T-Mobile Upgrade costs

[Guest Swampie]

I'm in month 17 of an 18 month Flext contract with T-Mobile. I have a Friends and Relatives discount (50%), so unwilling to jump provider if possible.

I went into the My T-Mobile account to look at upgrade prices, and the price I'm seeing on handsets is very high (£280 for the Vario II). You cannot get prices for upgrades until you've entered your 17th month, and I did this a day into month 17 and re-checked a couple of days later - no change.

What I'd like to know is whether doing any of the following would reduce the handset cost:

1.) Moving up a tariff. Currently on a £32.50 (before discount) tariff. Next one up would be £42.50, though would only cost me an additional £5 per month due to discount - I don't use my full allowance so I don't want to do that if it will not have any difference to the price - but if it was guaranteed to reduce the upgrade price, then I might consider it.

2.) Waiting longer. Would waiting until I've entered month 18 make a difference? Should I expect that waiting even longer than that would make a difference?

For me, the discount is worth nearly £300 over the 18 months - so it's probably worth staying, as the handset is about £80 for new customers on this tariff. I'd save £200 on the handset price, but pay £300 extra in rental, so £100 worse off.

Basically, I'd like to know if there is anything I can do to affect the upgrade price? Not trying to be unfair to T-Mobile (I do get a nice discount after all) but just want to know whether being patient or giving them more money will have an effect. I've never had an upgrade before (always switched providers for best deal), so not personally had any experience at this.

I'm happy to wait a bit as I'm hoping they might introduce the Kaiser soon (how long it would then take to make it to upgrade customers (and then its price) is another matter!)

Thanks

[Guest shadamehr]

I'm in month 17 of an 18 month Flext contract with T-Mobile. I have a Friends and Relatives discount (50%), so unwilling to jump provider if possible.

I went into the My T-Mobile account to look at upgrade prices, and the price I'm seeing on handsets is very high (£280 for the Vario II). You cannot get prices for upgrades until you've entered your 17th month, and I did this a day into month 17 and re-checked a couple of days later - no change.

What I'd like to know is whether doing any of the following would reduce the handset cost:

1.) Moving up a tariff. Currently on a £32.50 (before discount) tariff. Next one up would be £42.50, though would only cost me an additional £5 per month due to discount - I don't use my full allowance so I don't want to do that if it will not have any difference to the price - but if it was guaranteed to reduce the upgrade price, then I might consider it.

2.) Waiting longer. Would waiting until I've entered month 18 make a difference? Should I expect that waiting even longer than that would make a difference?

For me, the discount is worth nearly £300 over the 18 months - so it's probably worth staying, as the handset is about £80 for new customers on this tariff. I'd save £200 on the handset price, but pay £300 extra in rental, so £100 worse off.

Basically, I'd like to know if there is anything I can do to affect the upgrade price? Not trying to be unfair to T-Mobile (I do get a nice discount after all) but just want to know whether being patient or giving them more money will have an effect. I've never had an upgrade before (always switched providers for best deal), so not personally had any experience at this.

I'm happy to wait a bit as I'm hoping they might introduce the Kaiser soon (how long it would then take to make it to upgrade customers (and then its price) is another matter!)

Thanks

That seems incredibly high to me mate.

Whilst my circumstances are rather unique (see the post about "Orange Data Offerings"), nevertheless, I was basically told that handset costs at upgrade were largely in line with the cost for a new customer, give or take a bit of 'add on'.

So that's a silly price for a Vario 2 if so.

Thing is, not sure if your Friends and Family Discount is skewing things.

But realistically, my argument with T-Mobile would be that it's not really a discount or benefit, if you end up 'paying it back' as it were, when it comes to handset costs at upgrade time.

So I would ring and go through the options mate - follow the route for "Considering Leaving" - NOT the Upgrades route when asked to press blah blah blah.

That way you will get through to Loyalty and Retentions Team, who will give you a much better explanation.

Let us know how you get on though.

[Guest Swampie]

Something which was mentioned (I need to remember to check my email archives to find out what exactly he said) by the guy who introduced me to T-Mobile, was that Friends and Relatives discount holders got upgrades at 'cost' (or similar wording) - this was proposed to me as a benefit. I took that to mean that I'd get upgrades at 'new customer' prices. Quite possibly the automated upgrade system may not take that discount into account - and quite possibly the rules have changed in 18 months.

I'm probably going to wait a little while anyway - whilst I like the Vario II - I like the Kaiser more! Give it a month or two and hopefully I'll be in a position to know whether it's been worth the wait.

Thanks for the advice

[Guest simon211175]

I had the same issue - the upgrade to a vario II would be £240 - £100 more than if I took out an identical new contract!. I emailed T-Mobile and they said I would get a much better upgrade if I phoned retentions, but I'm still waiting for them to work out whether or not the MDA Touch has been released or not.

Incidentally, the Kaiser I believe has another 4-5 weeks before T-Mobile release it.

[Guest simon211175]

Okay, to prove my last post - just found out the MDA Touch upgrade price for me was £70 listed - although on a new contract only £30.

Phoned retentions and they gave me an upgrade deal of £19.99. Woohoo.

[Guest battletank]

Earlier this week I was so annoyed at the small range and high upgrade costs presented on the T-Mobile website that I rang to ask for a PAC number (ie. to ensure I was put through to retentions). Although I still had more than a month left on my contract (ie, I was in month 17), they gave me an MDA Touch at no cost - and I picked it up from my local T-Mobile store an hour later.

[Guest shadamehr]

Earlier this week I was so annoyed at the small range and high upgrade costs presented on the T-Mobile website that I rang to ask for a PAC number (ie. to ensure I was put through to retentions). Although I still had more than a month left on my contract (ie, I was in month 17), they gave me an MDA Touch at no cost - and I picked it up from my local T-Mobile store an hour later.

Whilst I cannot comment on the cost aspect of what you were offered (though it sounds about right if you are a high value customer), I can however point out that you have ALWAYS been able to Upgrade, or even request a PAC, WITHIN the final month of your current contract term, with T-Mobile - i.e. exactly a month to the day, before your minimum term ends. So if your 18 months ends on 3rd October, you are eligible for an Upgrade on and from the 3rd September.

So nothing new there mate.

Same with O2, and also Orange, as I have accounts with both these two for years.

No idea Vodafone, as no longer a customer, but I suspect it is the same.

As far as I know, ALL the Networks let you upgrade WITHIN the last month of your contract, not once you have reached the end of the 18 months.

HTH.

Edited July 27, 2007 by shadamehr

[Guest simon211175]

@Battletank off topic, sorry but have you noticed the lack of Live Messenger on the MDA Touch?

[Guest battletank]

@Battletank off topic, sorry but have you noticed the lack of Live Messenger on the MDA Touch?

I've been using Fring, which seems to work well as a free alternative. I've never been a fan of Live Messenger, as I hate that it copies messenger contacts into my Outlook contacts.

Whilst I cannot comment on the cost aspect of what you were offered (though it sounds about right if you are a high value customer), I can however point out that you have ALWAYS been able to Upgrade, or even request a PAC, WITHIN the final month of your current contract term, with T-Mobile - i.e. exactly a month to the day, before your minimum term ends. So if your 18 months ends on 3rd October, you are eligible for an Upgrade on and from the 3rd September.

So nothing new there mate.

I mean the month before that - I'd only just entered the 17th month of my contract, so almost a month before the final month - I upgraded on 23rd July, my contact ends 18th September.

[Guest discotack]

sorry if we are getting off topic ,but for starters one way to get you handset cost down is to increase your usage on the last 3 months of contract ,but of course that can defeat the object.

and for the Touch its a sweet little unit got mine yesterday but the elack of msn is appaling ,theres a new web based beta but to be honest i think it sucks it relys on you pressing refresh to se if any one is calling you or has responded in a conversation.

pocket msn seems to have vanished of the face of the earth.

see for yourselves at http://mobile.live.com

[Guest Evilkern]

sorry if we are getting off topic ,but for starters one way to get you handset cost down is to increase your usage on the last 3 months of contract ,but of course that can defeat the object.

and for the Touch its a sweet little unit got mine yesterday but the elack of msn is appaling ,theres a new web based beta but to be honest i think it sucks it relys on you pressing refresh to se if any one is calling you or has responded in a conversation.

pocket msn seems to have vanished of the face of the earth.

see for yourselves at http://mobile.live.com

What about downloading it? I'm not sure if posting links to downloads are allowed so im not going to, but a quick google shows them up, otherwise PM!