Vodafone won't let me keep my number for a new contract

KaratePigeon

Hello
I've been with vodafone for about 10 years, have always upgraded my phone and kept the same number. This year when my contract ended the upgrades they offered me weren't so good, but I found a really good deal if I signed up as a new customer.

I now have both accounts running so I contacted them to ask if I could cancel my old account and port my number to the new one. The reply was that if I did this then 'any discounts applied to your new connection will be discontinued'.

What does this mean? I think it's terrible customer service and am now tempted to move to a different service provider - I only kept vodafone as I assumed I could transfer my number. If I ask for my PAC don't they have to give it to me? And then if I ask on a separate occasion for my new account to have the PAC applied do you think they will do it?

I'm not sure what 'discounts' I will loose, I did go through quidco because it was a really good deal - not bothered about the cashback now but really don't want to loose my number. And I don't want the phone if it means it'll cost me a lot more per month becuase that's the only reason I got it! I have been using the phone for a couple of days (it took that long for customer services to get back to me) so I'm not sure if I can even send it back?

Aiming_High

Phone numbers can't be moved contract to contract within the same company, but you maybe able to get your number moved to pay as you go, then once that's moved get it moved from payg to the new contract. Long winded but works on their systems.

grumbler

Aiming_High wrote: »

...but you maybe able to get your number moved to pay as you go,...

I think you forgot to say that it has to be PAY with other network.

KaratePigeon

oh ok, thanks, I thought they were just being awkward. So I get them to transfer it to a different network, then back to my new vodafone contract? Will I have to pay to get the PAC code twice, or is the code always the same for a phone number?

grumbler

Moving my number from T-Mobile to T-Mobile!

taylor11_2

Hello KaratePigeon

What you can do is ask for your original number to be returned to Pay as you Go when your original contract is finished. When the number has transferred to PAYG you can assign it to your new contract using the following link.

http://www.vodafone.co.uk/personal/price-plans/keep-my-number/?cid=rdr-2240-01

Hope this helps.

Cheers
taylor11

Aiming_High

grumbler wrote: »

I think you forgot to say that it has to be PAY with other network.

No it can be the same network now with vodafone

grumbler

Yes, I see now. My apologies. It was a news for me.

Aiming_High

Not to worry, it's not been that way for long.

rob_2512

From https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/167513, as this looks a better place to ask.

rob_2512 wrote: »

I need a new phone now because my old one is broken. I have had no joy with Vodafone with getting as a good a deal for an upgrade as I can for a new contract.

However, they have said that if I do this I can't keep the same number because I am not changing network. Further, I can't get a PAC anyway until my contract expires in January.

Can I get around this by using my old sim card in my new phone and then getting a PAYG sim with another network when my current contract expires, port my number to this, and then immediately port it back to the new phone?

(I realise this mean paying for 2 contracts for a couple of months, but this still works out cheaper than any upgrade they will offer!!)

grumbler wrote: »

Yes, you can if your 'old' sim is Voda or the new phone is unlocked. Porting in two steps is the usual way of doing this, but at Voda it can be done simpler: Vodafone won't let me keep my number for a new contract

Oops - I was forgetting about the locked business! (However, would I be right to believe that phones from online sellers, rather than directly from the network supplier, tend to be unlocked?)

Thanks for this - transferring to Vodafone PAYG then to the new contract would be simpler (and you get to keep the credit!) However, it's not entirely clear that you can transfer the number to an existing contract rather than a new contract. Do you know if you can you do this?

Even cheaper would be to wait for two months and then buy a new contract. A back up phone costs just a few pounds and you need it anyway.

I'm doing that at the moment, but the phone is very basic and I'm missing the smartphone capabilities :sad:. Also there's a cashback offer that expires in 2 days that would pay for one of those months!

grumbler

rob_2512 wrote: »

(However, would I be right to believe that phones from online sellers, rather than directly from the network supplier, tend to be unlocked?)

This depends. I know that this is the case for cpw/e2save/osps/mobiles.co.u and p4u/d-a-p

However, it's not entirely clear that you can transfer the number to an existing contract rather than a new contract. Do you know if you can you do this?

I don't know, but they just say "After you've bought a pay monthly plan and received a new number from us, please fill out this". They don't say that you have to do this immediately and cannot do this in, say, two months.