I thought I should write up my experience losing and getting back a phone number, in case others need to solve the same problem.
On Black Friday I sorted my wife out with a good O2 deal on a new phone via Mobile Phones Direct. She wanted a headphone jack, but that really limits your options on a contract these days, which meant a bigger phone, and unfortunately she hated the new size. I returned the phone quickly and ordered a different model with a more expensive contract. It took a while for Mobile Phones Direct to process the return. Unfortunately, I had already triggered the number port so I would now need a PAC code from O2, as the new model was going to be on another network.
MPD tell you not to request a PAC code from the network as this usually causes confusion and you can get billed for the full contract... something that has happened to me in the past with Vodafone. MPD told me I'd get a PAC code once the return was processed. Everything was very slow over Xmas, but I phoned them on Fri Jan 6th to ask when I’d get my PAC code, as it was pretty late. They said it really ought to go through by that day, but maybe look for it on Monday. The O2 SIM was still working at that point.
Unfortunately, the O2 SIM was chucked unceremoniously off the network later that day and when I tried calling our mobile number, there was a "this number is not in service" message😱. This is obviously pretty horrifying as it means your number has potentially been binned. I really thought this mistake meant we would not get the number back.
I called O2 the next day (Sat Jan 7th) and got through to someone after a 15-minute hold. I had chosen the option that said I was thinking of leaving O2 and wanted a PAC.
Three surprises:
- He was able to sort it out himself.
- He was able to reinstate the number within a few minutes (Googling had suggested that this would be a permanent loss of the phone number)
- When he said he'd call me back, he did call me back, and let me know that we should have received a PAC code, which we had.
So to my enormous surprise, problem solved. I don’t know whether the mistake was theirs or MPD’s, but O2 deserve props for pulling it out of the fire so quickly.
