Can anyone help me with my mobile contract???

yonny1

Hi guys!!
Need your help here!
Im tied into a three yr contract with telecom plus/utility warehouse, using t-mobile.
My handset is a nokia 6610i and im in severe need of a better one, the keys are sticking and I cant txt on it.
I pay £23 a month line rental, 10p for txts, 8p to collect voice mail, 20p to other mobs,
Phoned up to see what they could do for me, was very polite ,but the young guy I spoke to was adamant that to break the contract I would have to pay the line rental up until contract ends in feb 07 (£390)
Asked to speak to his supervisor, no joy, was basically told it was my fault that I had a 3 yr contract and nothing he could or would do,no upgrade available, send it back if Im not happy and they'll replace it with exactly the same make ie another unhappy customer sending his phone back!
I got annoyed, he got nasty, he then said if I paid £180 for the handset he would break the contract!
Dont know what to do!
I know I signed the contract, hadnt had a mobile before and a very slick salesman was talking to me!
I have my gas, electric, landline and internet with these guys but know I want to change because of their awful attitude!!
can anyone advise me on what to do next??
Any help very gratefully received!
Cheers
Yonny

gizmoleeds

I didn't know you could get three year contracts :eek:

Bear in mind that, if you cannot break the contract, you could buy a new unlocked or T-Moblie pay-as-you-go phone and put the T-Mobile sim from your contract in that. This would almost certainly work out cheaper than paying to break the contract.

gizmoleeds

Also, I would take their offer of a replacement phone - if your phone is as bad as you say it is, what have you got to lose?

smcicr

ok so black and white it comes down to this.

you've been on this deal for a year or so (by my reckoning) so you have a good idea on what you're paying month by month for the utilities and the phone etc. I'm also working on the basis that the £180 gets you out of the phone side of it but not the other parts - not clear from your post on that bit.

take those figures and go to somewhere like uswitch (check the utilities and internet forums on here for more details on best deals etc) and see which of the following is best for you (because by the sound of it the £180 pay off is the cheapest option to get out of it you'll be given)

1. opt to stay but take up the offer of a new handset - this may solve your handset issues in terms of functionality if not desirability also, as has been suggested you could then buy an unlocked handset second hand and use that - you will then be able to sell the new 6610i and make some money back.

2. pay the £180 and switch to a new mobile tariff. depending on how much you pay now you may be able to recoup the £180 over the remaining 16 or so months - this will also resolve your handset problem.

3. work out if you could save in all areas (gas/electric/internet/mobile) by going elsewhere for all of them. multiply the combined saving by the number of months remaining on your current contract and if the result is greater than £180 then you can buy out the contract and gradually recover the money over the next year or so. (providing other prices don't go up etc )

if it's actually the case then i'd go for number 3 everytime - the one thing above all else i've learned from this site is that we tend to give up too much power as consumers. we accept things too readily and allow ourselves to be charged more than we should because we don't go and investigate, compare and realise we do actually have a (better) choice!

yonny1

Thank you so much for your replies guys,
smcicr, you're absolutely right, and I think option three is also the thing to do and I will spend today trawling through the internet looking for better deals!
Thanks again for putting it all down in black and white!!

paddocks_2

I actually work for T-Mobile & there is no such thing as a 3 year contract, are you absolutely sure your with T-Mobile???

If you are - phone the customer services again on 0845 412 5000 or 150 from the phone

pricefighter

paddocks wrote:

I actually work for T-Mobile & there is no such thing as a 3 year contract, are you absolutely sure your with T-Mobile???

If you are - phone the customer services again on 0845 412 5000 or 150 from the phone

The OP is not with T-Mobile she is with T-Plus (Utility Warehouse Discount Club).They piggy back on to T-Mob.The handsets use to display T-Mob on screen but now they show PLUS.

Their contracts do go up to 3 years depending on the phone that is chosen at the time of purchase. :eek:

None of their tariffs give you any inclusive minutes or texts.You can pay up to £25 a month for this priviledge. :rolleyes:

Accepting that they might just be the cheapest Uk supplier of Gas/Electric at the moment.Their are cheaper and better suppliers of phone and broadband then them.

As well as the normal bills they do charge you approx £18 a year for the priviledge of belonging to their club.

yonny1

Hi price fighter,
thanks for that, you've got my situation totally!
Who do you have phone and broadband with? I've been trawling through the net and am blinded with science...and you sound like you know what you're talking about!!!!
any more advice????

pricefighter

Their is a very long thread about this outfit,If you havent got anything better to do a Sunday Afternoon,its worth a read.Members please note Martin MSE rules about posting about this company.(See Original Post).

See http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=6343

Before i reply to you,to enable me to give you a comprehensive answer.Please let me know what phone tariff you are on with them.More Talk what? Or are your calls included with your broadband package.Also what are you paying for broadband and what do you get.

yonny1

I am on Mobile Anynet 100,
the calls are not included on my broadband package for which I pay 19.95 a month for 1mb unlimited use.
Thanks again, I will have a look on that thread!

pricefighter

yonny1 wrote:

I am on Mobile Anynet 100,
the calls are not included on my broadband package for which I pay 19.95 a month for 1mb unlimited use.
Thanks again, I will have a look on that thread!

1.Mobile anynet is your mobile tariff which they dont sell anymore!
2.I meant what landline line tariff are you on.eg do you just have cheaper weekend calls(More Talk Opt 1 Free) are you paying for inclusive evening and weekend calls (More Talk Opt 2 £5 a month),Or even inclusive calls 24/7(Option 3 £9.50p a month).Any of thse can be beaten just let me know which one your on.
3.On the broadband front.their a number of suppliers that can beat that.Suggest you post a seperate request on the Broad band sub forum,where you will hopefully get a lot of response.