topup.vodafone.co.uk/topup

[davecm]

My Vodafone PAYG data sim (used in a sim-free mi-fi modem) allows free access to the URL topup.vodafone.co.uk in order to allow credit to be topped up if it has expired.

However, the page allows all the customer and payment details to be entered, and obviously has some internet access as address lookup works, but a payment cannot be made.

No redirection to Paypal or to any payment card provider is allowed, even though there are buttons to enable either option. This seems to be a fault with either the website design, or with the allowed URL information stored in the memory on the SIM card.

Would a new SIM card resolve the issue, i.e. do latest SIM cards store the correct payment provider URLs, or is this something your website design or payment operations team have overlooked?

[AnnS]

Hi @davecm

You should be able to purchase a data pack by following this link from support: Topping up your mobile broadband

Appreciate this does not answer your question about topping up direct from your dashboard.

[davecm]

Thanks for your reply. One has a mi-fi modem for those occasions where no other internet access is available. In that instance, the other top-up options may not be available.

I'm hoping someone from Vodafone will read my post and advise whether a new SIM would resolve the issue, or if they have missed a trick in designing the topup web page and it's payment options.

It's bizarre that they should provide a topup payment page that is accessible without credit, but that neither of it's 2 payment options, Paypal or payment card, actually work without credit. Should not be difficult to resolve if they were so inclined.

[davecm]

Someone from Vodafone customer service called my mobile and left a voicemail. However the caller had a strong Indian accent and spoke so quickly that the message was unintelligible. After listening several times, I think he said he would call again.

It would be better, and also help others, if the response to my question was posted in a forum reply.

[Gemma]

@davecm - It sounds like this is due to when you go to make the payment, you’re being diverted to a separate secure link for security reasons. This is usually to verify the payment. Due to this, you’d need credit to connect to it.

Please see the link from @AnnS post for other ways to top up. 

[davecm]

Thanks for your reply.

It rather defeats the object of having a separate payment page that is accessible without credit, if you can't actually make a payment, which is the point I was making. I'm guessing that it's not just my SIM card that is out of date, and a new one wouldn't fix the issue?

You should store the URLs of your card payment processor and Paypal in the memory on the SIM card, in addition to the Vodafone payment page, so that the payment process still works as intended when you have no credit.

It could be considered ridiculous to have access to a page that permits all the payment details to be entered, allows address lookup from the postcode, and then fails when you select a payment method. Bad design and planning.

Could you please pass that comment on to the operations department responsible for the mobile data SIM card specifications.

[Josh]

@davecm We'll certainly take your feedback on board, I've passed this on internally to the most relevant people involved. I'm sorry if due to current circumstances you've been caused inconvenience.