Details on PAYG minimum usage & credit validity period

[suakasaya]

I have a few questions about the requirement to make at least one chargeable  activity every 180 days to keep the number active. Let’s say the chargeable activity we’re talking about is outgoing call.

1. When does the 180-day period start for the SIM card’s active status? Is it counted from the last time I topped it up with credit, or from the last time I made an outgoing call? (Say if I do a credit topup in January, my last outgoing call is in March, will the card expire in June or August?)

2. Does the credit have validity period? If so when does it expire? (Say if I topup the number with £20 credit in January, but during the 180 days I only manage to use £10. Will the rest £10 be forfeited after June? Or will it be available for as long as I keep the number active?)

I’d greatly appreciate any responses from anyone on this topic. Thank you in advance!

[ChrisAO]

Those Ts&Cs are badly written and so confusing. Looking at it again I see a voucher is mentioned at the start of the document in Summary Section C, and again in para.9.1.(i) but no mention of the other forms of top-up (or the fact that they create a "dummy" voucher), so thanks for clarifying the situation.

I don't suppose we can expect them to update the document to clarify this, as it took them nearly two months to produce an updated Price Guide (even the Price Guide page is full of confusion)!

[ChrisAO]

@JohnM or @JonathanB AIUI as stated in https://www.three.co.uk/content/dam/threedigital/terms-and-conditions/paym-and-payg/payg-terms-and-c...  the 180 days does NOT include from a Top-Up as it does on some other networks. Could you please confirm I've understood correctly (or not!). Thanks.

[JonathanB]

Hi @ChrisAO,

Great question! In the t's and c's you'll see that it also refers to adding a voucher. I double checked this with my contacts, just to be 100% and any top up will also reset the timer. A credit/debit card or other top up method effectively creates a dummy voucher in the system, so don't worry, it doesn't need to be a printed voucher from a shop.

[James150]

@Retiredyoung- I can confirm that I had the same behaviour - I needed to send three texts before my balanced decreased. This was on a new PAYG SIM which registered and activated today.

[Retiredyoung]

My balance hadn't updated after sending 2 text messages in December since the new website required re-registering in November. I contacted 3 by phone today and was told that you get given 2 free text messages, even if you don't top up your credit. This was a surprise as at no time did 3 advise me of this and I can't find anything on their website. I had sent my first text to keep my account active (180 day rule) and as this hadn't registered against my balance resent another one 11 days later. This still hadn't decreased my balance. 3 advised me to send another text, which I did and this did finally make my balance decrease by 15p. Can anyone else confirm if this has happened to them or confirm that the 2 free text messages is monthly or what, as obviously customers may get their accounts/credit suspended.

[ChrisAO]

Just FYI albeit late in the day, same for me.

[Geluk · Accepted solution]

180 days from last chargeable usage ie either text or call. Credit added to your SIM does not expires, as is shown when you log in to your 3 account.

[suakasaya]

Hi, Geluk, sorry for bothering you again. Is there any way to check the exact expiry date of the SIM card? I couldn’t seem to find it anywhere in the app.