PAYG phone as a xmas present

[Wac87]

I have bought my son a Samsung core prime on the Vodafone network from Argos which required a top being purchased at the same time. Because this is going to be a xmas present how long will the top up last for before being deactivated or even if there is a time limit on them 

I can't top up the sim til xmas day and I don't want to lose £10 either. 

Help appreciated 

Clair 

[T_Scarface_M]

Hi there,

When you top up, you can make calls for 6 months and receive calls for 8 months. After 8 months your call credit will expire.

Once you top up, all previous credit (even expired credit) becomes valid again. 

So you are good to wait until Xmas :smileyvery-happy:

Hope this helps.

[kids]

A PAYG phone sim will not be deactivated until afer 180 days of no use.

[Wac87]

Excellent I wasn't sure if the actual top up e voucher would expire as I haven't applied it to the sim. Don't want to be opening it just to top it up 

[T_Scarface_M]

Glad to help, Have a good day :smileyvery-happy:

[Annie_N · Accepted solution]

It depends a little on the exact "top-up" you bought, and whether the SIM has been activated at time of purchase. If you bought through a Vodafone store, a Big Value Bundle would be purchased at the time of purchase, and generally gets actvated at the same time. As you'll see from the link, the bundle and the allowances that you purchase with it, expire after 30 days, although the SIM itself won't expire for... well, 180 days. But, depending a bit how your son will be using the phone, it's possible that one of the Freebies might work better for him than the BVB - see the Freebies tab of the BVB link.

However, buying at Argos, although the SIM may well be opted in to the Big Value Bundle, I'd guess that they would simply issue a Vodafone PAYG top-up voucher. And the vouchers themselves don't expire - they just sit there in your wallet until activated, or (as I've done occasionally) until you lose them!

So you should be OK for Christmas Day. The only thing to be aware of is how long Argos gives you to return purchases in the event of their being faulty. Many stores extend this period in the run-up to Christmas, but you do need to check this out; otherwise, if there were a problem, you might be into the stage when it would be sent for repair rather than replaced or refunded.

[Wac87]

Thank you Annie, I don't think anything has been activated or registered as the phone it's self is still sealed and presume the sim is in the box. I will check with Argos about returns regarding items bought for Christmas presents. As long as I keep the reciept it should be fine as one year I bought a scooter from there and was no good but they wouldn't accept it back as I lost the receipt but I remember it being purchased October time. 

Im hoping to get him a sim only deal on my Vodafone account as this would be much easier. But only if they could put a cap on the data and calls so that he wouldn't go over when run out. 

[Annie_N]

Hi @Wac87, Are you aware of the Red+ scheme, which enables you to add phones, and cap data usage?

As I'm on PAYG, my knowledge of it is just theoretical, but I was in our local Vodafone store quite recently, waiting for their system to come up again, so that I could switch my number to a different size SIM. I was fascinated by the discussion with a couple, who seemed able to save a surprising amount on their bills by joining this, and adding a child or two into the equation!

[bob109]

Hmmm I was under the assumption, (maybe mistakenly) that PAYG SIMs expire after 90 days of inactivity.. not 180.  At least that's the figure quoted to my wife and I when we were last in the UK.

bob

[Annie_N]

Hi @bob109 I'm afraid this has been something of a minefield, especially as it did go down to 90(+90) for a while, but then went up to 180(+90).

It just happens that I wrote a long reply on the issue here earlier today, so I hope you'll forgive me if I take the easy way out, and just refer you to that answer.

Annie.