latest Orange handsets: 12 months 1/2 price LR

Agent_C

Just a word of warning re OSPS, I used them last year and ordered a phone a week before the end of the month. They were offering a deal with 1000 free texts a year. The website stated that provided the phone was in stock it should be delivered the next day. My chosen phone was showing as being in stock, but two days after ordering had not arrived.

I was then on the phone to OSPS every day for the next week; they said the phone was in stock but that there were problems with getting me connected. Couldn't understand this as had been an Orange customer previously with no problem and when buying a mobile in a high street shop had always been connected within minutes.

The phone eventually arrived on the 2nd of the following month, with an invoice showing the connection date as the first of the month, but the promised 1000 texts were not showing on the invoice. Then followed a month of phone calls to OSPS, each time the operator said there had been a mistake in not adding the texts on and they would do so; each time this didn't happen. It was only just after the 30 day cancellation period was up that I was told that I wouldn't be getting the texts at all, the reason being 'that deal was only available in August and you connected on 1 September'. >:( I tried to argue that it was they who had delayed in connnecting me but to no avail. I asked if there had been any similar special deal in September but she told me not; by this time it was October so I couldn't check! The woman said she had no record of any of my previous calls and insinuated I was lying about them, plus she refused to put me through to a manager.

All worked out well in the end because after calling Orange they agreed to add the free texts on for me (which the OSPS operative had been adamant they wouldn't do). Plus I got both lots of cashback by following the instructions to the letter and sending the requests by recorded delivery. But their customer service was appalling and I wouldn't recommend them; if you do use them at least order well before the end of the month and hope you don't need any aftersales support!!

Hmm, rant over, perhaps this should have been on the rant board, but just wanted to warn people... off to cool down now with some vodka and ice

Smartasss

To get the best value out of these OSPS deals, treat them as 6 month contracts, and drop to the lowest available tariff at the end of the first 6 months.

There is another good offer if you can make use of the minutes:

£350 cashback on the 3510i on OVP O2 400 tariff.

You get 400 xnet anytime minutes + 50 texts/month.

Costs £45/month, use it for 12 months, and it works out at £15.83/month.

But downgrade after 6 months to their £13.99 750 off peak mins (landlines,dial up WAP and calls to Orange mobiles) + 50 Texts, and the whole year works out at £3.94 (i.e. 33p a month).

If you need the peak minutes you could look for a similar deal when the first 6 months and repeat the process. (With another free handset to sell on!)

jo3uk

WARNING: Be sure to make sure you wait 6 FULL months after connection before you drop your tariff. If you drop even a day early OSPS could be clawed back from Orange and you won’t get your cashback. Although the changes brought in by Orange in June should prevent this happening accidentally the safest thing to do would be to set a reminder in your phone (and in Outlook or similar on your computer?) for the day after your 6 month anniversary. An unfortunate side effect of this is that you may have to pay up to 7 months on the higher tariff due to the way Orange's billing system works. Bear this in mind before calculating any deal where you plan to drop tariff as soon as you can.

Smartasss

Good advice - though because you can only change over your tariff at the start of each billing month, it's not possible to be a day out.

In practice this means you have to be on the original tariff for slightly longer than 6 months because your billing month usually starts a few days after your initial connection.

So your first bill is always for more than a month as it includes the part month since connection, plus a full month's rent to the next billing day.

jo3uk

Maybe I should have been clearer, I was trying to make the point that you shouldn't call Orange to make the change until a day after 6 months, by which point it may be up to another month until the tariff change takes effect (depending on billing dates), hence the result of being charged for 7 months on the higher tariff. Obviously the more savvy existing Orange customers could cherry pick their connection date to minimise this, as new connections should simply be added to your existing account.

JSCChan

Hi

Have seen all these deals and it looks really cheap. Am thinking either to go for the Orange SPV C500 or Nokia 6320, both of which are good phones and it will only cost £15 per month from https://www.mobileshop.com. Anyone had experience of one or both of these? Really unsure which to go for.

Thanks
John

jo3uk

I've got a 6230 and I've found it to be a good phone despite the catalogue of software faults (I had one in the first couple of weeks of it being released so newer versions may be less 'buggy' - and before anyone says it I will get round to getting a software update )

A few observations:

- The camera and screen quality is improved from handsets such as the 7250/6610i/3200/6220.

- Mp3 playback is good and you can play music in the background while doing other things, e.g. texting. Playback mutes if you receive a call and resumes when you hang up. However the phone seems to take a long time accessing a 256Mb SD card. The phone will apparently unofficially take 512Mb cards but I wouldn't recommend it.

- Ringtones are loud and crisp.

- All the normal Nokia stuff is there but it might be harder to use than previous phones for people with big fingers due to the main soft key being in the center of the 4 way pad (try one out in a shop before buying)

Hope this helps.

Smartasss

Hi jo3uk

I was trying to make the point that you shouldn't call Orange to make the change until a day after 6 months

I think you may be worrying unnecessarily.

The important thing is to remain on the original tariff for 6 months.

It is the date the change becomes effective which is important, not the date you request the change. (They will only action the requested change from the start of the following billing month).

Fastflys

Hi SA & RM,

Apols for not replying sooner – Mobile Office problem kept me offline.

4/5 mobiles required are for private use.

OSPS refer a friend scheme sounds good [£20 Argos voucher for each friend referred]

Contacted OSPS today - Nokia 3510i promotion has changed

Now 12 months line rental @ £9.99 pm or a free PS2 or Xbox

Instead of half price line rental for 3 months and £240 cashback

No good to me.


What I didn’t like about the OSPS website is that you are not made aware that their promotion has changed and only discover this when clicking on the “free Gift” graphic below the Nokia 3510i photo.

Smartasss

The £350 cashback deal is still running (at the time of writing!) - see Reply #33 on: Nov 11th, 2004, 11:27am above.