Don't buy a phone until you've read this report.
I am a former Mobile Phone Store Manager, and through my job I learned a lot about mobile phone deals and the industry itself.
Every week friends, family or a stranger will seek me out to ask me to help find them a good mobile phone deal.
To save time I just go through the internet every week and list them on my websites, at least I can just tell them where to look.
It amazes me though that they still make the same mistakes.
If you read this report hopefully you won't make the same ones! Mistake Number 1 Not buying online.
I know its tempting to get your desired phone in your hand straight away, but if you can wait until next working day, you will generally get a better deal (I want to say ALWAYS get a better deal, but just in case, I'll protect myself).
The online merchants don't have to pay staff, so you will usually get free accessories at the very least as a benefit.
You always need to buy from a reputable merchant though.
Mistake Number 2 Not being honest to themselves about the use of the phone.
How many times do I advise a friend to get a contract phone with a free line rental deal rather than buy a pay as you go?"I won't use it much" - yeah right.
At the time of writing this deal is available online - Motorola V3 plus Motorola V3 Pay As You Go FREE.
Free phones, free connection, half price line rental for 12 months.
It's an 18 month contract at £33 per month, so total cost for 18 months = 6 months at £33 = £198, 12 months at £16.
50 = £198 TOTAL = £396, but also £200 cross network minutes per month and 100 texts included, and you can sell the pay as you go phone on or give it as a gift.
Pay as You Go Recommended retail price of phone £199.
The higher cost of calls or minimum voucher top up means my friend pays an average £20 per month.
18 * £20 = £360, plus cost of phone to buy = £199.
TOTAL £559 It would have been cheaper for my friend to buy the V3 on contract by£163, save the up front cost, enjoy the extra minutes and not have to worry about the phone cutting out due to lack of credit as she could have used the free minutes and texts each month.
She also could have given me the free V3! Also, after 18 months she could upgrade the phone for free, and not have to spend another £200 on a decent phone, or finish the contract and start again with another good offer.
Mistake Number 3 Not claiming the cashback offer.
It seems a fairly common thing offer at the moment.
You will have to claim your free line rental as cashback, where you will fill in a form and send it to the merchant along with a copy of certain bills.
Some split the cash back over the term of the contract, whilst others make you claim in one go.
There are 2 schools of thought here - if you are forgetful, then its better to have a split cash back deal, because you may remember the next one, or you could argue its better to get it over with in one go, so you only have to remember it once.
When I worked in the store I was amazed at how many people didn't claim their cashback.
When they realised they had forgotten, it always somehow managed to be the stores fault, and not theirs, but there is a way you will always remember to claim.
TIP Every phone I know of at the minute has at least a basic calendar / organiser.
After you charge your phone, make the first job you do with it be to enter the dates for cashback in the organiser.
You should be able to get an alarm to come up with this as well.
I always keep my paperwork in the phone box which I keep in a cupboard.
If you are likely to forget where you have put the paperwork, put this in the organiser as well - see, it's a trick of the trade! Mistake Number 4 Trying to buy a Sim free phone from Ebay, and losing out on it because they don't understand fraud, or paying too much.
I've sold lots of mobile phones on eBay only to be charged fees for a sale that didn't actually happen or be scammed.
If you sell a phone on ebay, then beware any buyer with 0 feedback.
Be even more aware if they want the phone shipping to Nigeria.
Every single one of these transactions was either rejected by the networks, or I was left paying eBay fees on an item that I didn't actually sell because they would refuse to pay by Paypal or cheque.
The problem here is for the legitimate buyer, who ends up competing against the scammers.
If you look in the advanced search box on eBay for any mobile phone, you will probably see them selling for a good couple of hundred pounds more than they are worth.
I am almost certain that the "buyer" will have a rating of 0, or probably -1 by the time the item is complete.
TIP If you are buying a phone on ebay, then do not bid until the last minute if you can help it.
This way the bid price stands less chance of being artificially raised.
If the price does seem to be going too high and you look at the bidding history and see that people with no feedback are bidding, then it may be worth contacting the seller, suggesting that if the sale doesn't go through, he may want to contact you.
You can then hopefully negotiate a fair price.
The seller can then offer you a second chance sale through ebay, and everybody is happy.
Mistake Number 5 Not shopping around "properly".
They ask me for a good deal and I'm only too happy to tell them where to look, after all I've reviewed all of the best sites online,but when I ask how they got on I sometimes found they could have save money, or got a better deal.
They could either have got the same line rental deal but got free accessories with another merchant, or worse still lost out on free line rental! Mistake Number 6 Forgetting to Upgrade.
The networks will give you a mobile phone after your minimum contract expires.
They don't usually remind you because it costs them money to give you a replacement handset.
The upside for them is that it will start a new contract, but you can often turn this to your advantage.
TIP Put an entry in the phones organiser reminding you to go and look for a new deal at the end of your contract.
If you then ring up your current provider and tell them you want to cancel because you've found a better deal, they will usually match it to keep you as a customer.
I can't promise it will work every time, but if it doesn't simply take your number and get the new deal from your choice of retailer.