Lost credit on two lines

[NFH]

I have two lines with Three. My credit has recently vanished on both of them:

• Line with €4.99 of credit, which I last used on 19/06/2021 with €0.01 of data roaming
• Line with €43.01 of credit, which I last used on 14/08/2021 with a roaming SMS costing €0.20

I live in London, where I use a Three UK SIM. Because both Three UK and Three Ireland have failed to launch eSIM, I cannot use both lines in my iPhone. Therefore incurring chargeable usage every 180 days on my Three Ireland numbers is very difficult. That's why €4.99 expired on one line, only 5 days ago.

However, I don't understand why €43.01 of credit expired on the other line. Can anyone please help?

[LauraH]

@NFH Let's take a look at this for you. It sounds like your credit may have expired on your second number too. The rules around credit expiry vary depending on the price plan that you're on. All About: Prepay Credit  goes into the different rules in detail, check it out and let me know if you find the answer there 👍

[NFH]

Thanks @LauraH.

The first line with an 083 number (which had €4.99 credit) is on 3Prepay (whose T&Cs state that "Any credit purchased via a top up terminal or through our online top up facility (“vouchers”) shall expire if you do not make at least one chargeable outbound service usage in the 180 day period following activation of that voucher (eligible cash voucher period)".

The second line with an O2 legacy 086 number (which had €43.01 credit) is on 3Essential, with credit added entirely when it was O2, whose T&Cs have just been changed to state "Effective from 1st December 2020, any top up credit on your account will expire after 180 days. Your Three Prepay account credit will expire 180 days from the date that your account was last topped up. For any pre-existing credit on your account as of 1 December 2020, the expiry date for that credit will start from 1 December 2020". I received no notification of this change in the T&Cs.

Therefore I would like Three to port my 086 number to my 083 number and reinstate my lost €43.01 credit to the 083 number (and ideally also the €4.99 credit). Could someone action this for me please?

[LauraH]

@NFH Those changes came into effect on December 1st 2020 so that was over a year ago, all customers would have been notified at the time. When did you last top-up your 086 number? On that plan, any new top-up would extend the expiry date of all the remaining credit for 180 days. If it's been longer than that then I'm guessing I'm correct in assuming your credit expired.

I'm not sure what you mean by porting your 086 number to your 083 number, can you give me more detail there? Porting occurs from one network to another generally, it's not possible when both numbers are on the same network. If you mean you'd like your 086 number on one of our 3 Prepay plans then you can change this easily over on My3. Re: All About My3 and Prepay  will give you more details there. 

[NFH]

@LauraH Yes, maybe porting is no longer necessary, as it's within the same network. But I would like my O2 legacy 086 number to be on a tariff where chargeable outbound service usage every 180 days remains sufficient to keep the number and the credit active, as remains the case with my 083 number.

You are right that all customers should have been notified at the time. However, I was not notified. I've checked my e-mails, and I received no notification. By what means and on what date were customers allegedly notified?

[LauraH]

@NFH Changing over to our 3 Prepay plans is easy on My3. Give it a shot and let me know how you get on. 

The notifications were sent by text message in December 2020, check out your messages 👍

[NFH]

@LauraHThank you for confirming the method by which the notification was sent. SMS messages have a limited validity period, which is no more than 7 days but usually much less. If the message is not delivered to the destination number within the validity period, then the message is deleted from the server and never delivered. Therefore SMS is not a durable or reliable form of communication. This explains why I did not receive the notification. I no doubt did not have my SIM card in a phone during the 7 days following the SMS being sent. Given that Three failed to notify me of this change by a durable and reliable means, which deprived me of the opportunity to preserve my credit, will Three please reinstate my credit?

[LauraH]

Morning @NFH. There is some onus on customers and responsibility that when we send text notifications it's with the understanding that these numbers are in use and live. You are right in saying that SMS have a shelf life and are sent thinking that customers have their phones switched on or switch them on on a regular basis. This change in T&Cs has been widely advertised on three.ie and also here on the Community where customers have asked about credit depletion, we had many queries on this subject. My hands are tied on this because they are the terms and conditions.