T-Mobile end of contract! What tooo doo?

[Guest Xabre]

Hey guys,

I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on my situation at the moment, basically I've come to the end of my 18 month contract.

As it stands i'm paying 42.50 a month which is really high considering my usuage is around £90 quid a month and I rarely use w+w plus (though I really like having it)...

Sadly there arn't many phones worth having at the moment, the Vario 3 is getting a bit long in the tooth and I'd rather not get a brand new phone if it'll be outdated in a few months.

What does everyone suggest :D

[Guest Alsicole]

You could do what I did with T-Mobile, renew your contract but not take a phone from them. I got £15 per month credit for not taking a new phone. The saving you make could go toward buying you whichever new phone you really want SIM free.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

That's a pretty damned good deal Alison!

P

[Guest Confucious]

Same deal as I got - except I had 25% off in the first place and W'n'W plus with Flext 35 now costs me less than £22 / month :D

[Guest Xabre]

Yeah I was considering that... I'm really tempted to just go for an uber cheap contract for 20 quid a month with three.... Though I do like tethering

[Guest Confucious]

Yeah I was considering that... I'm really tempted to just go for an uber cheap contract for 20 quid a month with three.... Though I do like tethering

Uber cheap? I suppose nearly £2 / month less than I pay could be considered uber cheap - but mine includes tethering :D

[Guest TheNerd]

Be careful about switching to another "uber cheap" provider... Check to see the additional charges for when the network signal drops out and your calls get carried by another provider for which you pay more for (much more!) - Yeah, I couldn't believe that either! :D That's why I stayed with my current service (and got a very nice discount for my loyalty)

OK, I have a slightly aging phone but it still works fine and does all I need. In less than a year (even on my 18 month contract) I'll be able to upgrade if I feel like it (but I may just hang on for an even better deal :( ) but best of all my monthly bill is cheap, and when my phone signal is dead, my phone doesn't switch to another provider and charge me through the nose for the privilege. Check all that fine print stuff before you sign up to anything. Shop around for a deal and see if T-Mobile will match it. You've been with them 18 months, they should be keen to keep you.

[Guest soup dragon]

Hey guys,

I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on my situation at the moment, basically I've come to the end of my 18 month contract.

As it stands i'm paying 42.50 a month which is really high considering my usuage is around £90 quid a month and I rarely use w+w plus (though I really like having it)...

Sadly there arn't many phones worth having at the moment, the Vario 3 is getting a bit long in the tooth and I'd rather not get a brand new phone if it'll be outdated in a few months.

What does everyone suggest :D

I was in the same boat with T-Mob, except I didn't get much of a signal at a location I spend much of the summer. I ended up going with the O2 simplicity 30 day rolling contract with the web bolt-on.

I've now got better coverage with a data conection that doesn't keep dropping. If a great phone comes along I may go into another 18 month contract, but for now I'm happy spending less and getting slightly more.

[Guest Shadowfixeruk]

I was in the same boat with T-Mob, except I didn't get much of a signal at a location I spend much of the summer. I ended up going with the O2 simplicity 30 day rolling contract with the web bolt-on. I've now got better coverage with a data conection that doesn't keep dropping. If a great phone comes along I may go into another 18 month contract, but for now I'm happy spending less and getting slightly more.

Thing is Soup Dragon

"You were free to do what I want any old time, I said you were free to do what I want any old time"

ehem - i'll get me coat.

SF

[Guest Confucious]

So, Xabre, what did you decide? Stick with T for another 18 months with £15/off? £27.50/ month isn't too bad. Or Jump ship for someone else? if so what do you think of them?

[Guest Christopher Woods]

Indeed, I'm interested too.

Uber cheap? I suppose nearly £2 / month less than I pay could be considered uber cheap - but mine includes tethering :D

Blimey sir, you got a cracking deal - how'd you manage that?! After my renewal deal I'm now on Flext 30 with WnW Plus and I'm paying £25.50pcm, and I SERIOUSLY had to haggle (and I got the Plus upgrade a couple of weeks later as a - more than adequate - resolution to an ongoing discussion I was having with TM)

I was really quite persistent, out of my comfort zone, but I felt it was merited (no pain, no gain?) and they managed to secure my loyalty for another year and a half, so I'm sure they're the overall winners. I'm so glad I stuck with TM though, to even think I entertained the thought of going back to O2 for a sim-only deal after the crap I had from them the first time round. "Customer Service Nirvana" is something I saw written about TM and I have to say I completely agree with that!

[Guest Confucious]

I was lucky and got the Flext35 + W'n'W with 25% off when they first started doing it. I then upgraded to W'n'W Plus and kept the 25% discount so was paying £47.50 - 25% = £35.63 but at the end of my contract they offered me a new phone or another £15/month off so I now pay £20.63 a month ( I thought it was £21 something I was paying - I was exaggerating :()

No complaints here :D

[Guest shadamehr]

I was lucky and got the Flext35 + W'n'W with 25% off when they first started doing it. I then upgraded to W'n'W Plus and kept the 25% discount so was paying £47.50 - 25% = £35.63 but at the end of my contract they offered me a new phone or another £15/month off so I now pay £20.63 a month ( I thought it was £21 something I was paying - I was exaggerating :()

No complaints here :D

I don't think my deal could be bettered to be honest, but suffice to say I am happy. But please bear in mind, the fight to get this, was incredible, and I doubt any would be able to use it as a "Test Case" when badgering T-Mobile for a renewal deal. As mine came about because it had been indicated to me, when doing a NUMBER PORT INTO T-Mobile, that what I was after, should be permissible.

Thus the port in was if you like, a point of no return. Only later, I'm trying to recall how it exactly happened myself, but it was found I couldn't have the deal promised - ah, I recall now, I ported my number over, onto an existing T-Mobile account, thus could not actually upgrade there and then, as it was not due for renewal until the month or so after. So the port, tying me to T-Mobile on that number, went through, but only a while later, come the eligibility for upgrade, did they say they could not do what was promised.

So I had the leverage of a Ported In Number for them to contend with. And as a result, managed to fight my case (after letters to various departments etc) for what I had been promised.

And my end result was this:

T-Mobile Flext 50+ WnW, as a standalone account, whereas before it was Flext 35 with WnW as a bolt on (let me be clear, the tariff increase was something I specifically wanted to do, and pay for, if this is confusing)

In so doing however, I got to keep my 25% off both elements, for life - BUT, true to what T-Mobile said about not being able, in ANY way, no button even the Chief Exec could press, to give me two different 'Life Bonuses', they had to do this not by a 25% feature on my account, but rather by removing the current 25% Life Discount, and instead adding a FIXED MONETARY VALUE monthly credit, to my account, for the corresponding amount (thus if ever I change tariffs, the onus is on me to ring and request the correct amount to be amended). This means that perish the thought, should I ever LOWER my tariff, I could actually score for a discount amounting to a lot more than a 25% discount, were I not to indicate things to them, as the higher monetary credit would stay.

So, I get Flext 50 + WnW as a standard tariff, with HSDPA because of when I joined, with a monetary value equivalent to 25% off the whole cost.

THEN, I also get, as my amended Life Bonus (and the thing that caused all the issue in the first place), Free Evening and Weekend Calls For Life (which was the new offer at the time).

And I also, as a result of this, got a new handset (the then very expensive and new) Nokia N95, for free. And this was all done at the point of fighting it, so they agreed to it all, a month before my actual upgrade was free.

So summarising the result, I get Flext 50+WnW including HSDPA, for £43.10 per month (they rounded the 25% UP to £14.50 credit, so I scored there too)

Plus Free Evening and Weekend Calls For Life.

Thus I get a monetary vlaue of £280 a month I think it is, for calls, texts, and MMS, but in the case of calls, this is only used up on a Monday to Friday, 7am-7pm, as outside of these times, ALL my calls are free.

Thus, as a result, I can talk, text, and MMS, as well as hammer the web, all for a value of £43.10 per month (as a heavy user on calls) without any remote possibility of EVER incurring a single additional charge - apart from Foreign Usage, it's pretty much all but impossible for me to exceed any limits on my account at all, given that level of inclusive features. As my evening and weekend calls are fully free, I'd have to do a LOT of talking and texting mon-fri daytime, to use up my Flext Inclusive amounts too.

For £280 a month inclusive mon-fri daytime calls and texts and mms, and totally UNLIMITED Evening and Weekend Calls, plus WnW Internet with HSDPA, all for £43.10, I don't think I'll ever be rushing to change that tariff folks.

Edited June 4, 2008 by shadamehr

[Guest Christopher Woods]

Wow, so that's why TM were unwilling to offer me a better renewal deal :( They're probably trying to recoup from your usage! :o :lol: :lol:

I think my renewal deal is a far more realistic result for an out of contract customer to try and barter - Confucious' deal was better than mine but impossible to get unless you were a high tariff customer from day one. I'm very happy with what I got, the WnW Plus upgrade (after a long protracted discussion with TM) was the icing on the cake really, but I was very pleased with the final tariff. I had to push for a while on the phone but it was definitely worth it.

So I guess for newbie renewal customers, the things to remember are:

1: make sure you get through to a woman (if you get a bloke, try again tomorrow because I think you can be a little more persistent without getting the brush off straight away, when you're talking to a woman on the other end of the line... Just my impression).

2: have a clear idea of what you want. 3: don't necessarily say "x company does this many minutes and texts for this much, y company does this deal for this price" - be prepared to discuss your options without getting frustrated from no immediate agreement... but be flexible.

3: emphasise the positive aspects of your continued custom - if you're a good customer who pays on time and has made spends over your allowance, emphasise this. Be complimentary of the service but explain that - particularly if you're not looking to get a new handset with the new contract - that although the service is good, you feel you should receive a little more of an incentive to stay, given that they're making an increased saving by not subsidising a handset, etc.

Really make a point of the good reasons they should keep your custom, and how it's in their favour to keep me. Instead of saying "give me a better offer or I'll just move to O2/Orange/Vodafone" straight away, I decided to make my case differently, and explained why I would really like to stay with T-Mobile (their customer service really is excellent compared to some other companies) but how I felt that my previous 18 months - and potential future 18 months - of custom as an existing, happy customer would be good for both the company and customer relations as a whole. I think every company likes to keep their churn down, so I was aiming to make my point that way. When I rang up the first time, I was told by the guy - even before we discussed anything - that I was showing as a "valued customer" on their system, likely because of a few of my high spends out of allowance. Use anything you can as leverage to gently but persistently encourage them to offer you a better deal :D

Lastly, I think that the key to getting a good offer is to stay amicable and not play hardball straight off, because you're going in with little and potentially have a lot to lose. They don't really care either which way unless you're a massive-budget business customer, so it's up to you to use your nouse to get a good deal! Don't be afraid to be persistent, retentions are most likely trained to deal with customers in a particular manner to bat away the customers who ring up but who don't have the heart to persist - I stuck at it and after about 40 minutes the change in her manner was amazing (almost like I'd lasted the round, and another set of allowances had been made available to her to offer me because I qualified)

Best of luck to all current and future renewals customers.