'INFO to 85075' and 'PAC'/'STAC to 65075' doesn't work if account has multiple services?

fiish

One of my household has their mobile SIM contract ending on 29 August, so is within the last 30 days, and we're on the lookout for deals. They're with Vodafone, and our home broadband is also with Vodafone, on the same account.

We tried the regulation text messages to obtain our end of contract information (INFO to 85075), and to request a porting code (PAC to 65075), as we've not had much trouble finding cheaper deals elsewhere (e.g. even Vodafone-owned Talkmobile is much cheaper, and includes a bit of EU roaming to boot), but also as a negotiating tactic, as we would prefer them to call us rather than us calling them and being bounced around from queue to queue - these calls in the past have taken almost an hour.

However, with both the texts, we simply get a reply that they can't provide this information as we have multiple services with them, and we would need to ring them up. Is this usual practice? 

I would have thought that if you requested for your PAC for a particular mobile line, it would be for transferring just that mobile line, and shouldn't affect the other services you have with them.

fiish

Poked around the internet some more, and managed to find the answer at

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/switching-provider/consumer-switching-proposals-to-reform-switching-of-mobile-communications-services

Update 4 January 2019: Multi-SIM contracts and Multi-SIM accounts

In December 2017, we published our decision to reform the process for switching mobile provider.....

....

It is not our intention that requests for PACs/N-PACs for SIMs that are part of Multi-SIM contracts or Multi-SIM accounts can be made by text. This applies regardless of whether the PAC/N-PAC request is for one SIM in the Multi-SIM contract or Multi-SIM account, or for all of them.

....

We would not consider requests for PACs/N-PACs for SIMs that are part of Multi-SIM contracts or Multi-SIM accounts to be ‘in respect of no more than one Mobile Number’ as there may well be direct consequences for other mobile numbers in that contract. The consequence of this is that a subscriber who wishes to port or cancel one or more numbers from a Multi-SIM contract or Multi-SIM account should use the online or phone route to request a PAC or N-PAC.

1. “Mobile Switching Customer” is defined as “a Subscriber who is engaged in Mobile Switching”.
2. Only the main account holder (i.e. the Subscriber) can request a PAC or N-PAC. It is our understanding that switches of any single SIM in a Multi-SIM contract or Multi -SIM account may affect the contract terms of the other SIMs. This clarification is made on the basis of that understanding.

Looks like that painful phone call will be necessary then