Rip off Britain (Especially O2) Anyone else been conned?

[Darius_Jedburgh]

SWMBO needed a new phone. She is on SIM only with O2. After a 2.5 hour "live chat" she was offered a new phone and SIM deal for £26 p.m. x 36 months. No split given but the promise that the SIM part would be reduced at end of contract. At present she pays £13p.m. Simple maths says that new phone element is a minimum of £13 p.m. More maths says that £13 x 36 =£470 which is the minimum cost of the new phone.

We went to a major UK retailer and bought the same phone for £170. That's not far off 30% of the price O2 were asking. £5 for a cable from the rainforest people and all data transferred automatically.

A saving of some £300, not to mention an afternoon wasted waiting for customer assistants to reply to us.

Anyone else suffered from similar service?

 

[Paulus]

These contracts are fine if you want a bit of protection against damaged phones etc,, but I realised years ago that you are paying top dollar for the handset, and often a contract you don't need.
I have always had sim only deals.
My present one is £6 per month, with Virgin,unlimited calls and texts with 3GB of data which rolls each month over so I have far more than I could normally use.
The few times I have had to call Virgin I have never had the hard sell or been kept waiting.

 

[SheilaH]

Buying dierect from networks is nearly always pricy. Resellers like mobiles.co.uk are often cheaper. Cheaper still is to hunt around for handset only then get a sim deal.

 

[Lozz360]

I’m with O2. I would only ever have SIM only contract, apart from when my employer at the time was paying the bill for me. Then I got the phone paid for as well. For the SIM only deal I was paying £12.50 a month for unlimited calls and texts with 2Gb data.

About six months ago I was going to change to one of the very cheap providers (Smarty). I contacted O2 to get the PAC code to complete the transfer. Result was O2 offered me the same deal to stay with them! So I now get free calls and texts with O2 for just £6 per month.

 

[Beebo]

People who want the latest phone without paying the huge upfront costs will take out these contacts with understanding the overall cost of the contract. As you have seen you end up paying for the phone a few times over.

Modern consumers seem happy to pay monthly for lots of things. Cars, phones,Netflix, Spotify. It’s the modern way.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

These contracts are fine if you want a bit of protection against damaged phones etc

Not had a phone on a contract since early 90's, but my son was paying £35 a month on Vodafone for some Samsung which he lost, well drove away with it on the roof. That wasn't insured & he had to buy another phone & effectively continue paying for the first.

 

[Oldhippy]

I will never understand the buying a phone for more than 100 quid max and refurbished. Pay as you go no hassle, no contract. I firmly believe it is a 'manufactured' need that isn't really a need. All of these companies go for maximum buck for shiniest 'product'.

 

[Kajjal]

Always buy the phone and then go SIM only, have had refurbished phones in the past that were as new. Just need to decide what you are looking for.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

My phone was £4.99 including PAYG sim 😂

 

[Drago]

I have a SIM only contract for my JCB tough phone that is a decade old this September. Got better things to waste my money on than the latest shiny-shiny that will be obsolete/unfashionable/broken (delete as applicabe) in 18 months time, requiring the expensive acquisition process to commence all over again,

And people wonder why they end up working until they're eleventy-fifteen to pay for all this junk, or why they can't save a deposit for a mortgage.

 

[I like Skol]

Not sure I see where the con is, or why this is 'rip off Britain'? All the numbers are there for the customer to see and they are free to choose cheaper alternatives (as you have demonstrated).

 

[Deleted member 26715]

They're selling the dream to the gullible

 

[Drago]

The dream, eh? Where can one buy this dream, and for how much?

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Modern consumers seem happy to pay monthly for lots of things. Cars, phones,Netflix, Spotify. It’s the modern way.

It is isn't it, monthly subscriptions are obviously the desired model for retailers, even for stuff you previously never even wanted each month... razor blades spring to mind. Theyre all on a monthly subscription now.

My wife pointed something truly bizarre out to me the other day though, there was an advert on TV for Fabletics who sell gym pants for ladies. Fair enough.
But it's a subscription! A monthly subscription.
For frickin gym pants!
Who needs monthly gym pants?

 

[Beebo]

I will never understand the buying a phone for more than 100 quid max and refurbished. Pay as you go no hassle, no contract. I firmly believe it is a 'manufactured' need that isn't really a need. All of these companies go for maximum buck for shiniest 'product'.

You need the young hipsters to keep buying new ones so the supply of refurbished is maintained.
I never buy a new car, but someone has to otherwise the entire market freezes up.