Submit: Great giffgaff Ideas

We've all had it I'm sure, data is down, but you don't know if it's your phone, your magnetic charge, or it is actually a network error.

 

Being able to text "STATUS" to a hotcode would reply with a text similar to :

VOICE: Good

SMS: Duh!

DATA: Yeah, it's down dude!

 

If there was no error on the reply, the abilty to log a simple ticket, so at least agents will be made aware, i.e. follow up the status message with : DATA DOWN BS13 3AZ.. This isn't a perfect solution, but when you're stuck without data, you need some way of telling your mobile provider that something is broken.

Background:

 

Recently giffgaff have introduced listing 'Unresolved Help Requests'  when accessing the help forum.  This is a really useful feature and should improve members being able to find their own Help question and also remind them to mark a 'Best Answer'.  

 

 

Problem

 

However there are some threads that are simply not appropriate to set a 'Best Answer' because either none was given (remains unsolved) or the type of thread isn't one that needs a best answer.

 

Solution

 

After further discussion on how to easily resolve this (and get rid of the threads showing) I came up with the idea of using tags on the thread's opening post which could then be expanded into a more automated solution (see here on the original contribute thread http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Contribute/Idea-New-Unresolved-Help-Requests-no-BA-relevant/m-p/137... ).

 

1. 'unsolved' and 'Unsolved' - this would mean the thread is still unresolved and this could prompt further responses from members that are particularly interested and have the knowledge to help solve more difficult problems by searching for that tag.   The use of the tag would exclude the thread from appearing in the 'Unresolved Help Requests'.
2. 'No BA needed' simply to exclude it from appearing (this is the one I would use for the 'Urban Myths' thread for example).

Change the emails (sent out to members reminding them to set a best answer) to include details on the new option of setting the tag to 'unsolved' if they can't find an appropriate best answer to set/need further help.  Also please include a valid link to the thread as I think this is an issue atm.

 

So this should be a fairly simple solution to implement and a needed one I feel.

 

As always comments and support welcomed

I agree this part to activate the sim you should top up £10
But then after we should be able to purchase £5 airtime rather than £10 minimum
So I think giffgaff should offer £5 minimum top up.
Might not be the great idea but I think this is important to people

Currently the automated lost & stolen process at http://giffgaff.com/support/lost allows you to bar your phone & SIM or just your SIM. These each result in a special SIM being sent out in the post, and your account isn't usable until then.

 

Most members have a spare SIM lying around, either because they've ordered plenty to give out or the cheeky SIM that gets sent a few weeks after they activate. Some members also have a spare old phone that they might like to use in the meantime. These members might conceivably want to SIM swap onto a spare SIM and use it in the old phone for a while or even long term.

 

If they want to bar their old phone, though, which they probably will, they have to either bar their SIM as well and be without a phone for a few days (short of activating a new SIM with all the associated palaver) or go through the agents, and even then you have to lie and say you've already reported your SIM lost in order to activate the form.

 

Therefore my suggestion is simple: on the automatic lost form, there should also be an option for "bar just my phone — I haven't lost the SIM or am going to use SIM swap".

 

 

A giffgaff sim takes at least 4-7working days to come and its tooo long. How about giffgaff offers a faster delivery. At the moment the 2nd class posting takes more than 4days but if they improve that to maybe 2 days and maximum 3days then it will be really good.

I'd like to see a widget added to the existing Android MyGiffGaff app that could be pinned to the home screen of my smartphone and would give me a quick at a glance view of my usage, without having to open the app specifically.

 

Ideally it would be resizeable, or have several size settings so it could be as small as one grid on my homescreen, or a little bigger if I have a little more real estate available. I've mocked up an example using graphics from the existing app as to how this could look.

 

I know that Apple is introducing widget functionality in it's upcoming iOS8, so perhaps this could be incorporated in to the iOS app ready for the new release also.

 

 

 

How about giffgaff making it easier for us PayPal payback choosers by making it a one off selection.

To do this you go to the payback widget, choose the PayPal option, enter your PayPal email address, then finally click the "remember this email" option.

Then once every 6 months giffgaff email/text you saying:

Hi (giffgaff username),

You have chosen PayPal as your preferred payback method. We have the following email address on record (email address).

If this address is still valid then you can ignore this email. If not please go to (payback widget address) to update it.

Many thanks,

giffgaff.

HOWEVER if you earn less than £10 giffgaff contact you to choose either credit or charity.

Hello there!

 

Quite a simple idea this one (Possibly..), when we get our usage statements each month it contains our 'Extra Savings' and our 'Top called/texted numbers' (As shown at the top of the image below) but it doesn't actually tell you how many times you have called/texted giffgaff numbers or who your top contacts on giffgaff were.

 

So my idea is to add another section to the usage statement called something like 'Top called/texted giffgaff numbers' and have the same information that was provided about non-giffgaff numbers, but for giffgaff numbers.

 

I have created what it may look like below (Do I get extra points for that?) but my usage statement is broken anyway so it didn't even show me my normal called/texted numbers..

 

 

 

 

You could also have something alongside texting 'PLAN' to 43430 (Which texts you your reccomended plan alongside your last 30 days usage) where you text 'GGINFO' (Or something..) to the same number but it gives you information about giffgaff numbers that have been texted/called.

 

All comments/ideas appreciated

Thanks to @bethanaaay for the help!

Goodybag lasts for 30 days. If people runs out goodybag mins or something else then they have to use airtime to use the service. So I was wondering if giffgaff makes a option where you can remove goodybag and buy a new one anytime we want. This will makes life easier for people and save costs.

After seeing this Idea I've come up with a little solution to many peoples problems.

 

Buying a phone currently requires you use a credit/debit card, where the shipping and billing address are the same, and it must not be a business address (even though some businesses have flats above them too).

 

What would be good is if you can use credit to purchase a phone.

 

So you can top-up like normal, say, £100, and then buy a phone.

 

Or, take your Payback as Credit, then spend it on a phone.

 

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The minimum gigabag is 500MB and maximum is 3GB
I think giffgaff should offer a little bit more on gigabag. There should be a 5GB for heavy users. And they should be able to purchase this once is every 2 month. So it doesn't slow down giffgaff bandwidth speed.
I think this will be really helpful if this idea gets counted

A suggestion for those who do not use their mobiles to ring people- Deaf people especially or even people who use work mobiles/ home landline phones.

 

I think it would be a good idea to offer another goodybag that does not include minutes. I am profoundly Deaf. I have 250 UK minutes which I will never use. It seems a waste. Maybe instead of £12 for 250 UK minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited data we could have say a reduced rate to exclude minutes but still keep the unlimited data and texts which is extremely neccessary for me. 

 

Or maybe as giffgaff is 'The mobile network run by you'- we could do a goodybag swap. Say another member runs out of minutes and I've got 250 spare but I've run out of data (just an example- not going to happen with unlimited data I know!) then we could swap. May be difficult but its an idea for the future

 

For those who have never heard of this, two step logon, (or two factor authentication to us techies) is an optional method of increasing the security of an account. It works by requiring two means of identifying yourself. These are something you know, (your password), and something you physically have, (in this case your phone). Putting this in place would make it much harder for someone to hack into the account as they wouldn't have the means to generate the information required for the second stage. The user logs in as usual, but instead of being taken to the my Giffgaff page they're asked for a code. This can be generated either by a text sent to their phone or by using an app such as google authenticator. Only after that code has been entered will they be allowed access to the account itself. In case their phone is lost or stolen, an emergency code could be provided during the setup process, or an alternative would be to allow backup one time codes to be generated and downloaded. This is the setup which many online services are now using, examples of which include Facebook, Twitter and google. Another option to consider is to have only the areas in which sensitive information is accessed and managed protected by this feature. Sites such as Amazon often require customers to verify their password in order to edit their details and even to complete a purchase. This would create a compromise in that the user would not need to worry about going through an extra step to access the community, thereby hopefully minimising the inconvenience.

At the moment giffgaff gives an option 1sim per account which is not bad but if giffgaff offers 2sims per account or even more than it makes life easier for lots of people.
Who thinks giffgaff should do this

The giffgaff community page should not count towards your data allowance. After all its giffgaffs own page and for most people the first point of contact when experiencing problems.
Some issues have to do with data consumption. That's why I think it should not count towards your data allowance.