Paying for a contract up front?

sedm1000 · 1 Apr 2011 at 03:39

This might be a dumb question, but has anybody ever heard of an option (or a willingness on behalf of a service provider) to take payment for a contract up front?

e.g. Paying off a whole, or part of a contract, that is given as a gift? Taking advantage of better rates than sim-only deals...

Any thoughts or options?

Thanks.

Myshra · 1 Apr 2011 at 08:41

While I admire you spirit it's a massive no because:

They want you to go over your minutes, not stay within them.
They can't charge for extras if you do this, you'd have to be locked in pretty tight which means designing new controls etc... which they dont want to do.
Things like premium texts etc... are back charged only.

muon · 1 Apr 2011 at 20:02

You can put a large credit on your account to cover future payments, however you can accrue further charges.

Just ask to do a massive overpayment.

This was the case when I was 17 and had no credit history, they wanted 6 months payment in advance.

edit:

I have no idea why you'd want to do this though. They will just earn interest (or equivalent) on your money.

sedm1000 · 1 Apr 2011 at 23:55

Thanks for the feedback.

The aim is to buy a contract as a gift - taking advantage of better deals for minutes/texts/data on a contract, plus the cheap phone.

I figure that this is uncommon, but was interested to hear some thoughts before I start negotiating with them, see what I can come up with. I'm willing to forgo a small amount of interest on the payment to be able to offer them that enticement of a lump sum up front.

Surely some phone rep must get a decent commission out of that?

MissChief · 2 Apr 2011 at 02:37

You buy the contract as a gift, but they'll want DD details of someone. i.e. you. person you give gift to loses phone or makes premium calls wanting some talentless mentally disturbed 'singer' to win X factor. Your Direct debit quadruples to £100 per month. Seriously not a good idea. Buy phone, pay as you go sim, load sim with £100 or something, say cheerio.

IceWind · 2 Apr 2011 at 14:04

T-Mobile allow this option and give you a 5% discount on the overall cost of the contract for doing so ( ex T-mobile empolyee ). Not sure about other networks though.