Today's heartsink task

Today’s heartsink task is the same heartsink task I have had for the last 11 days. Hanging on the phone for hours and hours to Barclays the “we are here to help” bank .

My sympathies Gillybob. Remember the old days when you could just go in to a bank and actually speak to a real person. No more press 1 for this or 2 for that etc.
I hope you get things sorted soon.

Sorry Rowyn I’m not sure how it goes with contacts etc if you change networks. I haven’t changed networks in many years.

But I have an iPhone and recently it died and I took my daughter’s old one. All my contacts, photos etc automatically appeared into it when it asked me to sign into iTunes.

Hopefully someone with tech knowledge will confirm for you what happens if you change networks.

If your current provider offers you a good deal you won’t have that concern.

I’ve not heard of Words with Friends. I must have a look

I know Jane10 it’s so much easier for them to fob you off on the phone than it is in person . 4hrs 40 minutes on hold was my daily record on Monday (or was it a Tuesday ?) the days are always the same anyway.

4 hours 40 minutes??!! OMG you are very patient (or desperate unfortunately). Have you tried naming and shaming them on Twitter or Facebook?

Phone companies should be regulated: they are cheating users as the utility providers do. Roll on a Labour government which will nationalise the utility companies and stop their exploitation of the public.

Query about Sim only:
My mobile phone contract ends in a couple of weeks. I want to get Sim only but what happens to (eg) all the photos I have at the moment?

TwiceAsNice I hope this helps; my DS looked at our Sky package and was surprised how expensive it was; he contacted them and rearranged it so that we ended up with slightly more for much less. The main point here though was that we had changed to 'Sky Q', which we were quite happy with, but once the first year was up, although the service continued uninterrupted, it seems we were being debited an extra £10 a month as a 'penalty' for not having renewed our contract - and we were not informed that this would happen. All in the very tiny print no doubt. My DD then rang Sky as she thought her debit had increased, and by sticking to her guns she reduced her direct debit a fair amount for the same package. They would rather hang on to your custom even for less money. Brace yourself for the confrontation - and think about what you might save!

If you stay with the same network everything continues as it was. I must say I was pleasantly pleased with the deal I got with EE for a SIM only. Phone and see what they come up with?

I’ve made a conscious decision in recent years not to consent to house and car insurance auto renewing.

As soon as I receive renewal reminder I phone the company and say I’m about to start shopping around for a better price but before I do are you able to reduce yours?

I find most companies are open to negotiation if we can find the time to do it.

They are banking on us not doing it and fleecing us.

Mobile phone companies hope we’ll not notice or bother to act when our contract ends.

But by phoning them at that point and asking them for a sim only deal can usually half your monthly bill.

My car insurance, mobile phone and tv/broadband were all due for renewal in past 4 weeks.

It didn’t take much effort and I’m feeling satisfied that I’m now paying less for all of them. Not the increased premiums they hoped I would just accept without questioning.

MerylStreep, my husband is just like yours! I thought I was the only person who felt like that.

Yes me too,keep putting it off as id rather keep sky for tv but it keeps going up- and i need a faster broadband as my 'boys' (21&17) are disgruntled that bt can't keep up with their gaming,streaming& surfing! But its getting around to it that's the trouble.and the waits on phone will be horrendous if i ring to barter sky down first,that's if any where is even taking calls now?.....

I recently renewed my mobile phone contract over the phone. Did take a little longer to get phone answered due to reduced staff. But otherwise very straightforward and staff very helpful.

Yes i did do house contents insurance online,and got a cheaper deal,as my old one wanted much more this yr,and i hadnt even made a claim!Cheek!

Photos on your phone should stay on your phone,i think.ìn your storage.or save to cloud first.

Or yes to itunes if its an iphone.

Was it easy to get through to BT jane10?- im dreading it.i spent most of other day on phone trying to trace/get back holiday refund which had been refunded to credit card i had already paid off! And a retail shopping company AND my bank (both three times) as theyd took a very high payment twice for same item!(an iphone,so not cheap!)

By ringing you can get good deals, or get problems sorted,but i think im using far more mobile credit having to ring all these numbers as most are premium rates!

My mobile contract also ran out over lockdown.
I had been paying a lot more than friends for a sim-
only contract, but was locked in to it. I arranged a new contract with Tesco, online - they sent the phone - a nice modern Motorola and it is costing a lot less than before - just £9 a month- they could not have made it easier and arranged for me to keep my number.

Nannan2 Yes I phoned Virgin a few days ago and they answered fairly promptly. The prerecorded message said extremely busy, most issues can be dealt with online etc to encourage me to hang up.

My call was answered in 15 mins by a very helpful agent working from home. He renewed my contract and added another £3 to the already generous loyalty discount they applied last year.

So I would say it’s worthwhile making that call.

I've been with EE for years with an IPhone 5 (version 10) - then just before lockdown, had email from my bank HSBC saying unless I upgraded to a version 12, I would not be able to access telephone banking ( my bank had stopped sending statements , so relied on my 3" X 2" screen to check on my balances etc
My daughter found a deal with Tesco Mobile - IPhone 6s - 5000 minutes, 5000 texts £11.99 a month - duly cancelled EE, got pac no, said I wanted to keep same phone no, had a message you can use your phone from that day - a week later had email from EE saying had now got a bill for £254.00 !!! (That included a 95 minute phone call to HSBC in India as passwords then didn't work ) So phoned Tesco Mobile, who said due to the virus worldwide, wouldn't be activating the pac no until the following Tuesday - 13 days - nobody wants to take responsibility for this bill, so I may end up in court after the lockdown, am on a pension, so can't afford it. Stress levels were mega - who cares!!! Certainly not the person who made the decision that I and doubtless thousands of others quarantined and having to rely on a card instead of getting the cash out - and trying to remember how much was in my account with direct debits going out and pensions going in. Banks were closed and having to cancel direct debit to EE involved 74 minutes to the Philippines - say no more - needed a stiff drink after all that

If you don't need a new phone, just get a monthly pay as you go contract. We have ours through Tesco's and it is cheaper than many others. For everyone in the household who is on it, we receive a discount or added data and you earn points on it too. They are just 02 under a different name so you get really good coverage.
We moved from Virgin to Freeview for TV and NOWTV for phone and broadband. It is the third of the cost, not noticeably different in speed as Virginmedia never gave the speeds they advertised. I don't think we'll ever go back to Virgin again.

Note - IF THE SMALL PRINT IS SO IMPORTANT - WHY IS IT small?)

Shadieladie that’s horrendous!

There’s more than enough to worry about these days without getting in a mess that wasn’t your fault.

I hope you are able to sort it all out.

I also hate this job especially since my husband used to be brilliant at this type of thing before he had his first stroke ten years ago so I wasn’t used to dealing with this stuff . I have found sky virgin etc all have live chat where you type the discussion. Well I’m an absolute whizz at this and have got some brilliant deals this way ! I don’t know why but I find it much easier you can kind of do it while watching TV or something else it’s not as annoying at all . Maybe you would also find it easier?