topic Re: Need help with reactivating a number in Pay As You Go

Need help with reactivating a number

PhoneRecoveryUK — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 11:14:51 GMT

Dear All,

I’m reaching out for help on behalf of my elderly mother, whose mobile number has recently been deactivated. She’s had this number for over 23 years — originally with O2, then moved over to Giffgaff.

Here’s what happened:

Due to a medical emergency, my mother had to go overseas and was unable to use her UK mobile for around six months.
During that time, Giffgaff sent a warning email about inactivity, which unfortunately went unnoticed while she was away.
Upon returning to the UK, we found the number was no longer active — her phone had no signal.

Last week, on Friday 4th July, I contacted O2 support just by chance, and to my surprise, the technical team confirmed that the number still exists in their system (in a holding pool) and could potentially be reactivated. This was fantastic news, and they advised me to wait 24 to 48 hours for the process.

However, since then, I’ve hit several roadblocks:

O2 support has started asking for an “SSN” number, which doesn’t match anything on our records.
They advised going into a store with ID for verification, but the staff at the O2 store said they couldn’t help as customer service and stores do not coordinate on these issues.
Giffgaff, as many will know, has no direct contact number, which makes it difficult to resolve this with them directly.

I feel like I’m going in circles and getting nowhere.
Is there any chance of getting this number reactivated, either through O2 or Giffgaff? It’s extremely important to my mother and has been her number for over two decades.

Any advice, escalation contacts, or support would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Need help with reactivating a number

MI5 — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 11:31:49 GMT

@PhoneRecoveryUK

You need to post on the giffgaff forum and an agent will pick it up to help.

www.giffgaff.com

Re: Need help with reactivating a number

Enlli — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 11:33:27 GMT

I think it will have to be giffgaff who deal with this. If it is in a pool it will be waiting reissue to a new giffgaff customer.

Not sure our Community Manager can help or point you in the right direction

I'll tag him here

@Dave-O2

Re: Need help with reactivating a number

Dave-O2 — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 10:21:46 GMT

Thanks @Enlli

@PhoneRecoveryUK I can certaily take a look, however if you're unable to confirm the serial number of the last active O2 SIM linked with the number in question, we'd be unable to proceed any further.

In this case as advised above you'd needs to speak with GiffGaff

If you want me to take a closer look, please PM me the mobile number 👍

Re: Need help with reactivating a number

PhoneRecoveryUK — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 10:29:31 GMT

Thanks sent you a PM

Re: Need help with reactivating a number

PhoneRecoveryUK — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 12:10:36 GMT

Number is now active and moved to O2.

Thank you @Dave-O2 for all your help with this transition.

Re: Need help with reactivating a number

Enlli — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 13:16:37 GMT

@PhoneRecoveryUK Glad to hear it is sorted