Orang/ EE Top-Up problem: Too Many Digits

samsmoot

Hi all, haven't been on this board before - thought as I'm on MSE I'd ask my Q here first just in case someone has the answer.

A £5 Top-Up was bought for Orange/ EE PAYG (the phone has an Orange SIM, but the screen displays the EE logo). The EE site says enter your 12 digit PIN, but the TO voucher has 16 digits - no sign of any 12 digit numbers anywhere.

Tried texting, phoning and internetting the PIN in but no joy. A call to EE's 150 number resulted in me getting cut off after being 'transferred to the right department', and Orange's 450 line needed credit in order to continue.

The only option other than phoning again, which I refuse to do, is to write to them. Hopefully I won't need to and this will turn out to be something really simple. The retailer says no refund, which sounds fair enough, but on the other hand I wonder if the Sale of Goods Act would still apply? In which case I would be entitled to a refund if the voucher didn't work for whatever reason, but I wouldn't really want to take it out on them as it was beyond their control.

Any ideas as to what's going on here?

DevCoder

Its an E-Voucher

Dial 150, and select option 1, then 2
Tap in the 16-digit number and press #

samsmoot

krisdorey wrote: »

Its an E-Voucher

Dial 150, and select option 1, then 2
Tap in the 16-digit number and press #

That's the problem - if you go on EE's site they say it's 12 digits, and there is only room in the box for 12 digits and texting 16 digits also doesn't work, neither phoning - they say number is wrong.

DevCoder

The online top ups are 12 digits, E-vouchers are 16 and need to be done via 150, options 1,2

samsmoot

krisdorey wrote: »

The online top ups are 12 digits, E-vouchers are 16 and need to be done via 150, options 1,2

I really did try. I followed the instructions and texted VO plus PIN to 150, and also tried by phone. I tried a few times, very carefully, but texting said it failed and phoning said same.

samsmoot

The instructions on the voucher do not say to put in the hash - so that was probably what was wrong - thanks for pointing that out - I just saw that the site says do that, but it wasn't easy to find from the main page - had to do a more complicated Google search before I found it.

Thanks for the input - will try again when I get access to the phone.

[Deleted User]

There's no need to top up on the website or to phone Orange with their voucher top ups.
As it's an orange sim you should find an EE SIM MENU somewhere in your phone's menu system, mine's in apps on a Samsung but it may be elsewhere on your phone, but it will be there somewhere.
Click on the EE sim menu and then on pay as you go, then click top up, then click voucher and enter the number indicated on the voucher. Be sure to pick the right number from the voucher!
Your top up should then be accepted within a few seconds.

[Deleted User]

I just checked the Orange/EE website and it says that the 150 number is for monthly contract customers and that if you are PAYG the correct number to call is 450.
They certainly need a 12 digit number so it is a puzzle as to why your voucher has 16 digits unless the retailer has entered the wrong network in his cash register, but then it wouldn't say Orange on the voucher if he'd done that.
You could try krisdorey's suggestion but don't use 150, try 450 as this is the PAYG number and if you don't talk to an adviser then the call is free by following the options as suggested by krisdorey.

some_dude

I had the same problem as the OP. I phoned customer services on 150, and after a bit of persuasion, they used the 16 digit code on the EE topup to add the credit to the ex-Orange phone.

They also made it clear I should buy Orange top ups in future.

They also gave the impression that this problem is not uncommon.