"I need to buy a PAYG sim. I'm going to be out of the UK, a while, & I need a UK number for emergency calls. Do I need to make periodic calls to keep the SIM live? Once a month be OK?"
"Certainly. Is that the phone you wish to use? I'll put the SIM in for you. There you are. And how much call credit do you want?"
"£50"
Three months later: TEXT message from 3 -------- As you are not using a 3G handset, 3 is suspending your service. -------- Call helpline.
£50 credit expires trying to negotiate multilevel menus & hold on for human being
Scene: 3 shop, UK, following year.
"Our service is only available to 3G handsets"
"Well your salesperson put in the SIM card. Wouldn't they know whether it was a 3G handset? In any case, this is deepest rural France, I live. We don't have 3G. Most of the time we're lucky to have any sort of signal. I want a refund"
"I'm sorry, but we don't offer refunds. I can give you a new SIM, with your number reinstated. And credit you with £50 of calls"
"What? So you can text me again. To tell me I've been disconnected?"
Yeah. And I'm not about to forget 3UK either.
ReplyDeleteScene's the 3 shop.
"I need to buy a PAYG sim. I'm going to be out of the UK, a while, & I need a UK number for emergency calls. Do I need to make periodic calls to keep the SIM live? Once a month be OK?"
"Certainly. Is that the phone you wish to use? I'll put the SIM in for you. There you are. And how much call credit do you want?"
"£50"
Three months later:
TEXT message from 3
--------
As you are not using a 3G handset, 3 is suspending your service.
--------
Call helpline.
£50 credit expires trying to negotiate multilevel menus & hold on for human being
Scene: 3 shop, UK, following year.
"Our service is only available to 3G handsets"
"Well your salesperson put in the SIM card. Wouldn't they know whether it was a 3G handset? In any case, this is deepest rural France, I live. We don't have 3G. Most of the time we're lucky to have any sort of signal. I want a refund"
"I'm sorry, but we don't offer refunds. I can give you a new SIM, with your number reinstated. And credit you with £50 of calls"
"What? So you can text me again. To tell me I've been disconnected?"
They're all bastar*s. Prices are (or should be) tumbling. Shop around just as soon as your current lock-in expires.
ReplyDelete""What? So you can text me again. To tell me I've been disconnected?""
ReplyDelete/facepalm