Reply to post: Re: Moral of the story

Vodafone, EE and Three overcharging customers after contracts expire

JimboSmith Silver badge

Re: Moral of the story

I've never had a mobile phone contract I've always been PAYG because I don't need a contract. That's not to say I haven't been offered contracts I've had them left right and centre almost everytime I top-up. I buy my phones sim free and I can switch phones/networks whenever something cheaper comes up. I don't normally make many calls I get called far more and therefore do not need millions of minutes, texts and data. I use Whatsapp and emails a lot instead of calling people and that works fine. I have two phones and a Blackberry: One phone for work related stuff, one for personal stuff and a Blackberry for emails (I like the physical keyboard). However whenever I used to go to top up I would get told that they had a contract/sim only deal that would blow me away/save me money/is exactly what you need. Recently I bought a £20 top up from a Three store and they told me that they could "Do something better than twenty quid"

So I was then presented with the option to upgrade my phone (I don't want to do that) get silly amount of minutes, texts, etc. all for £15. I said how long do the minutes last and she said 30 days.

Me: [playing the innocent] What happens after that, how much of my £15 is left for the next few months?

Her: What do you mean? You get another load of mins, sms etc. next month

Me: And this is a one off charge

Her: No it's £15 a month

Me: That's an awful lot more than I pay at the moment.

Her: It's £5 less a month

Me: That £20 will last me about 3 to 6 months.

Her: What really?

Me: Yes really I use WhatsApp/Email rather than make calls if at all possible.

Her: [almost shouting] I so couldn't do that.

She then went on to offer me a sim only deal at £5 a month but that wasn't any good either. She then apologised for the length of time it had taken said I wasn't a typical PAYG customer and gave me my top-up.

O2 came out top of my justgivememytopupandstoptryingtosellmesomethingelse league table.

When I topped up with them a few years ago I was told I'd be better off on a contract. I explained my typical usage and the bloke said "If you can't be honest about how much you use your phone I can't help you". I told him that I was being honest showed him the call log and data usage and he said "Is this a wind up?" This is just one of the reasons I'm not with O2 anymore.

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