I was previously on one of those grandfathered Smart $40 plans (60 mins, too many texts and 3 gbs of data a month) but was finding the lack of calling minutes painful - seriously, the up-till-now (2 degrees excepted but I was never, ever going to go near them) unwillingness of many Telcos to account for the smartphone users wanting to make a reasonable amount of calls has been a huge oversight.

Saw the Telecom Open Smart $39 plans today (250 minutes, "unlimited" texts and 500 mb of data) and was frankly ready to jump ship. Figured I'd give VF a chance to give me a deal and to save having to pay a $190 odd contract break fee. Was initially only offered a swap to the Smart $45 plan (100 mins, lots of texts and 250 mb of data), which really wasn't even in the ballpark.

Got sent off to rentention (I think) and a lovely chap named Costa offered me a deal very close to the Telecom plan - nearly identical minutes and data. With a free "NZ Bestmate" on the VF plan and not needing to pay a break fee, I was very happy :)

Moral of the story: don't be afraid to ask for a better deal, even when a Telco has you on a contract, To VF: thanks for coming to the party and making me happy, instead of simply holding me by the barrels using the contract. This kind of sensible approach is what builds loyalty.

Sorry Telecom, I guess we weren't meant to be but thank you also for helping to get me a good deal :)