Mobile Phone Contracts
Batter your network down to save £600/year

Let me tell you my story

I'm an Orange contract customer and preferred to remain one as the connection at home and work is good, and the month-long switching hassle's worth avoiding. Yet Orange's packages aren't the market's cheapest.

This is an edited version of my call – the result is a package I'm still happily on today:

Martin: “Hi, you have a price match promise. The mobile network ‘3' offers 500 inclusive cross network minutes,”(ie calling mobiles counts)”for £30 a month yet I'm paying that for just 200 minutes with you.”

Orange: (as expected) “Sorry Mr. Lewis, our price promise doesn't cover ‘3' so we can't offer you that tariff.”

Martin: That's simply not good enough, while I want to stick with you, unless you can offer me something better, I'm going to have to leave.

Orange “Let me put you through to our specialist disconnections department and see if we can find any way to improve it.”

Orange ‘disconnections': “I think we can help, we can match that ‘3' tariff for the same price”(note: Orange's own 400 min package cost £50 a month – now it's £40).

Martin: “That's not part of your normal price match plan?”

Orange disconnections: “Nope, it's a special offer for valued customers” (sub-text: we'll pull out all the stops if we're going to lose you).

After that I asked for more text messages and got a bundle on top, then a new phone and was told “what do you want, pick any?” So I opted for a snazzy, tiny camera phone, with radio and tri-band – all of course at no extra charge.

While my story is about Orange, it works on other networks too. There are no hard and fast negotiating rules, but a bit of chutzpah and a smile (try it, it's noticeable in your voice even on the phone) works wonders. It's a game, with huge gains on the upside and no loss on the downside.

Timing is everything

Aim to do this around a month before your current contract ends, as then you're most realistically liable to ditch and leave. Try it earlier and you're simply met with “you've a contract and can't cancel it”.

STEP 1: Ask for a better tariff

The first step is the easiest; call up and tell the operator you're unhappy with your existing tariff. There are two choices of argument:

• Research based.
  
  The internet price comparison site Omio is perfect for quickly benchmarking prices.   Simply put in your usage details and it speedily reveals the cheapest tariffs and packages available.  It's fairly new though with limited feedback; well established site Onecompare* is also good or better still read my full Mobile Phone Cost Cutting article for more cost cutting tricks.

• Chutzpah based.
  
  Alternatively to just ‘have a go'; call up and say it's too expensive. Ask what the best tariff available is, then if its offer isn't good enough tell it so. This can work well, as packages better than the best new customer versions, or special extra discounts are sometimes available if you push.

And always remember to request free texts and a phone upgrade too. If they don't give you what you want, ask to leave.

STEP 2: It's all about 'customer retention'

The crucial part is getting through to what you think is the ‘disconnections department'. Actually, internally most companies refer to disconnections as a synonym to ‘customer retentions'. In other words its real job is to keep your business and because of that it has much more power and discretion to do it.

Once connected repeat your request - if you seem genuine about disconnecting (and why shouldn't you be? there are better packages out there) you should get a much improved offer matching the market's best openly available tariffs.

Are there any negatives?

• This technique involves locking in to a new contract.
  
  The mobile world is fast moving, and tariffs are greatly improving, so being locked in isn't good, though it's unavoidable. Contracts used to be 12 months, but now 18 months is becoming commonplace. Request to minimise the contract period.


• This is a one shot deal.
  
  You only have this negotiating power at renewal. Six months through the contract, try to change tariff and you won't get the special option. E.g. Negotiate the ‘3' network 500 minutes a month for £30 deal but then decide 750 minutes for £40 is better usually it won't be allowed, even though it would've been permitted at negotiation.

Why customer retentions has such power

The mobile phone market is nearing maturity, in other words, the vast majority of people have mobiles, thus winning business no longer involves persuading someone to ‘get a mobile', but persuading them to ‘get and keep a mobile with us'. This market maturity also means retaining existing customers is absolutely necessary – hence the power of customer retention departments.

STEP 3: What if they say no?

Don't feel forced into disconnecting

If you're pushing and your bluff is called with a “sorry, we can't do that, I'll arrange cancellation”, just back off. A quick “I need to think about it and I'll call you back” is an easy way out.

At this point if there are better packages elsewhere consider taking on the hassle and changing package but do it on your terms not theirs. See Mobile Cost Cutting Plan for details of how to find the right tariff. Though it's always possible that you call again, speak to someone else and get a quite different response!

As this is more of an art than a science, rather than calculating savings, I want to simply relay others' success stories. These are a few of the scores of recent feedback posts, (read others).

• “02 upgrade last year was great. After some haggling and from the third person I spoke to I got 200 minutes and 500 texts for £15/month plus £100 or a new handset!!”

• "My contract was up with "3" so I phoned them looking for a new deal. Eventually, provided I kept my existing phone my monthly line rental would reduce from £30 to £5 for 500 xnet minutes and 100 texts. That's £60 for the year!".

• “I was on Vodafone's Anytime 30, which gave me enough free minutes, but was £5 over budget because of texts. I quoted a ‘3' package and ended up on Anytime 100 with 50 free texts a month for £15 per month on condition that I signed up for another 12 months. If you don't ask you don't get!