Giffgaff to hike pay-as-you-go prices - but boost some 'goodybag' allowances - MSE News

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Former_MSE_Naomi
Former_MSE_Naomi Posts: 519 Forumite
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in Mobiles
Mobile operator Giffgaff will ratchet up the price of calls and double the price of texts for customers on standard pay-as-you-go next month - but many who buy its 'goodybag' bundles will benefit from more generous allowances...
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'Giffgaff to hike pay-as-you-go prices - but boost some 'goodybag' allowances'
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  • 937carrera
    937carrera Posts: 47 Forumite
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    Let's focus on the extortionate PAYG changes

    SMS prices are doubling

    Calls are going up by 67% to 25p / minute

    What's the position of PAYG users who have a credit balance on their account (which is how giffgaff PAYG works). When they paid for their credit £15 would have got them 100 minutes with no fixed expiry date. That's what they thought they were buying.

    Now that same £15 will only get them 60 minutes

    I don't think there is a way of getting their money refunded, and if they "leave" by say porting out any credit balance is lost.

    ????
  • tempus_fugit
    tempus_fugit Posts: 1,189 Forumite
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    They weren’t buying minutes th9ugh they were buying credit. It doesn’t guarantee a certain price.
    Retired at age 56 after having "light bulb moment" due to reading MSE and its forums. Have been converted to the "budget to zero" concept and use YNAB for all monthly budgeting and long term goals.
  • dazzaofdagenham
    dazzaofdagenham Posts: 1,512 Forumite
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    Why ?

    Recent got wife a 3 sim only contract
    £8 ..gives unlimited mins...texts and 8Gb of data....plus £10 cash back
  • 937carrera
    937carrera Posts: 47 Forumite
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    I get that, but this is still governed by a contract and clause 9.6 of OFCOM general terms says the following - this is the most recent I could find:

    The Communications Provider shall:
    (a) give its Subscribers adequate notice not shorter than one month of any modifications likely to be of material detriment to that Subscriber;
    (b) allow its Subscribers to withdraw from their contract without penalty upon such notice; and
    (c) at the same time as giving the notice in condition 9.6 (a) above, shall inform the Subscriber of its ability to terminate the contract without penalty if the proposed modification is not acceptable to the Subscriber.

    I have since found out that Virgin changed their PAYG contracts recently so that the first minute of use every day is charged at £2.00, so £2 / minute

    It's beginning to look as though the market is failing for low users and I wonder if OFCOM have even noticed
  • JJ_Egan
    JJ_Egan Posts: 20,281 Forumite
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    dazzaofdagenham wrote: »
    Why ?

    Recent got wife a 3 sim only contract
    £8 ..gives unlimited mins...texts and 8Gb of data....plus £10 cash back




    £8 would be more than i spend in a year on PAYG .
  • Nicholas
    Nicholas Posts: 630 Forumite
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    Not the first time Giffgaff have raised PAYG voice calls. When the EU made mobile operators charge the same for roaming in the EU, Giffgaffs answer was to drop the EU charges from 16p to 15p a minute whilst raising UK charges from 10p to 15p a minute.

    So really in the space of 4 years Giffgaff have raised PAYG from 10p to 25p. That's a 250% increase.
  • mobilejunkie
    mobilejunkie Posts: 8,460 Forumite
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    Nicholas wrote: »
    Not the first time Giffgaff have raised PAYG voice calls. When the EU made mobile operators charge the same for roaming in the EU, Giffgaffs answer was to drop the EU charges from 16p to 15p a minute whilst raising UK charges from 10p to 15p a minute.

    So really in the space of 4 years Giffgaff have raised PAYG from 10p to 25p. That's a 250% increase.

    Actually it's a 150% increase over four years.
  • dazzaofdagenham
    dazzaofdagenham Posts: 1,512 Forumite
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    JJ_Egan wrote: »
    £8 would be more than i spend in a year on PAYG .

    Low user then....no worries
  • Jabba_flabba
    Jabba_flabba Posts: 97 Forumite
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    For me, the real annoyance is that there is no way to cash out your credit balance. I could be wrong, but I imagine it'll be PAYG users who maintain larger balances compared with Goodybag users, just because they're draining their balances more slowly...and they're the ones negatively affected by this change.

    I would hope, in cases such as these, where such a detrimental change has been made, that there would be a special scheme set up to allow Giffgaffers to exit with their balances if they do so within a set time frame.

    Someone over on the Giffgaff community site recommended 1pmobile. I'll certainly be considering it.
  • masonic
    masonic Posts: 23,279 Forumite
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    Jabba_flabba wrote: »
    Someone over on the Giffgaff community site recommended 1pmobile. I'll certainly be considering it.
    That seems like a good option if you are happy with an annual spend of £30.

    Options for very light users seem to be Three, or ASDA.

    My average spend is £1.25 per year (pretty much all SMS) and I have £6 of credit, so even with the price increase it will take me 2-3 years to run my credit down, at which point I'll see who is cheapest and switch.
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