PAYG providers

Hightower · 27 October 2013, 15:20

My 86 year old Dad broke down the other day and when he took his mobile out the glove compartment and tried to phone the breakdown service he found that it had run out of credit.

Further investigation revealed that Orange had texted him telling him they were changing his tariff back in April, charging him £10/month and giving him mins/texts and data that he neither wanted or would use. Because he doesn't read texts (and won't have a clue how to) he would have never known about the change until he used his phone, this obviously happened during a the breakdown which I class just shy of an emergency for a 86 year old. Obviously he's lost £45 of credit too!

Does anyone know if there is a provider out there that still offers good old fashioned PAYG tariffs ie: You spend £20 on phone calls only need to top up when you've run out of credit, with no limit on credit time?

Crew2 · 27 October 2013, 15:43

Try Tesco. As long as you make one chargeable call every six months the number will remain active and the money sits there till you use it on calls (or texts or data).

ShinyShoe · 27 October 2013, 15:48

Orange's Racoon Tariff doesn't need a monthly top up as far as I am aware. I'd walk into a n orange shop preferably with him looking old and frail and explain whats happened and see what they say. They have three choices as I see it (1) tell you they can't do a tariff in which case you walk out the shop (2) tell you he can be on Racoon and top up as and when, you still are free to go find another provider (3) credit him £45 and pop him on Racoon or whatever else. Why would you bother finding another provider...!

Pretty sure Vodafone and O2 have PAYG - you just need to wade past the deals and vouchers etc where you get free data for a £10 top-up etc. Vodafone needed you to use the phone for a chargable call once every 4 months or something to stop the number being disconnected I assume the others have similar rules but worth knowing what they are and checking...

There have to be people providing these as there are numerous alarm type systems that use them to send a message - £120 a year for the 'line' seems pricey...

chris.moody · 27 October 2013, 16:19

Giffgaff do payg at 10p per minute. If you sign up through someone you know who is already on Giffgaff you both get a £5 free credit on activation.

If you don't know anyone on Giffgaff you can sign up for a free sim through me (pm me and I'll pm you the web link).

Chris

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Tigga - Avon SR4 Rescue with 40hp Yamaha 2 stroke

Hightower · 27 October 2013, 19:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris.moody

Giffgaff do payg at 10p per minute. If you sign up through someone you know who is already on Giffgaff you both get a £5 free credit on activation.

If you don't know anyone on Giffgaff you can sign up for a free sim through me (pm me and I'll pm you the web link).

Chris

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Tigga - Avon SR4 Rescue with 40hp Yamaha 2 stroke

I'm with GiffGaff Chris and a very good service they offer for the money.

Are you saying that I can credit his account with money without buying a goody bag?

Hightower · 27 October 2013, 19:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

Orange's Racoon Tariff doesn't need a monthly top up as far as I am aware. I'd walk into a n orange shop preferably with him looking old and frail and explain whats happened and see what they say. They have three choices as I see it (1) tell you they can't do a tariff in which case you walk out the shop (2) tell you he can be on Racoon and top up as and when, you still are free to go find another provider (3) credit him £45 and pop him on Racoon or whatever else. Why would you bother finding another provider...!

Pretty sure Vodafone and O2 have PAYG - you just need to wade past the deals and vouchers etc where you get free data for a £10 top-up etc. Vodafone needed you to use the phone for a chargable call once every 4 months or something to stop the number being disconnected I assume the others have similar rules but worth knowing what they are and checking...

There have to be people providing these as there are numerous alarm type systems that use them to send a message - £120 a year for the 'line' seems pricey...

With all due respect I don't ever wish to deal with Orange again, I had problems with them last year and lost a few quid. Now my Father has had the same happen to him. I did suggest he go and speak to staff in an Orange shop about reclaiming the money he lost but he's experienced to know that it's probably a lost cause and not worth losing any sleep over.

You are right though, there is a lot of terms and conditions to wade though before finding out it's not the deal you thought it was. It's because of this that inspired me to post this thread in the hope to feed off peoples experience.

Hightower · 27 October 2013, 19:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crew2

Try Tesco. As long as you make one chargeable call every six months the number will remain active and the money sits there till you use it on calls (or texts or data).

Thanks, I'll take a look.

chris.moody · 27 October 2013, 19:20

Hightower

Yes. Logon to your Giffgaff account and order another sim. Activate it in your fathers name with a £10 or greater credit, but don't buy any goodybag. Within 24 hours he will get his £5 bonus credit (so will have £15 minimum). You will get 500 points with you can convert into airtime credit or cash in around six months time.

As your father uses the phone he will just use up the airtime balance at the rate of 10p per minute. As long as he tops up every three months. Giffgaff to Giffgaff calls are free, so he can call you for nowt.

Chris

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Tigga - Avon SR4 Rescue with 40hp Yamaha 2 stroke

chris.moody · 27 October 2013, 19:23

I think with Giffgaff you have to make a chargeable call every six months, so the £15 credit will last him around 45 years if he never uses it for anything else.

Chris

--
Tigga - Avon SR4 Rescue with 40hp Yamaha 2 stroke

Hightower · 27 October 2013, 19:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris.moody

Hightower

Yes. Logon to your Giffgaff account and order another sim. Activate it in your fathers name with a £10 or greater credit, but don't buy any goodybag. Within 24 hours he will get his £5 bonus credit (so will have £15 minimum). You will get 500 points with you can convert into airtime credit or cash in around six months time.

As your father uses the phone he will just use up the airtime balance at the rate of 10p per minute. As long as he tops up every three months. Giffgaff to Giffgaff calls are free, so he can call you for nowt.

Chris

--
Tigga - Avon SR4 Rescue with 40hp Yamaha 2 stroke

Okay, I will look in to this.

The only problem I see is that he won't use the phone for normal everyday conversations. He just keeps it in the car, so it means that he'll have to use the credit up every 3 months and get more credit or write it off and just buy more credit. I'll have a word with him tomorrow.

But thanks for the heads up.

Crew2 · 27 October 2013, 19:35

Early days of having our Tesco PAYG £10 lasted about a year as it was only rarely used. There was no need for any interim top-ups to keep it live. It gets a bit more use now but still doesn't need topping up by any particular date.

ShinyShoe · 27 October 2013, 19:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hightower

With all due respect I don't ever wish to deal with Orange again,

Get where you are coming from. Suspect they are all the same in reality as the front shop staff are all heavily commissioned and the back office teams (call centres etc) never see a human being and work to scripts etc.

The factors affecting if they do anything for you would likely be if they have a similar aged relative who is likely to use a mobile in the same way and how many other people are in the shop. If someone's in buying iphone5 for £500 they don't want to loose confidence in the provider, before they hand over cash!

I'd have said 5 mins in the shop was worth the try for £45.

chris.moody · 27 October 2013, 19:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hightower

Okay, I will look in to this.

The only problem I see is that he won't use the phone for normal everyday conversations. He just keeps it in the car, so it means that he'll have to use the credit up every 3 months and get more credit or write it off and just buy more credit. I'll have a word with him tomorrow.

But thanks for the heads up.

The credit lasts forever as long as you make a call every so often (I believe its six months it could be longer) so the £10 + £5 free credit will last a lifetime for an 86 year old

Chris

--
Tigga - Avon SR4 Rescue with 40hp Yamaha 2 stroke

ShinyShoe · 27 October 2013, 19:42

If thats the case for GiffGaf its well worth a look as they do free calls to 0800 no's which I guess is what his recovery company etc may be on which is even better ;-)

Hightower · 27 October 2013, 19:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris.moody

free credit will last a lifetime for an 86 year old

Chris

Dad and I went looking for a cooker yesterday, we went in to Currys to see what was on offer and he said "that cheap one will do me", I explained that the one next to it was a little more expensive but had a separate grill and oven for convenience. "No I want the cheap simple one"....."I won't need it for long anyway" he said. Needless to say I was lost for words.

chris.moody · 27 October 2013, 19:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShinyShoe

If thats the case for GiffGaf its well worth a look as they do free calls to 0800 no's which I guess is what his recovery company etc may be on which is even better ;-)

I have a spare sim that's not been used for around 10 months (was in an iPad) but it still has all its credit on it. They emailed me a few months ago saying they were going to disconnect it if it remained unused on a particular date, so I popped it in a handset and made a 30 second call.

I'm just in the process of converting my work phone over to Giffgaff as I'm sick of EE.

Chris

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Tigga - Avon SR4 Rescue with 40hp Yamaha 2 stroke

chris.moody · 27 October 2013, 19:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hightower

Dad and I went looking for a cooker yesterday, we went in to Currys to see what was on offer and he said "that cheap one will do me", I explained that the one next to it was a little more expensive but had a separate grill and oven for convenience. "No I want the cheap simple one"....."I won't need it for long anyway" he said. Needless to say I was lost for words.

He will be 131 before he needs to top up the Giffgaff sim

Chris

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Tigga - Avon SR4 Rescue with 40hp Yamaha 2 stroke

Hightower · 27 October 2013, 19:57

Lets hope that's true