Mobile phone upgrades...a rant

[Conor]

My mobile has started playing up after 2.5 years, so I thought I would have a look at upgrades. I have an O2 contract so I wandered into the O2 shop and fell for a S700i, which would apparently cost £79. I thought I would call O2 up and see if I got any discount for being a loyal cutomer.

They quoted £200+ fpr the phone, my flabber was gasted. I called them straight back, assuming they had misunderstood. They quoted £170, I told them their own shop was offering for £79, they said that they would do a price match....against their own shop.

I waited a bit, having several deep breaths, and then, while out shopping, went in to the shop to have a look at the phone again and thought I might as well pick one up there and then. The person in the shop said that as I was a loyal customer etc etc I could have it for £60, unfortunately I recieved a phone call and had to run off so I thought I would leave it. Later I passed carphone warehouse and thought I would check there, they said they would offer me the same phone on O2 for free with three months double minutes and texts.

I thought this was as good as it would ever get so I agreed. They called O2 to arrange for me to cross over to their O2 contract. The O2 person wanted to speak to me and, after threatening to charge me a months line rental in lieu of notice on my current contract, she asked what the offer from CW was. I told them and they said they would match it. I said I'd call them back, when I did they told me they were out of stock for the phone.

So to sum up, as a loyal and valued customer I was offered the phone for £200+ (I think £270), after wasting a week of phonecalls, surfing etc they will not only give me the bloody thing for free, but they'll double my texts and calls FOC for 3 months.

WTF didn't they just do that in the first place and save me the fecking hassle.

end of rant

Conor

[MATTBIN]

Conor
although it all looks like 02's fault I think your contract is with a service provider that uses the 02 network. My daughter has had nothing but hassle from her service provider (Single Point). My 02 thingy has been fine if it helps at all. Probably not though, sorry.
Matt

[hopper]

Its always the same, the problem is that the person you get to speak to is never the person who can give you the best deal. Cr*p really. Its only when they really think they are going to lose you that they will let you speak to the person who is able to do something along the lines of what you want.

What are you going to do? Stick or twist?

[Bantam]

Vodafone and O2 don't generally deal direct with customers, unless you're a big business. They deal through Service Providers in the main. Carphone Warehouse being an example of one of their SP's. You get your phone bill from the SP if you're on a contract.

Three and Orange tend to deal direct with the customers. They bill the customers directly themselves.

One2One (or Tmobile as they call themselves) which are also Virgin Mobile and Easymobile tend to do a bit of both.

You'll find that you'll get the best deal on the high street mainly for the handset prices / contract deals, apart from Orange where the prices tend to be the same wherever you look. If you talk to the network they'll charge you the cost of the handset at Sim Free cost versus the SP's who'll get the subsidy and the kickback from the network for the connection cost.

You also don't necessarily need to stay loyal to O2 to keep your number - if another network has a better tarriff deal, then move to them. You can get a PAC code from O2 to move your number to a different service provider if you wish.

Mark.

[wilbo]

[laterontoday]

If your on a contract I suggest upgrading every year. I do. All I do is phone the company Im with an ask for the PAC code which is the code you need to take your number with you to a new provider ie from Orange to Vodafone etc. Usually this gets customer services in a flap and they ask why you want to leave. Tell em you really like the such and such phone that O2 or other is doing and its free if you move across and yes the tariff is the same.

I did this last december and orange fell over themselves to offer me a Phone that you could only get on a £50 a month tariff, 30 free texts, 60 extra inclusive minutes cross network and yes also reduced my monthly tariff from £25 to £15 for the next twelve months.

If you dont ask they wont go out of their way to offer you incentives to stay. Anyone who doesnt renew each 12 months is a fool in my view. Afterall you keep you old handset so then you have a spare or can pass it own to the kids

[Conor]

I believe my contract is through an O2 O2 provider, O2 select or something like that, but CW were moving me to their own O2 service provider.

Basically the whole thing takes the proverbial. After paying bill by direct debit for 2.5 years without any upgrades, sometimes with monthly bills around the £300 mark, you'd think they would have a means of knowing what I would get on the high street and then try to match it.

I think I'm going to wait a week and then renew my contract as at the end of the day they are all as bad as eachother. And by renewing with them I don't have to pay the months notice so can move over to the new contract with the new phone straight away.

I just couldn't believe they (O2) would haggle with me while I was in carphone warehouse using a call payed for by CW after I had made a verbal agreement with CW about the deal I would take.

Credit to CW though, the guy there said 'no worries, at least you got the right deal for you with the least hassle, it happens' and didn't seem annoyed that he had affectively lost the sale when trying to switch me over. Credit to them/him

[Conor]

Originally Posted by laterontoday

Anyone who doesnt renew each 12 months is a fool in my view. Afterall you keep you old handset so then you have a spare or can pass it own to the kids

That line works really well with your sig

[WBFire]

Orange were great this year for me, free upgrade to a SPV C500 from a T610, free insurance for the year, and a free PAYG sim for the old handset.

I usually have to threaten moving to another supplier before they start droppng the price.

It is classed as a business contract, but it's only self employed me and £25 contract per month.

I was with T-Mobile for 12 months, but they were seriously lacking in customer service compared to orange.

They will have to keep it up though.

Mark

[dave archer]

Originally Posted by WBFire

..free upgrade to a SPV C500...

<geek_mode>

I am seriously in love with my C500.
Really handy to have my diary and todo list with me all the time, without lugging a palm about.
Excellent forum here (MoDaCo) if you have questions/problems with it
Apologies if I'm teaching gran to suck eggs

</geek_mode>