Ovivo New Network. 200 minutes 200 Texts Free indefinitely.

MiserlyMartin

CaptainHaddock wrote: »

That's if you manage to port the number out before the company goes bust...

There was something earlier on the forums about the owner having ran previous companies that have since been dissolved. I am reticent to move my main number over to them -- if the company should go into administration, I wouldn't take it for granted that I could get the number ported out. That could result in having to get a new number with all the hassles that would entail.

I was tempted by this company but then I found this thread.

Yes they are deactivating peoples accounts and not offering them a chance to PAC code out against Ofcom rules. Looked like a good deal but now I am wary.

jhp

MiserlyMartin wrote: »

I was tempted by this company but then I found this thread.

Yes they are deactivating peoples accounts and not offering them a chance to PAC code out against Ofcom rules. Looked like a good deal but now I am wary.

Nearly 4 months have passed since then. The company is still going strong.:D

grumbler

jhp wrote: »

Nearly 4 months have passed since then. The company is still going strong.:D

And? Is it OK for a company going strong to deactivate accounts and not to allow porting numbers out?
You seem to not bother clicking the link before replying.

chanz4

grumbler wrote: »

And? Is it OK for a company going strong to deactivate accounts and not to allow porting numbers out?
You seem to not bother clicking the link before replying.

I was going to consider porting for phone, but after reading this it does concern me. im not a heavy user but wonder if to risk. I have their dongle sim and its fully ample for me 500mb as use when working and never go over 300mb

Alfmuttley

I read the link. As most of the replys to the OP point out the guy who was cut off went well over his usage limit. The T&T states you can't do that to excess. They are a small company offering pretty much a free to you phone service to low users. Their advertising margins are probably pretty tight so I'm not surprised they are fairly quick to stop the account of any one taking the p.

grumbler

Alfmuttley wrote: »

The T&T states you can't do that to excess.

Yes, this is a very clear and unambiguous term, very good one for using in T&C.

I'm not surprised they are fairly quick to stop the account of any one taking the p.

Neither am I. However, their are different ways of stopping. Civilised and barbarian.

That said, I am with Ovivo and ported my number in.

Alfmuttley

I've had my sim for a couple of weeks now and I can say I'm very happy with Ovivo and incredibly impressed with their customer service. There was an initial issue but that got sorted out very quickly.

The sim arrived on a card with the new ph number on it. You have to activate by going to the site, putting in the number and the password you already set up. Your account comes up and you are activated. After that went ok I put the sim in the phone and tried to make a test call. A message said I had no credit (online it said I had £10 plus all my allowances) so I gave it an hour and tried again. Still no joy so I looked up customer services. Only open til 8pm and if you call them it comes out of your allowance so I e mailed. 20 mins later I got a reply. They had recognised the problem (I had been given the wrong phone number) adjusted my account and I was good to go.

I e mailed back and gave them my pac code details. They arranged for transfer in 2 days time. That all went well too.

I didn't use the sim until my number had been ported and when I did I couldn't get online or get e mails. I sent an e mail, 10 mins later I got a set up text which sorted everything out.

The email customer services is brilliant in my view. Stops all that hanging on the line, press 3 for this, press 4 for that, listen to some rubbish music stuff. They reply quickly and are friendly and efficient. Signal is good so far. I live in London so signal is mainly ok but some of the big 4 have their drop off areas.

Their set up text did reset my home page but I just changed it back, no biggy.

All in all I can't fault them and I'm still coming to terms with the prospect of never paying another mobile bill...ever!!!

Alfmuttley

grumbler wrote: »

Yes, this is a very clear and unambiguous term, very good one for using in a T&C.
Neither am I. However, their are different ways of stopping. Civilised and barbarian. And I still don't understand why 'going strong' justifies barbarian actions.
.

Fair play, if they are not handing out a pac code and refunding credit then that is a bit heavy handed. Still if he had played by the rules he'd still be enjoying free stuff.

Being a bit ambiguous leaves them a bit of wiggle room I guess. I can live with that for a free service.

MiserlyMartin

The guy went over his free data allowance, but when you go over your free allowance the deal is supposed to be that you use your credit to buy extra data (or texts or minutes - same as giffgaff do) They should and could have done this but instead cut the guy off without warning without any porting. This company sounds like a cowboy company.

"ooh he went over his limit - company is still going strong". Stop being so righteous and instead be mindful. There is too much "I'm alright jack attitude" on the mse forums.

The MSE community exists to save you money but if companies like this run off with your money, phone number and/or collapse then that is no money saved. There will always be people who will lose before a company is proved to be dodgy. This one has all the hallmarks.

Herongull

I suspect this is yet another non-issue.

If you go over your free allowance of minutes, texts and data in a month and you don't buy a bundle, all that happens is that you pay for the excess minutes, texts or data from the credit on the phone.

It is all explained on the website where they tell you the rates per minute or per text or per mb - see http://ovivomobile.com/pricing/

There was one month when I went over my free minutes and all that happened was that (as you would expect) I used up some my credit.

It appears that the people whose accounts were terminated were (or at least they were accused of) serious abusing the network in ways that violated the T&Cs.

According to the CEO
"After three months of operating the business, we have been the target of fraudulent use of our service. Whilst the number of these fraudsters is small, they have sought to attack the core business model that Ovivo practices and undermine our business. Some of these people have used the service excessively, purchased multiple SIM cards, in some cases in different names (swapping these SIM cards between their phones in order to just use the free voice, text and data we offer) and in some cases actively promoting ways in which our advertising systems could be bypassed."

If the people who had gone over the free data allowance had simply been paying for extra data (at 20p per mb), there wouldn't have been a problem. It seems they were deliberately doing things (eg multiple sims in different names) to avoid paying.

At least that appears to be Ovivo's version of events.