T-Mobile Retentions

greyster

Megan.... Copilot is not as great as you think. You are paying a lot more for the same phone with this additional software.

The N95 without copilot still have GPS and therefore you can look at alternative software that meets your requirements. Avoiding copilot means you can get the phone free.

Just to let you know, Nokia Maps comes with the phone and you can download Google Maps for it. Both these are free and support GPS.

The only thing you really miss is voice prompts. Do you need this?

Even if you do there is probably cheaper software you can get for the N95.

Also note if you renew directly through T-Mobile you are more likely to get better offers/retention offers at future renewals.

bobstheboy

Being in the last month of my contract (Flex 25) I contacted the Loyalty and Retentions team of T-Mobile. I explained I did not need a new phone and just wanted a similar package for a reasonable price. After a couple of calls and emails I was offered an allowance of £40 a month to use for calls (200 mins) or texts (200) or a combination of the two, at a cost of £15 per month. This was for a 12 contract.

After searching their web site I found a Sim only deal offering 200 mins AND 800 texts for £15 a month on a 30 day contract. I contacted the above team again and asked why I had not been offered this deal or better. They would not give a satisfactory answer but offered to try to give me the same deal. I was angry they had not offered this deal first time and I had to search their web site for it, consequently I have my PAC and will leave T-Mobile.

Beware of this sharp practice and do your homework before accepting any so called deal.

Bob

Welliesorter

I'm in the last month of an 18 month Flext 20 web'n'walk contract with T-Mobile. This costs me £23.40 per month and seemed reasonable value when I took it out as I also got the must-have phone of 2006, the SonyEricsson K800i. In fact it turned out to be better than I thought because I didn't realise that the £5 per month discount lasted for the life of the contract.

I can now log into the the 'Upgrades & Renewals' section of the T-Mobile web site to see what's on offer if I decide to renew the contract. To say it's disappointing is an understatement. The only 'free' phone is the Nokia 3109. Everything else needs a significant extra payment.

The obvious direct replacement for my K800i would be the nearly identical K810i but even this would cost me £129.99. If I want a genuine upgrade to a better phone the amounts get silly. A Nokia N95 (the old version, not the newer 8GB one) would cost £409.99. The most obvious upgrade, the K850i, isn't even on the list although it is available to new customers.

The alternative to a new phone would be to have a £10 per month discount. This means that I would actually be paying £120 more than the quoted prices by taking one of the phones on offer. It would therefore be cheaper not to have a T-Mobile upgrade at all but to accept the discount and buy a new phone elsewhere. The price for an unconnected K800i at Expansys.com is £190.95. Ignoring postage costs, it would therefore be £59.04 cheaper to buy it from there. Expansys charge £354.95 for the N95, making it £175.04 cheaper.

Can anyone think of any reason to have a T-Mobile upgrade? I realise that my £23.40 per month doesn't make me a particularly valuable customer but it seems silly that it would be cheaper to buy an unsubsidised handset elsewhere. Another consideration is that a generic unlocked phone would be more saleable second hand than a locked T-Mobile branded one.

The strong temptation is to ask for a PAC and start a new contract with another provider but the combination of Flext and web'n'walk suits me very well. I like the idea of having an allowance that I can use as I choose rather than a specific number of minutes and messages. I also like being able to surf the web using Opera Mini, use Google Maps, check my e-mail and read RSS feeds without having to worry about extortionate data costs. I haven't seen anything to match this package elsewhere. Does anyone know any different?

Are the offers on the web site as good as it gets or do people do better if they contact T-Mobile and threaten to leave?

Also, does anyone know if the £5 per month discount continues when renewing or upgrading?

Sorry for such a long post but I suspect many others are in a similar position. I haven't posted the complete list of phones and prices but will if anyone wants to see it. There are 23 in total, varying in price from 'free' to £439.99.

lawbunny

Hey, I'm afraid I cannot remember if the £5 discount ends when you upgrade or not, but you can just ask about that if you call up to upgrade.

The website just gives you your general upgrade entitlement. If you call into customer services you can negotiate a bit for a better deal.

greyster

Welliesorter

Not many customers persue upgrades through the online route... most phone up. Many have realised if you phone up, the human you talk to has access to better deals, this is not included retention deals if you threaten to leave.

I expect all the networks are working towards offering better renewals online (seeing as its cheaper than asking than a human on the phone). However for now you really should phone up and discuss your upgrade requirements.

Welliesorter

Thanks for the replies. I'll give them a call during the week.

It still surprises me that the offers on the web site cost more than buying a phone outright.

As greyster points out, it's in their interests to avoid customers taking up the time of their staff by encouraging them to buy on line.

reehsetin

at least they gave you an upgrade, when i was at the end of my contract they wouldnt upgrade me at all - not even with a phone you could buy for £10 on payg! canceled it and now pay £7.50 for mins mins/texts on o2

mobilecat

I have just had my first conversation with renewals. I am not due for renewal till 29th but told them my phone is dying (completly true:( ).

I want the touch plus and they offerred this to me for free if I stayed on the same contract (which gives me more than everything I could need). They also offerred me a free blutooth headset if I did it today.

They then told me I had to pay for delivery. I said I was happy to go with the deal but I would not pay for the priveledge of replacing my phone with one that isn't as high spec, because it is broken, and continue to pay £25.49 a month if they expected me to pay that. he checked with his boss and said no.

i said thanks very much but I will not pay for delivery.

I will ring another time

Welliesorter

I haven't got round to ringing T-Mobile yet but I have noticed that the range of upgrades has changed. The Blackberrys (sic) have gone and a few 'free' phones have appeared.

The freebies are:

Nokia 2630
Nokia 3109
Nokia 6120c
Nokia 6300
Nokia 7373 Pink
Samsung D900i
Samsung E740
Sony Ericsson K770i
Samsung U600
Samsung F210

I don't know which, if any of these would be a suitable replacement. I'd be amazed if any of them is as good as my K800i. The K770i looks like a slimline version but the camera doesn't have a proper flash.

The K850i is £169.99 and the N95 is £209.99, so taking into account the £10 per month discount that I could otherwise have, the SonyEricsson is slighly cheaper as an upgrade than the Expansys price for an unconnected phone; the Nokia is slightly more expensive.

I haven't decided what to do yet but this may be helpful to anyone who's on T-Mobile and in a similar position.

greyster

There was a deal on hotukd for a k810i for £30, if you want to try and negotiate a phone free deal with T-Mobile.