Better Mobile Deal?

mdavis1982

Hi all...

I'm currently on an Orange pay monthly contract. I have 400 cross network minutes and 500 text messages for £45 a month.

Last month I sent nearly 900 text messages and used about 300 minutes and my bill was nearly £90! This seems a bit ridiculous!

I want to stay with Orange because I like them, but there must be a way to change my tariff to a better one or bully them into giving me a better tariff.

If anyone has any advice, that would be most appreciated!

Thanks all...

Matt

kai666

900 text messages! you must spend all day texting!

vodafone and o2 both do sim only deals with double minutes. o2 also give you 1000-2000 texts depending on which tariff, not sure about vodafone both networks do this on a 30 day contract not a year.

Unfortunately I don't think orange do sim only deals.

Or you could always take out a new contract with a big cashback deal and cover most of your line rental that way

sorry about no links, rushing out the door as i type

mike_paterson

There are a lot of threads on this and also Martin's article on how to beat down the cost of your mobile here.

Basically if your contract is past it's original term you can phone them up and tell them that you have seen much better deals elsewhere (quote the 3 deals for example) and that you are thinking of/ wanting to leave.
They will soon start jumping as you are probably a great customer for them (unlike me who never goes above the limit - hee hee)

Good Luck

mdavis1982

Thanks for the help! And yes, I do spend all day texting! The joys of having a fiancée who's still at university 100 miles away! He he he...

I've read Martin's article, but to be honest, I don't really understand it (I'm probably thick!) I'm not at the end of my contract, unfortunately, having only renewed it about 5 months ago... but I could always threaten to change my tariff to the lowest possible one and take out a new contract with them.

I'll give them a call and see what they can do for me!

Thanks,

Matt

mdavis1982

Okay...

I just called Orange and they're not really playing ball. They basically wanted me to pay £75 a month for 1000 minutes off-peak and 50 inclusive text messages which is ridiculous.

I'm going to call retentions tomorrow to see if they'll play ball a little better as I've spent well over £1500 with Orange since I had my contract (I renewed it when I upgraded my phone!).

Any advice as to what I can tell the retentions department?

Thanks,

Matt

Newleaf_3

Hi Matt,

I'm not with Orange but with O2 and I've just done exactly what you're talking about doing. At the moment I have a deal with lots of free off-peak mins and 100 texts and while I use most of the texts, I often have 2 min conversations at peak times so my bill is usually around the £28 a month mark. However, having read Martin's article on dealing with mobile phone companies, I just called O2, said I didn't like paying so much each month, felt I wasn't getting a good enough deal for me and I was thinking of leaving, and the fabulously helpful (and I'm not being sarcastic, they really couldn't have been more helpful) customer service people offered me a deal and before I took it, they told me to wait while they chatted to their disconnection folk.

In a nutshell, she then came back and said they could offer me a better deal so she'd put me through to them - she told me to plead poverty and they'd want to keep me by offering me a really good deal. The disconnection people then offered me 25 mins anytime (which is ideal for me) which comes with 25 free texts for £16, plus they'd throw in another 100 texts for free, so I should be paying about £12 less each month now.

I know your numbers are different to mine, but that means they should be working harder to keep you as your custom is so great - really lay it on the line that you can't afford the plan you're on and you've been offered a great deal elsewhere - what can they do to keep you? It's amazing what they can, and will, offer...

Good luck, and let us know!
Newleaf x

gk172

It seems from reading on here and own experience that only 02 are offering fantastic retention deals, ive got contracts ending this and next month with both vodafone and orange monthly spend £30ish each (i use mins) and looked to get both of them to come close to the 3 600 talk and text and the 6630/6680 and they wouldnt/couldnt, orange could only offer 400 mins for about £40 with no text and voda wanted £100 for the phone but could match tariff but not any line discount and yes i went on very polite not being grumpy even when told they could nothing. So ended up with 3 on the talk and text 600 - 3 months 1/2 (3) and i got £100 cashback given to me instore and free 6680 and to be honest the reception so far has been really good as my house is bad with 02 reception but full bars so far:D only thing i miss is no text delivery reports but for £215 for the year and 600 mins 100 texts im happy:j maybe there is a 3 tariff that would suit you?

mdavis1982

Well, I called Orange and they're not willing to do anything about my contract at all. So, I've told them that I'm going to be changing my tariff to the lowest possible one and then buying myself out of the contract as soon as the change has taken effect. It's ridiculous. My line rental is £50 a month for 400 cross-network minutes and 500 texts. If they'd just add another 500 text messages I'd be completely happy with it.

Still, that's up to them. If they want to lose a customer that spends thousands of pounds with them, that's their loss I guess.

For the full story, check out my blog: http://www.mattdavis.co.uk/blog and read the Better Mobile Deal posts!

Thanks for your help everyone. If anyone else has any more suggestions, that would be excellent!

Matt

matrix999

Orange at there very best as usual!

Sorry that your having so much hassle with them, its like gk172 said it is only O2 that are doing good deals for their existing contract customers, and when I say good deals I really do mean GOOD deals!!

Just to let you know if your an O2 Customer and phone the Retentions Team saying your leaving to go to the 3 Network, I could guarantee that 90% of the time O2 will actually better the 3 deal

For example: A Tariff they have at the moment is called Discount 500 and gives you the following:

500 Anytime Any Network Mins
400 to 500 Free Texts per month - This varies according to how long you have been with the network
A new phone - Sony Ericcson K750i Free

All for £15 per month!! Ask Orange to do that and they would probably laugh!! Orange are seriously ripping off their existing customers when you see the deals other networks are doing it really is time to ditch Orange - The future is no longer bright!!

Beano

mdavis1982 wrote:

If anyone else has any more suggestions, that would be excellent!

Matt

Whilst you're waiting to downgrade and cancel, have you asked Orange if they will let you bolt on any extra texts onto your plan?
On standard plans you can add 360 texts for £24/month.

Once you've managed to get out of your contract and assuming you can unlock your handset from Orange, you may wish to consider o2's sim only offering. Currently they have a plan with 400 xnet minutes and 1000 texts for only £30/month and no minimum 12 month contract.
http://shop.o2.co.uk/shop/ and select Sim Only