3 Prepay 20 SIM card not activating

[JohnJO]

I bought one 6 days ago and it won't activate. I have spent hours on the chat desk on four occasions and keep being told (4 times) that it will take 24-48 hours. Can anyone tell me what the problem is please.

[Three_Deborah]

@JohnJO Is there any signal with your new SIM in your phone? Let me know 

[JohnJO]

Hi Deborah,
No. When I put the SIM into the phone I get “searching” for about 10-15 seconds, and then “no connection / signal.”
Does that answer your question?
John

[Three_Deborah]

@JohnJO hmm, strange one. I'll need to look at your Prepay account. Send on your number, address and date of birth, plus your full name 👍

[JohnJO]

Hi Deborah,
Thanks for getting back to me.
I appreciate your help.
John

[Three_Deborah]

@JohnJO  Oooppppsss , you posted your personal details publicly. I've deleted them for you. Can you resend via PM, please? 

[JohnJO]

Thanks Deborah but how do I do it privately? What is your email address?

[JohnJO]

Karen, I have just put in the SIM and it has connected with three for the first time. I have tried to transfer my existing number and it has said that the service is unavailable. I can’t top in My 3 until I transfer the number so I can’t use the SIM.

[Three_Deborah]

@JohnJO You should see "send me a PM" in my signature. Click on that 👍

[JohnJO · Accepted solution]

First of all many thanks to the staff on this chat Deborah and Karen. The resolution of this was that after 7 days of the SIM not activating, and endless chats on the main support desk, whatever glitch that caused this was resolved and it went “live,” which I only found out by chance - putting it into the phone to see if there had been any change, and it happening. I then got a bunch of text messages about topping up etc. Subsequently a chat with one of the Irish agents called Peter helped a lot. Warning! If you change from a prepay plan to this plan (3 Prepay 20), you cannot transfer your number. The website doesn’t tell you this, and what’s more it tells you nothing about what to do once you get the SIM. If you buy the plan on-line it doesn’t give you an option to put the plan on your existing SIM. The Irish agent I chatted with was able to do that for me - fantastic - so we cancelled the old SIM. My take away from this is don’t change your plan until the crisis is over and then go to a 3 shop. Hopefully they will open soon.