Please, indulge me.
I currently pay £13.99 a month for 600 off-peak minutes and 50 text messages every month, on Vodafone. I have reached the end of my 12 months, and as my T68i was recently dunked in a pint of beer and didn't take too kindly to it, I'm also after a new phone. I'm not particularly bothered about getting a new number -- it's just an excuse to clean out my contact list. I am bothered about how much I pay per month. I never use my phone to make calls during the day, and never need to -- everybody I would call is at work. Consequently my monthly bills are very low, and that's the way I like it.
So anyway, today I went round to have a look at my options. I found out that the only off-peak tarriff Vodafone do is £20 per month, for 300 minutes and no texts. That's £6 more than I pay at the moment, for far less included. Now I realise prices will go up, but almost a 50% increase? How on Earth can they justify this?? I've never had a bill as high as £20!
And before anybody says anything, going with anybody other than Vodafone simply isn't an option. Everybody I would call with any sort of regularity is on Vodafone -- my family, my friends, my girlfriend, everybody. I know that other companies do cross-net minutes, but they tend to be very few at very high prices. Basically I'm tied to the Big Red Rip-off.
Rant 2: How exactly can a peice of technology cost more after 12 months? I got a T68i for free a year ago (admittedly, that was a special offer, but...). To get the same phone with the off-peak tarriff above would cost me money (£10 to £50 depending on which shop I went to). I was hoping to be able to get a better phone than the one I had before!
Rant 3: Mobile phone salesmen. Why do these people find it so difficult to piss off and let me make my own mind up? Take this example in Phones4U, fairly typical of my experiences from all of them:
Salesman (having spotted somebody daring to look at what's on offer in their own time): "Hi there, what are you after?"
Me: "Basically what I've got at the moment, but on a new contract with a new handset"
S: "And what have you got at the moment?"
M: <explains>
S: "Right, well you can have a Sony Ericsson T310 with 200 anytime minutes for £x per month"
M: "But I don't use my phone during the day. I don't want an anytime tarriff"
S: "This is a special offer. You can take the phone away now, for free. Change the tarriff after 3 months"
M (dismissive): "Okay"
S: "So, do you want to go for that then?"
M: "Goodbye" (leaves shop)
*takes deep, calming breath*
I'm sorry about this. I realise that nobody here can do anything about it. But any advice you could give me about my options would be much appreciated...
I currently pay £13.99 a month for 600 off-peak minutes and 50 text messages every month, on Vodafone. I have reached the end of my 12 months, and as my T68i was recently dunked in a pint of beer and didn't take too kindly to it, I'm also after a new phone. I'm not particularly bothered about getting a new number -- it's just an excuse to clean out my contact list. I am bothered about how much I pay per month. I never use my phone to make calls during the day, and never need to -- everybody I would call is at work. Consequently my monthly bills are very low, and that's the way I like it.
So anyway, today I went round to have a look at my options. I found out that the only off-peak tarriff Vodafone do is £20 per month, for 300 minutes and no texts. That's £6 more than I pay at the moment, for far less included. Now I realise prices will go up, but almost a 50% increase? How on Earth can they justify this?? I've never had a bill as high as £20!
And before anybody says anything, going with anybody other than Vodafone simply isn't an option. Everybody I would call with any sort of regularity is on Vodafone -- my family, my friends, my girlfriend, everybody. I know that other companies do cross-net minutes, but they tend to be very few at very high prices. Basically I'm tied to the Big Red Rip-off.
Rant 2: How exactly can a peice of technology cost more after 12 months? I got a T68i for free a year ago (admittedly, that was a special offer, but...). To get the same phone with the off-peak tarriff above would cost me money (£10 to £50 depending on which shop I went to). I was hoping to be able to get a better phone than the one I had before!
Rant 3: Mobile phone salesmen. Why do these people find it so difficult to piss off and let me make my own mind up? Take this example in Phones4U, fairly typical of my experiences from all of them:
Salesman (having spotted somebody daring to look at what's on offer in their own time): "Hi there, what are you after?"
Me: "Basically what I've got at the moment, but on a new contract with a new handset"
S: "And what have you got at the moment?"
M: <explains>
S: "Right, well you can have a Sony Ericsson T310 with 200 anytime minutes for £x per month"
M: "But I don't use my phone during the day. I don't want an anytime tarriff"
S: "This is a special offer. You can take the phone away now, for free. Change the tarriff after 3 months"
M (dismissive): "Okay"
S: "So, do you want to go for that then?"
M: "Goodbye" (leaves shop)
*takes deep, calming breath*
I'm sorry about this. I realise that nobody here can do anything about it. But any advice you could give me about my options would be much appreciated...
