What is it about mobile phone companies?
They handle the sale of upmarket lifestyle technology through contracts which involve long-term relationship management.
And they behave like they’re shifting slightly dodgy used cars.
“So how much is this car?”
“To you mate, just £18.50 a month.”
“£18.50 a month? Brilliant – where do I sign?”
“Just 'ere mate – and do it sharpish.”
“Righto – deal done then!”
“Er, well, sort of.”
“Sort of? What do you mean?”
“Well, when I said £18.50 a month I meant £19.”
“What!? But I just signed to pay £18.50!”
“Shoulda looked at the small print, mate.”
“What do you mean?”
“Says I can put the price up once every 12 months. So I have.”
“But I’ve only just signed!”
“Sorry mate – rules are rules.”
“That’s outrageous. I want to cancel the contract.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I was you.”
“Why not?”
“Cos I’ve got you by the short and…sorry, I meant there’ll be a cancellation charge.”
“So you sign me up on one price, put it up immediately and then hit me with a cancellation fee if I try to leave…that’s unfair.”
“I don’t make the rules, mate. I just shift the…sorry, I just handle the lifestyle technology relationship.”
I think it’s safe to say that conversations not dissimilar to this are being held with O2 and Orange/EE (whatever their name is) across the country right now.
Here we are in the run up to Christmas and people are buying mobile phones by the boatload as presents.
And wait, what’s this? The phone companies in question have decided that this would be an appropriate moment to impose a 3.2 per cent price rise on people who sign up. Strange, that.
So, what extra services and benefits are we getting for this tidy little increase? Er, nothing.
I walked away from Virgin Mobile because of the shabby manner in which they responded to a technical fault with my daughter’s Blackberry - ‘we won’t honour the warranty because she must have tampered with it’ (she was 12).
Here I am two weeks into an 02 contract and I learn that it will be £13 more than I signed up for. At what point, I wonder, was this decision made? And is O2 advising customers when they sign up for that 18 or 24 month deal that the price they are quoted will go up in a couple of months?
I asked O2 that question on Twitter. They said that “Since the announcement all customers will be told”.
But what about people who aren’t customers yet – will prices be changing in shops? “No, as they will not take effect until February…”
In other words, they won’t tell you until after you’ve signed up. So for O2, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.
You have been warned.
