Why £10 top up on new t-mobile phone

SotonDave_2

Hello,
Can anyone please explain why T-Mobile want to charge me £10 top up
on payg when I buy a new phone, I am not allowed to top up my existing
sim, I have to have a new sim which I will not use, I may as well burn £10 in front on them when I buy the phone, if anyone could give a believeable
explanation I would be grateful.

Jon_01

All the networks are the same.

You can transfer the credit from the new one to the old.

gjchester

SotonDave wrote: »

Hello,
Can anyone please explain why T-Mobile want to charge me £10 top up
on payg when I buy a new phone, I am not allowed to top up my existing
sim, I have to have a new sim which I will not use, I may as well burn £10 in front on them when I buy the phone, if anyone could give a believeable
explanation I would be grateful.

Two reasons usually

Your new phone is subsidised, and that helps put some money towards the subsidy being paid off.

Also it's used to be common for people to buy a boxed PAYG phones, unlock the phone, chuck the sim card away and sell it on as an unlocked phone. If this happens the network do not pay the dealer their commision as the phone has never been activated. By forcing you to top up a tenner they get the phone activated and the dealer get their commision.
Remember many dealers use that commission to offer the cheap deals they have, so they don;t want to lose it or they lose out overall.

SotonDave_2

Thanks for that, how do I transfer the £10 from the new sim back to my
old sim please.

eranou

SotonDave wrote: »

Thanks for that, how do I transfer the £10 from the new sim back to my
old sim please.

You cant T-Mobile do not allow credit transfers for this reason

vicx

SotonDave wrote: »

Thanks for that, how do I transfer the £10 from the new sim back to my
old sim please.

Did they refuse to apply the credit to your own Tmobile sim card in the shop? When I purchased my last pay as you go phone from Phones4u they were going to apply the credit to the new sim card but I asked if they would just top up my own sim card (same network) and they agreed with no problems.

Im on the O2 network and they transfer credit from one phone to the other aslong as both sim cards are registered in your own name. Once the credit has been transferred, they block the number so it is no longer in use (not sure why).

Tmobile should transfer the credit if you ring customer services. If for some reason they dont, you can always sell you new simcard with £10 credit on Ebay. They sell for around £5 - £8

SotonDave_2

I've not purchased the phone yet, I can't believe in this day & age that employers do not train their employee's correctly, I will go back to the shop tomorrow & see about the transfer of credit, thank you all for your help so far.

vicx

I know Vodafone transfer credit from one sim to another too so I can't see why Tmobile would refuse. As I've already said, both sim cards need to be registered in the same name. They will then block the new number once the credit is instantally transferred over. They should just give you a Top Up receipt which has the voucher number on so you can top up the phone yourself. I would call customer services about tranfering credit as they know alot more than the advisors in the shop.

I wanted my Vodafone phone unlocked a few month ago. It's free when your on contract with Vodafone. I went into the Vodafone store and they tried to charge me £20 to get it unlocked. When I told them it's free for contract customers and is stated on their website they knew nothing about it so I had to phone customer services to get it done over the phone. The staff in the shop are definately not trained.

SotonDave_2

It appears I have got the best answer from my brother;

"They do it 'cause they need to show their investors / shareholders that they are increasing their "customer base" by "selling" more sim cards....in the world of the blind, the one-eyed man is King....this is how we got into such a state with our country's finances, chasing short-termism targets & growing the trees to heaven"

I will look into the transfer though thanks Vicx.

Llyllyll

I've just done this on a new PAYG phone for my father.

Just phone T-Mobile CS (on 150 from your phone) and ask them to transfer the credit. Lady I spoke to had to go and check with her manager but it was all done quickly. One thing I was told (before I even ordered the new phone) was not to use/activate the new SIM at all.

Fredrico

I've just bought an o2 pay and go and had to buy £10 credit on a new sim. My only problem is that I have a simplicity contract with o2 and I suppose you can't transfer the payg credit to a contract! Anyone got any ideas how to make the most out of it?or possibly link me to a thread of a similar topic on here? Thanks, Fredrico.