Mobile by Sainsburys number porting problems (Vodaphone MVNO)

Exile28

Hi All,

I wonder if you can help or advise me? I'm currently having issues with porting my phone number of over ten years from a sim-only contract on Tesco mobile (o2 MVNO) to a sim only contract on Sainsburys own phone network (Vodaphone MVNO), and was hoping someone may have some advice on how I can resolve the situation.

I gave my PAC code to Sainsburys on Wednesday 13th may and was told that the port should be completed by Thursday 14th may by midnight at the latest. As you may have guessed by this post this has not happened, and I am slightly nervous this is related to Sainsburys being a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MNVO) that is hosted on hosted on the Vodaphone network.


Looking around this site and Vodaphone's own forums this seems to be quite a common problem and I am absolutely kicking myself for not doing my research first.


My Tesco mobile SIM was 'Deactivated' on the Thursday 14th may as part of the PAC transfer process and the number I wanted to transfer is currently behaving like an incorrect number and all calls and texts are being 'lost'. Does anyone know If I'm likely to regain access to this number?
I've been told that it will be completed in 24 hours a number of times now, and they have credited me 3 times with £5. But if I'm honest I'm not interested in the money – I would just like my number back as this is tied to a number of online accounts that rely on SMS or phone calls for two-factor authentication.


If I don't get my number soon does anybody know what I should do next?


Thanks,
Exile28

DCFC79

Complain about it, phone them tomorrow, post a message on the Facebook page.

Exile28

I've submitted a complaint via email and I will give them another call at work after 1300.

They dont have a facebook page, and I dont have an account so I'm not sure what to do about that.

I'll update this thread with how I get on. Any further advice will be greatly apricated!

eagle

I wouldn't just phone customer services if I were you - see if you can get it escalated. Customer Retentions used to be good but now seems impossible to be put through to them. You could try the forums here in the vodafone threads?

Exile28

I've just spoken to them and they are saying 24-48 hours again.

Any idea how I can escalate this? It is currently with a manager. Vodaphone wont speak to me as it is 'another network'.

I'm really am not happy with this and would advise people to stay away from Vodaphone and other MNVOs that are Vodaphone based if you are considering porting your number.

Exile28

Just had the following response to my complaint:

Thank you for your email we take your feedback very seriously. Sorry you have been having these issue with porting your number over to us.

Normally when bringing a number from another provider takes 24 to 48 hours to complete the transfer. Unfortunately with our pay monthly plans being very new we are still finding some faults that are being addressed.

In this case with the porting of your number, it seems there may have been a delay in your previous provider releasing your number to us This has occurred in an error and placed your number on hold. You will not loose your number as this is on our Network we have just had difficulty trying to attatch the number to your SIM. For this we do applogise and we will resolve this in due course. We hope to have you reconnected within the next 24 hours.

I understand this may be sounding repetitive but we do try to get any issues resolved as quick as we possibley can. I would like to give 1000 Nectar points for the inconvenience we caused you.

Hmm. I guess that means my transfer isn't happening today. Does this sound like I am being fobbed off?

Tomorrow I will have been waiting 7 days for this transfer to happen.

The_Last_Username

Hmmm, looks like it's Sainsburys new "contract" plans causing a problem.
When we ported our (PAYG) numbers (5 in the family) it went VERY smoothly, which I realise doesn't help your situation.

HOWEVER - I do note that Sains say

there may have been a delay in your previous provider releasing your number to us

:question:
So perhaps this may be more to do with Tesco Mobile?
From my past experience with them, that wouldn't surprise me at all.

My experience of Sainsburys Mobile has been excellent - recently my own phone taking a matter of minutes to transfer numbers from mini-sim to micro-sim as I spoke to Customer Services. By the time I put the phone down, turned it off then back on again it was done! :T

Exile28

That is good to know! I guess I wont stress too much more at sainsburys over this as they have been honest with me and done their best to compensate me. In fact just as I was typing up a reply I've just had another callback from a manager giving me an update. They basically have been having issues trying to find the correct people to resolve this issue (which they hope they have now found).

I understand it takes two networks for a transfer to happen, and it only takes one network to throw a spanner in the works.

If I'm honest I've transferred my number between networks in the past and it has never taken this long so I assumed the new network was at fault.

Anyway I will keep this thread updated (hopefully with some good news).

Exile28

Day 7 and still no news.

I was told they were going to call me back with an updates and they haven't. I've just called them and they can't tell me what is going on.

This isn't looking good. Can anyone tell me what can cause delays such as this?

Silk

Exile28 wrote: »

Day 7 and still no news.

I was told they were going to call me back with an updates and they haven't. I've just called them and they can't tell me what is going on.

This isn't looking good. Can anyone tell me what can cause delays such as this?

There's loads that can go wrong from input error, corrupt files, incomplete lock files, wrong PAC's, problems at the MNP site, clearing backlogs after problems, the list goes on. Plus of course they don't work weekends or Bank Hols.
It's supposed to happen over a max of 2 days so you can always complain to Ofcom if it drags on

Exile28

Silk wrote: »

There's loads that can go wrong from input error, corrupt files, incomplete lock files, wrong PAC's, problems at the MNP site, clearing backlogs after problems, the list goes on. Plus of course they don't work weekends or Bank Hols.
It's supposed to happen over a max of 2 days so you can always complain to Ofcom if it drags on

Thanks for the info, it's interesting to know it isn't always a straightforward process.

As it is starting to cause a number of problems for me I'd love to raise it with ofcom but I thought they dont investigate individual compaints? According to Ofcom's website "Ofcom cannot investigate individual cases".