Nearly half of over-65s put it off when a mobile contract ends… watch out you don’t get scammed, says LEE BOYCE
A recent conversation with an elderly relative helped him save £20 a month on his mobile phone bill.
How? Well, he had been out of contract for a few months, had paid for his handset with the provider and was free to switch to a cheaper SIM-only deal elsewhere.
He just didn’t know it was an option. He loved the phone and didn’t want to rock the boat.
But after telling me about an increase in the bill with inflation, we looked into it and he was pleased to quickly move to a cheaper offer and keep the handset.
Cell phone bills: Three in five over 65s have contracts that expired more than a year ago, compared to just 13 percent of 18 to 24 year olds
This is how most phone contracts work: at the end of the term (usually two or three years), you’ve paid for the handset in full.
From that moment on you own it and you can use it for free if you take out a cheaper SIM-only deal (for your minutes, texts and data) with another provider.
Yet older customers do this the least. One of the mobile giants analyzed the figures for Money Mail and found that three in five people over 65 have a contract that expired more than a year ago, compared to just 13 percent of those aged 18 to 24.
The survey of 5,000 people found that nearly half of those over 65 put off getting a mobile subscription because they think it will be a hassle.
And 86 percent of them feel ripped off as soon as they hear they can switch to a much cheaper SIM-only deal.
This is one of the simplest tricks to reduce your monthly expenses, especially since many of us like to keep the same familiar handset rather than upgrade. Make sure you don’t get scammed.
Internet block
Sticking to telecoms, it was planned that from this week households could switch broadband providers with a simple ‘one-touch’ process, as ordered by watchdog Ofcom.
It would have been ideal timing with broadband costs rising by the millions, thanks to inflation-linked increases baked into contracts, and with Virgin Media outages widespread in the UK.
Too many internet users worry about switching in case something goes wrong, especially with more people working from home.
The rules mean that providers must compensate customers if problems arise with the switch and they are without service for more than a working day.
Also, under Ofcom’s plans, households will only need to contact their new provider to switch, rather than the hassle of calling, canceling, speaking to a new provider and making ends meet.
But behold, the plan is behind schedule. When I spoke to Ofcom about it, the watchdog seemed quite annoyed at a lack of action from broadband providers as the plan was announced almost two years ago.
A spokesperson told me, “The industry had enough warnings, enough time and a lot of support to pull this off. It is extremely disappointing and frustrating and providers have let their customers down.”
Ofcom says it has launched ‘enforcement actions’ to try and arm companies to get the service up and running ‘as soon as possible’.
We’ll keep an eye on the mess as it unfolds. My message to Ofcom? Don’t let the telecom giants get away with this!
Gps gold
Last Sunday a week ago I landed at Heathrow Terminal 5 on my return from a family holiday.
We flew with British Airways and when we got to the baggage gate we were warned about baggage delays. Those delays turned into a wait of nearly three hours.
But there was a silver lining. After about an hour of waiting, a baggage handler was cornered by a passenger on my flight, who asked where her baggage was. He said it was about to reach the belt.
But the attendant turned red when the passenger showed her phone, which showed a dot on the runway. She had a GPS tag in her bag that indicated her whereabouts.
I can safely say I’ve now bought one of these GPS tags for £20 to put in my luggage – especially as I overheard someone complaining on the bus to the long stay car park that one of their bags was just on another road lost flight…