounds & Pennies Increase" emails from O2 too. It informed me that the data-only plan for my smartwatch will increase by £1.50 next April.

I do not have, nor have I ever had, a smartwatch plan from O2. 

The phone number on the email references a PAYM plan that I do have (£8/mth). Do they think I'm going to renew this plan after an 18% increase just because they now have to specify it in £&p? Nah.

simax

Anything taken out prior to the change in terms will still increase by RPI +3.9%… and if your plan is exempt it will remain so.