Handset paid in full vs. spread cost over agreement

[Anonymous]

Apart from "to make loads of money" does anyone know why O2 can charge more than the handset's actual value and then inform you of the real price once you have begun a new agreement?

Or, as a real example, I've just purchased a new handset and airtime agreement where the handset "full buy out" would be £240.00. This price is advertised throughout the online store and purchase process. It is only when the new agreement is signed for that one receives a summary of their new agreement to find the real value of the handset is £149.99.

Why is the customer misled (and overcharged) for a handset when the real value is then displayed after the agreement has been signed?

I was informed that I can pay the upfront cost (£240.00) at any time but this still doesn't make a difference when i already know that the device costs £149.99 as it says so on my account (my order summary after agreeing to the cotnract)...

[MI5]

You can get the phone cheaper on some tariffs than the advertised price to pay outright, but that isn't relevant to the question you are asking.
You are saying they have suddenly "lost" £90 off the price which I believe to be an error and one which may well correct itself in time as your MyO2 catches up.
The phone is still £200 in CPW, so the £240 is about right for a network price.

[MI5]

Actually, I should have checked earlier, but the A3 is showing as £149.99 on PAYG, to buy outright.

[MI5]

On the tariff you have chosen you pay £10 a month for phone but only £1 a month for the airtime.
It's an unfortunate consequence of the tariff you have chosen and could have got it cheaper with a different one.

[Anonymous]

The tariff I've chosen (my current deal) is £10 month device price PLUS £11 a month airtime (-£2 a month loyalty off airtime).

It still doesn't make anything to the phone price add up. How can a PAYG get the handset for £149.99 but contract a whopping £90 more???

Also, if I shouldn't take the live chat seriously, how can they take customers through the purchase process of a contract? Seems very serious to me...

Finally, it baffles me that through the entire process of the shop, the process, the contract paperwork - all of which is generated on-the-fly - how the final "order review" can have such a massive flaw as to how much a phone is...

[MI5]

Yes, my apologies, standard tariff price is £21 a month.
However, it doesn't have to "add up" to the PAYG price as the cost you were paying was clearly laid out before you signed the contract.
I understand fully where you are coming from but there is nothing wrong with what o2 have done (unfair maybe, but not illegal).

[Anonymous]

Thanks MI5, I wasn't comparing against the PAYG initially.

Yes, everything was laid out before me agreeing to the contract, but I feel I've been misled as a very different price was then displayed to me, the customer, as to the actual handset value and O2 are clearly set to make £90 because I'm a contract customer and not PAYG.

If I'd never have seen the much lower phone price on my particular order review then I wouldn't be here and O2 should not be showing one price pre-purchase and then another immediately post-purchase for the very same order.

[MI5]

I'd be feeling hard done by too tbh....

[MI5]

Of course what you can do now, if you can afford the initial outlay, is to cancel your current contract (it's free to do so within 14 days) and return your phone, then pay the £150 to buy phone outright and take a sim only deal for your airtime https://www.o2.co.uk/shop/simplicity/#/sims/tariffs?deviceType=phone&contractLength=P12M
It is very strange that you can buy the phone for £150 on PAYG but it's £240 on contract and most unfair so I'd cancel and save myself £90.

[Curr946]

Your always best looking and sim free pay and go, and refresh before making a choice. I tend to upgrade via cpw as the overall price is normally cheaper than sim free and sim free costs. But if you can't pay large sum upfront, then consider a 0% credit card etc. But hey, once you sign, your locked in (outside the 14 day cooling off)