Upgrade time - What should I expect (orange)

50/50 · 13 May 2006 at 22:00

OK, its been 12 months and its time to upgrade.
My monthly bills are around £50-60, and I use around 200-250 xnet and around 400 sms' a month.

Ive rang up orange and they have offered me a w810i and charging me £30 for just the phone(!) and 200xnet + 500 sms for £30. This doesnt seem all that great to me. I didnt speak to retentions as they were closed, so I just spoke to the normal Upgrade dept.

So what should I push for tommorow when I speak to cancellations??

Im thinking maybe the phone free and £25pm for 300xnet + 500txts. Does this seem OTT?
I am willing to disconnect, but would prefer not to.

Please advise!

csmager · 13 May 2006 at 22:35

I doubt they'll budge on the monthly charge. As far as I can see, I don't think they even offer anything that good to new customers - even web exclusive for new customers only gives 300mins/500texts for £35.

They might give you the phone for free at a push, but Orange seem to be fairly uninterested in keeping customers that don't make them a lot of money at the moment.

Dolph might be better informed to comment on this, though.

rmuir · 13 May 2006 at 23:48

i would switch operator tbh

Been with orange for three years coming in july and i won't be hanging around. apart from some reception issues their customer service is starting to get patchy.

when I upgraded last year I got a k750i and 200 mins and 500 texts @ 30quid a month for the year. in january they took the texts off without any notice. when i phoned customer services to complain, they said that there had been notices on my paper bills, not true, and when i checked my account online after the call they must have changed something on the account because my package name had changed. anyway i eventually spoke to somebody in complaints and he wasn't having it, i explained that there is no way that it was just a six month deal for the texts because there is no way i would have agreed to that. got my text costs for the month refunded and the package reapplied, just as i was about to thank them for helping the guy said 'and just so you know, the 500 texts till tenth of july will be the end of the text allowance' i thot i must have misheard and got him to repeat to which he said something along the lines of ' you won't get 500 texts allowance again'. so i just pointed out that his attitude was wrong and that if that was the case i would be leaving. his lack of interest was laughable. not impressed.

spirit · 13 May 2006 at 23:52

my sister managed to get 10% off for life (but had to get an 18month contract) and then next upgrade anohter 10% off ontop of that etc etc
orange also seem to take any phone for trade in (50£ i think) {gave an 8210}
also managed to get some extra xnet

however, they didn't give me anything at all. i switched to tmobile (who seem quite good tbh much better htan 3/4 years ago when i used them) and got a much much better deal with 25% off!

just push for anything, give it a go, all they can say is no.

MehulLakhani · 14 May 2006 at 00:04

I ordered the FlexT 35 tariff on T-mobile a week or so ago, with the 25% off. The phone arrived a couple of days ago, and so I proceeded to phone up orange for my PAC code.

I was going to leave anyway, but seeing as I was bored, I pushed the retentions department :eek:

I was already on a special tariff to get them to match '3', which was 500 anytime x-net mins, with 100 texts for 25 quid a month

My bills are on average 40-50 a month, and I have not had an upgrade for 18mnths.

Without even batting an eyelid, they offered to match the FlexT 35 tariff ; 900 x-net anytime mins etc etc for 35 a month. But they would not match the 25% discount.

HTH

M

rmuir · 14 May 2006 at 00:10

is their a route to getting orange to spill?

i always seem to hit a brick wall with them. or they start making crap excuses for not giving me a handset. like 'ahhhh its a brand new 3g jobbie that, no way im doing that for free'

im ready to leave the atm, but if i thot i could get the right deal i would stay

Dolph · 14 May 2006 at 00:12

rmuir said:
i would switch operator tbh

Been with orange for three years coming in july and i won't be hanging around. apart from some reception issues their customer service is starting to get patchy.

when I upgraded last year I got a k750i and 200 mins and 500 texts @ 30quid a month for the year. in january they took the texts off without any notice. when i phoned customer services to complain, they said that there had been notices on my paper bills, not true, and when i checked my account online after the call they must have changed something on the account because my package name had changed. anyway i eventually spoke to somebody in complaints and he wasn't having it, i explained that there is no way that it was just a six month deal for the texts because there is no way i would have agreed to that. got my text costs for the month refunded and the package reapplied, just as i was about to thank them for helping the guy said 'and just so you know, the 500 texts till tenth of july will be the end of the text allowance' i thot i must have misheard and got him to repeat to which he said something along the lines of ' you won't get 500 texts allowance again'. so i just pointed out that his attitude was wrong and that if that was the case i would be leaving. his lack of interest was laughable. not impressed.

Your promotional bundle ran out, it would have been an 18 month promotion from when you originally had it, not a permanant one. This was not automatically renewed when you upgraded as it was a one off promotion when you joined

Sounds like you've then been given them back as a gesture of goodwill until the remainder of the contract, which would seem a more than fair solution given that the root of the problem is either the product not being correctly explained or the product not being understood.

To the OP, the W810i for £30 is about right for your spend and usage (as you've described it). As has been said, there isn't really a tarriff that gives you what you've said you'll push for. You might be able to get the phone for free, I wouldn't like to say. It does also depend what contract length you're willing to take, as longer contracts give much more flexibility for pricing/tarriffs.

Dolph · 14 May 2006 at 00:15

rmuir said:
is their a route to getting orange to spill?

i always seem to hit a brick wall with them. or they start making crap excuses for not giving me a handset. like 'ahhhh its a brand new 3g jobbie that, no way im doing that for free'

im ready to leave the atm, but if i thot i could get the right deal i would stay

Be a good value customer is the best solution. All mobile phone networks are businesses at the end of the day, so the cost of whatever you want them to do has to be compared with how much income you're going to bring in.

rmuir · 14 May 2006 at 00:16

when i upgraded i asked several times about the texts being for the length of the contract, yes was the reply on each occasion. it was a 12 month contract so having an 18month bundle would hardly make sense.

as i hijack the thread.... sorry.

Nikolic · 14 May 2006 at 00:29

Threaten to leave.

I'm a light user - never/ rarely go over £15 a month (now £18) - 6months ago Vodafone wanted £270 for a W800i upgrade.

Phoned back next day, asked for my PAC code to move over to O2, vodafone gave me W800i for £20, and a much better contract for £3 more a month.

I feel sorry for anyone that actually pays the high upgrade costs!

spirit · 14 May 2006 at 01:10

MehulLakhani said:
I ordered the FlexT 35 tariff on T-mobile a week or so ago, with the 25% off. The phone arrived a couple of days ago, and so I proceeded to phone up orange for my PAC code.

I was going to leave anyway, but seeing as I was bored, I pushed the retentions department

I was already on a special tariff to get them to match '3', which was 500 anytime x-net mins, with 100 texts for 25 quid a month

My bills are on average 40-50 a month, and I have not had an upgrade for 18mnths.

Without even batting an eyelid, they offered to match the FlexT 35 tariff ; 900 x-net anytime mins etc etc for 35 a month. But they would not match the 25% discount.

HTH

M

no ways, they said they wouldnt to me, maybe its cause orange have been losing 1000's of people

Kappa · 14 May 2006 at 09:34

Nikolic said:
I feel sorry for anyone that actually pays the high upgrade costs!

I know what you mean (upgrades for voda staff are PANTS!), but I dont feel sorry for the people who THINK they DESERVE a £300 phone for a free upgrade when they only spend £200 on calls in a year. Alright if you thought you could get it, but in store, its so annoying when people think its stupid and have a go lol.

tom_nieto · 14 May 2006 at 22:42

Ask them to price match the T-mobile flext package. I got a rather favourable deal by doing that.

stoofa · 15 May 2006 at 10:36

Kappa said:
I know what you mean (upgrades for voda staff are PANTS!), but I dont feel sorry for the people who THINK they DESERVE a £300 phone for a free upgrade when they only spend £200 on calls in a year. Alright if you thought you could get it, but in store, its so annoying when people think its stupid and have a go lol.

I am so with you on this.
The amount of times I see people come into these forums moaning that their current provider won't give them a £500 handset for free and upgrade their minutes and give them free texts and they are spending £23 - £30 per month.

For some reason people feel that they have a right to everything for nothing and that all of the telco's are there not to make any kind of profit for their shareholders but to just give you the best deal possible and make a loss for the company.

If you want the best deals then switch telco every year because that is the only way you are going to get the very best deal if you are just an average customer.
You may think your £40 per month is a lot - that is £480 per year.
Most people paying this think they should get their £500 handset for nothing - so the telco's making a loss before they give you even one free minute of airtime.

spirit · 15 May 2006 at 10:39

stoofa said:
I am so with you on this.
The amount of times I see people come into these forums moaning that their current provider won't give them a £500 handset for free and upgrade their minutes and give them free texts and they are spending £23 - £30 per month.

For some reason people feel that they have a right to everything for nothing and that all of the telco's are there not to make any kind of profit for their shareholders but to just give you the best deal possible and make a loss for the company.

If you want the best deals then switch telco every year because that is the only way you are going to get the very best deal if you are just an average customer.
You may think your £40 per month is a lot - that is £480 per year.
Most people paying this think they should get their £500 handset for nothing - so the telco's making a loss before they give you even one free minute of airtime.

on the other hand orange are sometimes idiots, like i said, they wouldn't give me anything but i had 5 contracts with them, switched most of them now - only got 3 (i only get upgrades for my personal phone and wanted that plan changed not the other 4.)

50/50 · 20 May 2006 at 16:39

just an update:

I rang up and got a FREE SE w810i with 500xnet + 500 sms a month for £25 a month on a 12 month contract!!

I'm very pleased!

csmager · 20 May 2006 at 18:05

50/50 said:
just an update:

I rang up and got a FREE SE w810i with 500xnet + 500 sms a month for £25 a month on a 12 month contract!!

I'm very pleased!

Quite an achievement. I got 500xnet + 100sms + 250eve/we mins + 1 magic number, 18 month contract, £40/m.

Not fair!