Has my number been lost?

[shivakonar]

Hi,

I come to you with a problem and I am hoping you could resolve.

I was on a pay month contract with Vodafone which ended on 4th Sept. So to prepare for that, I signed up for a 12 month pay month contract with 3 BUT THROUGH AFFORDABLE MOBILES(3rd Party) on 1st Sept. I had also requested the PAC code from Vodafone and entered this code while filling in the application form.

The SIM card arrived on 5th Sept.I popped in the SIM card into my phone and waited over 48 hours, but the SIM wouldn't activate.

In this 48 hours, from 5th Sept to 7th Sept, I contacted Affordable Mobiles and 3 multiple times hoping to get my network activated. All the while the only answer I got from Affordable Mobile was it's not our issue and don't know why the network hasn't been activated and you need to call 3. While 3 kept saying(I have chat records saved) the network will never get activated because Affordable sent me a PAYG SIM instead of a pay monthly SIM.

Because I kept going back and forth and getting no where, I asked 3 what's the solution to this. 3 advised I should ask Affordable Mobiles to send a cancellation request to 3 and get the contract cancelled. And once after everything has settled, apply for a new contract. This happened on the 6th.

So, I raised the cancellation request with Affordable Mobiles on 6th Sept. While this was happening, the new 3 SIM card which I received on 5th Sept got activated briefly on 8th Sept. Upon activation, I also received an email from 3 on my email address saying my old number from Vodafone will be ported to 3 on 11th Sept.

I immediately contacted 3 saying this is the status, that my contract is cancelled/about to be cancelled and I don't want the number to be ported. I was assured(again on chat records) that since the contract has been cancelled BEFORE the porting(from vodafone to 3) has happened, the porting will not go through and my number will remain with Vodafone. So there is nothing to worry and nothing to do on my part.

Come 11th Sept, my number with Vodafone suddenly got deactivated. So I immediately called up Vodafone explaining the situation. I also was not able to log into MyVodafone online account and got an error saying there is no number registered with Vodafone.

I was told by Vodafone that the number has been ported to 3 so they no records of mine and that only one who can help me is 3.

So, as you can guess my next step, I called up 3 explaining the situation. I must say, 3 were sympathetic but kept saying that my old number from Vodafone has not been ported to 3 and I need to go back to Vodafone to get a PAC code. After much deliberation, 3 mentioned that they can see the active PAC code on the system but unsure why it's applied. They were guessing it's because the new 3 number I received was deactivated and porting was applied to a deactivated number.

In efforts to resolve this, 3 reactivated my new 3 number and tried to apply the PAC code, but that didn't go through. A case with the complaints team has been raised to look into this further.

This is the whole story.

Could someone please from technical team / porting team please look into this. I cannot lose my old number. I have had that number for over 13 years and my whole life revolves around this. Please I beg you to understand my situation.

I don't mind staying with 3 if you can just get my old number activated.

The only reason for this big mess is that the new SIM card I received on the 5th was just not activating. Had it activated, nothing of all this would have happened.

Please I beg you to understand my situation and please resolve this.

Is there anyway I get my old number for over 13 years back? Anyone have faced a similar issue?

[MZone]

If your old SIM with Vodafone got cut off then sounds like the port request went through. Have you put your 3 SIM card in a phone to try. The PAC code is only valid one time only so if the port has gone through then they wouldn’t be able to use the same PAC code again. 

[shivakonar]

If you read my post above, I put in the request to cancel the new 3 sim card on the 7th. It briefly got activated on the 8th for about an hour. In that hour, I received "Welcome to 3" text message and 2 emails. One email said your direct debit has been setup and second said your old number will be ported to 3 on the 11th.

As soon as these emails were received, I contacted 3 immediately asking why have am I receiving these email if I have asked to cancel the contract and I don't want the porting to go through. 

I was assured by 3 that since the cancellation request has happened before porting, the porting will not happen and the old number will remain with Vodafone. There is nothing to worry and there is nothing to do on my side.

So this is purely my assumption, the new 3 number did actually get disconnected. But looking like SIM activation and porting are 2 different process and just because sim is getting cancelled it does not actually stop the porting.

The porting did take place on the 11th but it had no where to go because the 3 sim was already cancelled. 

So the old vodafone number is hanging in thin air. 

Where has the old number gone then? I hope there is some kind of quarantine pool where such numbers go and can be retrieved. 

Can someone from 3 please help? Before it's too late?

[JonathanB]

Hi @shivakonar,

I'm really sorry to hear that your number port still seems to have been processed after the cancellation request. I'll do my best to help get you in touch with the right people to solve this.

Based on what you've described the number should be able to be recovered, there's usually a window of 90 days to reconnect the number or supply a new PAC if a number is cancelled in error.

I'll send you a PM to get you in touch with some help with this.

To view your private messages on the community, click on your avatar image in the top right of any community page, then "Messages".

Thanks,
Jonathan

[shivakonar]

Just in case anyone reading this. There has been a complaint raised and porting team are looking into this. It's been 24 hours, there still is no update/movement/resolution. I still don't have my number back. 

[shivakonar]

5 days in, still no update, still no resolution. I am now getting financially hurt as I am unable to log in to my banking apps and make the payment that is due because I can't receive verification texts and calls.

Absolutely appalling service from 3. I am disgusted that I chose 3 to move my contract to.

[shivakonar]

I guess the only option left now is to email the CEO, COO and CNO. Sad 

[shivakonar]

So, 15 days, over 50 calls and chats, and email to Three leadership team later, the issue is finally resolved

[JonathanB]

Hi @shivakonar,

It's disappointing to hear this took so long to resolve, but I'm glad to hear it's finally sorted.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[wasiuleq]

Im having exactly this issue, sent you a PM please help...