Pay as you go SIM card did not arrive

[peterinreading]

I have same problem as https://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Pay-as-you-go/pay-as-you-go-sim-card-never-arrvied/m-p/2693932#M1212... I placed an order on-line paying £10 and received confirmation of the order by email but it didnt arrive. Then in case it just got lost in the post I did it again paying another £10 and that one also hasn't arrived. As with the other post the order numbers have the format T9999999999 but customer services and also the shop in town say they cannot trace these orders in their system. How do I get my £20 back from Vodafone?

[Effie]

Hey @peterinreading I hope you're well. It's disappointing to hear that neither of your SIM cards have arrived! Please get in touch with our Social Media team here so that they can look into this for you and help get your £20 refunded.

[peterinreading]

Hello Steph

Thanks you for your response.

I already tried what you suggest - the issue is that customer service don't know how to trace this type of order. i.e. one where the order number is in the format T999999999 - they are expecting an order number which starts with WEB. So the issue I have is really "Where does this order number come from and how can it be related to an order that your system does know about?."

[Effie]

Thanks for getting back to me @peterinreading Have you received any emails regarding the order at all? These would usually contain an account number which we can use to locate the order. We can also search with your postcode or email address if you registered either on your account when you purchased the SIMs. The best thing to do is provide the Social team with as many details as possible as we can search using different pieces of information and not just an order number 🙂

[peterinreading]

The confirmation of order email from vodafone at mail.vodafone.co.uk says:

"Hi Name..., Thanks so much for ordering a Vodafone SIM - it's great to have you on board. Your order number is T9999999999. We'll let you know once your SIM is on its way - it'll then take 2-4 working days to
arrive at your door. Got any questions in the meantime? Just chat to us online or check our FAQs page. Thanks again for choosing Vodafone – we’re excited to have you on the UK’s Best Network. The Vodafone team"

So the only thing to go on is the order number T9999999999, which as I said, neither customer services nor the vodafone shop in town are unable to trace in your system. So my question remains "Where does this order number come from and how can it be related to an order that your system does know about?."

Anybody got any ideas?

[Effie · Accepted solution]

Thank you for confirming that for me @peterinreading 

The letters at the beginning of an order number tell us where an order was placed. For example WEB-1000000000 tells us that an order was placed on our website whilst SBL-1000000000 is an order placed by our Sales team either over the phone or via LiveChat. The reference number you have is not a trackable one because you can't track the delivery of a SIM card. This is because unlike hardware which is delivered via DPD, the SIM cards are sent out via standard Royal Mail post. 

Because you paid for a package with the SIMs, Vodafone accounts will have been created for you so we need to locate the accounts so we can block the SIMs and also refund you. So we can do that, please pop the Social Media team a message with the following details as they will be able to use these in order to track down the account:

- Full name 
- Postcode
- Email address
- Where you purchased the SIMs from e.g. Vodafone website, Carphone Warehouse etc 

Unfortunately we have no account access over the forum so I would be unable to search for your account via this channel. 

[peterinreading]

Thank you Steph for the explanation. You have now explained the strory very well in a way which confirms that you actually cannot trace these orders from the order number provided. So I wonder why they bother supplying an order number if it doesn't actually correspond to an order number in your system? I would like to suggest asking Vodaphone to improve their procedures so these orders are traceable via the order number provided.

I think I shall give up on retrieving the money though! I have more important things to do with my time!

[caitlyn130]

I'm having the exact same issue. Ordered a SIM on 13 April. Got the same email you did with the T- order number. Still hasn't arrived. Social media claims that due to the order number it must have been placed with a 3rd party like car phone warehouse. I said it wasn't and sent them screenshots of the order confirmation email. No response.

Did you ever get your money back or should I just write it off and accept this is a Vodafone scam? Seems to be happening to a lot of people.

[peterinreading]

Hello caitlyn

Eventually after about three weeks my SIM card did show up but by then I had already bought another one a different way. So I sent the first one back to their head office asking for a refund. However ... this is the bizarre bit ... later when I was paying my credit card bill, I realised they hadn't actually charged it for the £10. So I suggest you check your credit card account to see if you were actually charged.

Peter