Which? calls for fairer mobile phone deals
Which? calls for an end to confusing mobile phone charges that leave hard-pressed consumers paying more than they should, as our new research shows that people who resort to haggling are getting a much better deal.
As the Government hosts a summit with mobile phone providers, Which? is calling on ministers to get tough with an industry that has been allowed to confuse consumers for too long.
New Which? research reveals that four in ten consumers (39%) have resorted to haggling to get a better mobile phone deal. Nearly nine in ten (86%) of them were able to negotiate a better deal, saving over £100 a year or getting extras like a new phone or free minutes.
A recent Which? survey also found that a quarter of people (25%) tried to leave a landline, mobile, broadband or pay TV contract early in the last five years. Only seven in ten (70%) were successful and four in ten (42%) mobile phone customers who left had to pay a penalty charge.
We want the mobile providers and Government to introduce without further delay, and without waiting for possible new EU regulations:
Easier switching with your SIM unlocked for free once the handset is paid off, and no penalties for leaving a contract after six months.
Simpler mobile tariffs with handset and service charges separated, and the handset costs automatically dropped once paid off, so consumers are not overpaying.
Caps on bills set by consumers to give them control over how much they spend and prevent bill shock.
Following the success of our Fixed Means Fixed campaign, Ofcom recently announced that consumers can exit their mobile phone contract if their provider hikes the price, without paying extortionate exit fees. However, we think consumers should be able to leave their contract after six months to put competitive pressure on providers to offer customers the best possible deal.
Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said:
“The Government must get tough with telecoms providers and help put millions of consumers, who are struggling with the cost of living, in control of their mobile bills.
“We found that mobile providers are offering much better deals to customers who are savvy enough to haggle, which begs the question why they can't offer more transparent, competitive deals to everyone all the time. It needs to be much easier and free for people to switch and leave their contract.”
Our new research found:
Nearly nine in ten (86%) consumers were able to negotiate a better deal and seven in ten (71%) said the process was 'easy'.
Those willing to haggle were able to secure an average saving of £8.81 per month, or extras like a new phone, more minutes or an increased data allowance.
For those that haggled, Orange (93%) are the most likely to offer you a deal, followed by Vodafone (89%) and Virgin Mobile (88%).
Across all providers, more than four in ten (42%) people were offered a permanent discount on their mobile deal.
A third were offered more minutes (35%) and more texts (32%).
In a separate investigation, we found that selling your old mobile phone on eBay could be significantly more profitable than selling it to a phone recycling website. The highest price our researchers got offered from a recycling company for an iPhone 4 16GB was £105.37, but the same make of phone was sold on eBay for an average of £164.84.
Research from Billmonitor last year suggests that three quarters of people (74%) on pay monthly contracts are on the wrong contract wasting a collective £5.98 billion per year.
