No phone for 9 days now, since I arrived back. I got a sim card for my phone from Vodafone, it didn’t connect immediately, “Give it a couple of hours to connect” so I went for a wander around town. Two hours later I went back - still no connection - and she’d left the store…
Alright, I’ll leave it overnight. The next day I was traveling so I went into a Vodafone place in Victoria station, “What’s the IMEI number?”, after playing about with it for a while they said they couldn’t help and that I should use the store’s phone to call customer services. I called and explained that I needed my phone to contact my sister who was picking me up at Skegness bus terminal. They were really nice, I explained I’d had it on Vodafone PAYG before I left for overseas in 2011, “What’s the IMEI number?”
“It’s blocked, as in stolen blocked?”
“Yeah.”
“Well I reported it as stolen but found it the next day and got it unblocked, that was in 2011.”
“Sorry we’ve no notes to say it was unblocked.”
“Can you unblock it now?”
“No notes, sorry. Go to the store where you got it.”
“I just left there and I’m going up north.”
“We’ll put a report through, and call you in 72 hours. It’s pretty irregular so it might take us a while to fix it.”
I went to a cafe (awesome kebab) and managed to use my Nexus 7, for free on a Wifi point labelled ‘Google’, and Skyped my sister. No answer so I sent her a Skype text, then got on the coach. She got it and picked me up dead on time. Result.
After three days I called Vodafone’s c/s, and spoke to a friendly girl with a very cute Scottish lilt. “What’s the IMEI number? We’re looking into it, do you have the number you used back when you were in England before? That’d make it easier to find your old account.” “Um… no. It was two years ago and I’ve been away since then. But I’ll look around and see if I have any record. Call me back in 3 hours.” (she was working until 9, but that meant a later start so it wasn’t too bad)
Then I had a thought, maybe my sister still has my number on her phone? It was the last number I used in England.
Yes, she has it on her phone! After she called back I said “Yeah, I found it.” “Ooh, well done Mr Clark!” (I swear she was flirting with me at that point). “We’ll call you back within three days. Yes, you have a lovely evening too.”
I called them back today, 4 days later, and got through to someone on the west coast of Scotland, a very friendly and efficient guy (starting his week on a Friday and not hugely impressed about that) answered “What’s the IMEI number? Well now, no phone for 9 days is not acceptable. They’re looking into it. Just hang on a sec and I’ll get a manager.” She was also very efficient (had been pretty busy all day), “What’s the IMEI number? Are you sure it was on Vodaphone, that phone number doesn’t look like one of ours. Maybe it’s T-mobile or something?” “I’d had a Vodafone sim in my luggage until I had a clearout. Was moving around with it for a year and thought I wouldn’t need it again. Hmm… you know what? I think I might have been on T-mobile, the Vodafone sim was maybe older. My memory is not the best, sorry!” “No worries, just call T-mobile.”
So I called T-mobile with the number (I checked online and it was a T-mobile prefix) and went through the boring, extended story again. They were no help at all, the first adviser just said “What’s the IMEI number?” and told me to go to where I bought it. Totally unhelpful and negative. I called again and, after giving my IMEI number she said it wasn’t blocked after I had unblocked it, in 2011, after I found it again.
“So, you can’t tell Vodafone to unblock it?” “No, sorry we told the system back then and we can’t change it.” Also very unhelpful, she really didn’t understand the situation which is probably why T-mobile has so many options you have to dial to get through. It sounded to me like their call centre is not in the UK, although their English was quite good. “So you can’t help either, fine. Thank you goodbye.”
You know what? I have a really old Nokia I haven’t used in 2 years, but I connected it to the charger and it sprung into life! I stuck in the Vodafone sim and it got a signal! I sent my sister a text telling her that was my new number and got a message saying I have no credit! What? So I called Vodafone again; “What’s the IMEI number? Have you topped it up?” “No, I bought £10 of credit with the sim and haven’t been able to use it for 9 days.” “Go to the shop where you bought it and they can help.” “It’s miles away, I have the receipt here.” “Ah good, go to any Vodafone store.” “Right, I’m in the middle of the countryside, the nearest store is a couple of hours away. Thanks. Bye.”
Still no phone line but 2 phones, one of which might only be okay on T-mobile. Only drink can save me now.
