Millions of Britons overpay for handsets by over £500m annually

As the cost of living disaster continues, Britons are urged to test their mobile phone contract time period to make sure they don’t seem to be overpaying as suppliers do not make clients conscious. As a results of this, clients are overpaying a whole lot on a handset they already personal.

Virgin Media O2 has in the present day known as on different cellular operators to introduce adjustments that might cease hundreds of thousands of customers from overpaying for his or her cell phones. This comes as a part of the corporate’s new marketing campaign which goals to place an finish to the “smartphone swindle”.

Ellis Wint is without doubt one of the hundreds of thousands of people that have felt ‘swindled’ by their supplier after overpaying for his telephone by over £100.

Mr Wint was paying £66 for his final contract which got here to an finish in September 2021. He determined to attend for the brand new iPhone to be launched earlier than upgrading and ended up being out of contract for about two months. Despite being out of contract, he claimed his supplier continued to cost him the identical quantity every month.

He stated: “I was in a position where I felt that waiting [for the new iPhone] would have been the best thing to do. I didn’t know what all of the alternatives were [with my contract] until I did a bit of research and spoke to other people.

“During the two months, I was out of contract, I essentially paid an additional £130 for the same phone, even though the phone itself had been paid off.

“It’s disappointing. Obviously, I only stayed out of contract for a couple of months, but potentially somebody who isn’t waiting for a new phone, has finished their contract and doesn’t know what their options are – they are being taken advantage of because no one has told them their handset is paid off. I think it should come as a standard that it’s reduced, and it should be down to providers to inform customers.”

To guarantee this doesn’t occur once more, Mr Wint has now taken out a cut up contract the place he pays individually for his SIM and his telephone, guaranteeing he gained’t pay greater than he must in future.

With conventional telephone contracts bundling collectively airtime prices for minutes, texts and information with the price of the handset, hundreds of thousands are nonetheless paying excessive month-to-month prices, regardless of proudly owning the telephone outright.

Older Britons and people on low incomes will likely be most affected in the event that they aren’t vigilant, the analysis discovered.

Age UK London discovered that greater than 4 in ten (44 p.c ) individuals who have been out of contract for 12 months are on low incomes, and could possibly be feeling the squeeze of rising payments. These individuals are incomes lower than £15,000 per yr so saving further money could possibly be important.

Additionally, three in 5 (60 p.c) of these over the age of 65 and out of the contract have been so for a yr or extra. They are doubtlessly paying a whole lot of kilos an excessive amount of for his or her smartphone.

If suppliers can put an finish to handset overpayments, many susceptible clients may benefit from the additional money saved.

Millions of individuals are nonetheless paying for telephones they already personal annually, with some operators sending payments that make no reference to a telephone being included of their plan, new analysis and evaluation from Virgin Media O2 exhibits.

Around 93 p.c of Britons are utterly unaware they could possibly be charged for handsets they’ve already paid off.

Three of the UK’s massive 4 cellular suppliers – are estimated to collectively have hundreds of thousands of consumers on conventional telephone contracts that bundle collectively airtime prices for minutes, texts and information with the price of the handset.

This overpayment downside could possibly be costing Britons.£1.4million a day, with these taking flagship handsets overpaying probably the most.

Around 58 p.c of the typical month-to-month invoice is attributed to the price of the system, in response to the buyer charity Citizens Advice.

This signifies that for hundreds of thousands of people that have completed their minimal contract time period, over half of their invoice is spent paying for telephones they already personal.

Calling for motion

Virgin Media O2 is now calling on the opposite cellular community operators to assist put an finish to this concern with three clear asks:

• “Introduce cut up contracts giving customers higher alternative over their cell phone payments.
• “Automatically roll down clients onto an airtime solely plan on the finish of their minimal time period to cease handset overpayments.
• “Inform clients as soon as they’ve paid off the price of the handset on the finish of their contracts.
• “While, of course, it is up to an independent operator if and how they may choose to implement such changes, the process of making them could start tomorrow.”

Gareth Turpin, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Media O2, said: “We’re calling time on this half-a-billion-pound problem and urging the industry to step up for consumers and put an end to the smartphone swindle.

“As the only operator to have offered split contracts for over a decade; automatically roll down our direct customers once their device is paid for; and ensure customers receive clear handset payment information at the end of their contract, we want others to ensure consumers don’t overpay for their smartphones.

“During a cost-of-living crisis, and with older and low-income households most at risk, I’m asking the other operators to do the right thing.”

Virgin Media O2 urges customers to check their bills and ensure they’re not unknowingly overpaying for a phone they already own.

The provider has published four simple steps to help consumers save:

• “Split – your device and airtime wherever possible
• “Switch – if you are at risk of overpaying for your handset at the end of your contract and don’t have the option to split your bill, switch to another operator
• “Save – money by being aware of this issue and never overpaying for your handset
• “Share – tell friends and family if you think they might be paying for a phone they already own”