Are Asda Mobile really completely hopeless?

DazLeake

Asda Is appalling 
I had unlimited contract and 5hey charged me £10 x 123 times in 3 days = £1230
Apparently my fault because I had clicked the auto topup

Asda Customer services do not want to know
Asda Case Reference 6522763

Do not use Asda it is not worth the risk

Daz Leake

flaneurs_lobster

ASDA do not have "contracts", they will sell you unlimited data for a month at a time. Are you saying you had an unlimited bundle and ASDA continued to topup your account by £10?

If instead you were actually using PAYG rates then £1230 would buy you ~500 hours of talk or ~30,000 texts or around 30GB of data. 

Streaming, say, Netflix for 10 hours on HD will do for that. 

You could have set up a monthly spend limit on your account as well as NOT selecting auto topup.

I hope you have the receipt for that Unlimited Data bundle you purchased because otherwise I think you're liable.

flaneurs_lobster

An aside to this, it seems extraordinary that @DazLeake 's bank (or rather the bank's automated systems) didn't question over a hundred debits from the same source over 72 hours. 

Another example why 2FA /confirmation of transaction with customer is a good idea. 

k_man

@DazLeake
Following on from the post above, did you previously have an Unlimited bundle, which last a month (these were from £10, but are now £20 and up), and had

• Auto top up enabled (if so at what balance)?
• EIther no Recurring Bundle enabled, or a bundle that cost more than the auto top up?
• No spending limit.

Murmansk

OP here, I actually managed to speak to someone at Asda Mobile the other day when I needed a PUK code, I got through quite quickly and they were helpful so things may have improved a bit (I have an Asda SIM in my spare mobile that I keep in the car for if I should lose my main phone). 

ButtersUK

My experience of Asda Mobile as of August 2022 is as follows :-:

When they were on the EE network and their Customer Service (CS) was up in the North East (Durham way) the service was impeccable - the staff were superb and communication was easy and efficient.

Now they're with Vodafone and the CS is in Egypt.

I will concede when youi ring them on 2732  they generally answer the phone quite promptly and they generally speak quite good English.  That's where the good news ends.

Following their recent announcement of a PAYG price increase from 4p to 15p I decided to relinquish a couple of the spare accounts I have with them and requested a refund as per their notification on their website.  One of the refunds went through OK, and one didn't .... and trying to rectify this failure to receive the due refund has been a farce. Both the telephone CS agents on 2732 and whoever deals with emailed CS enquiries on   asda.mobile@help.vodafone.co.uk   are unable or unwilling to perform the job they're employed to do. I won't bore everyone with the details but suffice to say it wasn't good.

Additionally the Asda Mobile online account details for two of my accounts were showing wrong details and trying to get them to correct the errors has been impossible and decidedly frustrating.

I am literate and clear spoken. I was patient and tolerant throughout my dealings with them - but it has got me nowhere. They are a shambles. I still don't have my refund and the details on my online account are still wrong. And they've increased their PAYG prices by just under 400% and reduced other benefits that used to make Asda Mobile an attractive option.  No Longer!

 

Murmansk

I have a vague memory that Asda Mobile's customer service team used to be in the Isle of Bute about ten years ago! Since then they have changed underlying network provider twice.

I'd given up on them not long ago and my SIM card was in the bin but I heard on here that they were refunding the balances of those who wanted to leave following their price increase. I retrieved my SIM from the bin and when through the process of applying for a refund but nothing came of it.

So my original feelings about Asda Mobile still stand - give them a miss!

savergrant

Murmansk said:

I have a vague memory that Asda Mobile's customer service team used to be in the Isle of Bute about ten years ago! Since then they have changed underlying network provider twice.

I'd given up on them not long ago and my SIM card was in the bin but I heard on here that they were refunding the balances of those who wanted to leave following their price increase. I retrieved my SIM from the bin and when through the process of applying for a refund but nothing came of it.

So my original feelings about Asda Mobile still stand - give them a miss!

I heard nothing for three weeks but have now received refunds for two accounts (my phone and my daughter's) by email gift card. If I had chosen posted I would expect it to take another week at least.

ButtersUK

It's only fair that I report back - I did eventually receive the two refunds that they owed me.

It took longer than most people would expect and it was far from straightforward.

I can only reiterate that Asda Mobile was great when it was on the EE network and the Customer Service was in the UK and calls were 4p per minute - but all that has changed and it looks as though no-one is interested in improving the service that people receive from them so a warning to prospective customers to research who they choose.

I have no connection with a company called RWG Mobile but, another time, I would look at them to see if they would suit my purposes. They're in Wales and get good reports on Trustpilot. There are threads on this site too, which are mainly positive, although their plans are many and varied and quite a few people post that they're a bit confusing but it strikes me that if you did manage to set a suitable plan up with them they might do the job.  They are with THREE though and that might not suit everyone.

Murmansk

OP here.

RWG Mobile are with EE not Three. 

I'm with RWG now and find them OK on the whole and their customer service is very good. 

As well as my main phone I have an RWG SIM in by spare/backup mobile that I have in the car and it's the one where you pay them a one-off £15 and they give you some calls, texts and data each month. It's absolutely ideal for a backup phone or very low user and all you have to do is make a call or send a text every now and then to keep the thing "alive".