Fresh mobile closing

MarkLS12

Kilty wrote: »

I've never understood the appeal of these mickey mouse virtual service providers - they're not that cheap when compared to the big providers and their "top up £x and get y texts and ..." such as O2's online deal.
.

They can be much cheaper for people spending less than a tenner a month.

For example.
If your monthly use is something like 30 minutes of calls, 40 UK texts and 10MB of data (using a little each day) would be:

Asda     £2.40 (30x8p)  + £1.60 (40x4p)           + £2.00 (10x20p) =  £6.00
Vodafone £6.00 (30x20p) + £2.50 (25x10p;15 free*) + £5.00 (10x50p) = £13.50

*With Vodafone you can get free texts at the weekend and after 7.30pm if you top up £10 per month.

meabby

I'm one of those people which is why I went for fresh in the first place - the 5p texts on pay as you go - I spend less than £10 a month and only very rarely use the phone for actual phone calls, just for texting. I think after fresh is no longer I might go to Tesco pay as you go as that looks quite good. any one got any opinions or know of a better pay as you go for texts?

judy7007

I too am one of those people who spend well under a tenner a month on calls/texts. I think Asda sounds good. Sim cards cost 50p and then it's 4p for texts and 8p for calls. I did the 'opt out' option on the talk mobile page on Friday and just received my PAC from Fresh by text today.

lr1277

I too am a Fresh refugee who looked at Asda. The one thing putting me off is the inability to update your credit on the web.
I then looked at Family mobile where you can top up on the internet, but they have a £5 disconnection fee.

Given that I was paying 20p/min with Fresh (I think), I may just move to one of the big 4 (soon to be 3).

MarkLS12

lr1277 wrote: »

I too am a Fresh refugee who looked at Asda. The one thing putting me off is the inability to update your credit on the web.

I was with Asda for a while, you can register a credit or debit card with them and then top up via an automated phone call.
As easy as doing it on the web in my experience.

giffgaff.com let you top up online and are the same price as Asda.

bohma2000

Tesco and Asda both charge 8p for calls and 4p for texts. However Tesco will give you a SIM card for free while ASDA apparently charge 50p. You can top up with Tesco by the following methods:-

• Online - anytime: online or by text - automatically: weekly or monthly - with 10% discount on all Regular & Auto top-ups. Click here to top up online now.
• By Phone - Credit and debit card via the phone
• In Store - Vouchers & E vouchers from Tesco stores
• Retail Outlets (E top-up) - Search to find your nearest E top-up retail outlet with our Outlet Locator. 60,000 locations including Tesco stores. Click here for the Outlet Locator.
• ATM

(The above is from the Tesco website).

I've had a look at their Terms and Conditions and can't find any reference to you having to use your mobile at least once in any 90 day period to avoid having you SIM cancelled as Fresh used to do. There are usually some free SIMs at the checkouts in the stores or you can order one to be sent you your home from Tesco's website. I ordered one last week and it arrived two days later.

BTW I don't work for Tesco but for my purposes (just calls and texts) they see to be the best value at the moment .

meabby

thanks - that's what I thought so will probably go to them. I'm still trying to get my credit back from Fresh though.

bohma2000

Meabby. If I were you I would phone Fresh and ask nicely if you could have a cash (or cheque) refund of your credits. It does not seem right that they can just keep your unused credit. From reading earlier posts, it seems that they have agreed to refund unused credit to another user. I wonder if and when this refund will materialise.

I had a look at Fresh's T&Cs' which can be found here http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/support/company-information/fresh-payg-terms

I could not find any mention of their having the right to just keep your credit if their service was discontinued. There were a few clauses which mentioned 'unused credit' and I have pasted these below:-

8.4 Where we disconnect your phone from the Network under clause 11.2.4, you will lose any unused credit on your account.

9.5 If we provide you with a credit to your account (for example as a goodwill gesture), such credit will be deducted from your Charges until the credit has been used. These credits cannot be redeemed for cash and any unused credits are non-refundable upon disconnection of your service or termination of this Agreement.

11.2.4 where you do not use the phone for a continuous 90 day period in which case we will have the right to disconnect your SIM card and you will lose any unused credit on your account; "Use", in this context shall mean making at least one outbound call in any continuous 90 day period. We therefore advise you make one chargeable call at least once every 90 days.


Clause 8.4 refers to clause 11.2.4 which states that if you do not use your mobile for 90 days, they have a right to disconnect your SIM card and keep any unused credits. Maybe this is what gave you the impression that you had to keep buying credit every 90 days?

Clause 9.5 seems to refer to them giving you free credit as a gesture of goodwill but this does not give them the right to keep any credit you have paid for.

I have not gone through every single clause in the T&Cs. I have used the 'find on this page' option built into Windows Explorer to search for 'unused' and 'credit' and, as far as I can see, Fresh do not appear to have any legal right to keep your credit as long as you have used your mobile at least once every 90 days. Therefore, if you have used your mobile once in every 90 days, I cannot see how they can refuse to make a refund of your unused credits.

Please keep us posted on how you get on!

The arrogance of these big companies just gets up my nose as they weigh everything in their own favour. Martin Lewis and his website is a God-send for the consumer!

If I have missed anything and anybody can find where it states Fresh have a legal right to keep unused credit, please let us know!

Otherwise, as long as we have kept to their T&Cs, (one call or text every 90 days) we should all be entitled to a refund of our unused credit!


PS Since writing the above message (about 50 mins ago) I have gone to the Talkmobile website to opt out and get a PAC code and, after having to search hard for the opt out option (which was in very small print under the opt in option) I was informed that if I do not give my new mobile supplier my PAC code within 30 days I will be automatically disconnected and any credit on my Fresh SIM will be lost.

Well this is logical and perhaps there is a misconcepetion here on the part of previous posters to this thread? If I use a different SIM card in my mobile phone, then the credit on my Fresh SIM will not apply. After all, for my credit with Fresh to work with another company would involve Fresh sending my unused credit (or money) to the new mobile provider. They are hardly likely to do this! The agreement between me and my new mobile provider is completely separate from that between me and Fresh.

I think that the point that people are missing is this: even if the credit on their SIM cards is no longer usable (because the Fresh SIMs will no longer work with a new provider) Fresh Mobile still have their unused credit (money)! This money could be transferred by Fresh to the new mobile provider but perhaps it would be unrealistic to expect Fresh to do this in view of the many companies involved and the administrative costs. Therefore, the logical solution would be for us all to apply to Fresh for a refund of our unused credits - the money we have paid them for services we did not use! And I have yet to be convinced that they have any legal right to withold this money!

meabby

thanks - i tried ringing the free helpline but was kept hanging on to a recorded message for 20 mins - then I gave up - will have another go.
Thanks again to everyone for all the advice and help.

mickW_2

Wife and I have 2 fresh phones with PAYG sim cards. Not only will we lose all our credit but the phones will not even take the new Talk Mobile as its on the Vodfone network. How do we stand legally apart from taking them to the small claims court for compensation for LOST CREDIT AND WORTHLESS MOBILE PHONES THAT WILL NOT TAKE THEIR NEW SIM CARDS.

BuilderRob wrote: »

I've just had a text from my mobile provider Fresh Mobile which is a Carphone Warehouse brand. The text says that Fresh mobile is closing on 19th March 2010.Their alternative offered is Talkmobile which seems significantly more expensive. Any suggestions for an alternative for someone like me whose annual spend is around seventy pounds?