Money expert Martin Lewis is urging O2 customers to give the mobile network a ‘corporate bloody nose’ by exercising their right to cancel after its unprecedented mid-contract price rise was itself increased in price.
The mobile network sparked condemnation last week when it announced it would increase the mid-contract hike it told customers they would pay in April from £1.80 to £2.50.
Under new Ofcom rules which were introduced in January, mobile firms were banned from increasing prices mid-contract by inflation-linked percentages, and instead told they must give customers a figure in pounds and pence for any mid-contract price rises at the outset of a contract.
But O2 found a loophole which allows it to increase this price rise by giving customers 30 days to cancel if they refuse the new increase.
Speaking on the latest episode of The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV1, an incensed Martin Lewis urged O2 customers to teach the network a lesson.
Martin Lewis told his ITVX viewers last Tuesday: “When companies behave like this, and increase our costs in a way no-one should have or could have expected, the way that we need to deal with them, is we need to give them a corporate bloody nose and increase their costs by them losing customers and brand and reputation, to prevent them doing it again, and to prevent all the other mobile and broadband and pay TV services doing it. So don’t just leave for yourself – leave for everyone else too.”
Martin’s impassioned soapbox speech was met with fervent applause in the ITV studio, before he went on: “So your options, just get onto a comparison website. Find your cheapest SIM.
“The cheapest deals are on comparison sites because that’s where the churners go and you get better deals there.
“There’s currently a 35GB deal for £3 a month, many people will be paying four or five times that.”
And if you’re worried about losing your O2 signal, or live in an area where O2 is the best option for signal, you can switch to Giffgaff, Tesco or Sky, which all use the same signal.
Martin added: “If you like your O2 signal because that’s the only one you can get in your house, well, there are lots of networks that pay O2 to piggyback on its signal so you get the same signal on their networks.
“You’ve got Sky who’ve got a 10GB deal for £6 a month, you’ve got Giffgaff, unlimited data for £15 a month.
“If you want to stick with O2, maybe you like its Priority Moments scheme, maybe you’ve got a watch that’s linked to it or something, well benchmark the cost elsewhere, then haggle, politely ask – it’s not the call handler’s fault – and ask them to match it.
“This normally works at the end of your contract but it’s the same because you’re allowed to leave penalty free so I suspect it will work now, but these are new circumstances and I don’t definitely know.”
Martin added that for those with handset plans who are paying them off as well as the airtime, you don’t have to pay it off in full before you leave.
He stressed: “You can choose to keep paying the handset with O2, you don’t have to pay it off in full, by the month and you can move your airtime, your SIM, elsewhere.”
Ofcom said about O2’s price rise: “We want customers to have certainty about their monthly mobile bills so they can plan their household budgets. That’s why earlier this year we banned unpredictable price rises linked to inflation and instead required providers to tell customers upfront in pounds and pence about any increases in their contract.
“We are disappointed by O2’s decision. This goes against the spirit of our rules which are designed to ensure greater certainty and transparency for customers when they sign up.
“Today, we’ve written to the major mobile companies reminding them of their obligations to treat customers fairly. We encourage any customer who wants to avoid these price rises to exercise their right to exit without penalty and sign up to a new deal.”
An O2 spokesperson said: “As acknowledged by Ofcom in its letter to providers last week, its rules do not prevent companies from increasing annual price changes – for example, to invest in improving networks for customers. A price increase equivalent to 8p per day is greatly outweighed by the £700m we invest each year into our mobile network, with UK consumers benefitting from an extremely competitive market and some of the lowest prices compared to international peers.
“We appreciate that price changes are never welcome, but we have been fully transparent with our customers about this change, writing directly to them and providing the right to exit without penalty if they wish.”
