Nightmare (I now have two separate contracts)

[Broseff]

Two weeks ago I went to Carphone Warehouse and traded in my old phone for a new one. Because it was early they wouldn't let me upgrade without switching to a higher data plan (50gb a month! Who on earth needs that?), seemed like nonsense but thems the rules, apparently. The store clerk offered the alternative, which was paying up the rest of the contract, ending it, and starting a fresh one with the new phone. This way I got everything I wanted- I get to keep my old number, and a data plan that made sense for a normal human being (10gb still seems too much, but the price is good).

Clerk sorted this all out for me and assured me this was all taken care of in the shop. I paid the bill (which ended up being a refund for me as I traded in my phone), left my old phone with them, and walked out of the shop with a new phone, new SIM, and my old SIM.

When I got home, I stuck my old SIM into my new phone and started the SIM swap process. I've tried this every few days since I brought the new phone home and I get errors every time. I still have signal, so no big deal.

Today I got the details for my new phone and contract through the post. The new contract has a new number. I still have signal, meaning my old SIM (and presumably the entire contract) is still working. At this point, I'm curious to whether or not I've actually paid off the rest of my contract, as I ended up with them paying me, and the receipt has NO info on what I just paid for.

To top it all off, I can't get through to customer service. I've had to resort to posting here. 

I want my old number on my new SIM. Please help.

[jonsie]

It would certainly appear that you have two contract running now. Unfortunately you do need to contact customer service and ask them to now migrate the number to your new contract. That will automatically close your original account.

[MI5]

You need to get confirmation from CPW as to what you have actually paid for.
If O2 migrate your number now and close your old account you will be billed by O2 also.

[CJW13 · Accepted solution]

Hi. Put simply you went in to do an early upgrade and the 2 conditions of that are to pay an early upgrade fee in store (which clears the remainder of the contract) and you cant go to a cheaper tariff than you currently have. The problem is most peoples tariff if a weird amount due to the price rise in April so you may have £32.44 for example and the available deals are £32 or £38 so you can only go for the dearer £38 option.

What the salesman has done is sold you a new contract so you can have the deal you want clearly theres been some miscomunication on understanding what needed to happen next.

You should of.
1) Called o2 and paid the rest of your original contract off over the phone with a debit card. This could of been done at any point, although when i did mine i waited till i knew the credit check was good and new phone was working with the new number.
2) 24hours after taking the deal called o2 and requested they internally migrate your old number to your new account. (Again because i waited to make sure new contract and phone worked ok i did this at same time as step one)

Within 24hrs usually quicker your old contract would be cancelled and your old number on new phone. Its worth noting any money taken from your tradein value instore was payment for accesories or upfront costs, not the cost of paying old contract off.

You say however you put your old sim in the phone and started the sim swap process? By this do you mean you filled in the o2 form and transferred your old number on to the new sim card? If you have done this that was a mistake and chances are you will now need to visit an o2 store for a replacement sim (last i knew carphone cant issue these due to security agreement with o2) which they will assign the new number to before any of this can happen. But if you have explain when you pay off the contract to see if they can switch it back.

[EmilieT]

Hi @Broseff, did all the info above help you understand better what happened?

It would be interesting to hear if you managed to solve this problem, and how In case other members are in a similar situation, it might help them.

[Broseff]

I was in contact with customer support earlier today. Will update later when my new SIM has become active on my old number

[jonsie]

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@Broseff wrote:

I was in contact with customer support earlier today. Will update later when my new SIM has become active on my old number

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Good luck 😀