I am having massive problems activating a Coles mobile sim. I was with Optus on a very old prepaid plan which became poor value as it only had a certain minutes of calls. 3 Days ago I bought a Coles mobile sim to change to that prepaid plan. The website immediately came up with error messages PPACT-SIMVAL-0008 and said they were unable to validate the sim, I need a new one. I called the support number in India, which is really just Optus. They didnt listen to my question about the errror code, validation problem and simply said it would be ok and its going through.
I was waiting. A day later I found they had done nothing, but I still had no phone. I spent most of yesterday on the phone and chat services, having to borrow someone elses phone to call support. In the afternoon, finally got someone who seemned to successfully activate the sim. They said it would take 4 hours.
Now I have absolutely no phone service, even to receive messages under my previous number ive had for about 20 years. I called today, and the staff member at Coles Mobile (Optus) says there is no record of the number.
I rely on my phone number for work, but I did not think it would take this long for a simple optus to Coles mobile transfer. Its fair enough if it takes a while but I feel Ive been left in limbo, with not one staff member having any idea whats going on. They dodge the question about the sim card error. My bank accounts all rely on sms, credit cards for online purchases, paypal and ebay. I would prefer a non sms authentication method, now I cant even access paypal or ebay so I am getting stressed out.
My patience cant keep this going much longer, but I wonder if I am even able to change to another provider now if Ive received a txt message last night to say my number has been ported, and no network access what so ever. If I went into a Telstra store, would they even be able to help port a number over that I nolonger have? I need to keep the number, and when this number is changed, it causes loads of issues, like having to go to bank head office to verify identity
I guess ive seldom had to call Optus but its not the language barrier at all, its the fact they just ignore questions, seem robotic, They are not in any way on the ball. They transfer me to someone else, for hours. So I end up sitting on the phone for hours. I actually have stuff I need to do, so its very frustrating and time wasting.
Does anyone have any ideas on what could be going on, and who to call to complain about this experience? Does optus have any staff in Australia who deal with these issues?
After this experience and how incompetent they are. I would prefer to go to another provider, if I cant get this rectified today. Would it be possible? Are there any phone companies that have better call center staff than optus?
Honestly, if you had done your research you could've EASILY avoided this situation.
Ports (or more correctly, churns) within the Optus network are renowned for delays and problems.
Already being an existing Optus customer at the time, you should've ported temporarily to a non-Optus provider first, then ported from that provider to Coles Mobile. Coles Mobile is an Optus MVNO, and this is no secret.
Moving on, contact the gaining provider to get some traction on your issue.
And next time do your own homework. In the time it takes for you to follow this up with Optus and Coles, making a post here and then reading the replies, you could've ported Optus-Vodafone-Coles with time to go for a leak in between.
/thread.