Contract rant

[jjb1970]

I went to look at renewing my mobile phone contract today and get a new handset. I went to my current network providers shop and asked about n unlimited data package and a particular handset. I was treated to the usual spiel about how they'd do a tip top package for an existing "loyal" customer and was promptly quoted £10 a month more and same up front hand set cost than the headline on their website, a package which the website explicitly stated was on-line or in-store. I pointed this out and was immediately offered this even more special deal at which point I asked to cancel. I have a bit of a character flaw in that I take stuff like this as pretty much an insult as it is tantamount to the shop telling me "we think you're too stupid to have looked at prices before considering a change, and you'll just swallow any old nonsense we offer", and at that point I'm out regardless of what they try to offer. Move onto thing that winds me up 2, the shops are happy enough to set up a contract but to cancel you have to call the friendly and efficient "help" line..... Four times the person tried to convince me to renew or to engage me in conversation about the wonderful handsets on offer, in the end I was rather blunt and not at all friendly in telling him I wasn't calling him for a conversation, just cancel the contract. I don't mind them asking once, and I appreciate the call centre people are probably under a lot of pressure but if the answer is no then it is no, it really, really peeves me off when these people just keep ignoring what you are telling them, they rely on the fact most people would rather avoid being nasty to try and manipulate them. This isn't just a mobile phone thing, I've had similar experiences with electricity and gas companies (including with my former employer). 

 

And finally my biggest rant, the call system used voice recognition software which did not recognise my words, this really really infuriates me. HMRC use a similar system, and that won't recognise what I say either. It wouldn't be so bad if there was a reasonable time out function which directs you to an operator after a period but these systems make you jump through hoops before getting to that point.

[Talltim]

You’re probably better off getting a SIM only contract and buying a phone. Some of the SIM only contracts now are month by month so you aren’t tied in at all

[Ian J.]

My current contract is SIM only, though not month-by-month, and I forked out directly for the phone which was a bit more expensive than a basic handset. In the long run it has proved cheaper.

[tetsudofan]

Like Tim above I've got a SIM only contract and bought my phone...… I'm not a phone geek with the most frequently used app being used (apart from texting and reading emails) is the Roco Z21 app.….. so I got an ordinary  Samsung  J6.  Sometimes I even use it to make a phone call.

 

Keith

[Edge]

Yeah, I’ve moved over to a sim only contract and using the Giffgaff mobile store / finance agreements to get the handset. I get the usage that I want with the phone I want for a price considerably less than the contract alternative 

[Reorte]

Sounds a bit like the old insurance one of giving you ridiculous renewal quotes. They seemed rather put out once when I phoned to cancel after renewing cheaper elsewhere - "You should've given us a call first, we may have been able to do something" got the reply "then that's what you should've quoted me in the first place."

[Richard_A]

Another vote for sim only deal, I pay £20 a month for 3gb of data, unlimited phone and texts. I just buy a new phone when mine gets tired, which is every couple of years.

[jjb1970]

I am increasingly convinced that mobile phones are designed for a two year life. I still like the handset I have but battery life has fell off a cliff and the screen has started having the death flicker. My wife's phone and my last one both went completely dead after two and a bit years. 

 

When I worked in electricity the CEO of my employer was always whinging about so many customers changing suppliers on a regular basis and never commented on the fact that with so many golden handshake type incentives for new customers and with long term customers taken for granted and offered nothing then changing suppliers regularly was entirely sensible. 

[Ian J.]

The various services companies must be making a fair bit of money from overpriced renewals, otherwise the practice would stop. It is then reasonable to assume that many customers are fairly complacent when it comes to changing supplier or challenging their existing supplier (of whatever service). However, there are reasons we are complacent, mainly down to not wanting to deal with the faff of changing (especially if you have to do that for each supplier of a service every year), and having to be confrontational when renewing. I know I'm not at all comfortable with confrontational haggling even just once every now and then, and I suspect the suppliers know this is true of many people.

[4630]

3 minutes ago, Ian J. said:

The various services companies must be making a fair bit of money from overpriced renewals, otherwise the practice would stop. It is then reasonable to assume that many customers are fairly complacent when it comes to changing supplier or challenging their existing supplier (of whatever service). 

 

Having had responsibility for product pricing during an earlier part of my career, over 20 years ago in a service industry that had similar business characteristics, that’s entirely the commercial position.

 

A major component of the business pricing model was predicated on the assumption that a certain %age of customers would change their buy/don’t buy decision.  The worst effects of this were only partly mitigated by legislative changes and closer scrutiny from the sector’s regulator.

 

The business was (and I suspect still is) always more commercially minded and nimble than the legislators, regulators and the majority of its customers.  

 

In these situations it pays to be an ‘informed customer’.

[njee20]

It’ll always pay to be informed. In everything in life. They’re not charities, so one has to assume they’ll be out to screw you over at every conceivable step. 

 

I agree on phone contracts, when trying to renew my wife’s in store they couldn’t even match the price online (from their own website, not a re-seller), but still gave the hard sell when I told them that was pretty pointless. 

[Talltim]

It’s one thing them trying to screw you over, it does seem silly when they push so hard they screw themselves over.

[Zomboid]

You can cancel phone contacts by text now, saving the "customer retention department" nonsense.

[RedgateModels]

Agreed on SIM only, I bought an almost mint Experia Z1 from eBay over 2 years ago, sim from Plusnet - 6 quid a month for 1.5Gb data, 1000 texts and minutes. Replaced the battery once, fiddly but I am a railway modeller and have tools for fine detail work  

[Nick C]

9 hours ago, Reorte said:

Sounds a bit like the old insurance one of giving you ridiculous renewal quotes. They seemed rather put out once when I phoned to cancel after renewing cheaper elsewhere - "You should've given us a call first, we may have been able to do something" got the reply "then that's what you should've quoted me in the first place."

When they brought in the new rules a couple of years ago that they had to remind you how much you paid the previous year, my then car insurer flat out lied to me - "This years premium will be X, last year you paid Y" (X being about £20 more than Y) - it looked odd, so I dug out the previous years paperwork and found that Y was about £50 more than I actually paid! When I phoned to complain they blamed an error in their system, but I'm not convinced...

 

I've been on a monthly phone contract for a few years now - I try to make each handset last 4-5 years, so getting a new contract every 2 was somewhat wasteful. It works out a lot cheaper as I don't tend to use it much.

[hayfield]

If you are happy to use an older style phone, then a sim only deal would be a better deal, shop around first for a good deal then see if your existing provider will match it

 

I now shop around for a contract deal once my contract is up, then go back to my existing provider. Rather than get the latest phone, I go for an earlier model, I rarely pay much more than £20 per month for an iPhone and upgrade for a similar price every 2 years. Never go over my data or call allowance and I do find it worth upgrading every 2 years for the extra benefits newer phones provide.

 

My daughter and son in law buy their phones (always getting the latest models) and go for sim only deals, by having a slightly older phone I save £100's a year on a contract

 

Sadly with lots of services we use its cheaper to change provider, thankfully it seems things may be changing for the better

[jjb1970]

I just had a call from my service provider, apparently I am "thinking of leaving" and they want to see what they could offer, for pete's sake..... They tried to ignore my polite comment that I had cancelled and was not interested in any offers they might have and just tried a hard sell so I hung up.... to get another call apologising for the call being interrupted. I'm afraid there was no pretence at politeness and I fear I may have sounded rather aggressive...... 

[Nearholmer]

SIM only contract, and buy a 'phone from one of the stores that sells reconditioned secondhand ones for about 60% of cost of new and provides reasonable warranty ........ there is such a shop in a large shopping centre near you.

[Ozexpatriate]

On 28/07/2019 at 14:06, jjb1970 said:

And finally my biggest rant, the call system used voice recognition software which did not recognise my words, this really really infuriates me.

The only nice thing I have to say about telephone handling systems is that by the time of the rise of the machines they will be replaced by AI that actually works and, at that point, they won't be necessary any more.

[JDW]

I think I've mentioned it on here before somewhere, but a few times I've had my phone provider call me while I'm in the car about changing my payment method. One time, a few years ago now, they asked about switching from pay as you go to contract, and tried to tell me how much cheaper it would be with a monthly deal that had xx texts and xx amount of data included.  I pointed out to them that I only ever used voice calls, and received occasional texts.  I told them that the number they had called on was my car phone, nonetheless the agent insisted on trying to sell me on how useful data could be if I broke down. I pointed out that data is useless to me, it's a car phone, but still she went on... "What handset do you have, sir?" to which I responded "a Peugeot 607". She wasn't amused, and seemed not to be able to grasp that the SIM was inserted into the dashboard, not a phone.

[Talltim]

Of course nowadays a car can probably use far more data than you can

[tomparryharry]

SIM only here. that's after the thieving people at Telefonica ripped me off each & every month.  I can post this with impunity, because the bu**ers owe me money! Take me to court!

 

No RM webbers were harmed in the production of this post...... 

[The White Rabbit]

I've had similar problems with pay as you go. Lied to, given the run-around, billed for calls I haven't made, over-charged on tariffs, told you can't buy this (but it's advertised as being in stock)...   A variety of 'service' providers, including Virgin, O2 and Orange. I don't know which is worse, putting it down to institutional cheating/boiler house sales or repeated (ad nauseum) technological failures. 

[Torper]

On reading all the above I'm just thankful I've never felt the need or desire to have a smart phone.  Do you all really need one?

 

DT

[Edge]

Do we all really NEED TVs, computers, cars, cameras or model trains?  not really, but they are very useful and entertaining devices.

Edited July 31, 2019 by Edge