Mobile top-up problem from Post Office.

lindos90

My mum decided to get her own top up from the Post office (its not a frequent thing, she last needed topping up when she was in hospital about four years ago!!)...its just for emergencies really.

Anyway, she had no idea what her network was, the counter assistant looked at her phone and said she thought it was t.mobile, and sold her £10 of credit, giving her a receipt (e voucher) for tmobile which had an activation code on it...problem is her sim card is virgin and we cant get it to work (tried just incase it accepted it as I know virgin use the same network as tmobile).

Ive taken it back to the PO and explained that the counter assistant sold her the wrong network, but they say there is nothing they can do, and are unable to refund.

Can anyone suggest what to do next? Its quite fustrating, as I had told my mum that we could top it up for her at the ATM any time she wanted, but she doesnt like to ask us for help, and the assistant asked her if she wanted any top ups when she got her pension, so she thought she would give it a go, and wants to stay as independant as she can (shes 75).

The only thing I can think of is could we sell it to someone who has a tmobile sim?

Any help gratefully received.

Than you.

lindos90

Sorry, im just giving this a little bump as it slips off the front page, just incase anyone can help today, thank you.:o

jamespir

unfortunaty with mobile top ups they dont do refunds as they have no proof as to whether you have used it i would think your best option would be to sell it to a friend or ebay and buy the correct voucher

lindos90

jamespir wrote: »

unfortunaty with mobile top ups they dont do refunds as they have no proof as to whether you have used it i would think your best option would be to sell it to a friend or ebay and buy the correct voucher

Thanks, I get what you mean. Guess thats what I'll have to do then. If only my mum had let us help her:(. Her idea of not wanting to ask us to help her is going to take a lot more time to sort out now! Im guessing its going to be difficult to sell on ebay or elsewhere for the exact same reason the post office refuse to refund like you say above?

Its just annoying that even though my mum said she didnt know the network, and the counter assistant said she just 'thought' it was tmobile, the PO happily took her money. I dont feel she should have sold it to her.

jamespir

i have seen the sold on ebay before yes lady in po was in the wrong and should at least apologise

halibut2209

I'll buy it off you for a fiver!

Rain_is_Insane

Flog it to a friend. That way you can both stand there while the phone is topped up if there is any doubt that you won't get your moneyor the friend thinks the voucher has already been used.

MamaMoo_2

jamespir wrote: »

unfortunaty with mobile top ups they dont do refunds as they have no proof as to whether you have used it i would think your best option would be to sell it to a friend or ebay and buy the correct voucher

Not true. There is actually a phone number that all retailers have that means they can phone up the network, see if the voucher has been used, and if not, the person on the phone can cancel and then the store can refund it.

antrobus

Don't know if this is any help, but Getpoundsback state that their "Mobile Phone PAYG Cashback Service can be used to cash in credit from any type of PAYG SIM card, whether it's O2, Orange, 3, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Virgin or Tesco Mobile". Never tried it myself and so no idea how it works, but worth a look?

lindos90

antrobus wrote: »

Don't know if this is any help, but Getpoundsback state that their "Mobile Phone PAYG Cashback Service can be used to cash in credit from any type of PAYG SIM card, whether it's O2, Orange, 3, T-Mobile, Vodafone, Virgin or Tesco Mobile". Never tried it myself and so no idea how it works, but worth a look?

That maybe interesting, the only problem is the credit is not on her sim card, thats the problem, the tmobile e voucher top up can not be credited to her virgin sim card. I will take a look though, as they may offer a similar service for e'vouchers!

Graham1

Why don't you get a free t-mobile SIM card (from their web site) and use the voucher. Is her handset locked to Virgin ? (even if it is it might work on t-mobile as well).

You could sell the voucher on eBay - but they often fetch only quite low bids.

With Getpoundsback you'll get £6.05 back for a £10 charge on a t-mobile account - but you have to wait 95 days for it.