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Mobile SIMswap

SleepyJohn
Tuning in

Having received multiple SMS messages telling me to swap to the new SIMs that have been posted to my registered address,  I've explained to 789 several times that I can't swap because I'm not at home to receive the packages.   This is because I'm overseas, locked out of UK by Covid quarantine regs until they are lifted.   

789 say they've made notes on my file to stop the SMSs and multiple reposting of more SIMs to my UK address.  They also told me not to worry because the SMS messages were auto-generated and I wouldn't get cut off because I'd been in touch and there were now notes on file about my situation.

I made my latest call to 789 about this on  22nd Sept because I'd received yet another SMS saying I'd be cut off tomorrow (23rd Sept) if I didn't swap.   

Despite all that, now (today 24th Sept) it appears I have been cut off after all.  Made 3 attempts to get my UK bank to text a verifying code to me and all 3 have failed, so I can no longer access internet banking without receiving  bank SMSs to my Virgin Mobile number. 

 

 

 

21 REPLIES 21

SleepyJohn
Tuning in
Hmmm. since my last post above on 24th Sept, I now find network coverage on my mobile has been completely cut off. So can't call 789 to get any info, nor (although I haven't tried this) can I call 999 which the SMSs they sent me specifically said would be excluded from their stoppage.
Is there any hope that all this is ever going to be resolved?

enlli
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

If they have cut the SIM off it has been removed from the EE systems and there is no way for it to be reconnected 

The usual advice is to get a replacement sent to friends or relatives in the UK for them to activate it (has to be done here) then post it on 

I'll flag this for attention 

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[quote Enli]  If they have cut the SIM off it has been removed from the EE systems and there is no way for it to be reconnected

OK, thanks for the reply, but I don't understand why that should be.  Aren't Virgin Mobile in control of what SIMs are validated on EE's network?   If new SIMs can be validated,  and old SIMs like mine can be un-validated,  why can't an old SIM like mine be re-validated?  What used to happen when an old SIM customer didn't pay their bill and had to be cut off, and later they eventually paid and their service needed to be restored?     It would be nice to understand  the constraints that are causing you to say no way for it to be reconnected.

The issue I now have with Virgin Mobile is that 789 told me when I made worried calls to them about the SMSs I’d been receiving threatening to cut my services off (with the exception of 999) if I didn’t SIMswap by quickly-approaching dates, that clearly I needn’t worry; they explained the SMSs were being generated by a robotic system they couldn’t control and each time I called they’d made file notes which would inhibit any such cut-offs.

I got repeated assurances that I wouldn’t be cut off because I’d been in touch to explain my situation on at least three occasions, and the file notes they’d made verified this.

I made my last-but-one of these calls to 789 at 14:20pm BST on 18th Sept, and my last on 22nd Sept when I’d received another SMS saying I’d be cut off “tomorrow” the 23rd Sept.

Despite all that, I discovered on 24th Sept that I’d been partially cut off, and on 29th Sept that my network coverage had gone too.    Of course that cut 999 off for me as well, which on top of all the rest of it I see as a pretty serious breach of safety.

[quote] The usual advice is to get a replacement sent to friends or relatives in the UK for them to activate it (has to be done here) then post it on 

I find this unacceptable for several reasons:

A) A new SIM would have to be activated in UK before it was posted to me overseas which would make its passage through the international postage system here dangerous since a lot of mail gets opened and its content nicked.

B) Given Virgin Mobile’s lack of any viable pre-plan for customers stuck overseas to do a SIMswap according to their standard UK instructions, it’s only reasonable for Virgin Mobile to assume responsibility for taking care of problems that have consequently arisen. Therefore I don’t accept having to pay the cost of posting a new SIM overseas myself, nor being responsible if an activated SIM gets nicked in the post and/or used fraudulently before I’ve received it.

C) My old SIM has been quite happily working in my old Nokia 100 phone up to 23rd Sept, but there are reports that the new SIMs aren’t compatible with some old phones, including I believe (but I’m not certain) Nokia 100.

D) I’ve read that Virgin Mobile’s policy if a new SIM doesn’t work in an old phone, is to replace the phone with a newer one. This would bring up the same questions I’ve raised in B) above about postage and cost of replacement if nicked in transit.

E) Incoming international post here is often slow and unreliable. For example a debit card that was posted to me here by my bank in June still hasn’t arrived. Given that I might easily have to incur two international slow risky waits to get my Virgin Mobile service working again, one for a SIMcard and one for a replacement phone, the overall delay would be quite unacceptable to me because I need to be able to receive regular confirmatory verification codes by SMS from my UK bank.

F) At a perceived 86yrs old (actually only 79 but the side-effects of chemotherapy have added 7 more) I’m simply too old and slow and doddery to handle all these issues in a reasonable time myself. I need a much simpler easier-to-implement plan 

[quote] I'll flag this for attention 

Thank you, but I’m wondering how I can get the issues I’ve compiled above, along with those in my previous posts, through to someone in Virgin Mobile with enough authority to do something about it.


DJ_Shadow1966
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

Hello

I certainly understand no mobile companies SIM can be activated outside of the UK this is the guidance of Ofcom, VM will only send SIMs / Devices to a UK address, but what I will do is escalate to a VM forum staff member for the definite answer.

Regards Mike

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Hi SleepyJohn, thanks for the message and we are sorry to hear that you are unable to collect the sim packages, if the migration was cancelled and the new sim was not activated the number would become deactivated. It will show on the account when this needs to be done by. Chris. 

The sim would need to be activated within the UK and cannot be done overseas. In order to stop the messages the migration would need to be cancelled and this would deactivate the account before you return to the UK ^Chris 

enlli
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

Just a thought. Is this PAYG? If so when did you last use it to make a chargeable call or text?

 

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Thanks Chris,   Yes, it sounds as if that's what's happened:   the account's been deactivated before I've been able to return to UK,  but why, when I've explained so many times why I can't get back and it could be months depending on Covid  regs being lifted, before I do,  why is the system so rigid and inflexible that there's no other temporary method available to maintain my service?    My only options seem to have been 1) SIMswap now  or 2) Get immediately cut off.   Why couldn't my old SIM have been left activated,  perhaps with a reduced service as a penalty if needs be, until I've had a chance to return?      

Is there a valid technical reason  now, why my old SIM can't be reactivated,  or is this all down to policy driven rules?    

No-one seems to understand that I need to be able to regularly receive verifying SMSs from my UK internet bank in order to remit funds to continue surviving here. 

 

Yes Enli,  it is PAYG,  and yes, I did think about the risk of it expiring if the account wasn't used, so I sent myself a 50p text on 24th Sept to keep it warm.

Appreciate the thought,  but no,  I don't think it was that