Cheap Pay-as-you-go Deals Article Discussion

SpanishBlue

bjbyorkshire said:

UPDATE ……..  I logged on to three on line, got onto the chat, had to be transferred to customer services so a wait there.  Person then knew what I wanted to do as I had filled in the details with first chat guy.  She generated the PAC code which came within a few minutes to my phone. It said that my credit was £0 which was a bit disconcerting. I asked her how I would receive my credit back and she replied that it would be transferred to my new provider.  She decided that as I have my pac that she needed some digits from my bank account and the credit will be in there in 3 working days.  Now this is not as I expected.  I thought from you people on here that my account would stay live until I gave the new provider the PAC code.    so…. I now think that I have a phone which has no credit so will not be useable until I give Asda my PAC.  The flipping SIM card didn’t come in todays post so I am up the creek without a working phone.  I may try to text out and see if it works.  Blooming heck.  I hate this palaver.  My £16:72 credit is somewhere on route back to my bank hopefully but in the meantime I have no phone.

A work around might be to open an account with https://www.18185.co.uk/rates-mobile

Then you can at least make calls with zero credit on your phone using the 0808 freephone number.

You will of course be billed 2p a minute (10p to mobiles) + a 4p connection charge by 18185.

It's not a perfect solution I know, but at least it will allow you make calls whilst you are waiting to be transferred over to your new provider.

Qew

bjbyorkshire said:

UPDATE ……..  I logged on to three on line, got onto the chat, had to be transferred to customer services so a wait there.  Person then knew what I wanted to do as I had filled in the details with first chat guy.  She generated the PAC code which came within a few minutes to my phone. It said that my credit was £0 which was a bit disconcerting. I asked her how I would receive my credit back and she replied that it would be transferred to my new provider.  She decided that as I have my pac that she needed some digits from my bank account and the credit will be in there in 3 working days.  Now this is not as I expected.  I thought from you people on here that my account would stay live until I gave the new provider the PAC code.    so…. I now think that I have a phone which has no credit so will not be useable until I give Asda my PAC.  The flipping SIM card didn’t come in todays post so I am up the creek without a working phone.  I may try to text out and see if it works.  Blooming heck.  I hate this palaver.  My £16:72 credit is somewhere on route back to my bank hopefully but in the meantime I have no phone.

Getting your PAC via text, as I said previously, will not end your contract or PAYG account. The PAC can only end your account once the new provider has the code. My post was solely dealing with the text method for getting a PAC (it's worked for me twice, and the accounts stayed active till migration).

What's possibly happening here is that you contacted them, asked to end your account to get your credit, which could well have ceased the account. Then again, they've given you a PAC, so maybe it's still active. Are you sure that you can't use your phone? Have you tested it to see if a chargeable call can be made?

BTW, if convenient for you, you can go to an Asda and buy for 50p a sim. The 50p purchase, as far as I know, will be credited to your account.

bjbyorkshire

Hi Qew,  yes I know you recommended using the App,i did download it but I was unable to ask aboutthe credit which was promised (sort of) in the email I received was my main concern.  You must have moved and either forgone your credit as it was before three said we could move and get it back.  I wanted the option to speak (in chat) to a person,  which I did.

Yes, I have sent a text to my husband’s phone and checked that it was received and yes it was.  I will now have used a bit of the £16:72 credit so if as she said, the money is on its way to my bank account then either I will owe them a bit or they will have deducted this from the amount I receive.  All depends if it was raised asap, which I very much doubt.

I have now received confirmation that the Asda sim is on it’s way to me by post so I will be able to put it into my phone and give them the PAC, BUT not until I see whether the credit really has been actioned, if not then I will be contacting 3 chat again in a few days before I am no longer a customer.
Watch this space.
Thanks

Qew

bjbyorkshire said:

Hi Qew,  yes I know you recommended using the App,i did download it but I was unable to ask aboutthe credit which was promised (sort of) in the email I received was my main concern.  You must have moved and either forgone your credit as it was before three said we could move and get it back.  I wanted the option to speak (in chat) to a person,  which I did.

Actually, I didn't mention the app or recommend it (although it's a valid way of doing it), I was just clearing up how to use a text message to get your PAC and to confirm that receiving a PAC by itself won't close down your account until you give it to another provider.

Anyway, enough of the quibbling. I do hope you're successful in getting your credit back. I've always felt it was wrong that such credit can be lost, particularly if the provider changes its terms and conditions.

Farway

If you want a phone right now and convenient you could pop into Asda and buy a Asda SIM over the counter, 50P from memory, comes with some cash on it for calls / text to try it out

k_man

Last Asda SIMs I bought had no credit, and was either £5 or £10 minimum top up.
Did support incoming calls without top-up though.

virgo17

k_man said:

Last Asda SIMs I bought had no credit, and was either £5 or £10 minimum top up.
Did support incoming calls without top-up though.

Same here. Bought one yesterday, no credit loaded.

notbritishgas

bjbyorkshire said:

UPDATE ……..  I logged on to three on line, got onto the chat, had to be transferred to customer services so a wait there.  Person then knew what I wanted to do as I had filled in the details with first chat guy.  She generated the PAC code which came within a few minutes to my phone. It said that my credit was £0 which was a bit disconcerting. I asked her how I would receive my credit back and she replied that it would be transferred to my new provider.  She decided that as I have my pac that she needed some digits from my bank account and the credit will be in there in 3 working days.  Now this is not as I expected.  I thought from you people on here that my account would stay live until I gave the new provider the PAC code.    so…. I now think that I have a phone which has no credit so will not be useable until I give Asda my PAC.  The flipping SIM card didn’t come in todays post so I am up the creek without a working phone.  I may try to text out and see if it works.  Blooming heck.  I hate this palaver.  My £16:72 credit is somewhere on route back to my bank hopefully but in the meantime I have no phone.

Just got a PAC from 3 for my OH and received confirmation that the credit will be sent to her bank account.
All they wanted was the first 6 Nos and the last 4 from the bank card. Can they find the bank account from that, so do the middle numbers mean nothing?
Also the credit reduced to zero. Not too bothered as RWG now has the PAC.

bjbyorkshire

Hello, I said I would update as I progressed through the transfer process.  As notbritishgas found my credit reduced to £0 which was a bit disconcerting.  I have now got OH and my phones up and running with Asda mobile.  Not a problem with husbands and it was up and running within 24 hours but mine was a bit problematical.  After 24 hours I had an online account which I set up myself.  My old number was showing as the default number on there.  I had put £5 credit on with a chat advisor and I could receive text messages in but not phone calls in.  I could make calls and texts out.  I contacted CS again by the CS number and  you do get a CS advisor to speak to which I like.  They answered within 1 minute each time.  Not usual with three or Talk talk I must say.  Chap on there said to give it until 5pm today and switch phone on and off and it should refresh by then.  It did.  So we both have functioning phones but are still awaiting the credit on both PAYG with Three.  It is now 7 days on so I will wait to see how long it takes.  
Hope this is helpful for others making the move.

notbritishgas

bjbyorkshire said:

Hello, I said I would update as I progressed through the transfer process.  As notbritishgas found my credit reduced to £0 which was a bit disconcerting.  I have now got OH and my phones up and running with Asda mobile.  Not a problem with husbands and it was up and running within 24 hours but mine was a bit problematical.  After 24 hours I had an online account which I set up myself.  My old number was showing as the default number on there.  I had put £5 credit on with a chat advisor and I could receive text messages in but not phone calls in.  I could make calls and texts out.  I contacted CS again by the CS number and  you do get a CS advisor to speak to which I like.  They answered within 1 minute each time.  Not usual with three or Talk talk I must say.  Chap on there said to give it until 5pm today and switch phone on and off and it should refresh by then.  It did.  So we both have functioning phones but are still awaiting the credit on both PAYG with Three.  It is now 7 days on so I will wait to see how long it takes.  
Hope this is helpful for others making the move.

7 days is longer than expected. I still wonder how they obtain bank details from the limited number of digits they wanted.
Keep us posted when/if you get the credit.