O2 contract customers face 3.2% price hike from February

[darrengf]

http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/News/23540/O2_contract_customers_face_3.2_price_hike_from_February.aspx

Never welcomed News I'm affraid.

Just a shame it's had to happen.

So no network Is amune from the price increase now 😢

[Anonymous]

@adamtemp64
Ok I see, so O2 decided to inform me of the change just a couple of minutes before midnight (on the 17th Dec 2012), when I'm in bed. Only for the ONS to release statistics of a drop in percentage the very next day.

Clutching at straws I may be, but this example of their play on words is exactly what big companies do. And normal every day people are just supposed take it with nothing but a pat on the back.

Again, I will say this, it is specifically the principle of the business being able to get one over on the customer, simply because they know how to play the game with unfair contracts.

It would have been better if they had done this to contracts starting after February, not existing ones.

And again, if (and i mean IF!) inflation does not rise above 3.2% then the pricing is above inflation. And I do not care WHEN they notified people. The fact still stands that, IF between now and 28 February inflation does not rise above 3.2%, then the charges are above inflation.

[Anonymous]

@steersy a contract must be mutually agreed before it can be changed from what was already agreed. Otherwise the one who has changed it is in breach of contract.

@adamtemp64

I'll never stop. I'm stubborn like that. Lol


This is why companies (and even the government) can get away with bloody murder - because we don't bother to do anything about it. We just simply grin and bear it.

Don't you ever get fed up?

[Anonymous]

@Springchicken, 

Pay it , do not pay it. Put a complaint in, do not put a complaint in. Leave O2, do not leave O2. 

Principle is a great word to use when you want too. If O2 are proven to be in the wrong then great but if they are not, which as Ofcom has already ruled on orange then is your Principles wrong?

Come on we are talking pennies here and you would have been more hard done by if you was with another carrier. 

I do not see Sainsbury customers kicking up such a fuss when there nectar points do not buy them a punnet of strawberries because they have increased the price 200%.

A contract must be Mutually agreed? You want a phone with a tariff. You sign/agree to the contract.... Mutually agreed. 

[Anonymous]

@steersy

Mutually agreed at the beginning. I will pay the price you stated for the time you stated, at the intervals you stated, for the exact price you stated. The change is not mutually agreed, but to the benefit of one party only. - therefore, NOT mutual.

And what do Nectar points have to do with anything?! They are quite clearly an EXTRA for loyalty. Sainsburys only say that a certain amount of points gives you a certain amount of money to spend in specific places.
Sainsburys customers aren't stuck in a contract that says they can only use nectar points to pay. They can go wherever the heck they want if they don't like the price.

And, again, please hear me clearly. I shall use the word principle, because there is no other word for it than principle. If they had added this increase to new tariffs after the proposed date of increase then this would have been fair. (Not just O2, all networks)
To add it to pre-agreed contracts, is like they're saying, here's some costs we can't handle. Here, you take bits of it. We won't let you dispute it, you'll understand. Fair enough, it is a small amount. But say for example (not saying that it is possible), RPI increase by an astronomical amount, meaning that small amount wasn't so small at all?
Would you still expect me to just grin and bear it?

The difference between Sainsburys and a mobile network is that I'm not contractually obliged to shop Sainsburys.

It's sad that we have given up the will to fight.

[Anonymous]

The initial contract with its T&Cs was when you mutually agreed to it, including any changes in the contract and price increase.
You can not then say half way through. I do not agree with that.

My point with sainsburys was I do not see customers complaining about massive price increase in cost of products and the price fixing to the extent of a 58p average price increase on O2.

As I have said principles suit when people chose to use them. Personally I would be fighting the gas/electric and fuel people as they are raping us and killing the environment.

But hey you keep on the average 58p crusade.

[Anonymous]

@steersy the thing with Sainsburys is that you don't have to go to Sainsburys (nor any supermarket chain).

The fuel comparison is much better.

But who says I wasn't campaigning against that?

And how can I mutually agree to something I wasn't aware of?

[Anonymous]

@Springchicken

Seems we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one. 

My point is that we encounter price increase everyday but turn the other way to suit our own personal needs. 

By mentioning Sainsburys or any food chain I was highlighting the fact that everyday over thousand of products the prices are made by them to there own profit which is not what O2 are doing. 

The other culprits are electrical companies that sell on finance, you go into a store and the product price is x, sign your contract and the next month they are selling the product for less. Its just one of those things that happens and all the jumping up and down, shouting moaning will not change it. 

Ofcom have already set precedence on this matter with orange in November 2011 ( may be wrong on the date) 

[Anonymous]

@steersy Well, Ofcom are planning to consult on this matter again.

And I still don't find the Sainsburys/supermarket chain comparison a good one (which is why the fuel comparison is best). No one is under contract to buy from Sainsburys for a minimum term. That's why no one is making a fuss. At that moment they are agreeing to accept the offer Sainsburys has presented, and pay at that price. They are not buying the item at that specific price and then being charged extra a few months later after eating it.
Again, if at that point the consumer doesn't like the price, they can buy elsewhere that week and come back next week when the price decreases. They're not stuck.

And with the electrical companies, same thing. You've signed an agreement at that specific time for a specific rate. It can get cheaper next month, but that happens all the time with a lot of companies. It hurts, but you have to deal with it. But it doesn't relate to the fact that you have agreed to a set amount for a set period, and the company decides to increase that amount. I'm sure the electrical company would just say that you agreed to pay that amount, so we can't reduce it to the cheaper price. So why not with increases? Because it benefits the company.

I'm just going to throw something else into this. Could be fantasy. Could be secretly true. Who knows? You decide.
Go to Ofcom's website and look up the estimated costs of 800MHz and 2.6GHz licences in relation to 4G/LTE.
Could this be partly what we're paying for?
Again, could be mere fantasy. But who knows eh?

[Anonymous]

@spring-chicken

I am not going to debate it any longer with you over a 58p a month average price increase. You signed the contract, if find a way out of it or shut up and accept it. 

People are quick to try and point out flaws in a contract when it suits them but not when then are getting the latest phone as part of there contract. 

You mention principles I have principles as well and if I sign a contract then I honour it, if I have been naive and stupid in not reading it then that is my error.

[Anonymous]

@steersy I am glad to see that I am getting up your nose. You weren't able to shout me down like the previous participants.

Firstly, as I clearly stated before, I was NOT given or shown the full terms at the time of agreement. The full terms of agreement were not given to me to read at that point of agreement. I was given a summary take with me.

And where did you pluck this 58p average from? I'd be laughing if I got off with just 58p added to my charges.

And no, I will not shut up.
If you've chosen to shut up, that's your problem.
Sick and tired of naysayers telling others who choose to speak up, to pipe down.
Where would this country have been if we had listened to such people?


And of indirectly assuming my stupidity. That is a low blow. I (painstakingly) read through every single contract I receive (whether for a free or paid service).

Your assumptions classify you (in my eyes) as stupid.

And no, I am not pointing out flaws. I am pointing out offence.
I was fully accepting of a price that was stated to be the exact price I would be paying each month. I had carefully planned and agreed the exact price I would accept over months of deliberating. At that point, i accepted that the price would be reflective of the phone I chose. I might as well have thrown caution to the wind and jumped in head first at the first operator that winked.

And why don't you put this much energy into battling those fuel companies you mentioned?

Maybe you should educated the "people" with your infinite wisdom.

No? Just going to grin and bear it I suppose?

If you stand for nothing you'll fall for anything.