phone contract question

Tom

I am a FH squatter
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
17,178
I'm out of contract with Vodafone and rang them to see if I could lower my tariff. I was told that to do this, I'd have to sign a new contract.

So right now I'm paying for a £25 tariff which offers more minutes and text than I need. Its only a tenner a month or so that I'm out of pocket, but its the principle. I may get a newer phone in a few months, possibly that Nexus One thingy.

Is the call centre woman I spoke to correct? Do I need to sign another contract, to change my tariff?
 

Chilly

Balls of steel
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
9,046
well, the new tarrif is simply a change of contract - and if their terms are that you need to sign up for another 18 months then thats that. If you were to threaten to leave now, however, they will give you some incentives, although the incentives will also be tied to new contracts. I'd just suck the tenner up and wait for the nexus to drop one price point and get it in feb/mar. Drink 6 fewer pints between now and then.
 

Ch3tan

I aer teh win!!
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
27,318
Vodafone should have the nexus one at the latest by March, they are hoping to launch it ehre without two weeks apparently - just do what Chilly said and pay the tenner for a month or two.
 

Tom

I am a FH squatter
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
17,178
That sucks balls. Thanks for the responses.
 

Vae

Resident Freddy
Joined
Dec 23, 2003
Messages
1,181
What about switching to PAYG or is there any monthly contract (like Simplicity on O2) you could switch to?
 

Tom

I am a FH squatter
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
17,178
I'm quite happy with Vodafone tbh, so I'd rather not switch. Plus I need to keep my number.
 

soze

I am a FH squatter
Joined
Jan 22, 2004
Messages
12,508
Nope, if you switch to payg or a rolling contract, you cannot port your number back to another contract with the same provider.

Thats a shit my Sisters gonna be a bit pissed off as that was her plan.

Maybe the Cheap Contract paying cash for your phone is the best route then.
 

xane

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
1,695
I had a similar situation, my current contract was too expensive and I never used the free minutes, but the new contract on offer was hardly worth it, so I got the same ongoing deal but had to keep my old phone, nevertheless, getting a separate PAYG phone and swapping the SIM over worked out cheaper.
 

chipper

Can't get enough of FH
Joined
Jan 15, 2004
Messages
1,874
while were on this topic my contract is up next month and im wanting to upgrade to iphone 3GS tariffs are pretty high tho reckon id have any chance of gettin em to drop it lower? goin with o2
 

Chilly

Balls of steel
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
9,046
are you already with 02? If so, their retention team will offer it to you if you attempt to leave after your contract is up. I was offered when I left last year, told em on no circumstances did I want a jesus phone, unless they wanted to pay me to use it. That got a chuckle from the bloke, who then authorised my pac :)
 

nath

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
8,009
I'm quite happy with Vodafone tbh, so I'd rather not switch. Plus I need to keep my number.

Firstly, did you talk to cancellations/customer retention? They're they only people who have power to do anything at all. The other people will just talk out of their arse. Second - if you absolutely must stick with Voda, check out their 30 day contract sim only deals and perhaps ask if you can move to one of them? If not, fuck them - get your PAC code and move to another network on a 30 day rolling contract.

I just did the same and move to T-Mobile, I've been with them two months and the signal is a bit shit, their 3g coverage is OK but data transfer speeds are crap and they charge a bomb for voicemail so I'm moving to o2. 30 day contracts are the way forward, it's the best way to be sure you're getting a good service without being trapped.
 

Tom

I am a FH squatter
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
17,178
Mobile coverage in my street is pants, Vodafone is the only one that offers 100%. I have to remain with them, tbh.
 

old.user4556

Has a sexy sister. I am also a Bodhi wannabee.
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
16,163
Nope, if you switch to payg or a rolling contract, you cannot port your number back to another contract with the same provider.

That must have chaned Chet, because I definitely did that with O2 - I was on a pay monthly contract, then moved over to SIM only deal with O2 because it doubled my text and call allowance whilst costing me less per month, then I ported back to an O2 pay monthly plan once I found a phone I liked.
 

old.user4556

Has a sexy sister. I am also a Bodhi wannabee.
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
16,163
so I'm moving to o2

Just to say Nath (as per another thread post I made), my mate and I were both on O2 but their data reliability is fucking toss, so I moved to Orange (granted, 500 MB capped per month) and haven't regretted it (I use about 250 MB per month). I also advised my sheep of a friend who badly wanted an iPhone to avoid O2 but he went with them anyway. He fessed up over Christmas when I saw him that he's had no end of problems with their data use in central London.
 

Bodhi

Once agreed with Scouse and a LibDem at same time
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
9,270
Firstly, did you talk to cancellations/customer retention? They're they only people who have power to do anything at all. The other people will just talk out of their arse. Second - if you absolutely must stick with Voda, check out their 30 day contract sim only deals and perhaps ask if you can move to one of them? If not, fuck them - get your PAC code and move to another network on a 30 day rolling contract.

I just did the same and move to T-Mobile, I've been with them two months and the signal is a bit shit, their 3g coverage is OK but data transfer speeds are crap and they charge a bomb for voicemail so I'm moving to o2. 30 day contracts are the way forward, it's the best way to be sure you're getting a good service without being trapped.

Great idea, however customer retentions at Vodafone can do nothing unless you a sign a new contract. Also, when I worked there moving to a 30 day rolling contract was pretty much impossible. They can do you a non-hardware contract, but thats 12 months with no new phone.

I'd just wait out the couple of months til the X10 comes out personally.
 

GReaper

Part of the furniture
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
1,983
Did you actually speak to retentions or not? If you aren't actually asking for your PAC code and just politely asking for a better deal then they aren't going to give you one. Your initial post didn't sound like you were really giving it a go because you want to stay with Vodafone due to coverage.

If you're interested in the Nexus One, go with one of those cheap contracts and buy the phone unlocked at a later date if you can afford it. It means you won't be stuck in another permanent contract, but obviously you'll be paying for the entire phone.
 

nath

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
8,009
Great idea, however customer retentions at Vodafone can do nothing unless you a sign a new contract. Also, when I worked there moving to a 30 day rolling contract was pretty much impossible. They can do you a non-hardware contract, but thats 12 months with no new phone.

That seems utterly batshit crazy if it's true (and I guess you'd know). Of course the way around it is to port to a PAYG sim on another network then port it back again. Absolutely ridiculous way of doing things but surely that'd work...
 

Bodhi

Once agreed with Scouse and a LibDem at same time
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
9,270
That seems utterly batshit crazy if it's true (and I guess you'd know). Of course the way around it is to port to a PAYG sim on another network then port it back again. Absolutely ridiculous way of doing things but surely that'd work...


What do you expect from a company that will give a free Satio to new customers on a £35/mo contract but asked me to pay 40 quid on a £40/m one?

It's all to do with RIV, or Reinvestment Value. It's a figure Voda put on your account for how much you're worth to them. Turns out SIM only deals are worth a fortune for some reason (lack of commitment at a guess).
 

nath

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
8,009
Sure, but it makes absolutely no sense to prevent an existing customer from getting deals that new customers can get is absurd, after all if they can PAC away and PAC back the only reason that I can see to prevent them from going straight is to add that inconvenience factor and hope they stay. I would have thought ofcom would get on to them about that.

Oh and G, the problem with Orange is they only offer that 500mb data package free on £30/month sim only packages and up whereas the others offer unlimited data on 20. I've gotten really fucked off with Orange's lack of competitiveness with their deals, I was with them for years and they were utterly shit when talking to their retentions.

T-Mobile came up with some bullshit "it's the norm to charge for voicemail access and not have it part of your free minutes" despite Orange always allowing me to call voicemail from my free minutes and O2 offer completely free access. Plus those fucking T-Mobile adverts do my skull in, the band that came together from free texts - fuuuuckkkkk offfff.

Anyway, I'll see how O2 goes.
 

Ch3tan

I aer teh win!!
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
27,318
I'm in London and although o2 data can be slow sometimes, I've never had a real issue with it.
 

nath

Fledgling Freddie
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
8,009
From what I've read on xda dev forums o2 is much better than tmob for data but I guess I'll find out as soon as the fuckers send me my sim.
 

Dark Orb Choir

Loyal Freddie
Joined
Apr 11, 2008
Messages
932
Get a free payg sim on another network and port your number over. Then get a voda payg sim and port your number back over.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom