Advice needed: CPW/O2 retention/cancellation dilemma

schlimig

I'm sorry for the length of this but there's a chunk of back story to this one, please bear with me. I need some advice from people with experience on such matters with the dreaded Carphone Warehouse.

I have reached month 19 now of a CPW/O2 contract. The contract which I initially took out when living in the West Midlands was for £40 a month and included an Nokia N93 "free".

I moved part way through my contract (9 months in) to East Anglia; unfortunately the O2 signal was dire where I now live and the phone was almost unusable. I asked CPW to do something about the problem and they basically offered me the blunt line "it's not our fault you moved, the contract clearly states our rights and your committments... blah blah blah". Point blank refusal to do anything except put the contract down to the lowest tarrif then on O2 which was an appaulingly bad value £20 a month for 50 mins/50 text which didn't roll over.

As a result I had to take out a Vodafone contract, which has been fine and troublefree. I've paid £180 on the CPW/O2 contract for a phone I was unable to use. I've since discovered that the O2 network has been upgraded here so the signal is perfect now - even though CPW told me that no upgrade work was going to be carried out.

In total my contract with CPW has cost me just about £690, £180 of which was for the period where no calls or texts were made and the phone was not connected at all - so 100% profit for them. The N93 wholesale at the time I got it was valued at around £300-£330.

My situation now is that my business partner and housemate needs a new phone and I thought that I'd try and use the upgrade potential of this contract for him, rather than him just start again as a new customer. I always go for the more expensive phones, partly as they're cool and gadgety and shiny but mostly because they sell for a reasonable amount when you come to the end of the phone's life. This time I'm even more determined that a good top-end phone should come out of this because of the amount of money I've poured into this hole. I have chosen the N82.

I rang CPW 1 month ago and was offered 600 mins/800 SMS for £30 a month, with a free N82 phone (18 months). I was not really very happy with this and mentioned the amount of money they'd made off of me - the blunt response was "contract... our rights... blah blah blah". I was asking for it on the same terms for £25 a month but they wouldn't budge, refused to do anything and were pretty rude to me in the process. I informed them that they left me no option but to seriously downgrade/disconnect - they said "fine, go ahead, it makes no odds to us sir" (I quote exactly). They also refused to downgrade to a PAYG sim.

1 hectic month later I've been unable to deal with disconnection and am possibly glad that I didn't. Orange are now offering on their website the N82 black free on 18 months, 600 mins, unlimited texts, £30 a month (Dolphin 35). This is a new customer deal and it's better than the one offered by CPW (they didn't offer the N82 Black either). I had (perhaps naively) assumed that a renewing customer would get a better deal than a brand new one, was I mad?

My question is, all considered, what would be my best angle of attack on this? The Orange signal is not great here so I'd prefer to stay with O2. Ideally the original deal CPW offered 600/800/£30 on £25 with free N82 would be ideal - do I have a hope in hell?

I'd appreciate some advice and guidance and sorry again for the extremely lengthy post!

Cheers,

Simon.

jamie00353

Carphone Warehouse is an extremely profit driven company. As much as you want a good deal, there are margin restraints which mean they will be reluctant (Even unwilling!) to shave £10 off a tariff and give you a £400 phone for free!

As much as I see your point, its not really the fault of CPW that your signal is poor when you moved. I understand...i'd be hacked off too...but I can understand with CPW not budging on this.

If I was so hacked off with CPW I'd just cut and run! O2 provide good service (From their own website) and great deals on older phones are always found at e2save...although operated by CPW! I'd look elsewhere instead of trying to twist CPW's arm to get your discount.

You cut your tariff to the basic which was the best option under the circumstances. I'd put this down to experience and cut your losses.

schlimig

Thanks to people who gave advice; I appreciate the time taken to respond however I feel the need to come back on this one to illustrate to people that there is room to move and get a good deal if you persist with it enough.

Firstly, the wholesale price of this phone is way way below the sorts of price the people quote on fora such as this. Indeed, one reply on this thread states that it is unlikely that they'd shave £10 off a tariff and give me a £400 phone for free. Please don't take this as me having a go at you - I just feel the need to demonstrate that this attitude, which the phone companies love to foster in consumers is not always the right one.

http://www.cellpex.com/index.php?fuseaction=models.home&brand=Nokia&model=N82
check that link - average wholesale price on there £230 for the N82 titanium right now. You can bet your bottom dollar that CPW have access to bulk deals on phones and will be achieving similarly low or better prices on this.

I persisted... I have just recieved a "free" titanium N82, unbranded, 2GB memory card built in. I am on the £35 tariff which is 600 mins/500 texts. They reduced the tariff by £5, applied a further £5 a month discount directly to the account (for the life of the contract too, not just 18 months worth) and doubled the minutes.

So, free phone, 600 mins, 1000 texts, 18 months, free postage, £25 a month.

It can be done so please please persist with them and make use of other offers on other networks to leverage your position. I pointed out that the same deal on Orange (with web discount) came to £30 now and said that it simply wasn't good enough to offer me the same as a new customer on an upgrade. They finally asked what I wanted to pay for that deal and after a few minutes away talking to someone they came back and agreed to the price I wanted. Thank goodness I didn't just give up and convert to PAYG!

I still hate CPW but this time it worked in my favour so it was the right move to stay with them - I hope others have simliar successes!