Mobile Phone Selling Techniques - Going Beyond The Pale?

[Foss62]

I have a contract with the phone company whose name is a small prime number and who have just merged with another company.
That contract ends in about 3 months, when I will have paid off the new iPhone I got from them in 2023.
I had an extraordinarily aggressive phone call today (from an employee who didn’t speak the greatest English) trying to get me to have another phone from them, with a deal that ‘only existed for one day’ and would allow me to ‘keep my number’.
This sort of nonsense surely went out with Everest Double Glazing in the 1980s?
Does anyone actually fall for it - or are these companies really scraping the barrel now with their telesales people?

[soad]

I heard that the merger of Three and Vodafone is now complete.

[CoolHands]

I never answer the phone. Avoids st like this

[Jamescrs]

Foss62 said:

I have a contract with the phone company whose name is a small prime number and who have just merged with another company.
That contract ends in about 3 months, when I will have paid off the new iPhone I got from them in 2023.
I had an extraordinarily aggressive phone call today (from an employee who didn t speak the greatest English) trying to get me to have another phone from them, with a deal that only existed for one day and would allow me to keep my number .
This sort of nonsense surely went out with Everest Double Glazing in the 1980s?
Does anyone actually fall for it - or are these companies really scraping the barrel now with their telesales people?

Yes they work all the time, especially amongst dare I say it, older people. My wife’s parents still insist on either going into a high street phone shop to renew their phone contract or deal with just this type of call where they inevitably get sold whatever rubbish deal the sales person wants to push. I’ve tried numerous times advising them but it falls on deaf ears.

They are very much the same with cars where my father in law still believes that the sales people in the local Vauxhall dealer are his mates and won’t go anywhere else.

[cuprabob]

The call may not actually have been from the company but from a 3rd part company.

I regularly get calls from people telling me they are from O2 telling my contract is due for renewal, when it's actually not, and there is no way they are from O2.

[NaePasaran]

Foss62 said:

I have a contract with the phone company whose name is a small prime number and who have just merged with another company.
That contract ends in about 3 months, when I will have paid off the new iPhone I got from them in 2023.
I had an extraordinarily aggressive phone call today (from an employee who didn t speak the greatest English) trying to get me to have another phone from them, with a deal that only existed for one day and would allow me to keep my number .
This sort of nonsense surely went out with Everest Double Glazing in the 1980s?
Does anyone actually fall for it - or are these companies really scraping the barrel now with their telesales people?

I wouldn't be overly bothered if it was actually a deal. "One day only 30GB £15 a month 24 month contract".

Thanks but that's £5 more than what I'm paying now. With 10GB less data and with no contractual obligation...

[the-norseman]

Sounds like it was a third party company to me.

[Foss62]

the-norseman said:

Sounds like it was a third party company to me.

It wasn’t - I asked him to send me a text to prove he was from the company. The text arrived from the the number they communicate with. When I got fed up and hung up I had an e mail from them “thank you for contacting us today”….

[HiAsAKite]

Still probably a scam company using spoofed numbers to message you.... used to get them all the time.


To my knowledge, the MNOs don't do "1 day only" deals. That shouts of scam pressure techniques..


(MNOs= Mobile network operators, eg Vodafone, 3, O2 etc who actually own networks, as opposed to use someone elses)

Edited by HiAsAKite on Thursday 26th June 06:16

[Simpo Two]

CoolHands said:

I never answer the phone. Avoids st like this

Caller ID means I can talk to people I want/need to talk to. It gets stuff done so much faster and better than a day of e-mails.

[Mr Overheads]

When you get into corporate fleet sales it gets worse. I regularly save my clients tens of thousands, 50% plus on mobile fleet procurement and management. It's a niche consultancy specialism of mine (I'm not a mobile phone contract reseller/retailer, purely independent consultancy, clients pay me not the networks or resellers).

e.g.
• giving every user individual large bundles - doesn't work
• total contractual spend contracts - impossible to manage/predict
• rollover data clauses - smoke and mirrors will eventually catch you out.
• auto-add data clauses
• over specifying data bundles - sales want their commission targets.
• International bolt-ons that don’t work out beneficial - added when bill shock happens, never get removed
• Non-co terminus contracts
• RPI clauses
• Hardware/cashback/subsidy funds
• “free” hardware
• Sim cards for ipads/tablets/dongles
• Paying off existing contract to win the contract

Edited by Mr Overheads on Thursday 26th June 10:15