Pay As You Go phone not working

[Anonymous]

I have had a Pay As You Go Phone for some time and do not use it very much.  Some years ago it seems to have been moved to a tariff that did not need regular top-ups because I had a large credit balance through regular top-ups and little usage.  This suited me as it was only for very occasional use.

I have noticed that text messages were not getting sent so I did some checks at the end of next week because I need the phone tomorrow.  I found that it was not sending or receiving texts and voice calls were not working.

I contacted O2 online and they suggested trying the SIM in another phone, there is no O2 shop near me so I called in a local phone shop.  It did seem to work in another phone so I bought a cheap one.

But it stopped working later with all calls failing.

I cannot check the credit balance either because that fails.

The shope did mention that many people in the area had been having problems with O2 for a few weeks.

So I contacted O2 online again.  They were unaware of any local problems. 

They could not check my account with doing a security check which involved sending a text message but of course I am not receiving text messages!   CATCH 22?

I have a bought a new Pay As You Go SIM card (NOT O2!) so I have a phone tomorrow.

I have a strong suspicion that the problem is the local one I was told about or there have been some changes to the no top-up Pay As You Go Account but no one seems to know anything about that tariff.

I wonder if anyone has any ideas.

(I had to open a new registration on this forum because I cannot log into MyO2 even though tried various passwords that I have noted down and of course I cannot retrieve my password without the phone working.  CATCH 22 again!)

[Cleoriff]

Hi

Firstly with regard to the sim issue. You would have needed to use it to make a chargeable call or text at least every 6 months...else the sim will become deactivated...

Secondly re your log in details..if you contact @Toby the community coordinator (via private message)...he may be able to help with this...

[jonsie]

The sim needs to be used to make a chargeable call every 6 months. It sounds as though is been disconnected so you need to speak to customer service to get the credit transferred to your new sim. 

[Anonymous]

I am fairly sure that there will have been at least one call over the last six months, certainly been text messages sent.

If it had been disconnected then why could not have told me when I contacted the Help desk online?

On the second call to them I was told that they needed a security check which was my credit balance but I cannot check my credit balance to tell them.

[Cleoriff]

Although I have a contract phone, I keep an old one with a PAYG sim in (as back up) I didn't use it to call anyone for 6/12 so the sim was deactivated (with no warning) Luckily I noticed pretty quickly and rang customer services and it was set up again.

I can understand the need for security checks. After all a sim not used for some time could have been picked up by anyone.. if you wanted to transfer credit onto a new sim this would be a problem?...

[viridis]

Help desk online?
Do you mean live chat by any chance?

[Cleoriff]

---

@viridis wrote:
Help desk online?
Do you mean live chat by any chance?

---

If it was Live Chat...there is the answer.....Would have been  much better to speak to someone over the phone...

[Anonymous]

---

@viridis wrote:
Help desk online?
Do you mean live chat by any chance?

---

Yes

[Anonymous]

---

@Cleoriff wrote:

Although I have a contract phone, I keep an old one with a PAYG sim in (as back up) I didn't use it to call anyone for 6/12 so the sim was deactivated (with no warning) Luckily I noticed pretty quickly and rang customer services and it was set up again.

I can understand the need for security checks. After all a sim not used for some time could have been picked up by anyone.. if you wanted to transfer credit onto a new sim this would be a problem?...

---

I deliberately did choose O2 on the new (probably temporary) SIM, partly because of these troubles and also because comment in local shop who probably have a better idea of whether there are problems on the network than someone looking at a computer screen hundreds of miles away - I worked in telecoms and have plenty of experience of people with blind faith in what the computer says.

[Cleoriff]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@viridis wrote:
Help desk online?
Do you mean live chat by any chance?

---

Yes

---

Then that could have been the problem Live Chat are not renowned for this sort of help. As I said in my post above....it would have been far better if you had phoned and spoken to customer Services

http://www.o2.co.uk/contactus