This is rediculous, what should i do?

Associate
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6 Jan 2006
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Ayy
Hey guys,

My upgrade was due today (am on orange) and was particularly interested in the HTC Touch HD, so naturally i asked about an upgrade price for this phone.

Now i understand that the HD is one of the most expensive phones about and expected to pay a little for it, but to my horror they quoted me £293!!!
So the conversation went something like the following:

Me: "but isn't this phone free on a £35pm contract?"
Orange: “yes it is”

Me: "well if i were to buy out my current contract (3 months left on £25pm) and then get this phone, can i not just do that?"
Orange: "yeah but there is a cancellation fee of £60"

Me: "so i would be saving over £150 by cancelling my current contract and starting a new one?"
Orange: "yes but you would lose your loyalty points you have built up etc etc"

Decided to end the conversation shortly after, obviously these 'loyalty' points have done **** all for my upgrade, so what exactly have i built up over the past year? What’s the use?

It just seems daft that when asked, they couldn’t offer a solution to the situation, i even mentioned upping my tariff to make the phone cheaper.
She even went on about how they have lost customers because of this, and how their upgrading system works, was like she wasn’t buying her own pitch at times, and didnt really put me in a spot of confidence.

So question is, what to do?

Cheers,

Andy
 
Soldato
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Glasgow, Scotland
I love orange :)

Sounds shocking tho.. you think they would do what they could for existing customers!

I have had good luck with them really! 2 phones ago i got a phone which wasnt in my band of upgrade, didnt need to do much, i basically just expressed interest in the phone lol Last phone i wanted i dont know anything about how much it should have been or anything, just got what i wanted straight away (n82) :)
 
Associate
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Birmingham
Orange seem to have lost the plot completely. Given the upgrade prices of the Omnia and Diamond I'm not surprised with the price. I didn't upgrade and went to Vodaphone instead on the Touch Pro.
 
Soldato
Joined
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16,056
Orange are a disaster, I'm currently mired in a nightmare with them over a BlackBerry account and their CS staff are the most clueless morons I've ever had the misfortune of dealing with.
 
Associate
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London
If you decided to cancel your contract, I think you're making a mistake.

The loyalty scheme is FAR more valuable than any upgrade phone.

Why?

A phone is a tangible asset, whereas a phone contract isn't. If you can get your contract down really cheap (i.e. knock-off 75%) then you're pretty much sorted "for life".

Then you can buy any phone you want with the advantage of it being SIM free and of course, a tangible asset (i.e. you can re-sell it). You'll find the total cost of this option is equal to, if not cheaper than any contract + free phone deal. The only downside is having a few hundred to spare for the phone!
 
Soldato
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King's Lynn
It's the same with all mobile networks, they're a bit dumb really. I'm with vodafone and I went to see what I was entitled to as an 'upgrade' via the online store and my not too surprising response was it looks like I'm phoning up and threatening to cancel then - I could have basically gone sim free and bought the phone outright for literally a hundred pounds more yet I still was having to go on a £35 a month contract, which has the same phone for free if you're a new customer :rolleyes: It would be nice for a mobile company to atleast offer us a fair deal when its upgrade time :o
 
Associate
Joined
3 Aug 2006
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610
Location
London, UK
networks are starting to struggle, this will be compounded even more when roaming rates are capped.

true tbh.
networks are being hit hard financially and some, while giving away free phones to upgrading customers, are charging for the "privilege" of upgrading.

As someone who works in the industry at a customer facing level, it seems that they have brought this upon themselves by allowing customers to believe they can get everything they want for nothing.

I'm not saying this is you, just that the industry is digging itself a financial grave.


I don't want to advertise, but try getting your upgrade through an independent retailer. I know where I work, we can usually give upgrading customers on Orange the same deal as a new customer. Just make sure you pop in before you do your shopping to get the process started as Orange can take a long time to come back with an answer on an upgrade check :rolleyes:
 
Associate
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Birmingham
If you decided to cancel your contract, I think you're making a mistake.

The loyalty scheme is FAR more valuable than any upgrade phone.

*thinks you must be working for Orange*

Sorry that's a load of rubbish, Orange didn't offer a discount on the contract and the cost of the phone was crazy.

Loyalty points don't mean anything.
 
Man of Honour
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Plymouth
*thinks you must be working for Orange*

Sorry that's a load of rubbish, Orange didn't offer a discount on the contract and the cost of the phone was crazy.

Loyalty points don't mean anything.

That's not true, loyalty points mean a lot when you have a lot of them.

However, to get a high level of loyalty, you have to do more than simply be a customer on a £25 a month talkplan sticking to your inclusive minutes...

Do the maths, on an 18 month contract, that spend means you spend £450 over the contract. Now, in order to be a profitable customer, that means it has to cost less than that over the course of the contract to provide you with your service and your handset, and a top of the line handset is £400 cost to the network... They don't charge handset fees for fun.

Spend £80-100 a month (or more) and the situation changes rapidly, because the economics make a lot more sense.
 
Associate
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*thinks you must be working for Orange*

Sorry that's a load of rubbish, Orange didn't offer a discount on the contract and the cost of the phone was crazy.

Loyalty points don't mean anything.
It's true.

I've been on a £30 contract for 2 years and a £25 contract for 1 year with O2 and my latest contract renewal (last month) they offered me my contract for ~£6.50. Just checked my online bill for last month and they stayed true to their word.

This is ideal for me because my usage is so varied but just about stays within my tariff at its peak.

Come next renewal, I'll now be able to bargain at least a similar price. And if I want the "latest phone" I can just buy it myself..
 
Associate
Joined
21 Oct 2002
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South Wales
Just a copy and paste from another thread I posted in:

I had a HTC 3600 previously (SPV M700) and wanted to upgrade. £129 the lady said. No way I said. Maybe I'll go and get an iPhone on o2 I said. (Don't worry I wasn't ever really going to do that) Ok, let me see what I can do she said. £80 off she said. That's still not free I said. Ok she said, one minute. Actually, I can do it for free, she said. I'll take that one, I said. Oh no, it's one of our most expensive phones, I can't do it for free, she said. Well that's unfortunate, I said. But I can do a deal, you pay £109 for the handset now and I'll credit your account with £130, she said. I paused for a second or two in suprise. Sold, I said!

Ring up the upgrades department again. Tell them you were told previously about speaking to customer relations. Just say you're interested in the HD but also you were thinking of going to O2 to get an iPhone for free. Keep on pushing that in to the person on the phone until they can't do any more and see what offer you get.
 
Caporegime
Joined
20 Jan 2005
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Co Durham
Just do what my gf did when she wanted the same phone after been a customer for 8 years.

She put in her cancellation and they rang up to see why she was leaving. She told them it was because she couldn't have that phone as a free upgrade. Job sorted, phone arrived free two days later.
 
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