I decided to have a crack a Martins' method and guess what - it works!! Rang 02 and got my O2-200 at £30 per month contract reduced to £15. Got 500 x-net minutes and 100 texts when I was only on 200 x-net and 50 texts before. The girl on the phone (who was lovely by the way - which makes it all easier) gave me a list of upgrades that they would do for free and I went away to look at the options on-line. Decided that I would go for the K750i but when I rang back decided that I would chance my arm and try to get a PDA. Got offered a 02 XDA Mini S for free!!! Had been in my local 02 shop earlier today and was told that I would have to pay £79.99 for this phone.

Seriously - everyone should try this method!!! I would have been too shy to do this before but with Martin's script and the fact the 02 call-centre staff are lovely you cannot lose.

Thanks Martin!

is your phone due for upgrade or how many mths r u into your contract??

To benefit from this Batter down your costs exercise you have to be out of contract,and in a position to move elsewhere.

As MSE says in his article "This is a one shot deal. You only have this negotiating power at renewal."

My daughter works for 02 Retentions so I have a good insight as to how it all works.

I am on Orange ovp 100 xnetwork mins for £23.50 at the moment and my contract runs out this month.

I rang them up to see what they would offer me.

They offered me the same deal but with 200 mins, no texts and a 3150 phone, I already have a 6630!

We had them on loud speaker and my daughter was amazed at their lack of customer skills!

They didn't even try to keep me and I am thinking I will be much better off on a payg sim from 02 with spend £10 and get 100 mins, I was spending £23.50 for the exact same thing from orange!

She said that they are constantly monitored on 02 and they have to try their hardest to retain customers. It doesn't matter what time of month either, they have to try and keep them no matter what the date.

They are allowed to offer lots of options and cheap tariffs, its a necessary part of their job and if they don't make the effort to keep the customer, they lose valuable bonuses.

Hope this helps people who ring 02 to change their tariff, give it a try, the 02 people are lovely!

Martin's approach doesn't seem to have worked for me.

Having been with Orange for about five years, they refused to match the 3 tariff of 500 minutes + 100 text messages and offered something with 300 minutes and 30 text messages instead for a similar cost. Contract has just expired.

I've been as pushy as I can be (which is quite pushy), yet no success. Anyone been luckier, esp with Orange and a similar level of loyalty?

Oh, and I meant to say that they admitted that they grade their offer based on how much profit they've made out of each customer in previous years. For example, my 200 minute tariff to date - with a typical call month of 300 minutes - meant that they would offer me a "special deal" on 300 minutes rather than what I asked for.

I dont doubt this method works. I was offered an incentive when leaving carphonewarehouse, as was a friend when threatening to leave another provider. However, do check if being on a contract is right for you. I had a contract with Carphonewarehouse using O2 network that was a lot of hassle - arguments over incorrect bills, trying to figure out which was the best 'free minutes' package etc. It typically cost £25 to £35 per month. I changed to Virgin which was so much simpler. No free minutes, just pay for the calls I make on an easy to understand tarrif, and no contract. Typical monthly bill is now under £10 and my usage has not changed. I now own the phone that I originally had as part of the Carphonewarehouse contract. You pay a lot on a contract for the priviledge of a 'free' phone. Over the period of the contract you probably pay far more than the phone is worth. My advice is to get your own phone and look after it.

My Sister is also with Virgin and recently had her phone upgraded for £20 which was less than the cost of the battery she needed for the old one.

I am with vodafone.. my contract is up in October.. I rang them and quoted my husbands deal is better than mine... (well it would when his contact was up he got 1/2 price line/call and text rental instead of an upgraded phone!!) and they matched it.. saved me 200.00 a year.. result!!!! go for it!

I'm with Vodafone and I found myself in a negotiating position in a rather unusual way - my contract with them is only 3 months old.

Back in mid-December I set up a new 18-month contract with Vodafone with 200 mins any time, any network, 'Stop The Clock', and 500 free texts per month. The normal cost per month was £30 but for the first 3 months I was to pay half-price line rental, i.e. £15.

At the time I entered my bank details onto their site to set up a Direct Debit for bill payment. However at the end of February I checked my account online only to notice that payment had not been taken by Direct Debit for the first 2 months, leaving me with an unpaid balance of over £40. I checked with my bank and the D/D hadn't been set up. So I rang Vodafone to enquire and they said that although the money had not been taken at this stage they would "re-present" the D/D again and take the balance. I was happy with this as it was what I'd roughly been paying per month with 3, my previous (rubbish) provider.

At the beginning of March I received a letter from Vodafone saying that my D/D had finally been set up, over 2½ months later. But then I turned my phone on the next day only to find that it didn't work! That morning in the post I received another Vodafone letter stating that I had an overdue balance on my account (just over £40, surprise), and my line had been suspended pending payment.

"Right," I thought - "this is all your fault and I resent being threatened, let alone disconnected when it was no fault of my own!" I rang customer services from a landline and very calmly pointed out the problem. I also paid the balance by debit card and was immediately reconnected.

But I wasn't going to stop there. I (again, quite good-naturedly) accused them of poor organisation, saying that the D/D should have been set up in the first week of my account's operation. They spun me a story, saying that the D/D had been started with the bank about 2 weeks previously. I replied that if that was the case, it would have been in place by the time my bill was due! They replied that it could take 10 working days to set up, and that I'd need to check with my bank. So I took the guy's name and number, and said I'd check with the bank. Surprise - they'd only received the D/D instruction a week previously, but it was now in place.

So when I phoned back the rep I explained this. He stuck to the 10 day story, refuting what my own bank had just told me! I said I was not happy and that I would like some recompense for the situation, in particular being sent a threatening letter and being cut off through Vodafone's own incompetence. I kept the smile in my voice. He fetched a supervisor.

The supervisor immediately apologised profusely. This wasn't good enough, the D/D should have been set up much sooner, I shouldn't have been cut off, and so forth. I said I was happy to accept the apology but added, "When I tell my friends about this I'd like to be able to say that Vodafone did something to put the situation right." I asked for another 3 months' half-price line rental - and immediately got it! I only wished I'd asked for 6 or 9!

A small victory but a sweet one nevertheless! I based my argument on their reputation rather than their need to retain my custom, but it still worked.

I have been an Orange customer for 3 years now, last time i upgraded i went through to customer retentions and thought i'd got a good deal. This time however i took adifferent stance. I just phoned up 3 weeks before my contract was due to end and upgraded to the premier 600 plan, then you can choose almost any phone you desire. You then have a cooloing off period for 7 days where you can return your phone, cancel etc. This is now the time to haggle and threaten to leave. I got a price match to a Three deal. For £35.00 trhey gave me 750 Xnet mins, free insurance for the year and when i asked they threw in 30 free texts. Obviously they don;t want the phone back. Isn't haggling great.

Rob

After weeks of trying to get better deal with same telephone number a gave up and went to o2 online 200.number being ported today after only one week. you see great offers on orange but they are for newbies only.but do mention orange direct plans and you get better deals. Direct plan is online for you to view.

http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/yourplan/online[/URL].

Tip when in some high street shops always mention online prices .you will get better offers.

I had been meaning to phone O2 to switch away for a while, since they changed my tariff and my bills shot up hugely - there's much better deals around.

They've now switched me from paying around £30 a month, to £20 for the whole year including more than enough minutes and texts to cover my usage.

Now if only I had asked for a new phone at the same time - I'll know for next time...

I have a 50 minutes a day off peak free with Orange which costs £14.99 pm but I have been unable to find a better deal. Orange would love me to change to another tariff and I need a new phone as the one I have has a damaged front. When I talk to other service providers they cannot compete with the 50mins a day. We make loads of calls after 7pm and only a few during the peak period. Anyone got any ideas please?

I work for in a retail store for a major mobile network....each day that I work I deal with at least 10 people that are loosing hundreds of £'s a year...How....By upgrading!!!!!!

1st - NEVER upgrade instore.....we have very little power to offer you discounted tariffs...if you phone up you WILL be able to haggle a lot more!! Threatening to leave the network in a store has no effect to them!! You need to speak to the 'Saves' department.....they have alot of freedom on what they can offer you!!

2nd - Always get the BEST handset you can get for free on your upgrade!!! Even if you are only going to sell it on E-bay and then buy a cheaper handset!!!

Cheers

I was going to cancel my contract with Carphone Warehouse last year, so I rang through to the 'thinking of ending your contract' option and immediately got six months half-price. I did the same again this year.

That option on the menu also always seems to get you attended to quickly, so I use it whenever I ring.

I think Orange are getting wise to this method.
I've been with Orange for about 5/6 years on contract, and at around 11 1/2 months I've always rang them and told them I have been offered a better deal with another network. (quote who you like ie: O2, Vodafone etc.)
They have always backed down and gave me the phone I wanted for free, on a new 12 month contract. Which I was happy with. This year I tried the same again. I wanted the new Nokia N70. I was told the upgrade price was £279.99. I knew I would probably have to pay something for this phone as it is the latest model with 3G, but that seemed a bit extreme. When I told them O2 had the phone on offer at £49.99, they just said well thats our upgrade price, there's nothing more we can do.
I was paying £17 a month with Orange and getting 30 anytime xnet mins and 30 texts.
The O2 deal was £19 a month 100 anytime xnet mins and 50 texts.
Ater checking the Orange website I noticed that you could get the same phone for £49.99 if you were a new customer.
I rang them back a couple of days later to see if I could get anywhere with them. I told them I didn't want to leave, but felt I had no option if they couldn't match the deal. Still they refused. When I told them about the deal on their website for new customers, they said "yes thats right, for new customers". I challenged them with the fact that they are going to lose an existing customer, just because they wouldn't match O2's offer. They said that they didn't want to lose me, but the offer still stands at £279.99.
I told them there and then to give me my PAC Code,(to port my existing number to another network) as I was leaving and going to O2.
I am now with O2, enjoying more minutes and more texts, for only £2 a month more, with a top of the range phone for only £49.99.
I was also told by a work colleague, that a friend of his has always been with Orange, and he swore by them. They did the same with him regarding a new deal, and he has since left them aswell.
If this is how Orange are going to treat their loyal existing customers, I think they might find they will lose a few more.
I can see it becoming like the Gas/Electric, Phone and credit card companies, where every year we will be shopping around for the best deal. We will all become mobile phone tarts!!!

I've just had the same reaction. I've been with orange since they started, 11 years and I've just tried to get them to come close to what T-Mobile are offering in terms of tariff and phone. They haven't been able to come close. I don't know if this retentions department even exists any more, as I wasn't put through to anyone after the initial operator. Bit disappointed.

I had a good reaction from orange for once! Got through to disconnections then told then i could get a better deal at t mobile or with three. The guy asked me what i wanted i said money off. He said how does 240mins 500 texts 30mms and insurance for £25 sound. I said pretty good but what about a new phone he said no probs what do u want so i asked for a w800!

Not bad as i was paying £35 for that previously (the insurance bumps it up by a fiver)

good advice from the money saving expert people!

thanks

In reply to coggsy.
Yes the retentions department does still exsist. I was put nthrough to them both times I rang. Or at least I think I was, as it was an autmated phone line. Press 1 for this 3 for that and so on. Maybe thats how they get you now. You used to ring customer services and they put you through to the old disconnections department, and they were the ones with the power to give you what you asked for.
Hmmm!! its got me wondering now.

I have been with T mobile for more than three years with 750 minutes weekends and evening plus 50 texts for 16 pounds. After martin's tips I have tried my luck to bargain them and now paying only 3.99 a month!