Why cant i buy a new phone.....

[Anonymous]

here goes, i have a contract with o2, i had my phone stolen, stupidly i had forgotten to register it with insurance, so no replacement handset, my fault! o2 were very nice and sent me out a replacement sim and i am using a phone given to me from the dark ages it makes calls and texts, thats it.

i went into the o2 store to buy a new phone, easy....  the guy at the till wants to charge me £10 for a sim with the phone. i told him i dont need a sim i have one with o2. he says he cant remove the sim cost from the bill its the only way they can sell pay and go phones. i also have £10 with priority moments from the network outage which can be used in the purchase of a new phone. so the phone i want is £129.99 with my money off should be £119.99 but coz he will charge me for a sim i dont need its still £129.99. o2 online are no help because u cant use the voucher online. so i wont save any money and will end up with a sim i dont need.

?

says it all really

is guy in shop trying to scam me

[perksie]

See if you can get the phone you want elsewhere without a top up, I got my last one on Amazon.

Nobody is trying to scam you, many places insist you buy a top up.

[Anonymous]

that what im doing now its £122 on amazon,

just seems ridiculous u cant go in and buy a phone on it own!

im sure there are plenty of people this happens too.

[ewanrw]

They want to sell a SIM along with the handset as it "helps" prevent box-breaking.

Also means another SIM is registered on the network which looks good on the annual reports.

ewan

[Anonymous]

You could also use the £10 credit on that sim case you dont have much left on your usual sim. You could also use it to buy or download things from the Internet 

[MiamiGuy]

I can answer this.

This is just an example:

You buy a handset from o2 at cut cost of a SIM FREE phone.

Let's say you buy a phone for £129.99 plus £10.00 top up. Or you buy it SIM FREE elsewhere for £199.99.

So although you have to buy a top up, you are still saving money. O2 don't sell SIM FREE phones. It's either Prepay or Contract phones O2 do.

You could maybe buy it, top it up and then see if o2 can transfer that top up to your contract? It;s possible but not definite.

[MI5]

Why not just sell the SIM with £10 credit on it on ebay...?

[Anonymous]

I saved and used mine up when I went abroad so that I didn't run my contract bill up, just another idea xx

[version7point0]

Contrary to some answers in this thread, yes you can buy a phone from an O2 store without paying the additional top up charge for the sim.

Although yes the device will not be "sim free" or "unlocked" it will work perfectly fine with your Pay Monthly sim card, or indeed any O2 SIM.

Just ensure the store advisor understands fully that you have a contract and have lost your phone and as long as they follow the correct process they will be able to provide you with the handset without a sim / topup.

Apologies for any mixed responses you have had up until this point.

[jonsie]

The last phone my wife bought was from an O2 store....no top up required after explaining it was a 'replacement':smileyhappy: