Falct

Finally sorted everything out.

I called T-Mobile upgrades again today after seeing a deal on the O2 website:
200 Minutes
Unlimited Texts
100mb Data
250 minutes of O2 to O2 calls

£105 upfront and £18.50 a month which came to £549 over the 2 years.

The woman I spoke to said she couldn't match that plan, so I simply asked for the PAC code and was done with it. I decided I'd go to my local O2 shop later and negotiate that deal, and maybe swap some minutes for more data.

A couple of hours later I got a call from T-Mobile, and talked to someone more senior. He was the most helpful out of the lot that I spoke to, and after I explained what I had been refused, he said that it wasn't right and came up with some figures:
100 Minutes
Unlimited Texts
500mb data

£260 upfront and £10 a month, so £500 for the 2 years.

This was the same as my original contract, bar the upfront price of the phone. At this point I decided to mention web n walk and that I hadn't had the 3gb limit for the past 2 years, and he decided to upgrade me to 1gb a month free of charge, which is plenty for what I use it for.

He then added that I'd be able to pick it up from my local T-Mobile store today, but unfortunatly they were out of stock when I got there. Later I recieved another call from the same bloke asking how everything was, and when I told him they were out of stock he decided to get one delivered to my door, next day delivery, free of charge.

So after all this I must say I'm glad that T-Mobile have got their act together, dispite how long it took to speak to someone that could do something about my situation. I think next time I upgrade I'll ask for my PAC code straight away to get them in more of a rush to keep me.

Tim

Gunnar

Hey Tim,

Well done - welcome to the club when it arrives.
Shame it was a a load of hassle with T-Mobile.
So did they basically roll your current plan plus the extra GB over for another 24 months ?

Cheers,
Pete.

eddiewawa

Hey Tim,

that sir isnt bad at all! the closest thing i can see is the one from buymobilephones.net where its t-mob, 100min, unlimited txts, 1.5gb , £26x24 = £624

good to see peeps are getting reasonable deals across various providers, and gives all of us a better place to bargain when it comes to retentions/upgrade time

Ashington

Hi everyone

How about this deal on the Htc One X.

I like other was on the Desire T-mobile 24 month 100 mins, 100 texts(with booster) and 1gb internet.

After T-mobile wanted £250, Rang Chitter Chatter, got phone for £140 and 8 cineworld tickets. Keeping my contract of £10 per month for another 24 months.


I think that's a great deal unless you know different.

coney

Thats an amazing deal. Thats about £100 less than the phone is worth, and about £200 less than they actually advertise, for less minutes, text and internet.

Glad I never knew about that site, I would have ended up with a Motorola Razr!

ifb-online

I have phoned mobiles.co.uk three times now and nobody from their T-Mobile upgrades team has got back to me

Does anybody else do good deals on unbranded and unlocked phones (mobiles.co.uk is part of Carphone Warehouse, so no point in mentioning them).

Ian

eddiewawa

have you tried the chitter chatter guys to see if they can do you an upgrade deal instead?

ifb-online

Yes, phoned them and had a nice chat. On the one hand they said they couldn't offer me anything competitive if I stayed with my existing tariff. Instead I was offered £21/month with 300 minutes, 500 texts, unlimited landlines, unlimited web browsing and 750MB data (video streaming, file transfers, etc.) with a cost of £50 for a Galaxy Note or £100 for a One X. That's £554 over 24 months for the Note or £604 for the One X.

At present I pay £20.43 per month (and have been serviced notice of a 3.75% increase, which will make it £21.20) for 300 minutes, 300 texts, unlimited landlines, and unlimited data (3GB fair use Web'n Walk).

I think the chitter chatter deal could work as the 750MB limit only sees your connection slow down if exceeded, like the 3GB fair use Web'n Walk).

Apparently tethering is OK (although we had to debate what tethering actually was - basically I use the WiFi hotspot function in my handset to enable my laptop to access the internet when I travel and no free wifi is available).

And the handsets are unbranded and unlocked.

I just wish mobiles.co.uk would call me back so I can make a decision!

Ian

Last edited by ifb-online; April 19th, 2012 at 11:52 AM.

Nasalhair

Still no joy for me, and I've realised that Orange are completely incompetent.

I'm looking to stay on my current tariff (Dolphin 15 - fine for me as my calls go to magic numbers, I use loads of texts and only about 100MB internet, the rest done via wifi) but upgrade to the 1X. Over the course of three days last week I rang them four times and was quoted upgrade prices of £171, £300, £200 and £249 - the £300 and £200 were within 10 minutes of each other. None of the calls had been recorded in their systems and so they had no record of these quotes when I called. The woman I spoke to who promised £200 said the phone was out of stock but that she would personally call me when it came back in and I could have one for £200, but then she's disappeared since then and there's no record of the call.

Last week I sent a complaint to them detailing all of this and they called me tonight. The gentleman apologised to me and offered me a handset for around £320, but said he'd give me a £70 discount which would bring it down to £250. I hit him with my trump card: "So why when I go to my account on your website and ask for an upgrade does it offer me the 1X for £199?" He went silent and admitted he didn't know, then reiterated that £320 was the best they could possibly do. He suggested I ordered it through the website and he'd credit the £70 to my account tomorrow, reducing the 1X to £129, so I went to do the order and at the very end the website keeled over. Tried again & it keeled over. Tried again and it said the order had already been placed, but I've not received a confirmation or anything.

Nice also that when I asked the guy for some advice on ordering he swore blind that today was Wednesday, and said the checkout page on the website would offer a delivery slot... which it didn't.

Orange: Absolutely inept. I've been a customer for 15 years and I'm absolutely disgusted with how they've been this last week.

eddiewawa

although I will attempt orange upgrades 1st time round, im a little burnt by Orange after their price rise...DURING MID CONTRACT!!! that is disgusting...so i guess T-mobile are following in the wake.

I'm defo tempted by that 3 deal where you pay £130 upfront, but £25 over 24 but its on the one plan so crucially AYCE data inc tethering.

but...if orange can do me a deal, then i'll take it.

ifb-online

mobiles.co.uk's T-Mobile upgrades team has still got back to me after three calls so I think I will go with chitter chatter (I also tried their parent company Carphone Warehouse, but they could get nowhere close to matching the chitter chatter deal) - and it looks like I will go with the Galaxy Note as it is £50 less.

Ian

Nasalhair

Victory! Staying on my current contract with Orange (Dolphin 15), handset £150 upfront but I'm also getting a credit of £70 to my account as I complained so this means the handset is essentially costing £80 - arrives Monday by courier

ifb-online

I gave mobiles.co.uk one more chance (the fourth) to call me back, but nothing, so I have gone for the Chitter Chatter deal (thanks eddiewawa!) - but I decided on the Galaxy Note - sorry HTC! Still, a great deal I think; £50 for the handset, £21/month for 300 mins, 500 texts, unlimited landlines, unlimited web browsing and 750MB downloads - and a free Bluetooth headset and one month's insurance.

Ian

eddiewawa

always wondered how they'd differentiate a download from web browsing? is it via protocol? like ftp/sftp?

but thats a good deal dude, i presume its over 24months? meaning it's £554 over 2 years inc a blue tooth headset...

is there a similar company to Chitter Chatter for Orange?

TV!

Well thanks to some of the kind posters comments on this thread I gave Chitter Chatter a bash I contacted them through the online chat.

I am currently with t-mobile on the 300 mins, unlimited text, 3gb internet for £15.81 (after this months rise) I finished my HTC desire 24 month deal on 2nd april and have been holding off for an upgrade.

I initially contacted t-mobile and was quoted £32 per month for a free handset but if I wanted to keep my existing £15.81 it would be £260 up front. Bit pricey i thought .

So went onto chitter chatter and explained the situation and the advisors first offer was keep my contract and pay £169.99 excellent I thought £90 off straight away but lets try for more. I asked if this was the best deal and if i bought it today could they do it for £160. The advisor spoke to retentions and came back with an offer of £149.99 . So add that to my 24 x £15.81 and your looking at £530 over the life of the contract or £22.05 per month

My white one x arrives on Wednesday, thanks again folks.

eddiewawa

thats awesome news dude! thats why i set this thread up to give the rest of us some leverage against the operators. i doubt i could ever get that sort of deal with orange! lol

heres to hoping!

p.s. im finally eligible for an orange upgrade tomorrow, fingers crossed with round 1 via upgrades

eddiewawa

ROUND 1
well round 1, guy from orange was not helpful at all..

so 1st thing i did was to pop online and see what could get...i could upgrade immediately on my current contract @ £21.52 (add 10% loyalty discount) = £348.62 + £199 upfront = £547.62 for 18 months

but after speaking to the orange upgrade guy (who offered me £31x24 +£149???? £893???? over 2 years???) he said if i was to go via the website, i lose any loyalty on my current contract i.e. apparently i get an additional 200mins, 500txts and 500mb data purely on loyalty?

which means if i do go online i'd be left with only 200mins & 300txts (no data!) on my contract...wowsers...

hmm...forgot to see how much the termination fee would cost, called again and a helpful lady told me my termination fee would be £61.53

so heading off to the shops and phones4u to see what they can do

ifb-online

I smell a bit of a rat; I was on a similar deal (but only 300 texts, though I had unlimited land lines) for £20 a month (my HTC Desire was £90 on a 24 month contract). Chitter Chatter told me I had to give up that tariff so I went for a similar alternative (200 extra texts and unlimited Web browsing but a 750MB download limit). If I had gone with a One X the phone would have cost £100. In the end I chose a Samsung Galaxy Note for £50, but I would really have preferred to stay on my old tariff like you. I may give them a call - my new phone arrived this morning.

Ian

ifb-online

Why not switch to T-Mobile? They are now one with Orange

Ian

davoid

So why wouldn't he beat the online deal for you and include loyalty? It's outrageous that he should say the deal online is better but you'll lose your loyalty. He should beat it. (in either definition of the term).

I'm in the same boat - orange contract just finished. don't know what to do yet. I'll be interested to see how you get on in the shops. There are miles better deals around than the one he offered you.

You would have been better off just asking for your PAC before even mentioning upgrades. They would immediately be trying to stop you from leaving, and would put you through to the department that offers the best deals.

MY ADVICE is to search around for the best deal you can find anywhere - even those including cashback by dedemption - and armed with these deals, phone Orange and ask for your PAC. Don't talk about upgrade. Just ask for your PAC. They will say 'Oh, is there any reason why you're thinking of leaving Orange?' and you will say, 'Yeah, you are too expensive and I've seen a great deal elsewhere...' and they will put you through to 'disconnections' where you are ostensibly asking for your PAC (which takes 30 days, and you can always cancel and they tell you this) but they will start offering you deals "in the meantime" to see if you might not change your mind. And they will be much better than any official upgrade, because the first guy you talked to about uprades doesn't have the authority to offer better deals. Ask for your PAC!

I don't think the Orange loyalty benefits that have been accrued can be transferred though.

rootjuice

I phoned 3 to ask when I was due an upgrade and got offered the One X or One S for free, 1000 mins, 5000 texts, 5000 3 to 3 mins, AYCE data for £20/month or the One S for £18/month I went with the One X.

davoid

NICE! It would cost the equivalent of £20 x 24 months just to buy the phone.

Netherdragon

Damn you....

That's so much better than what I got from them...

Then again I was offered 3 different deals over 3 days and apparently each was the "best deal they could offer me"...

Now im Paying £30 a month for what you are getting usage wise but with 2000 more minutes. Although I got them to right off £110 worth of early upgrade fees so i guess im not too bad off...

rootjuice

I was pretty surprised I was offered that straight away too but might be because I been with them for years and recently complained that I was on a crap deal, I said put a note on my account that I get offered something really good at upgrade time or I'm off, guess it must of worked lol.
I phoned 3 back up last Friday when the phone came to say the phones bigger than I expected and was thinking of sending it back and getting the One S but will keep it if they give me it for the One S price of £18/month aha he wouldn't do it lol

rootjuice

£10 extra for 2000 more mins is good i reckon plus an early upgrade

davoid

I'm guessing also that you're on The One Plan, which means you are also allowed to tether your phone to a computer. Free internet!

davoid

lol 'this phone's display has far too many pixels, can I have a discount please.'

Had to be worth a try.

eddiewawa

yeah ive been searching all over the place.

some of the 24 month deals are looking pretty good from Mobiles.co.uk and buymobilephones.net (around the £26x24).
but man there isnt anything available thats decent on the 18month deals.
I'm still drifting towards the £117 upfront and £25 a month via 3 on the One Plan since im sure im gonna hammer the data with this new phone lol

never terminated a phone 3 months early, will i even be put onto retentions?

Netherdragon

yer had to do it, I use my phones data plan a lot.

I was going through 6gb a month at one point

normally about 3-4 GB a month now but still thank god for unlimited data.

edit, just checked my usage so far this month and i've gone through nearly 3 gb in 2 weeks

I would be so screwed with say... a 500mb cap...

Last edited by Netherdragon; April 24th, 2012 at 10:44 AM.

davoid

Ah. No. I didn't see the terminating early part. No, you have to have your contract up before you can tell them you're leaving and get a PAC. Why don't you sit it out for 3 months and you'll have the D Quad available, and possibly also the SIII to choose from? I know it's easy to just wait...

I'm not saying you don't want the One X, but better deals should be available when the competition is out.

eddiewawa

yeah im just being impatient, but also apparently my loyalty deals inc the data runs out in may...(contract ends in july) which includes the data??? so i could go through the last 2 months with no data at all? wtf? im calling cancellations now and getting my pac code, then im off to 3 with their all you can eat data plans

eddiewawa

dammit....well, got off from orange cancellations and guess what?...ive been lazy and stuck with orange.

someone throw stones at me cos:

£200 upfront, 200mins, unlimited txts, 1.5gb data, £21x24months

so it works out at £704 over 24months i.e. £29.33 per month...

but once i sell my DHD for £110, that'll be £24.75 per month...

sooo....not too bad i think? and its on orange panther so i get 2 free swappables, think i'll use Deezer and sky sports (once thats avail for android lol)

so....there we go, p.s. if you ever get through to retentions, ask for a gal called Kathrine, lovely lass, really friendly and uber helpful. just dont get narky and she'll do all she can to help.

ifb-online

I contacted Chitter Chatter this morning because your deal appears to be significantly better than mine - my main beef is that I have lost the 3GB Web'n Walk, replaced with 750MB, am paying more for a phone that is £50 cheaper. There has to be an explanation and I am trusting that Chitter Chatter, who are being very concerned and positive, will get to the bottom of.

Ian

ifb-online

Disappointingly, nobody called me back or responded to the email they asked me to send and the chap I was talking to in the morning wasn't on duty this afternoon. He's back this afternoon. Fingers crossed.

Ian

ifb-online

Hi TV! Trying to get in touch but your forum member account/profile seems to direct through to a different person. Anyway, if you could get in touch via PM or here that would be great

How are you getting on with your new One X?

Ian