Fresh mobile closing

bohma2000

photodgm
1. Get three free SIM cards from Tesco
2. Phone Fresh and ask for a cash refund of your unused credits
3. If you want to keep your old Fresh mobile Nos ask them for PAC codes which you can give to your new provider

See messages 47 and 49 in this thread

happyshopper

bohma2000 wrote: »

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'm in the same position and just rang Fresh on the freephone number to be told that "there is no procedure" for refunds of unused credit. I am speechless!

Think I will write to them. Does anybody know if this is the best address to use (found on another thread)? There seem to be several options.

Carphone Warehouse
Head Office Address North Acton Business Park,
Wales Farm road,
London
W3 6RS

hs

mickW_2

We have 2 Fresh PAYG sim cards and only use about £3 pm so we will lose about £35 credit. Then our phones are locked to T-mobile network which Fresh use so will have to sell them on ebay. Have decided never to use Carphone Warehouse ever again. It is criminal to rip off the Fresh customers like this. Will email Watchdog BBC.

lr1277 wrote: »

I am fairly certain the Fresh uses T-mobile as the underlying network. However I was just looking at and investigating Talk mobile and it seems their underlying network is Vodaphone.

As I bought a really cheap phone, I think it is only single-band and so won't work with Talkmobile.
I can't even remember my phone's name to work out if is single or dual band.

Hey ho.

rawtalent

happyshopper wrote: »

I'm in the same position and just rang Fresh on the freephone number to be told that "there is no procedure" for refunds of unused credit. I am speechless!

Think I will write to them. Does anybody know if this is the best address to use (found on another thread)? There seem to be several options.

Carphone Warehouse
Head Office Address North Acton Business Park,
Wales Farm road,
London
W3 6RS

hs

How about Trading Standards??

Yorkshire_Pud

Yorkshire_Pud wrote: »

Thanks for the freefone number it works!

Just phoned Fresh customer support. On hold for 12 minutes, two minute conversation, then cut off (on purpose?)!

Tried again, 8 minute on hold, different operator; stated my case again. He agreed to make a refund of all my balance as credit to use in store. I asked for a cheque. He agreed to this but it takes 30 days from last use, less any credit used in meantime before I transfer, or not, to Talkmobile.

Result. So as long as they do what they say I get my £21.46 credit refunded as a cheque after 30 days.

So any other Fresh mobile customer on PAYG with large amount of credit you don't want to lose phone Fresh on 0800 0490800, option 0 and ask for your money back!

Today is the day Fresh are due to port my existing number to Talkmobile after 'opting in' to their service. Nothing has happened yet though and apparently it's set up on a computer by a programmer and Fresh customer support can't do anything therefore I have to assume it will happen sometime today (or not!?).Edit: have been transferred to Talkmobile; that just leaves my £22 Fresh credit to get back.

Whilst talking to their advisor I asked to confirm I would be sent a cheque for existing credit £22 and he said NO!
I gave the date and time of my call that confirmed/agreed a refund and he is going to ask his manager to 'look into it' to see what was said.
He also said I should write to:
Carphone Wharehouse (Fresh customer)
1 Portal Way
London W3 6RS
and state my case (refund of credit on a service THEY are withdrawing).

I purposely didn't use up any more credit in the last two weeks because I was expecting a refund and on the day porting to Talkmobile is due to take place it seems I am not getting a refund, or maybe I am if I jump through enough hoops, write to head office, wait for them to find the call I made two weeks ago and listen to it.

A lot of work by myself and confusion, to lose MY money it would appear!:mad:

Yorkshire_Pud

rawtalent wrote: »

How about Trading Standards??

How about Martin Lewis kicking Fresh's cheating a*sses:money::T

happyshopper

rawtalent wrote: »

How about Trading Standards??

After a bit more digging, I think if no joy from CPW, the next stage is to take it up with the Telecommunications Ombudsman, Otelo, http://www.otelo.org.uk/membercompanies.php?sort=F

hs

lr1277

i am choosing to opt out of moving to Talkmobile.

When I went through the website, I entered my number and clicked continue.

A popup screen appeared saying words to the effect of I should use the PAC code within 30 days otherwise it would expire. I am fine with that.

Then when I clicked on Continue (it was the only button avaiable), I got taken to a screen to register my details for Talkmobile.

Since I do not want to join Talkmobile, I ignored this screen and did the process again, just in cas I had done it wrong the first time. Unsurprisingly I got the same result.

Did this happen to anyone else?

bohma2000

Lr1277
They seem to have designed the website so that you are led to click on the 'continue' button and sign up for Talkmobile. If you look closely you should find a link under the Button in very small blue print which gives you the option of opting out. Click on this and you should be able to opt out with no further problems.

I think the way they have designed this website is very underhand as it leads people to sign up with Talkmobile. If they were being honest they would have two buttons - one to opt in and the other to opt out!

In the last few days I have opted out, received a text with my PAC code and signed up with Tesco who are much cheaper that either Fresh or Talkmobile for PAYG calls and texts. I have given my PAC code to Tesco and my old mobile number should be working on their network from tomorrow.

Also, as far as I can make out, Fresh have no legal right to withold refunds of unused credit from anybody. I've read through their Terms and Conditions and can find no clause which gives them this right. See Post No. 49 in this thread.

rawtalent & Yorkshire Pud
You should follow up your claim for a refund. The fact that you have been informed that "there is no procedure" for refunds of unused credit does *not* mean that you are not entitled to a refund of your unused credit. It just means they have decided to make it as difficult as possible for you to get a refund. They have probably instructed all their customer service people to give the "there is no procedure" line to anybody asking for a refund!

If you were to add up all the unused credit which is not being transferred, it would probably amount to £000's! so it would be worth their while to do this. They are probably banking on the fact that thousands of people with small amounts of unused credit will not be bothered reclaiming it, especially if some obstacles are put in their way. However, when all the small and not-so-small amounts are added up it can become a very large amount!

Maybe its time to refer this matter to Trading Standards or the ombudsman!

Their behaviour leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.

Rora

I searched and found the CEO's email address and sent the following:

Dear Mr Dunstone
I have been a customer of Carphone Warehouse as long as I can remember and since its launch have been on your “Fresh” network. 21st January I received the standard message from Talk Mobile saying Fresh was closing down and pointing me in the direction of their site to sign up – which I was happy to do as it was also a Carphone Warehouse network provider. Now at Christmas I was recipient of a lovely LG phone – locked into the T.Mobile Network to be sure BUT as Fresh used this network this was not an issue at all…. 1st February my new Talk Mobile account went live with my phone number transferred over for me – brilliant! I duly swapped over my Fresh sim card for my Talk Mobile sim card….
LOCKED!
So now my LG GW520 is useless, and I can’t o back to my Fresh sim as this has been “terminated” by the transfer to Talk and I don’t have a “backup” phone as my last phone has gone to Mobile Heaven.
Today (I hadn’t been able to leave the house any earlier due to my osteoarthritis flaring up) I went into my local Carphone Warehouse to see what could be done and came away with the following options:
1. Get the phone ‘unlocked’ which I am loathe to do as it can corrupt the software
2. Buy a new phone (and your company will give me a WHOLE £31 for my old handset - Only 2 months old!) that is Talk Mobile compatible
3. Buy a new sim for T.Mobile and go through the scenario of getting a PAC number, informing them of the change I require of keep hold of my number, wait for it to be scheduled (all the time unable to be contacted – and you will see why this is IMPORTANT later in this maon!) etc. etc.
Now I had chosen the LG520GW because it had a 3.0 Mega pixel camera, a pull out keyboard (Did I mention that I have osteoarthritis and the keyboard makes it easier), picture messaging and internet access. I need the good pixel rate and the picture messaging to allow me to send pictures of stray and abandoned animals and all their details back to the Rescue Centre for which I volunteer. I need my number to REMAIN THE SAME as all the vets, the RSPCA and other rescues round the country have it so they can contact me to collect stray and unwanted animals (I specialise in ferrets and the RSPCA like to bring them along to me so as they don’t specialise in their care!)… so it is not JUST inconvenient to be without mobile phone – it may mean a healthy animal is put to sleep if I can’t be contacted for a few days! (See – I said it was important didn’t I?)
And all because your company’s TWO providers DON’T use the same mobile networks.
I’d just like to quote your own spiel back at you for a second:

From the beginning the company has followed Five Fundamental Rules:
·If we don’t look after the customer, someone else will
·Nothing is gained by winning an argument but losing a customer
·Always deliver what we promise. If in doubt, under promise and over deliver
·Always treat customers as we ourselves would like to be treated
·The reputation of the whole company is in the hands of each individual

So after all that – have you any solutions/answers?

I do look forward to hearing from you.

Regards
Dawn Bradfield


To which I got the following reply:

Dear Mrs Bradfield,
I'm very sorry that Carphone Warehouse have taken so long in replying to your email. This is due to a high
volume of emails into the department regarding the migration of Fresh accounts to the Talkmobile network.
I would like to advise that I am unable to send out a new handset for you as the handset is not locked to either the Fresh nor the Talkmobile network but is locked to the T-Mobile network. When transferring you over from Fresh to Talkmobile we understand it runs from 2 separate networks however we would not know what handset is being used and whether or not the handset being used is locked or not.
I would like to advise that to have the handset unlocked you can either contact T-Mobile for the Subsidiary code or you can take the phone into an independent retailer for it to be unlocked. These are the only ways that the phone can be unlocked.
I understand that you are not happy with the current changes and the closure of the Fresh Mobile network and would like to offer my sincerest apologies for any the inconvenience this has caused.
I trust this is fully resolved for you
Regards
Sharon Orr
Carphone Warehouse Customer Services
0870 071 5888 / 5888 from your Talkmobile sim

So I have now replied and await their next response:

Dear Sharon

Thankyou for your reply but this doesn’t really resolve the issue does it?

I mean- I wrote to you asking for help in resolving a problem not of MY making but of yours. The problm still exists – my phone, which worked perfectly well on the Fresh network (Using T-Mobile) no longer works since Fresh was transferred to Talk Mobile (which uses the Vodaphone network). Yes we users were given the option to “opt in” but if you have been a customer of a good service provider you ARE going to want to stay with them aren’t you? You would also expect that they have previously considered that during the move SOME of their customers are going to experience problems due to handsets being locked to the previous suppliers’ network – and at the point of “Opt In” you could ask if this was going to be the case perhaps? This is called an “Impact Assessment” in business speak. So was an Impact Assessment carried out before the decision to migrate Fresh to Talk?

So why should I take the chance on corrupting the software on my brand new phone by going through the process of “unlocking” it? This phone was a gift – can I turn round to the giver and say “sorry but I broke it” within a month?


I would like to advise that I am unable to send out a new handset for you as the handset is not locked to either the Fresh nor the Talkmobile network but is locked to the T-Mobile network.

Mmmm – this argument doesn’t really hold water does it ? – FRESH used the T-Mobile network ergo my handset is locked to the NETWORK that FRESH USED.

And, as I didn’t actually ASK for a new handset – just a solution to my problem, I cannot see why you have written this statement anyway.

Oh and in case you are interested
1 if I hadn’t found a tatty old phone that just about works there would probably have been 4 animals needlessly “euthnaesed” in the time I was waiting for your reply as this about a third of the number I have had handed over to me in this period.
2 Comic Sans – NOT a very good font to use – it doesn’t really give the correct impression
3 I note from my lack of “Read Response” in my email that Mr Charles Dunstone hasn’t yet read ANY of my previous mails (probably including this one).
4 Sending an email from a mail-box that doesn’t accept replies doesn’t stop people replying – it just winds them up a bit more

Your message has encountered delivery problems to the following recipient(s):

[EMAIL="cdunstone@kana-carephonewarehouse.com"]cdunstone@kana-carephonewarehouse.com[/EMAIL]
Delivery failed


Unable to deliver to destination domain
1 Cannot resolve kana-carephonewarehouse.com

Now I wasn’t really cross, just a bit put out, when this issue first came to light but now I am getting a bit angst-ridden. I have a lovely new phone that I can’t use and am relying on an old phone that needs a good shake now and again to keep it breathing.

I’m still smiling – but through gritted teeth.

Regards
Dawn



Does anyone fancy opening a book on their reply?