Gahh, 3UK said no to my N95 8GB demand
I went into the 3UK store on Baker Street yesterday to see if I could upgrade my handset earlier to a Nokia N95 8GB.
The chap there was extremely helpful, particularly since I wasn’t able to remember my 3 number. I’d come out of the office without my handset so we had to call Customer Services to get them to look up the number.
I still don’t think 3UK is there yet, with it’s integrated customer information systems in the shops. It seems natural to me that, like in any Vodafone shop, if you walk in and give various pieces of information, the sales person should be able to look up your account and talk to you directly, without referral to Customer Services.
So. We go the number and I explained what I wanted. A new handset.
The chap was keen to do business, but unfortunately the 3UK system wasn’t going to bend around my aims.
Turns out that the earliest I can discuss upgrading with them is August 21st.
“Right, well I’d like to discuss upgrading with you now,” I said to the chap, who then relayed this to the customer services agent on the phone.
“It’s 200 pounds to upgrade to an N95 8GB now,” he said (repeating the customer services agent’s response).
“Ok, well it won’t be 200 pounds in a few months time, will it? One of your chaps from the Indian marketing team will be on the phone offering me shitloads of special deals to upgrade and extend my 12 month contract. Yes?”
My chap nodded. I think the CS agent probably nodded too.
I waited.
I was, you see, expecting a bit of negotiation.
I think, from memory, my 3UK contract expires at the end of September. So really, it being mid-April, I’m only half way through the 12 months. Fair enough. They haven’t got full value from me yet.
But I was offering to negotiate. In their favour. At that particularly moment, they could have stuck me on a 24 month contract at between 30-50 quid a month and I’d have accepted it and walked out the door with the N95 8GB.
Back to the real world.
“It’s 200 pounds,” the chap prompted.
I tried once more, “OK. I see. So that’s the final offer, is it? Just, in a few months they’ll be phoning desperate to renew me and I’ve no particular compunction to keep the account open since I swapped to Vodafone.”
“It’s 200 pounds.”
Ooookay. The chap was a bit disappointed as I could see he wanted to do a deal but customer services wasn’t having any of it.
We move on. Fair enough to 3UK. Just wait ’til the upgrade chappy from India calls me though.
I just got a free N95 8GB from 3, after a long argument/discussion with 3 CS in India. Don’t bother with the upgrades department, just ask for your PAC and you’ll get put through to retentions - then let the fun begin! I managed to get mine for free on a 12 month £25 a month contract.
Posted by Phil on April 16th, 2008 at 12:26 pm.Phil,
That seems like a pretty good offer you got there from 3, would you mind stating a bit more about the offer (mins & texts) etc..
I am in the same position, my contract is ending this month but i am with Voda, i was not really looking to spend more than £35 pcm and also try to get Internet access of some sort within that price.
Posted by Hardeep on April 16th, 2008 at 1:56 pm.I get 300mins, 150txt, 25mms, 25mins of videos calls. Then on top of that I pay £5 for X-Series Silver (unlimited internet). So all in it’s £30 a month. Also I’m going to be spending about 5 months of this year working in Sydney, so with their free roaming with 3AUS means it’s a pretty much unbeatable deal for me.
The problem you’ll have is that this is a deal from retentions - I don’t think you’ll get it as a new customer. The closest I could see on their site is £30 for Mix and match 300, plus £5 for X-Series Silver but you’ll have to sign up for 18 months.
Posted by Phil on April 16th, 2008 at 4:09 pm.I got the same deal as Phil. I’d be very happy with it if, like Phil’s, mine were for 12 months. Unfortunately mine is for 18! Not happy about that, but I spoke to four different CS bods and they wouldn’t budge! They claimed that they wouldn’t/couldn’t do the N95 8GB on a 12 month. They either lied or they only do it with retentions (I was upgrading 15 months into an 18 month contract)
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Posted by Anthony on April 16th, 2008 at 7:24 pm.