Sim Only Upgrade to non refresh contract

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone, just wondered if anyone could advise on this before I call o2

I'm on a 12 month sim only contract and was told because of my credit score, I had to keep my sim only contract for 6 months before I could upgrade.

The 6 months is now up and would like to upgrade, however I don't really want to be credit checked again as I've worked hard to improve my score and I understand I'll be credit checked for the refresh part.

Add to that I've seen a deal with carphonewarehouse which is much cheaper on a non refresh tariff.

My question is that because i'm on a 12 month sim only, where I can upgrade after 6 months, does this mean I have to upgrade through o2, or can I go to a 3rd party store and upgrade where the tariff is £14 a month cheaper than o2 and saving £60 on the upfront cost of the phone

Thanks in advance

[MI5 · Accepted solution]

You have to upgrade through o2 to do it early or pay off the remaining 6 months.

[Wa10]

Full terms and conditions here @Anonymous for the early upgrade to Refresh promotion. https://www.o2.co.uk/termsandconditions/mobile/sim-only-upgrade-to-refresh-after-3-months-terms-and-conditions 

As @MI5 rightly says, this is only available directly with O2 as it's for upgrades to Refresh only, which CPW and other retailers don't offer.

There was some discussion regarding the credit check requirement a while ago, as the terms and conditions do specifically allow for a check to be carried out ("subject to credit status") however the experience of a lot of customers was that no additional search was carried out when they upgraded.