For my stay in the UK, I bought a TalkMobile Pay-As-You-Go mobile connection. (Quick tip: It is the cheapest option to call abroad while you are in the UK. All incoming calls are free for you. And yes, It just takes few minutes to get activated)
Honestly speaking, it worked quite nicely. But I was shocked, when I ran out of balance and wanted to recharge. I guess I had only 5p balance left when I called their helpline 5888 so that I can get a top-up by credit card. And then I heard the funniest thing – "We need to put you through our account executive to register your credit card. This call costs 25p. Since you do not have enough credit in your account, please top-up your account and call back"
Give me a break. I called up to top-up! So are you saying that – "I will charge you a fees to pay me!"
Sounds stupid. I hope they get back to their senses and stop losing business.
And, I still did not get, why they will not have an on-line top-up facility. It is surely cheaper than working with 72,000 stores (including Tesco, Sainsbury, Post Office, etc.) across the UK (a joyful announcement that they sent proudly to me through SMS). It is high time that hi-tech telecom companies adapt technology in the right way.
P.S.: Even after this stupid flaw, I will still recommend them for the quality / price combo – It is a good value for money.
I have faced this myself. If Talkmobile really wants to charge people to help them top up, they can do so after the top up is done. And Internet top-ups should be easy to implement, if they can handle so many stores. I found Carphone Warehouse could top up my phone by just asking the phone number and owner name.
The funny thing is that TalkMobile is owned by Carphone Warehouse. What they can do for other networks, they cannot do for themselves!
This will solve your problem and at the same price 🙂
http://www.lebara-mobile.co.uk/en/
Sanjay Choudhary
” Things can only get better”
http://blogtrepreneurs.blogspot.com/
Seems they took your suggestion on board – they now have full top-up facilities online!
Nice to see that they took the cue!
Abhishek