Upgrading o2 Phone with a better deal

[helen2309]

Hey everyone,
I was just looking for some advice really - atm I have the Nokia N95 and have o2 as my service provider, and am paying £35pm for 400 mins 1000 texts.
My contract is up in a month meaning I can now upgrade. I want to get the Nokia E71, with similar mins and txt but at a much cheaper price. I did some research and learnt all about "haggling" with your provider to get your chosen phone and deal, in return for staying with them as a customer.
I rang o2 and got put through to one woman who said I wasn't eligible to upgrade till tomorrow so that I was within the last 30 days of my contract, where the sales team would then help me with what I could do. (rubbish, basically as I am in the last 30 days). Knowin she had fobbed me off, I rang back AGAIN and got put through to someone else, who confirmed that I WAS entitled to upgrade now. I told him how I found a deal online with orange (which I had) where I could get the phone I wanted with 400 mins and unlimited txts for a mere £19.57pm and asked him to match it. He said with the E71 it was impossible and the cheapest they could do was my current tarriff of £35.
I said I wanted to therefore go with orange (I didnt) and to be put through to disconnections. Again the woman there tried to give me other options such as keeping my current handset and getting a cheaper tariff that way. Anyway it resulted in me getting nowhere with them - stuck with my same phone and tariff and no upgrade!
I DO want to stay with o2, as i've been with orange and vodafone before and o2 suits me best in terms of signal etc.
Any advice on how to successfully haggle a cheaper tariff and get the phone you want as an upgrade?! Or just to keep on trying?
Thank you in advance for any help!!!

[Deepus]

O2 seem to be very "tight" of late when it comes to upgrades. Over on the O2 forums, there seem to be alot of posts from customers saying they are not getting very good deals......

The common theme for getting a decent deal seems to be to go direct to the retentions dept (202 from your O2 handest, then whatever the option is for "if you're thinking of leaving us") and asking for your PAC. 9 times out of 10, they will try and pursuade you not to leave by more or less offering you what you want. The other thing you will need is perseverence - if at first you don't succeed, ring back later.......

All the best!!!

[nickynabi]

It really does depend on the person you get as well i think

Back in march whrn i was eligible for an upgrade the 1st fella in retentions i got was not helpful at all and basically told me to get my PAC code and leave to orange/vodafone

Rang up later that day and got a women this time and she was very helpful

Got me 600 mins, 1000 txts, unlimited internet for £35 with a £15 loyalty discount every month so im payin £20 per month.

I also got the phone i wanted Sony Ericcson Xperia X1 for £40. These retailed at around £500 back then

So dod keep trying u will get the deal ur after

[trice1921]

O2 stopped doing all retentions deals back in June. As far as i know they still don't do any deals. The o2 forums are full of people complaining and leaving.

[nickynabi]

Thats prob because of the iphone and stuff. My dad just manged to get a good deal through retentions. Maybe they will start again with orange and vodafone getting the iphone, o2 wont have as much bargining power now

[helen2309]

thank you for your replies
I went away this weeked so on the spur of the moment decided to actually go into an o2 store, where she said after talking to me for 15 mins she realised because i had an online tarriff, i couldnt even upgrade in store! and still the best deal was what they offered me in retentions (which i expected really)
so i went into carphone warehouse, they offered me the phone i wanted, and the mins and txts for £25 so i'm happy!
still could've probably got a better deal if i chased them more but i couldn't be bothered really, and at least im still saving £10 a month!