Upgrade Options Bizarre

[Anonymous]

I'm sure many others have felt this way but I cannot understand how I can take out a new contract with O2 via the Carphone Warehouse, pay less per month plus less of a one off payment for the phone than I can as a customer of o2 for 8 years whose contract was up in February.

O2 'Live' customer service even asked me last night if I wanted to hold for an hour when I asked how this was so - and then, even though they were no help whatsoever offered me 20% off accessories?

I am sure I am not the only one with these thoughts.  To be honest I have never had a problem with o2 but cannot understand how this works.  The refresh price plans to me are a 'con' and seem nice with bright lights but make little difference.  A 12, 18 or 24 month contract doesn't bother me its just them not wanting to keep my custom?

Any tips at all guys?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

The more you pay up front for any phone its obvious you will get a lot cheaper monthly tariff that applies to any network in the world. You could even say buy the phone from Amazon which will cost you damn site cheaper to buy it outright than any mobile site will charge you for such a thing, and then just have a pay monthly sim card which will be even cheaper to use the thing. The refresh plan is nothing new what so ever, it's aimed at making more money from people who want to constantly change their phones for the latest ones, and technology moves at a very fast rate, and to do such a thing it comes at a cost. Nobody is saving money here at all, it's costing them an arm and leg to do such a thing.

[Anonymous]

If I want the latest iPhone every year, with Refresh I would be paying less for the phone.

I could buy it outright at around £600 and use payg/simplicity or I could use refresh and get the phone for, say, £480 - pay it throughout the year and do the same the next year.

Fair enough if you dislike how fast phones come out - but for me, and many others, Refresh works great.

[Anonymous]

Fair enough and like I said in the first place your looking at a price range between £37- £52 per month to do such a thing, and your price of £480 for the year works at £40 per month to have such a device.

Not everything in the world of technology works out better than what they had before it, and in many cases it is in fact a lot worse for it. The iPhone 5 is a classic example its reviews are very poor and it is in fact no better than the iPhone 4 and more people are now selling the iPhone 5 right now second hand than perhaps any other phone on the market.

It's not always a good thing to dive into anything that comes out new on the market regarding new technology, especially without testing the water first so to speak, it can be a very costly mistake without researching anything first before leaping into buying such a device. Having the latest is not always the greatest it has been proven time and time again over the years, and at the end of the day it's all about making money, and not what the customer wants at all.

[perksie]

What a strange post, if you don't like Refresh don't use it as it's not compulsory but plenty of people are finding it a good deal.

I still don't think you are understanding how it works, why not read the comprehensive FAQs and find out?

http://www.o2.co.uk/refresh/frequent-questions#tabs