SIM expiry and loss of credit - £1/month 'stay alive' Direct Debit

[#1]

I appreciate that Giffgaff rules make it very clear what will happen if you don't make or receive a call or text for 6 months - your SIM dies and you lose any remaining credit.

11.1 

If you do not make or receive a call or SMS at least once in any 6 month period your SIM Card will be disconnected and you will lose any remaining credits balance on your Account. If you wish to be re-connected after this time you will be given a new mobile phone number.

With that in mind, Giffgaff is unsuitable for the emergency 'put it in the glovebox and forget it until/unless it's needed' phone* (because a Giffgaff phone would not work - in fact it'd be dead and its number gone - if 6 months had passed since it was last used)

* I have an old basic Nokia with a PAYG SIM in my car and so does the GL.

I think it's time to re-think that draconian procedure - not least because CW appear to be making a clever attempt to grab that sort of 'occasional user' market with their new £1/month contract (25 any UK network minutes and 50 texts included).  Hence, for £12 per annum, a user can have an operational emergency phone and associated peace of mind.

I do not know why it is necessary to kill an in-credit Giffgaff SIM and grab back the number just because no calls/texts have been made/received but, assuming that some reason exists, my suggestion is for Giffgaff to match CW's clever new contract by allowing £1/month account top-ups by Direct Debit to keep a SIM alive.

Yes, an unused phone would gain £12 credit in the course of a year but it can be assumed that would be of no concern to the owner and of enough benefit to Giffgaff to allow the SIM an extended life-span.

[#2]

All pay and go network sims do this. The sim your talking about is a contract sim

[#3]

interesting point - does anyone know how the rest of uk payg market compares in this to giffgaff?

(let's put aside the CW deal for a moment - after all it's a contract deal, albeit very clever one, since it is roughly a £10 goodybag divided by 10, minus the perks) 

i ask: where does the 6 month limit logic comes from? is it money - how much does it cost gg, to keep a 'dormant'  SIM live?

EDIT: thanks for clarification above: [by mary_r_t on 11-08-2011 13:15] 

possible solution: if the phone is not used in X months, take for example £1 from the account credit and start counting a new period?

[#4]

Thanks for that radable, yes a possibility - but I think the £1 DD idea might be better received by Giffgaff because they gain something (albeit not a lot) as an incentive not to kill a SIM (although doing so and grabbing all unused credit might make better business sense).

[#5]

it is reasonable for the sim to be cut off after six months however it is good for people to be able to top up £1 a month for the credit not to be killed and so that they can have the sim ?

[#6]

This Idea has unfortunately not received support in 3 months+ and has not reached the magic 10 kudos needed but if it does it will later be revisited. ^_^ Thanks so much for contributing to the Ideas board and I look forward to your next idea. Kind regards, Hazel

[#7]

Hi, I wonder if now that gigabags have been introduced if this will be amended. I intend to put my sim into a tablet that cannot make calls and then get a monthly gigabag - given that I am paying for data do I risk being cut off after 6 months?

[#8]

I still favour the idea with its original intention but, as the powers that be have stomped on it from a great height ......

[#9]

Hi MrsBleach - not at all If you like the idea - why don't you Kudos it as you haven't already? It's quite common for ideas to bounce back from no support - so start a thread, PM friends you think would like it etc Don't give up

[#10]

Done.

[#11]

Come of people, there must be someone other than me who thinks this is a good idea (Kudos-ing it wil cost you nothing).