Buying On The Internet

M1keWood

I was recently advised by Lebara customer services to top up a Lebara SIM in order to reactivate it.  In fact that advice was incorrect & I should have been advised to choose a new package, however when I tried to undertake the top up on line, a company called ontopup fooled me into believing I was on the Lebara web site & I arranged the top up with them.
A second Lebara representative told me of my error and I tried to get a refund from Lebara who said it was between me and ontopup and ontopup say that once they issue the PIN which allows the top up then the payment is irreversible.
I was under the impression that I am legally allowed 14 days "cooling off" during which time I could cancel & claim a refund.  Am I wrong?

eskbanker

M1keWood said:

ontopup say that once they issue the PIN which allows the top up then the payment is irreversible.
I was under the impression that I am legally allowed 14 days "cooling off" during which time I could cancel & claim a refund.  Am I wrong?

There are various exceptions to the 14 day cooling off period, but what did you do with the supplied PIN, i.e. has it been used?

M1keWood

I put the SIMinto my phone and that generated a text from Lebara but didnt do anything else

Aylesbury_Duck

It sounds like you started using the service, which will presumably be why they're not allowing you to cancel.

M1keWood

I'm not entirely sure what I was supposed to do with the PIN, but I haven't entered the PIN at all 

M1keWood

By the way, both Lebara and ontopup have told me that I can still use the top up, which would at the very least indicate that it is unused.
ontopup have even suggested that I sell it on to a Lebara customer with a PAYG sim

tightauldgit

eskbanker said:

M1keWood said:

ontopup say that once they issue the PIN which allows the top up then the payment is irreversible.
I was under the impression that I am legally allowed 14 days "cooling off" during which time I could cancel & claim a refund.  Am I wrong?

There are various exceptions to the 14 day cooling off period, but what did you do with the supplied PIN, i.e. has it been used?

Just had a quick google of ontopup and there's lots of unhappy customers online. 

Their position is that they've performed their service by sending you the top-up so you can't ask for a refund under consumer rights. I don't think that would pass muster if the top-up hasn't been used but it would probably be an almighty hassle to have to go to court for a refund of a few quid which I guess is their business model. 

born_again

M1keWood said:

I was recently advised by Lebara customer services to top up a Lebara SIM in order to reactivate it.  In fact that advice was incorrect & I should have been advised to choose a new package, however when I tried to undertake the top up on line, a company called ontopup fooled me into believing I was on the Lebara web site & I arranged the top up with them.
A second Lebara representative told me of my error and I tried to get a refund from Lebara who said it was between me and ontopup and ontopup say that once they issue the PIN which allows the top up then the payment is irreversible.
I was under the impression that I am legally allowed 14 days "cooling off" during which time I could cancel & claim a refund.  Am I wrong?

https://ontopup.com/

Sorry, but it is very clear they are not lebara. As they offer top ups for pretty much  ALL mobile companies.

On Top Up was set up in 2019 to provide a simple way to add top up credit to any mobile phone on any network. For example, if you have 2 children with Pay As You Go phones on different mobile networks, to add top ups previously you would need to go to each network website in turn, log into the relevant account and go through the steps to buy more credit. With On Top Up, you have 1 account, and once logged in, you can add credit to any phone with just a couple of clicks.

On Top Up works across many of the world's mobile phone networks, so if you are travelling and using different sim cards, you can always top up your credit via your one On Top Up account.

There is no 14 day colling off on mobile top up.

M1keWood

born_again
Do you have some sort of affiliation with On Top Up?  Your post seems very supportive of them and their practices.
It wasn't obvious to me or my wife that On Top Up were not acting on behalf of Lebara and with their agreement.  There are lots of agencies that act on behalf of other companies and this is what we thought at the time.
However thank you for the information that there is no 14 day cooling off on mobile top up. That's all I needed to know.

Aylesbury_Duck

M1keWood said:

born_again
Do you have some sort of affiliation with On Top Up?  Your post seems very supportive of them and their practices.
It wasn't obvious to me or my wife that On Top Up were not acting on behalf of Lebara and with their agreement.  There are lots of agencies that act on behalf of other companies and this is what we thought at the time.
However thank you for the information that there is no 14 day cooling off on mobile top up. That's all I needed to know.

That is such a tired old accusation that gets flung around when someone gets told what they don't want to hear. And anyway,  born_again is far too busy with shifts at Curry's, Argos and DFS to be working for OnTopUP.

user1977

M1keWood said:

It wasn't obvious to me or my wife that On Top Up were not acting on behalf of Lebara and with their agreement.

How did you get in touch with them in the first place?