Today's heartsink task

Granbabies123 mobile companies love customers who continue paying beyond their expiry date. As NannyJan posted it really is possible to half your monthly bill in a simple call or online chat.

If your original contract included a phone then you are paying them for that phone twice over if you continue paying contract price.

It’s a big financial advantage to move from contract to a sim only deal asap. And so easy to do

I feel sorry for the people at virgin who have to deal with my OH. He screws them into the ground.
On the last virgin increase he didn't even bother to phone them. He went straight to Sky and signed up. Virgin phoned him to discuss why we had left. Not only did they beat Sky's offer, they reduced the monthly payment we were already paying.

Know exactly what you mean
Jane10
All of our renegotiations (done by myself) are in between Christmas and the New Year.

One thing I do when faced with usual press this button, is to go straight to the button for leaving company.
Puttingthe onus straight on them to provide the same or better deal.
Good luck

Jane10 if you can get through to the “thinking of leaving” option on the phone that’s where you’ll get best service.

I do it every year. I remain very polite and grateful for their wonderful service throughout the year ? during the chat. But emphasise I’m on a tight budget and will have to consider going elsewhere if they can’t reduce the payments.

Jot down a few rival deals before phoning that you can quote to them.

Let us know if you have any success

If you are happy with phone contract you can probably just continue paying it.I think the end date is if you want to change. I'd leave it until you can see someone in person if that's how you normally do it.
Changing just now I believe is not offering good value because companies know we are in greater need of communication devices and cankeep prices where they want them. Good luck

When my phone contract with EE came to an end in January, I did an online chat with them.

I changed to SIM only and my monthly payments came down from £17 to £8 a month. They initially said it would be £21 a month, then £18. After I said it was more than I was paying now, he had a chat with his Manager and it came down to £8 a month, you have to persevere!

With BT I deal directly with the complaints dept. I always end up having to complain and the complaints staff seem human and helpful.

Why can’t we email these companies the issue we need to deal with and have a call back from the relevant person?

Jane It may not be a disadvantage. My virgin tv/broadband contract is about to renew. I phoned them yesterday and asked them to leave the loyalty discount in place. It reduces my bill by £12.50 a month.

If you don’t have a loyalty discount with your provider phone them and dither over renewing your contract as you’ve seen same package cheaper elsewhere.

Then say you’d much prefer to remain loyal to them if only they would apply a discount.

When I phoned Virgin it said I could be waiting up to an hour. I stuck with it and an agent answered in 15 mins. A nice young man working from home who added a further £3 to my discount!

Being out of mobile contract is an advantage if you are happy with the same phone.

There are many good sim only deals. I pay £9 a month for 1,000 mins unlimited texts and 2GB data with o2. It’s a monthly rolling contract I can cancel anytime. There are prob cheaper deals but o2 is the best signal for me.

Set aside an hour today and brave it and you might save yourself a tidy sum during the next year.

Good luck !

I know what you mean. I also dread the phone calls to the extent my Sky package has gradually increased from the original special offer just because I can’t face the negotiating. My mobile phone package is linked to my daughters account and I pay her a DD for my share and then luckily she deals with all that but it’s hard isn’t it? You have my sympathy.

Oh dear, I’m sure it will be fine, we will be in a similar position soon DH will come off of his Company phone and will have to sort out a phone and contract. I have an old pay as you go phone, but I think we will need something decent for our main mobile. Maybe we should package it all with Broadband and TV as well?
Let me know how many hours it take you battling with call centres ☹️