Reply to: Switching mobile phone contract

[northernladuk]

Unless your old deal is better than any new deals, in which case you have no leverage with the retention team.

I'm on a grandfathered Three "The One" plan - unlimited everything (well 5k min is close enough) including 4G tethering for £18/month and it's a rolling 30 day "contract". There isn't anything close to that on the market these days.

Yeah that's true. The kids have unlimited calls and data plans from Three from a couple of years ago that the new ones can't come near as well. The retention teams admitted they'll not get anywhere near that again so keep it.

[sal]

Good news. People should be calling customer retention everytime their contract expires to get better deals. Just carrying on is lining yourself up to be ripped off. I've yet to to get to the end of a deal and the rentention team can't get me better than the shop.

Unless your old deal is better than any new deals, in which case you have no leverage with the retention team.

I'm on a grandfathered Three "The One" plan - unlimited everything (well 5k min is close enough) including 4G tethering for £18/month and it's a rolling 30 day "contract". There isn't anything close to that on the market these days.

[northernladuk]

Good news. People should be calling customer retention everytime their contract expires to get better deals. Just carrying on is lining yourself up to be ripped off. I've yet to to get to the end of a deal and the rentention team can't get me better than the shop.

[Moose423956]

So, I called Vodafone to request the PAC, and was surprised when the call was answered by a Geordie lass, as opposed to the unhelpful Bobs I normally speak to. She asked why I was leaving, and I explained my experiences of 2 years ago. She offered a better deal, and I eventually agreed, given that the cool-off period was 30 days and she promised to confirm everything by text, which she did straight away.

So I've got a new phone, unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, 3G of data for £16.80 per month, which I think is ok. Saves the hassle of switching, and it's cheaper than the deal I was going for.

[clearedforlanding]

It is PAC, and OpCo customer retention is more or less as followers:

Cost of new customer acquisition is calculated as 4x the cost of retaining a customer.

Your 12 month spend is averaged out and between 30 & 70 % discount is applied for retention. Not only your current spend is factored in but your customer profile (telcos know a hell of a lot about you) indicators that show future upsell and cross sell opportunities, as well as calling patterns (family, business cross sell potential) and payment history are factored in.

Timely payment and lots of roaming (particularly outside eu) and international calls, you will be getting closer to the 70%.

Phone on finance still (aka contract)? We have got you by the balls.

As well as asking for a PAC code have clear details of the competitors tariff you want to migrate to as the CSR will have all live and past competitors tariffs on screen. Get your bluff called? Hang up and call again.

Negotiating on a port to 3 is the hardest as 3's churn is horrific and there is a 30% chance you will be back once their customer service has worn you down.

[LondonManc]

A PUC only unlocks a locked SIM card after too many unsuccessful PIN attempts. It does not enable you to use a SIM from a different vendor if the phone is locked to one vendor.

Obtaining a PUC from your vendor will not motivate them to offer you a better contract.

Ah, fair enough, I thought they were talking about the unlock code, not the unblocking code.

Yeah, I agree, unlocking the SIM is irrelevant.

[RonBW]

The latter will motivate them too because you'll get far more for a phone selling it unlocked than you would if it was still tied to a carrier. It also means that you can go SIM only with whoever you want.

A PUC only unlocks a locked SIM card after too many unsuccessful PIN attempts. It does not enable you to use a SIM from a different vendor if the phone is locked to one vendor.

Obtaining a PUC from your vendor will not motivate them to offer you a better contract.

[LondonManc]

I think the OP has confused a PAC - porting authorisation code - with a PUC - phone unlock code.

The former will motivate them while the latter you may already have.

The latter will motivate them too because you'll get far more for a phone selling it unlocked than you would if it was still tied to a carrier. It also means that you can go SIM only with whoever you want.

[SueEllen]

Which is exactly what I was saying

I actually was writing my post and going to do something else as you were writing yours.

[mdhd]

PAC PAC PAC. But you got the point.

Had issues with VM not applying discounts on broadband. But they did agree and re-applied it, blamed it on moving IT infrastructure. I wonder how many times a year they move their IT system :S

[clearedforlanding]

I would go for the BT (EE) 4G Unlimited Voice, Unlimited Texts, & 30GB Data monthly contract. 25GBP per month, but you can give them anyone's BT landline number and it will reduce to 20GBP per month.

Nothing gets close.

If you make international calls, for all that is holy get a dual sim card phone & go for Lebara or similar. This tariff makes it's margins on scalping on International Calls & ex-EU roaming.

It's not advertised, however, a friendly phone call should secure it. It's the contract I am on.

BT can request the PAC.

[RonBW]

I think the OP has confused a PAC - porting authorisation code - with a PUC - phone unlock code.

The former will motivate them while the latter you may already have.

Which is exactly what I was saying

[SueEllen]

A PUC is a phone unlock code. Not sure how that is going to help at all.

I think the OP has confused a PAC - porting authorisation code - with a PUC - phone unlock code.

The former will motivate them while the latter you may already have.

[RonBW]

It motivates the retention team into action.

Why does needing to unlock your phone have anything to do with retention? Ask for a PAC and you'll get through to retention. Ask for a PUC and you'll get through to technical support if the initial contact cannot unlock your phone for you.

[SueEllen]

That's what I did last time. Except, when the first bill came the discount they promised me was missing. And when I complained they said I should have cancelled within the first 14 days, but seeing as how the first bill didn't arrive until a month later I'm not sure how I could have known.

I tried to get them to listen to the supposedly recorded call, but they procrastinated until eventually it was a case of "Sorry, the recordings are deleted after two months, it's no longer available"

They basically lied to me, accused me of lying, and I vowed that when that contract was up I'd move to another company. Arseholes.

I've had no problems with discounts from O2 and EE.

O2 gave me a discount when I threw my toys out of the pram one year because I couldn't get through for 5 days.

Oh and when dealing with companies it is a good idea to have a recording app on you mobile phone that works.