Cancelling my old account and keeping the number

[DoubleP90]

I've been told by carphone warehouse it was cheaper to get a new contract than upgrading, they didn't tell me though that I still had 2 months left of contract with vodafone, so after upgrading i called vodafone to get the pac code for my old number to port to my new one, and they told me the bad news, and informed me to call in 1 month, to give a 1 month notice of leave, so I would terminate my contract when it would end so I wouldn't pay an early termination fee.
So today I called to terminate my number, and I asked if I can keep it to transfer over. The vodafone call centre told me that it takes 1 month to transfer the number, so I said i want to do that, so he told me to call back in 1 month to get my pac code, after that the conversation ended.

Now I wouldn't want to call in a month and find out that I have to wait an extra month and worst of all have to pay for an extra month of a contract that I'm not using. 
Basically my contract ends on October 24th, so I called today (sept 25) to give my 1 month notice, so why do I need to call them back in a month?
I did make it clear to the guy that I'd rather save 40£ and lose the number and that I want to keep the number only if I don't incurr in any extra payments

[AnnS]

Hi @DoubleP90

If you had upgraded direct with Vodafone, you would have been able to take advantage of the flexi upgrade option, although you would have needed to pay an early upgrade charge, you would not have needed to pay any early termination charge for the previous contract.  If this is still an option, there is further information for you below.

Flexi Upgades

If you are going to take the Carphone offer, you have two options to get the number transferred over, these are to terminate the contract and put the number on PAYG.  Due to 30 days notice, this will take 30 days to complete, after which time you can transfer the number to your new contract or ask Vodafone for a PAC code, port out of Vodafone to an alternative provider and back onto your new contract.  This will leave you liable for early termination charges.

If the number is not important to you, you would probably be better off just leaving it until you are in the last month of contract, cancelling or ask for the number to be put on PAYG to still give the choice of transferring the number to the Carphone contract.

[BandOfBrothers · Accepted solution]

Another sly move by Carphone Warehouse in opening up a new contract instead of upgrading

I would suggest that the way I’d do it is when your original contract is due to end phone Vodafone and ask them to transfer your 1st Pay Monthly Contract into a Payg account which takes 30 days. 

Moving old vodafone number onto new Vodafone Contract. Credits to AnnS.

There are two ways this can be done.
 
1.  Cancel the old contract and ask for the number to be moved to PAYG.  The number will be scheduled to move to PAYG after 30 days.  You will then receive a new PAYG SIM card to activate and top up a small amount to get it active on the network.  You will then be able to transfer the number to the new contract.
 
2.  Ask Vodafone for a PAC code, move the old number to an alternative network, use the SIM as PAYG on the other network and ask for a PAC code to move the number onto the new contract.

[DoubleP90]

That's what I did, I called today and asked for a pac code for the account that ends on the 24th of october, so this should be a 30day period needed for that to happen and I shouldn't pay an extra month out of contract as I gave them a 1 month notice, I don't understand why I have to call them back in 30 days. Also I didn't get any email or message confirming that I asked to terminate the contract or that I asked for a pac code

EDIT: I contacted vodafone chat support and made sure my contract will be trasnferred to pay as you go at the end, so at least now I have a transcript confirming that I won't be paying any extra after my contract ends

[BandOfBrothers]

I would’ think Vodafone wouldn’t  follow up with communication after issuing a Pac Code. It remains live for 30 days so has to be used by given to another Network within that timeframe. 

Please do not cancel any Direct Debit until you have received a Sorry Your Leaving Letter and £0 bill. This allows then any final payment or refunds to take place. Vodafone send the final bill in around 2-4 weeks. 

My advice is to keep a close eye on this and check it’s changed to Payg as arranged. 

[Makelo]

PAC codes do not work transferring one Vodafone number to another.

You need to do what you have done and get the number transferred to PAYG. You do not receive a new PAYG sim card, your original sim card just becomes a PAYG sim thirty days later. Once you are on PAYG you can then transfer you old PAYG number to your new contract by filling out this form on Vodfone's Website;

https://vodafoneinlifeporting.co.uk/ilp/web-forms/pay-as-you-go-to-pay-monthly/

Ideally you would do this the same day it becomes PAYG thus avoiding any need to top up the PAYG sim.

Whether you call it sneaky or otherwise of Carphone Warehouse, doing it this way will potentially save you hundreds of pounds over the contract lifetime.

It's not just a Vodafone thing or even a phone contract thing, it applies to all things we renew such as phones, energy or insurance. We are inherently lazy and prefer an easy option such as just renewing directly. This loyalty does not usually pay though as the companies know we are inherently lazy and price renewals accordingly.

If you don't make a bit of an effort when renewing anything you will almost always pay more than you need to.