Lebara mobile unread voicemails deleted after 48 hours - anyone else experience this?

rodp_2

Hi All,

I received a voicemail on my phone which I didn't pick up (ie listen to) until a little over 48 hours.  I did my normal 121 on the phone and the voice said there were no new voicemails.  I knew that the voicemail was real as I spoke to the person who left it since then.  This is very odd - I have never lost a voicemail before and on previous networks have been away for weeks and still been able to retrieve any new voicemails (voadafone and plusnet).

I spoke to Lebara (call and chat) and was told that:

 'I am sorry the Voicemail are only valid for 48 hours mostly'

What?!   There is nothing in the terms and conditions that i can find on this.  I challenged them on this and they said:

'I have check with the team and at the moment it is not mentioned in the terms however it is an internal policy'

So that's not what I've agreed to in my terms and it directly affects me so that is not acceptable. I've raised a complaint on this and will be reaching out to Ofcom if they don't fix this.

However, have I really missed something, has anyone else experienced this?

This is not a setting that I'm aware of that I need to change.  I was also advised to reactivate my voicemail - again no difference.  I have made some test voicemails to see if this happens consistently.  I find it very hard to believe that new unread voicemails must be listened to within 2 days.

Thanks in advance

Rodp
 

marlot

That's astonishing. 

Many people turn off roaming when travelling, so need messages to last longer than that.

Or people who are ill in hospital for a few days and don't have their phone.

rodp_2

Short update - I've been playing around with the settings and discovered that when you save a message it states it will be saved for ... wait for it.... 2 days.  what use is that?!  Anyway, it sounds like they are treating the unread messages the same way as saved messages.  Why 2 days.  That's way too short especially if you are out the uk.  not happy about this, especially as they don't mention this anywhere in the terms.  There must be a way to increase it so I will persevere! 

PHK

All providers have a limit. Two days is the shortest I've seen but probably not surprising for a budget service. 

Most other  I've come across are at least seven days (there was a thread on here a while ago where a member wanted to keep a message and was advised to record it)

For EE is 21 days for a new voicemail and 7 for one you've listened to. 

O2 is 17 or 30 days depending on your account. 

Vodafone is 10 days. 

Three is 7 days

Neil_Jones

I remember back in the day in the 1990s 96hrs was your limit, end of discussion once you'd listened to it, and probably 3/4 days if you hadn't.  It was never a permanent archive.

Voicemail for your phone is only intended really as a short term gap if you're in a situation where you can't take the call - ie if you're driving, if you're at work, if you're asleep...  It could probably be argued if you haven't picked it up after 48hrs you weren't that fussed about it...

Peter999_2

Look, Lebara is by far the cheapest provider.   I am with them and this is the sort of thing I would expect and I appreciate that I'm only paying £6.99 for 100GB of EE data.   If you want a good value and a top notch service I'd recommend Smarty.      I have a Smarty SIM and a Lebara SIM, I use Lebara for the data and Smarty for the calls.   If I try to use Lebara for calls it takes about 30 seconds longer to connect.    When you are running on a shoestring there's always going to be compromises.

rodp_2

Peter999_2 said:

 When you are running on a shoestring there's always going to be compromises.

I appreciate this is a budget offering, but wouldn't you expect the contract to state the time you have until the messages are deleted and confirm whether this related to new messages or not?  That's my point to be honest.  The voicemail is part of the service you pay for and so they should tell you this upfront before agreeing. If I'd known about the 2 days limit I would have considered another company.  2 days is just way to short.

PHK said:

All providers have a limit. Two days is the shortest I've seen but probably not surprising for a budget service. 

Most other  I've come across are at least seven days (there was a thread on here a while ago where a member wanted to keep a message and was advised to record it)

For EE is 21 days for a new voicemail and 7 for one you've listened to. 

O2 is 17 or 30 days depending on your account. 

Vodafone is 10 days. 

Three is 7 days

So I'll add Lebara as 2 days.

What about Smarty?

Any others?

I remember the days when with Vodafone you could download your voicemail audio clips!!

Thanks

Rodp

PHK

rodp_2 said:

Peter999_2 said:

 When you are running on a shoestring there's always going to be compromises.

I appreciate this is a budget offering, but wouldn't you expect the contract to state the time you have until the messages are deleted and confirm whether this related to new messages or not?  That's my point to be honest.  The voicemail is part of the service you pay for and so they should tell you this upfront before agreeing. If I'd known about the 2 days limit I would have considered another company.  2 days is just way to short.

PHK said:

All providers have a limit. Two days is the shortest I've seen but probably not surprising for a budget service. 

Most other  I've come across are at least seven days (there was a thread on here a while ago where a member wanted to keep a message and was advised to record it)

For EE is 21 days for a new voicemail and 7 for one you've listened to. 

O2 is 17 or 30 days depending on your account. 

Vodafone is 10 days. 

Three is 7 days

So I'll add Lebara as 2 days.

What about Smarty?

Any others?

I remember the days when with Vodafone you could download your voicemail audio clips!!

Thanks

Rodp

What you want is Visual Voicemail, either iPhone or Android. The voicemail is saved on your handset for as long as you like. 

As for Smarty , it's the same as Three, 7 days 

Lyca don't seem to publish how long a voicemail is held for. 

(It should also be mentioned that undelivered SMS are only held by the message centre for a limited time. I don't have up to date figures but five years ago it was between 24 hours and 7 days)

rodp_2

PHK said:

What you want is Visual Voicemail, either iPhone or Android. The voicemail is saved on your handset for as long as you like. 

Yep - do you know which networks this might work on?  I read around and it sounds like it doesn't work (yet?) on Lebara.  I guess If I get a pre paid sim for said network and then forward calls to it, I am assuming I could ten pick the messages that way?

PHK

Last time I checked it was EE, Vodafone and O2. But on pay monthly not pre-pay. 
It would be worth checking before signing up. 

rodp_2

Cool, I will close this thread and start a new one as I've got some more questions about the requirements.