GiffGaff -- too good to be true?

moff_2

I've just moved my wife's phone contract from Tesco (£40 pcm) to GiffGaff (£10 pcm).

But -- following her number port last week, she can't make outgoing calls. Texting is fine, as are incoming calls.

So far I'm just getting disjointed and conflicting information from the Agents (support route) at GiffGaff. First it was the port failing, now apparently it's a broken SIM.
I've been told umpteen times to try the SIM in another phone, reboot the handset, try cleaning the SIM, etc.

My question is -- is GiffGaff worth it? Am I just unlucky with my experience of it so far? Or is it so cheap for a reason and if you have problems with it then you're stuck? It all seems rather amateur so far.

I'm technically minded and happy with a bit of DIY if it makes it cheaper, and I'm also tight so like getting a good deal. But, giffgaff currently seems like a step too far and I'm on the verge of requesting a PAC to move to a SIM-only deal elsewhere.

Comments?

grumbler

You are not alone. More and more similar experience is getting posted, but those who don't have any problems and don't need to deal with their CS are happy.

GiffGaff Load of Rubbish
Giffgaff - Don't Bother!
Stop martin lewis promoting giffgaff
...

gjchester

moff wrote: »

Comments?

My exerience was anything the forum can help with is OK, using the agents was unresponsive, I've still not had a reply.

The general comments seem to be it's OK as long as it works but when you have problems it can take ages to get things done.

Good Luck

serious_saver

Personally I've been with giffgaff for about a year and I haven't had a huge amount of trouble. The network did go down for a few hours on new years eve/day but I was automatically given credit as it appeared to have affected a lot of people and giffgaff were aware of it.

However, I have been hearing of a lot more problems with giffgaff from other people, in recent months. It seems that giffgaff are great if you don't have a problem but pretty useless at fixing things if there is a problem. Nearly all of the problems I've heard about are down to issues with porting.

I'm more than happy to stick with them and I would be happy to recommend them to someone who just wanted a cheap sim but people should be aware that there can be problems including occasional drop off in signal and/or internet, problems with porting and slow response from customer services.

If you're the sort of person who needs to deal with customer services over the phone/needs an instant response then it's probably not for you.

As for money saving - I bought a handset for £129 and I have used a mixture or £5 and £10 goodybags. In total I've spent about £90 on credit/goodybags and had about £40 back in payback.

So for the year it has cost me £179 inc handset (under £15 a month) when I joined giffgaff the best deal that I could get (that did everything I needed) with this handset was a 24 month contract with 3 mobile for £20. So it's already saved me about £60 and I'm not stuck in a contract.

busiscoming2

I have only been on GiffGaff for a fortnight now and my son a couple of days. Everything was easy for us, but perhaps it helped we didn't port our old numbers.

Having said that my DD and her partner changed quite a while ago and had no problems.

Certainly will save me money!

bob_bobson

There are equally numerous complaints on this forum for all the other networks and suppliers.

I've had no problems since switching - I didn't port my number though.

timberflake

No problems here, been with GiffGaff since November, absolutely perfect imo.

You will always find that people are quick to complain but slow to compliment.

Every network has it's problems, not just GG, but everyones experiences are different.

Rusty!

I ported my number from Voda last March and things have been good since then.

It's true if you have a problem it's not likely to be fixed in double quick time due to the agent system, but as long as it's working, it's great.

savemoney

My wife had her phone ported it did take a few days back in Sept 2011. Giff gaff is fine when it works but occasionally it does have problems like paying for a goody bag which you couldn't get for a few days in Jan I think., The support can be slow though I guess you get what you pay for

LouLou

I've been with them over a year now and they're excellent, especially for smartphones with the "free" internet (obviously there's a sensible cap in there).

There was a period last spring where there were problems with the 3G network but apart from that I don't have any issues.

One thing I do hate is that when I top up after 8pm, say, for a Goodybag when one has expired/about to expire, the Goodybag system will only come back on around 8am the next day. A few times I've forgotten and been caught out, and my credit's went down overnight. Not sure why the Goodybag updates can't work 24/7.

I think a lot of people have problems with porting numbers, from what I've read on the forums. Sorry you're not having much luck, I haven't had major problems and anything I've asked has been attended to quickly.

PS: Liking the Dave Gahan avatar ^! Though I'm more of a Martin Gore fan

serious_saver

bob_bobson wrote: »

There are equally numerous complaints on this forum for all the other networks and suppliers.

I've had no problems since switching - I didn't port my number though.

Totally agree! I left 3 because their customer service was awful. My OH left 3 and switched to T-mobile instead but he has been having no end of trouble with signal and calls going straight to his answer phone when his phone is on and not engaged!