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Deactivation

easytreasure
3: Seeker
3: Seeker

Got an emergency phone for my daughter. keep it charged and she takes it along with her main phone. Belt and braces. Discovered last night when she needed it. That it has been deactivated. when to the Vodafone shop today thurrock lakeside. they were no help at all. Pay as you go sim cant be reactivated. lost all the credit. Vodafone don't do a free sim anymore the guy said. Lie. Thinking of switching to Three now as their sims do not expire.

28 REPLIES 28

davidf20
4: Newbie
I feel your frustration.

Seems all networks will cancel an inactive SIM after a period of time.

However what could be done differently is Vodafone staff being receptive to your concerns and offering solutions or workarounds to the situation. You won't get that from the offshore call centre nor a store that is more concerned with sales than service.

Annie_N
Community Champion (Retired)
Community Champion (Retired)
Sounds like it's either Three or the postal service letting you down on this occasion. Previously the problem was failing to understand the product you had bought into.

Got the free sim from Three today, but its 3G or 4G only, so will not work in the tracker that has to be 2G. So back to square one. Not sure if  Vodafone still do a sim that works on 2G. And what the non use policy is. It may be that vodafone sent a message to the tracker warning of inactivity but in the tracker you dont see it.

In respect of the usage policy only, T&C's seem to state as below:
http://www.vodafone.co.uk/cs/groups/configfiles/documents/contentdocuments/pay-as-you-go-terms-and-c...
"6. Suspension, disconnection and ending the agreement
a. We can suspend (in other words bar), restrict or stop providing the
services (all or part of them) in the following circumstances:
You choose not to use the service for 180 consecutive days.
Using the service means making any chargeable outbound
activity such as making an outbound call (excluding calls to
191), sending an SMS, using data or topping up your
account."
"b. If we suspend the mobile equipment because you have chosen not to
use the services (as defined in 6a3 above) for 180 consecutive days we
will send you an SMS notifying you that you should top up your account
or make a chargeable outbound call (but not calls to 191), send a
chargeable SMS or use your data within the next 90 days.
If you then fail to make any chargeable outbound calls (but not
calls to 191), send a chargeable SMS, use your data or top up your
account within 90 days from the date of the SMS because you have
not kept to this agreement or not used the services for 270
consecutive days, we will disconnect your mobile equipment, and
you will lose any credit held on your account."

Just ordered a free sim from Vodafone. Just hope they still work in the tracker. Will make sure I use it every three months. Asda do a 2G sim but you can only check you balance on a phone. So this is no good.

These are the ways to monitor your balance, one of which allows you to do so from another handset. If you are considering doing this via the online account it may be worth noting that they have recently introduced a system whereby accessing the online account means a text with a security code is sent to the handset and this needs to be entered each time you access the account.


http://support.vodafone.co.uk/Account-bill-and-top-up/Managing-my-account/Using-My-Vodafone/38948014...

Annie_N
Community Champion (Retired)
Community Champion (Retired)

@easytreasure A Vodafone SIM should definitely work in a 2G device - and the 2G signal should be around for a fair length of time, as a lot of Vodafone customers in remote areas have nothing else. Of course, no network will be too precise about its plans, in case things change unexpectedly, but I think you would at least get plenty of warning if things start moving in that direction.

 

Vodafone's disconnection policy for PAYG is as @forumfairy sets out above. I have deliberately let a couple of SIMs run to disconnection, and I have received my warning text at about 180 days after the last chargeable usage (the SMS isn't "persistent" in any way, so it doesn't arrive if the SIM isn't on at about the right time), then after a further 90 days plus, it has stopped functioning.  The main danger with a timescale of 180-270 days is that it's dangerously easy to run past it. So a diary note to make a call, send a text, or do something else chargeable, every 3 months is essential. [Presumably with a tracker device, you simply ask it to report where it is? These non-standard uses for phone SIMs can be a bit challenging - I still chuckle a bit over the chap who was on holiday in NZ, and realised he ought to be attempting to break into his barn to trigger an autodialler.]

 

Annie_N
Community Champion (Retired)
Community Champion (Retired)

@easytreasure

 

Following on from @forumfairy's point about receiving a security code in order to access the online account, this is something which you definitely ought to sort out before the SIM disappears into the deeper recesses behind your dashboard.

 

While you still have the SIM accessible, you need to pop it into any Vodafone-compatible handset, and then register for My Vodafone as described here. You need the SIM in a phone to receive a security code as part of the registration, and you need an email address which you haven't used for another account. You will need to give a security PIN and a memorable word to help with any future login problems.

 

After you have done the basic registration, you will also be able to add some personal contact details, and this is where the important bit comes in - you can add an alternative contact number or two, which could be any standard UK mobile number (doesn't have to be Vodafone), or indeed a landline number.

 

Then, when you want to login to the My Vodafone account, you give your username (usually most convenient to use the email address) and password, and then you are asked to choose the number to which you want the security code to be sent - either the number for the account, or the alternative contact number(s) you have set up within the account.

 

I find this trick immensely useful. I live rather on the edge of signal for Vodafone and other networks, but I have a choice of my Vodafone number, a back-up number from another network, or my landline. Generally one or other mobile will have signal, but if both look shaky, I'll opt for the landline, and the strange voice text that comes via that route.

 

So just check that you are happy with the choice of numbers that is coming up, and then you can safely bury the SIM in the depths of the dashboard, and be able to access the online account without accessing the SIM.

 

[The trick also comes in handy for monitoring the balance and topping up the credit for another family member's phone, if necessary.]

Got the new sim today. very quick. Put it in an old 2G Nokia phone that I keep just for this and registered/topped up. Just need to go out in the cold now and put the Sim in the tracker. It lookes a bit cold at the moment. may leave it till Sunday. Thank everyone for your advice.