Unregistered SIM ??

fellop

Hello to all,
Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere but I was unable to find it.

I have a PAYG Motorola V547 with an O2 sim, it was my daughters but when she bought herself another [newer, better all singing dancing etc] PAYG complete with new sim, about four years ago, she gave me her old [this] one, I am a pensioner and she thought it wise that I should have a phone for emergency.

So far so good, I charge it up once a week and have kept a small amount in credit [about £5] but have not used it for about six months or so, I have had no need to do so.

Two days ago I had the need, a real emergency, to use the phone, I switched it on to find I get a message on the screen; Unregistered SIM, and I was unable to use it.

Can anyone throw any light on this? What does this mean, why should I get this message, why can I not use my phone, there is money [credit] on it or there was last time I used it.

If I could just confirm before perhaps a well meaning soul asks; no the phone is not stolen, it is not locked into a contract [that I know of], it is my daughters old off the shelf PAYG, top it up when credit gets low use it [in my case] for emergencies or when required.

Any help please. My daughter is coming to lunch tomorrow [Sunday] so I could ask her what she has to say but thought I might ask here first.

Regards.

Edinburghlass_2

The problem will be with the sim card not the phone, you need to make a call every 6 months or so to keep it active, phone up 02 and ask them especially as you have credit on the sim.

fellop

Hello Edinburghlass and Everyone.
Many thanks for the information. I have just phoned O2 on the following number 08705678678, I then had options and selected option 5.

I then spoke to someone called Luke. After I explained what my query was he then informed me that under the T and C of O2 if you do not use the phone within a period of 6 months then they [O2] ‘Switch you off’ [his words] and then prepare to allocate the number to another phone at some point in the future.

When I pointed out that I am a pensioner and that I only have the phone for emergencies and I did not belong to this generation that seems unable to visit the toilet without a mobile clamped to their ear he found this difficult to understand, why have a mobile and not use it he asked.

The upshot is ‘tough luck’ under the O2 T and C, do not use your phone for 6 months and you lose it, well the Sim card anyway, the phone is fine buy another Sim card.

Fine, if that’s their rules then perhaps as much as I disagree with them if that’s what they have okay.

I then asked for a refund of my credit, £2.50 it seems. Luke then put me on hold while he I assume talked with someone else. Luke returns to tell me ‘his manager’ thinks that they will not bother refunding me the £2.50, it is such a small amount why bother, O2 might send me a couple of pens in the post instead Luke informed me. I insisted that I have my money returned Luke then took my name and address and said he would pass it on to his manager, James.

When I asked for their second names because if I did not receive my money then I might need this information so I may take further action to obtain a refund Luke told me he was not allowed to give that information and hung up.

My Options Now:

[1] Okay if O2 have a T and C about use the phone within 6 months or lose it fine, remember my daughter gave me the phone anyway and so I have in real terms not seen or signed any T and C she did so if I am unaware then that’s my fault.

[2] However I am fuming about the thought that they seem to think that they might not bother sending me a cheque for £2.50 and might send a couple of pens in lieu. I have in good faith paid £2.50 in cash at a point in the past to put credit on the phone that is my money if it is unused then I want it back or do O2 think that they keep your money [credit] as well. I am just glad I had not topped up with perhaps £20 or so.

Anyone got an address I could write a really angry letter to the MD or whatever of O2, it might not in the long term get my £2.50 back but it might make me feel better, bearing in mind I have just spent more than £2.50 on the phone to O2 anyway.

Any thoughts or Ideas to vent my anger, and I now need a new Sim Card any thoughts of a good provider for my needs.

Edinburghlass_2

Email addresses here...

http://www.connectotel.com/marcus/ceoemail.html

As regards your phone it is probably locked to 02 so your only option now would be to buy a new cheap one if you want to move from 02 or buy a cheap Nokia than can be unlocked for free using the thread on MSE.

Orange don't, as a rule, expect you to use the phone every six months and what you do get with Orange is 2 for 1 at the Cinema on Wednesdays. There is a thread in the Freebies Board giving free sim card offers.

catstar_2

Hi there,
Isnt it frustrating how bad customer service you can get. I hope you get your money back. Funnily enough when i changed over from O2 to orange both payg, o2 offered me £5 credit to stay with them and i never make calls so that was quite generous (not enough for me to stay) as orange has better deal.

I just changed from O2 to Orange PAYG as like you i dont use my phone for calls unless its an emergency but i do use it for texting so thats why mine hasnt run out. I top up £10 every couple of month and with that you get free texts as well so it takes ages to run out. Apparently with Orange i now get 300 free texts everytime i top up £10. It says you have to top up with £10 per month but i found when i was with O2 that even though i didnt top up every month, when i did top up i did get the 100 free texts that i used to get with their PAYG.
Perhaps you could text your sister/daughter/grandchildren the odd time to say hi and a) theyd think youre cool and b) it keeps your phone in use.

If you go to the cinema then Orange is brilliant because you can text them (it costs 25p i think) and they text you a 2 for 1 offer so you can go to the cinema on wednesday and only pay for one person if theres two of you. This is great if you cant afford to go to the cinema (its a luxury i cant afford) and it could be a way of you using your phone in future to keep the credit going.

Hopefully that helps, i wish you luck getting your money back.
cat

ps, i looked and found this link with a complaints address on it for o2, i tried to paste it but it didnt work,hopefully u can view it. http://www.o2.co.uk/assets/O2HybridNav/Static-files/PDFs/CodeOfPractice.pdf

ps i got my orange sim card free online so you dont need to pay just to top it up and do it somewhere where you get points like tesco/sainsburys or boots and u get something back.

fellop

Very Many thanks to all,
I have now just sent a polite, firm but angry e mail to the CEO of O2, It may not get my £2.50 back but of two things I am sure;
[1] It has made me feel better
[2] Perhaps on Monday morning the CEO of O2 will read my e mail, he may well press delete but he will have read it and know how one [more] of his ex customers feels.

I will ask my daughter when she visits for lunch tomorrow if the phone is locked to O2 is so I will get her to go with me next week to buy a new PAYG phone with another provider. If the phone is not locked to O2 then I will get another Sim perhaps with Orange.

Very many thanks again to all
Regards

Cavey

It is possible to unlock a Motorola phones for free IF you have the right hardware already (I had a data cable and it would allow me to do it IF I had the nerve). However, there is a risk you can break your phone if you mess it up, so you might want to try an alternative method.

Alternative methods include a number of sites which will do it OR some local traders (there's two in Exeter now) for around £10 to £15 each.

I am a little out of the loop on Motorola phones (I unlocked mine 18 months ago and only use it for "other" things, so I don't play with it so much any more). I do remember that MotoModders.net ( http://www.motomodders.net/ ) was the most useful site, but it is now apprently against the rules to ask about SIM unlocking and they recommend googling for it. I tried "google sim unlock v547" and it came up with quite a few. Some times they can take a day or three to come through as they are not all instant (I thought I had been ripped off, but I hadn't).

And I kind of understand why SIM card expire - if they are not needed by you, maybe someone else would want them and if they ran out because everyone had 60 SIM cards they were not using it would be a bit sucky.

What I don't like is that it appears that the credit on the SIM will usually vanish into their coffers. I had a mobile world SIM and that died if you didn't use it for 60 days.

What I don't get is why the companies do not pitch "emergency" phones - get an old indestructable Nokia with a £1 per month "contract" (ie it auto-adds £1 of credit per month) that will therefore always be able to ring 999/the AA/RAC/A-Team when you most need it.

derrick

fellop wrote: »

Hello Edinburghlass and Everyone.
Many thanks for the information. I have just phoned O2 on the following number 08705678678, I then had options and selected option 5.

If you need to call again use this freephone,(from a landline), number; 0800 9708702 and not the rip off 0870 number.

There is another number;- 0161 7055000, that can be used, although for some reason the advise is to use this number out of hours?