Singlepoint (4U) Ltd Review

Overall Rating

Generally friendly customer service staff, until I recently informed them I am thinking of leaving.

No loyalty to long term customers
No communication to long term customers

I have been with Singlepoint now for slightly over 2 years, but with reluctance. I bought the phone from a Phones 4u store, assuming that I had purchased a contract directly from o2. It was therefore a bit of a shock to discover that I received a Singlepoint bill at the end of a first month. Not a problem, I thought, it's still the same service.
How wrong could I be?
You see, Singlepoint love nothing more than attracting new customers with good deals and prices. However, when you become one of these customers, Singlepoint seem to put you to the bottom of the priority pile. After being with them for over 2 years, you would think that I would be entitled to some loyalty benefit, such as reduced line rental or free upgrades. Think again.
The straw that has recently broke the camel's back is their upgrade procedure. You see, I opted for this Phones 4 Life scheme. What a waste of time. March this year, 18 months after a joined Singlepoint, I thought I would like a new phone, so I thought I would use the upgrade facility. So off I trundled into my nearest Phones 4u store and spoke to a very nice lady who kindly told me that because Singlepoint had been taken over by Vodafone, all o2 customers were subject to a £50 upgrade charge. 2 things sent alarm bells ringing in my head:
1) When did Singlepoint get taken over and why haven't I been told by Singlepoint my benefits as an o2 customer may change because of this takeover?
2) What about this 'free upgrade' I was promised?
Foolishly, I went along with the upgrade which really was a downgrade (a phone that is to be honest worse than my last one). Apart from this, things seemed to be hunky dory.
That's until recently, when I contacted Singlepoint about another issue. I casually informed them that I wanted to cancel Phones 4 Life as I didn't see any benefit. The guy asked me why, and I told them about my charge. This is where he turned round to me, saying 'I have not heard anything about a charge, it's intermittent and you shouldn't have paid it'. Cheers! Another case of Singlepoint grabbing money out of their 'loyal' customers.
I am now stuck with them til next April, along with bills that seem to be swaying from month to month. I do not go over my free mins and text messages each month, so why is the bill not consistent? At the end of this 12 months I will be cancelling my contract with Singlepoint and going to o2 direct. Although with reading some horror stories on this website, I don't think that will be an easy task!

Members' Comments onspikyone's Review

• Heroes101 on 14th Oct 2004

  If you want to know why your bill fluctuates, why don't you read them? Singlepoint do not make bills up, if there are extra charges one month they will be detailed!
  
  Did you upgrade at Phones4U or Singlepoint direct? Anything that Phones4u charged you is nothing to do with Singlepoint. They are a separate business and they want your profit too.
  
  Give Singlepoint a break; I find them quite good.

• POVEYS on 18th Oct 2004

  As I work for Singlepoint, I believe I am in a good position to advise. Their is always something we can do to keep you happy, if you want to upgrade for free and maybe change your tariff, just call and ask for an account manager in the contract saves dept and generally the deals that we offer often tend to be cheaper over the year than what you would pay if you took a new deal though a phones 4u store. 0870 9000 700

• redrider1za on 22nd Nov 2004

  As POVEYS says, if you hang in there we will proactively contact you through 'AMT' (Account Management Team) or failing that one sales channel up from that the 'Retention Department' who may be able to better the offer even more. Invariably I can argue that you will almost always get a better deal from one of the two departments who handle all sales enquiries and cancellations. Trust this is of help.