Stay Well Clear of GiffGaff

a.ferra

I have been a loyal GiffGaff customer since I returned to the UK last summer, it was perfect for me as I travel, so it meant I had all the perks of a contract customer but with a pay as you go deal!

Well so I thought, I started a small business last year and as many people know in the first year every penny is tight, so GiffGaff was great for me, just £25 a month for 1500 mins, what could possibly go wrong?

I placed my mobile number on all my marketing materials and forked out £500 for it all. As my business is software the iphone internet tethering is perfect for me, as it means I can complete installations on site and if I get into problems I could just use my iphone as a wifi adaptor, right?

Wrong! I couldn't find the internet tethering on the phone so I contacted GiffGaff through their ask an agent service as you can't contact them any other way! Eventually they came back to me saying that I wasn't allowed to use internet tethering on my tariff and that I had to buy a gigabag, so I did but the gigabag started when my goodybag ran out, so I kept writing to them but I kept being fobbed off, no one giving me a real answer, and imagine having a conversation that lasts days/weeks instead of minutes, as when they replied it created another question which then took them days to come back to if at all!

Well the time was now approaching that my goodybag was running out (4 weeks this conversation had taken so far!), I was now begging them to sort this out as any day now I wouldn 't be able to use my phone without paying a fortune (and for a struggling small business this means the end!), I suggested that I return the Gigabag and instead purchase a Goodybag, they agreed but again wanted confirmation that I was sure, immediately I said yes change them the bags over urgently!! Well you can guess what happened, they took so long to come back to me that the kick in date passed, and the gigabag become active and I then had no phone, I was furious I wrote them and the Ombudsman (who by the way has to wait 8 weeks!!), their answer was this:

I am sorry to inform you that we cannot cancel your gigabag because it is already live.
I can see from your responses you were trying to make us aware of this before it went live but unfortunately we are only able to respond now.
We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused here.

I now have no phone, I can't afford to pay £10 per day credit to use it, the number is on all my marketing materials and its completely destroyed me, and the worst thing GiffGaff couldn't give a crap!!!

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS MICKEY MOUSE COMPANY!!!!!!!

System

Why do you need to pay £10 PER DAY to use your phone. The £10 top-up lasts until you use it all.

ETA

£10 gets you 100 minutes of calls

xbrenx

Should be on the rants board really but hey ho.
The line "I have been a loyal GiffGaff customer since I returned to the UK last summer", made me laugh to be honest. So a loyal customer for less than a year? Okay.

Can't help with your rant though, sorry.

a.ferra

I'm glad my misfortune has made you have a laugh today, I take it you don't have many friends?

sdduk

To be Honest you should have got a business contract and not relied on a pay and go tariff
After all you are running a business and as you can see it don't pay to take short cuts.

a.ferra

!!!!!! wrote: »

Why do you need to pay £10 PER DAY to use your phone. The £10 top-up lasts until you use it all.

ETA

£10 gets you 100 minutes of calls

Simply as I mentioned I use it for business, and 100 minutes is only an hour an 20 mins, so if you use this for business you're screwed.

spadoosh

a.ferra wrote: »

Simply as I mentioned I use it for business, and 100 minutes is only an hour an 20 mins, so if you use this for business you're screwed.

i think 100 mins is an hour and 40 mins.

Like sdduk says, really you should be on a business contract. you pay more but have a better/reliable service.

Giffgaff are apparently not the best at answering but then again you pay riddiculously cheap prices so there has to be compromise somewhere.

System

But you don't have to use that phone for outgoing calls. Buy a cheap phone and put another giffgaff sim in it for outgoing calls. Duh!

a.ferra

sdduk wrote: »

To be Honest you should have got a business contract and not relied on a pay and go tariff
After all you are running a business and as you can see it don't pay to take short cuts.

I thought I'd explained myself well but clearly not? Anyway there is always one who thinks they know everything so for your sake I will explain again!

As I mentioned I travel a lot so a pay as you go is better for my business, I'd only just returned to the UK and had only just started the business so had problems getting a business contract.
Also business contracts cost a lot more! So as I already mentioned the price was great for someone starting a small business on a small budget.

Are you saying that anyone who starts a small business is not entitled to this?

a.ferra

!!!!!! wrote: »

But you don't have to use that phone for outgoing calls. Buy a cheap phone and put another giffgaff sim in it for outgoing calls. Duh!

Duh my clients don't know a random number duh!

Are the people who reply on here so stupid!!!

System

a.ferra wrote: »

Duh my clients don't know a random number duh!

Withold your number and verbally tell them your other telephone number.

a.ferra wrote: »

Are the people who reply on here so stupid!!!

Well you appear to be.

For a 'businessman' you don't appear to be able to think things through very well. It's only a temporary measure and I am sure that your clients would understand this.