The Emobilephonedeals Guide to Free Line Rental Deals (Part 2)

You can also download the guide to read at your leisure.

PART 1 – GET THE RIGHT DEAL

PART 2 – AFTER YOU BUY YOUR NEW PHONE

Decide if you want to cancel any extras
Check the redemption steps and dates, set up reminders
Get a folder in place to store and organize your bills.
Two months before the end, start looking to switch
Enjoy your savings!

PART 2 – AFTER YOU BUY YOUR NEW PHONE

5. After you receive your phone, decide if you want to cancel any extras such as insurance

Be aware that with many free line rental deals you will automatically be signed up for an “extra” such as phone insurance. You will normally be signed up to a free trial period and have an option to cancel within a specified number of months.

When you receive your package, read the insurance policy carefully and check the cancellation deadline and procedures . If you do not want to be tied into a 12 month insurance contract or something similar, be sure to cancel in time.

Your cancellation request will usually have to be mailed in writing to an address specified on the insurance policy, so do allow time for this.

6. Check the redemption steps and dates, & set up reminders

This is where most people slip up - they simply forget to send in their bills on time. Don’t let this happen to you. Set up a reminder system on the day that you receive your phone. Do not put this off!

Check your contract, start date, and redemption steps (e.g. mail back bills after you receive the first 3, 6, 12 bills, etc). Note down the dates at which you will have to send back your bills.

Example :

If your contract begins on 10th February
and the redemption process has these 3 steps:
1. Mail the bills for months 1 - 3 within 30 days of the date of the 3 rd bill
2. Mail the bills for months 4 - 7 within 30 days of the date of the 7 th bill
3. Mail the bills for months 8 - 12 within 30 days of the date of the 12 th bill

For Step 1:

Your 1 st bill would cover the period 10th February to 9th March
Your 2 nd bill would cover the period 10th March to 9th April
Your 3 rd bill would cover the period 10th April to 9th May
The date of the 3 rd bill (the day on which the bill is prepared and sent out) may be 10th May. In that case you would have to mail back the 1st , 2nd and 3rd bills within 30 days of 10th May – that is, by 8th June

You should pay the extra pence to send via Recorded Mail so you have proof of delivery. Remember to allow a few days for delivery.

Note that you may receive a bill up to a week after it is sent out, so this reduces the amount of time that you have to mail in your redemption.

Once you’ve clarified the dates you should set up reminders for each redemption step:

Set up reminders on your new mobile phone – enter an alarm with the Calendar function on your phone
Set up reminders at Google Calendar . You can choose to receive SMS and email alerts on any date.
Sign up for free at http://www.google.com/calendar and once logged in, click on Settings in the top right and then Notifications , then ensure that SMS (and Email as well if you want to be extra sure) is checked next to Event Reminders.
Then enter your mobile phone number details and verify the code that Google will SMS to you.

Now you’re ready to set up reminders! Just go back to the calendar, click on any time slot on any date and you’ll be able to set up events with automatic reminders. Set up a few if you’re really forgetful.

7. Get a folder in place to store and organize your bills.

To ensure that you have all your monthly statements at hand and ready to mail off at the right time, you should ideally organize and store everything:

For each redemption period (after the first 3, 6, 12 bills, etc), prepare an envelope addressed and ready to go with any redemption forms pre-filled
Set aside a folder for your monthly bills. As you receive each monthly bill, make a copy or take a photo of it for your records, then store it in your folder
When the time comes, you’ll have the relevant bills (make sure you send the originals) and envelope all ready to mail off

8. Two months before the end of your contract, start looking for a new deal to switch to

Once your free line rental period has run its course, you will start being billed at full price. If you want to continue saving, you should start looking for a new deal 2 months before the end of your contract.

Most contracts will have a 30 day cancellation notice period. This means that you will have to give notice of cancellation before the end of your 11 th month for a 12 month contract (and before the end of your 17 th month for an 18 month contract), to ensure that you don’t get billed the full rental after the end of the contract.

Note that you will probably have to mail your cancellation notice in writing to your contract provider, whether it’s Three, Orange, Vodafone, O2 etc.

By a strange quirk, if you switch to a deal with the same service provider (3, Orange, etc), you will have to use a new phone number. However if you switch to a deal on a different service provider, you’ll be able to ask for a PAC number from your current provider to transfer your existing phone number over to a new provider.

And lastly…

9. Enjoy your savings!

That’s it!

Keep in mind these simple but vital steps when getting a free line rental mobile phone deal and you’ll ensure that the whole process is a very pleasant and satisfying cost-saving experience. You’ve joined those in the know and can look forward to saving thousands of pounds over the coming years.

At Emobilephonedeals.co.uk our editors regularly review and select only the best free line rental offers to feature on our website. You can be sure that the deals displayed on our site meet the criteria of value, quality and integrity and have our stamp of approval.

If you found this guide useful, and think that your friends would benefit from it, please let them know!

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