Many subscribers pay a hundred euros per year in an extra year for their mobile phone package. But their operator is careful not to tell them how to spend less …
While more and more French people are paying attention to their expenses since the rise in inflation, some have realized several very curious payments on their telephone bills. Behind these payments, hides an option always very popular by many consumers. However, it can weigh between 10 and 15 euros per month on their expenses.
This option is very profitable for the various telephone operators who regularly offer it to their customers wishing to change your smartphone. According to the ARCEP (the regulatory authority for electronic communications), this offer would represent almost 10% of their profits each year. A total amount of 500 million euros per year on which Free, Orange, SFR or Bouygues Telecom do not intend to give up anytime soon.
When you decide to buy a new smartphone from an operator, there is a good chance that the latter offers you what is called a “group offer”. Concretely, it is a question of paying your new phone at a very attractive price, but for a telephone package of the operator included. This package, which is in the form of a subscription, generally includes a monthly payment between 10 and 15 euros for the reimbursement of your new smartphone.
The idea is, on paper, rather interesting: to be able to afford a state -of -the -art smartphone by reimbursing it little by little each month. In reality, ARCEP rather calculated that this option was often unprofitable: the majority of smartphones purchased in this way ended up being reimbursed after two years of monthly payment.
Still according to ARCEP, it is estimated that almost one in three consumers using these group offers does not change smartphone after two years. The small monthly line remains, however, always registered on phone bills! Over a year, this can represent an average of 120 to 180 euros spent … for nothing.
This is why it is generally recommended to regularly check your phone bill to ensure that you only pay the services you use and to which we have subscribed. The next time you hesitate to buy a state -of -the -art smartphone via a group offer, look at the competition side first if you could not pay less at once or via a few limited monthly payments.