Martin Lewis, the founder of Moneysavingexpert.com, used his ITV show to warn mobile phone customers are being punished for their loyalty, and they could save hundreds by making a quick change
Consumer champion Martin Lewis has urged 14million customers who are out of contract with their mobile provider to look for a better deal.
The founder of Moneysavingexpert.com warned those people remaining with the same firm after the lock-in deal has ended risk being hundreds of pounds a year worse off.
“Those of you who have been loyal to your mobile phone company and done nothing, you have seen price rise after price rise after price,” he told viewers of The Martin Lewis Money Show LIVE on ITV. “Those of you who play the market and who aren’t loyal, and do the right thing in my view, you have seen price cut after price cut after price cut.”
To find out if you are out of contract, simply text INFO for free to 85075. If the reply – when it arrives – says the “early termination” or “cancellation charge” is zero then there will be no penalty for taking your custom elsewhere, Mr Lewis explained.
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He advised those looking for the cheapest offer to visit websites that allow people to compare different SIM only deals. “They are much cheaper than going direct to the mobile phone companies,” he added.
Current deals include Lebara which offers 10GB for £3.50 and piggybacks Vodafone’s network. For those needing more data, Mr Lewis suggested ID Mobile – which uses the Three signal – and costs £3.80 a month for 50GB.
For those wary of switching providers to a lesser known name, he pointed out that there are only four networks in the UK – EE, Vodafone, Three and 02 – and that all others use one of those. But for those wary of leaving one of the big four, or who like what they are getting, Mr Lewis urged them to call their current provider, say they are thinking of leaving and see if they will match the best price found.
Meanwhile, those wanting to take their current mobile number with them can text ‘PAC’ to 65075, and then give the code sent back to your new provider.
But Mr Lewis had an added tip: “You send the text and you may well get a message back that says ‘we are very sorry to hear that you want to leave so here is your PAC code but, by the way, we can offer this deal if you are willing to stay’. I have heard it could be way less than half price.”
The show also covered another big mobile-related issue, how to keep your handset and what happens if it is unfortunately stolen.
One piece of advice Mr Lewis was, while people have their handset, to dial *#06# to get the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number on the screen, a critical 15-digit identifier used for network registration. Then take a screen shot and email it to yourself for reference or print it out.
“What this does is, if your phone was to be nicked, you give that to the police and they can block your handset,” he explained. “The network can block the SIM but they can actually block the handset being attached to any other network which makes it much less valuable to sell and hopefully the more of us that do that, the less encouraged the thieves will be.”
