O2 Classic 123 (activated in Nov 22) deactivated after no regular top up

savergrant

Neil_Jones said:

savergrant said:

Neil_Jones said:

An offer of a refund of PAYG credit after a PAC is a bonus, not an obligation I believe.  So if the provider doesn't offer to refund PAYG credit when you go away migrate to another company, that's up to them.  Its the risk you take with PAYG and the whole use it or lose it thing.

I am sure there is a getout in their t&c's but if say the minimum topup was £20 and calls were offered at 2p per minute then the day after you topped up the price went up to £1 per minute you would have had a reasonable assumption that you were buying 1000 mins of calls, not 20. Similarly the phrase 'credit never expires so long as you...' if they change the t&c's you SHOULD be entitled to refuse the new terms and receive back unused credit imo.

Not a far comparison for PAYG because if you buy a pack/goodie bag/bundle/add-on/<whatever> to get 1000 minutes, you'll get 1000 minutes of calls because you're not charged per minute like you are on PAYG.  Most of the time if you get a bag/bundle/<whatever> on PAYG that is deducted from your credit.

What you "should" be entitled to and what you "are" entitled to are two entirely different things.

Whatever they call the, bundles/boosts/goodybags they are a time-limited prepaid number of minutes/texts/mb at a discount on the usual price. Of course it is only a saving if you reach the tipping point of using more than what you have actually paid for. An example would be calls are 5p pm but a bundle for £3 gives you 100 mins, worth it if you know you are going to use at least 61 minutes. My mindset isn't to think 'I am paying 5p per min but they might put the price up to 20p so I had better buy a bundle'.I guess selling bundles gives the providers security of income and an awful lot of people don't use anything like their full allowance so the bundles are good for the business.

qsk

savergrant said:

virgo17 said:

Neil_Jones said:

An offer of a refund of PAYG credit after a PAC is a bonus, not an obligation I believe.

Indeed, and that is the point that it is very unusual and may benefit some people who wish to leave.

virgo17 said:

Neil_Jones said:

An offer of a refund of PAYG credit after a PAC is a bonus, not an obligation I believe.

Indeed, and that is the point that it is very unusual and may benefit some people who wish to leave.

Asdamobile dud it when quadrupling (375% technically) their prices, albeit as a voucher to spend at asda. But to me it is a bit like buying a loaf of bread and after paying for it the cashier takes the middle out and leaves you with the crusts, then telling you that you haven't paid for a loaf of bread, just an amount of bread of their choosing.

Three refunded the balance as well when they forced all PAYGs to bundles. 

I still have a couple of O2 classic from the days when they did "buy £10 get £20 bonus". I make a 5 sec call every 6 months to keep them alive. So far so good.

savergrant

qsk said:

savergrant said:

virgo17 said:

Neil_Jones said:

An offer of a refund of PAYG credit after a PAC is a bonus, not an obligation I believe.

Indeed, and that is the point that it is very unusual and may benefit some people who wish to leave.

virgo17 said:

Neil_Jones said:

An offer of a refund of PAYG credit after a PAC is a bonus, not an obligation I believe.

Indeed, and that is the point that it is very unusual and may benefit some people who wish to leave.

Asdamobile dud it when quadrupling (375% technically) their prices, albeit as a voucher to spend at asda. But to me it is a bit like buying a loaf of bread and after paying for it the cashier takes the middle out and leaves you with the crusts, then telling you that you haven't paid for a loaf of bread, just an amount of bread of their choosing.

Three refunded the balance as well when they forced all PAYGs to bundles. 

I still have a couple of O2 classic from the days when they did "buy £10 get £20 bonus". I make a 5 sec call every 6 months to keep them alive. So far so good.

My guess would be that the disconnection policy will take effect next time you topup, I take it you haven't topped up since the t&c's changed;

"In 2022 O2 added a requirement for 6 monthly topups on PAYG.

While this doesn't appear to impact SIMs already in use (an older SIM is still active), my second SIM, activated and topped up in Nov 22, has been deactivated (and balance lost) even though it has been used.

CS confirmed (for what it is worth) that this was due to no top up for 6 months (their system showed the SIM as expired).

So SIMs activated pre 6-month-top-up change seem to still work, more recent ones may not."

datz

savergrant said:

My guess would be that the disconnection policy will take effect next time you topup, I take it you haven't topped up since the t&c's changed;

As far as I am aware (based on what others have reported elsewhere on the internet, and also my own experiences), to keep an O2 Classic SIM active requires a top-up every 999 days and chargeable activity every 180 days (phone call, not SMS or data). At least I haven't yet been disconnected by doing so. My most recently activated O2 Classic SIM was activated in March of this year, so still a little ways off from discovering if anything has changed.

Yes, this is regardless of what the current T&Cs state (they are worded such to encourage people off legacy tariffs). I would be very interested to hear from those that have done the above, and have still been disconnected...

savergrant

datz said:

savergrant said:

My guess would be that the disconnection policy will take effect next time you topup, I take it you haven't topped up since the t&c's changed;

As far as I am aware (based on what others have reported elsewhere on the internet, and also my own experiences), to keep an O2 Classic SIM active requires a top-up every 999 days and chargeable activity every 180 days (phone call, not SMS or data). At least I haven't yet been disconnected by doing so. My most recently activated O2 Classic SIM was activated in March of this year, so still a little ways off from discovering if anything has changed.

Yes, this is regardless of what the current T&Cs state (they are worded such to encourage people off legacy tariffs). I would be very interested to hear from those that have done the above, and have still been disconnected...

The first post of this thread is exactly that, disconnected seven months after topup despite having used the sim for chargeable activity within the last six months. The question is whether the policy to disconnect applies to all on the tariff or only some, and if so who? 
If your sim was activated in March it will be interesting to see what happens to it after september. According to the op the current t&c's were already in effect before you activated your sim so I am a bit surprised that you think they won't apply to you. Perhaps the people saying you need to topup every 999 days can evidence the source of this information? I am a bit staggered that o2 would publish these t&c's, disconnect someone after 180 days and then explain it was for failing to topup within 180 days if their policy was actually 999 days. If 999 days ever was their policy it hasn't been their policy for at least the last seven months.

savergrant

k_man said:

Posting as an FYI, as O2 

....Previously the credit didn't expire, so one £10 top could last years, as long as the SIM was used every few months.
 In 2022 O2 added a requirement for 6 monthly topups on PAYG.

While this doesn't appear to impact SIMs already in use (an older SIM is still active), my second SIM, activated and topped up in Nov 22, has been deactivated (and balance lost) even though it has been used.

CS confirmed (for what it is worth) that this was due to no top up for 6 months (their system showed the SIM as expired).

So SIMs activated pre 6-month-top-up change seem to still work, more recent ones may not.

Do you know exactly when in 2022 o2 published the current t&c's? Or what information was given to customers already on the tariff? Tbh I can't see that o2 were expecting new customers to sign up as they aren't sending the sims out and there are posts on mse of Cs agents being surprised when someone rings up to activate a sim (like they don't know people are selling them on)

k_man

savergrant said:

k_man said:

Posting as an FYI, as O2 

....Previously the credit didn't expire, so one £10 top could last years, as long as the SIM was used every few months.
 In 2022 O2 added a requirement for 6 monthly topups on PAYG.

While this doesn't appear to impact SIMs already in use (an older SIM is still active), my second SIM, activated and topped up in Nov 22, has been deactivated (and balance lost) even though it has been used.

CS confirmed (for what it is worth) that this was due to no top up for 6 months (their system showed the SIM as expired).

So SIMs activated pre 6-month-top-up change seem to still work, more recent ones may not.

Do you know exactly when in 2022 o2 published the current t&c's? Or what information was given to customers already on the tariff? Tbh I can't see that o2 were expecting new customers to sign up as they aren't sending the sims out and there are posts on mse of Cs agents being surprised when someone rings up to activate a sim (like they don't know people are selling them on)

Sorry, can't remember exactly when the change was made by O2. IIRC I read about it on here.

I don't remember any communication from O2 about the changes, but if this only applies (as in my case) to a SIM activated after the change, then that is expected.

savergrant

This page on o2site suggests 17th June 2022.

 https://www.o2.co.uk/termsandconditions/mobile/our-pay-as-you-go-tariff-terms#general 
Can't  find any reference to regular topup but clear reference if you continue to use the service you accept the t&c's.

savergrant

Not too sure why you think o2 would publish one set of t&c's but make decisions to terminate a service based on a different set, then lie and tell a customer their sim has become inactive because of failing to topup when in fact they had been disconnected due to failing to make a call.
It is true that the op could be the only customer disconnected from o2 classic however it should serve as a warning to anyone on o2 classic with a credit balance or a number they want to keep who isn't topping up every six months.

The OP has, at least, one other o2 classic sim which has also been used for one chargeable activity (an sms) in the last six months. This has not been disconnected, my guess is that this is because it has not been topped up since the change to the t&c's. Whether that is a deliberate policy or simply a matter of programming disconnection dates remains to be seen. However what has been shown is that o2 have acted without warning, and with no opportunity to restore the service.

datz

savergrant said:

Not too sure why you think o2 would publish one set of t&c's but make decisions to terminate a service based on a different set, then lie and tell a customer their sim has become inactive because of failing to topup when in fact they had been disconnected due to failing to make a call.
It is true that the op could be the only customer disconnected from o2 classic however it should serve as a warning to anyone on o2 classic with a credit balance or a number they want to keep who isn't topping up every six months.

The OP has, at least, one other o2 classic sim which has also been used for one chargeable activity (an sms) in the last six months. This has not been disconnected, my guess is that this is because it has not been topped up since the change to the t&c's. Whether that is a deliberate policy or simply a matter of programming disconnection dates remains to be seen.

Iirc, the 6 month rule appeared around 2019, and I imagine the OP has topped up since then. This is not a recent thing, but there has always been some ambiguity and confusion around it. It's not something that has been enforced by their system, even if some CS agents might incorrectly cite it as a reason for disconnection (which makes it harder to challenge). Anyway, I haven't seen any reports elsewhere indicating a change to the way the system actually operates.

All you need to do, is make one chargeable call every 180 days. There is also a 999 day topup requirement often mentioned by others, but I have my doubts as to whether this is truly applicable (my oldest SIMs, that I care least about, have not been topped up in a lot longer than that and are fine - but I haven't tested it with those that I do care about). Probably worth being aware of though, which is why I did mention it before.

I guess I should add, that I have previously read complaint responses from O2 (posted by other customers) where O2 have acknowledged that their system had not recognized or recorded a chargeable activity correctly, resulting in a subsequent disconnection. And, elsewhere, that phone calls are a more reliable method than sms - while others state that a phone call is actually required. So any of these could plausibly apply to the OP's case. I have been making phone calls more frequently than required, just to ensure no issues (and so far no problems).

savergrant said:

However what has been shown is that o2 have acted without warning, and with no opportunity to restore the service.

The OP probably just got a stubborn or inexperienced CS agent. Their system does actually allow for the old number and service/tariff to be restored to the existing SIM (with or without the credit). I haven't had to do it myself, but in the OP's position, I would just politely retry/escalate until someone more useful shows up, or just lodge a complaint. Or maybe it's just not worth their time to chase it.