# Negotiating with mobile companies



## Gerry1time (Sep 26, 2012)

I'm finally coming round to the fact that I may need a new phone. Now mine is refusing even to charge itself up, the one use it had left, acting as a watch, is now gone.

My contract expired a year or so ago, but like a fool I've still been paying it, due to dithering about what phone to get. I've also been a customer of this provider for the longest time, so I imagine I have some form of credit with them, or at least a rating that will mean they want to keep me.

I used to hear tales of people phoning up mobile companies and negotiating massive deals by threatening to leave them. 'A free phone, a cheaper contract and a handjob of your choice' kinda thing. People I knew who worked on the end of these phones openly admitted there were lots of things they were meant to give away if the customer persisted enough.

Does this even still happen? If so, anyone any idea how it works these days?


----------



## Elvis Parsley (Sep 27, 2012)

sorry but they'll say you've got zero credit or rating with them, they won't give two shits how long you've been throwing money their way, in fact they probably won't even offer you as good a deal as if you were a new customer.

at least that's how i was initially treated by t-mobile when my contract ended last year, they actually suggested i leave them for a month and then rejoin so i could access the better deals. ridiculous

in the end i told them to stick it, demanded my PAC and the contact details of the complaints manager. next day i got a call from an Escalation Agent (?) who offered me a better tariff, the phone i wanted, a free bolt on something or other and all the love and warmth i'd been missing the previous day. all for the same money and short contract as before.

play them for what you can get, but expect them to behave like arses.


----------



## wemakeyousoundb (Sep 27, 2012)

dunno as I never had a contract, but calling to ask for your PAC code made them offer me loads (on a contract though not PAYG as I was) so you might want to try that
ah just read that advice above about the PAC


----------



## Gerry1time (Sep 27, 2012)

Thanks both, just called them with the above in mind. All they did was tell me that I could recycle my old phone to get some money off a new one, which I said I couldn't do as it was broken. To which they essentially replied "Oh well, here's your PAC code then". Bizarre. I honestly thought they might slightly give a shit about a customer leaving, but seemingly not.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 27, 2012)

Gerry1time said:


> Thanks both, just called them with the above in mind. All they did was tell me that I could recycle my old phone to get some money off a new one, which I said I couldn't do as it was broken. To which they essentially replied "Oh well, here's your PAC code then". Bizarre. I honestly thought they might slightly give a shit about a customer leaving, but seemingly not.


 
Sometimes its worth calling again to see if you get someone more helpful. Bit late now, but if your dithering in future its always worth switching to a sim only contract as it brings the monthly cost down.

Anyway sounds like your due a new phone anyhow...pick what you like and get shopping.


----------



## silverfish (Sep 27, 2012)

I bobbed into 02 yesterday as I wanted a new iphone as my htc desireless is wank. snotty little fucker looked me up and down, said I had too long on my contract said there was nothing imcould do, turned his back and walked away.

I walked out the shop, walked across the road,  had a natter with the friendly lady in carphone warehouse, with in half an hour i'd fucked O2 off, bought myself out of the contract (178 quid)  and and had a shiny iphone 5 with all my shit transferred on to it

Deal seems much cheaper than the 02 one as well.

Seemed very easy and 02 did fuck all to persuade me otnerwise despite having used their phone/contract for business travel  for the last 9 years running them up huge bills (800 quid on my best month)


----------



## Barking_Mad (Sep 27, 2012)

I'll shortly be doing this as my HTC Desire contract runs out and I look for a new shiny phone. Currently £28 for 3000 mins, unlimited data and text with 3mobile. Looking to get this down by at least £5 a month.


----------



## Gerry1time (Sep 27, 2012)

I've gone with a 3 mobile sim that's something like £12.50/month with 200 minutes, 5000 texts and unlimited data as a one month rolling contract. Just got to find the phone now. Thinking an iphone 4s, but a little wary of buying one through ebay, even though they're a good deal cheaper. Hmm.


----------



## Puddy_Tat (Sep 27, 2012)

I got a fiver a month 'loyalty discount' from T-mobile a year or two back when I started talking about reviewing my contract - don't think I specifically threatened to leave.

Also, last time I was due an upgrade, one of the options was 'keep the phone you've got and pay a bit less' which I went for.


----------



## Kid_Eternity (Sep 29, 2012)

Used to be that you could get some good deals this way, not heard anyone getting one like this in ages though...


----------

