Added new SIM to existing contract, no activation instructions

[RobertInCB]

I have a business account with one phone on it.   I added a second SIM to the contract (for a second phone).  SIM failed to arrive due to 'technical issues'.  Got those sorted out eventually.  New SIM arrived, but seems not to be activated.

There seem to be activation instructions only for:

• 1) You are new to Vodafone ('SIM is activated and ready to go')
• 2) Upgrade SIM replacing an existing SIM (use simswap)
• 3) Replacement SIM for damaged or lost SIM  (use simswap)

I can't find anywhere to get my new SIM activated.  

I am fairly new to Vodafone (I moved from EE purely because of coverage where I live). 

Can anyone suggest what I should do now?  Please don't say "go back to EE"

thanks

Robert

[Anonymous]

My SIMS that I ordered only turned up yesterday from December. 

I received 17 letters in one go, 2 of them from Vodafone which were post marked when Vodafone said they had despatched.

That's Royal Mail to blame and not Vodafone.

My solution was to visit a Vodafone shop and ask them to do a SIM swap where they activated a new SIM instore for me.  That got my original order up'n'running and then when the 2 additional lines never arrived (Royal Mail Fail) I visited retail again and they sorted two new SIMS in the same way.

[RobertInCB]

Thanks for responding.  Visiting the shop is a good idea.

In my case it was not Royal Mail's fault.  No SIM was sent at first; Voda waited three days and then sent me an SMS saying that they had not sent the SIM for technical reasons, apologised and said no money had been taken.  Then, after sorting that out, it arrived in 2 days, but not activated and with no activation instructions.  

[RobertInCB]

Aha, thank you.   There is nothing written about the 24 hours in the card I was sent with the SIM.  

I'm not porting a number, this is a second number added to an existing contract.  

thanks,

Robert

[RobertInCB]

An update, for the benefit of people who encounter similar problems:

The 24 hours came and went with no change to the SIM: still 'emergency calls only'.

I tried lots of ways to get through the automated menus system.  There seems to be no way through if you have a new sim added an existing contract and you don't know the phone number of the new SIM (it's not printed on the SIM card itself) .

Eventually, after going round and round and being cut off at every avenue I tried,  I managed to get a human operator - I still can't make out how I did it.   The human, who was very helpful actually,  said they would 'prioritise' the activation but that it usually took up to 48 hours.

Usefully, they also told me the phone number of the new SIM.

It's now day 7 ...

[RobertInCB]

An update, for the benefit of people who encounter similar problems:

The SIM was activated this morning (day 9 and it seems to be working fine.

One peculiarity however: I received an SMS saying that my sim is 'on the way' and will arrive in 3 days. Of course, it is already in my phone!

I have to say that my experience with Vodafone is excellent when dealing with humans, but that the documentation, menu systems, website and robots are VERY frustrating to use.

I changed to Vodafone from EE because I  needed coverage in the fens of East Anglia (I live on a boat some of the time).  The Vodafone signal is very good out there.