Top up – or we’ll cut you off
Tuesday 31st May 2011, 2:51PM BST.
Dave and Pat Collenette were told that unless they topped up their accounts they would be disconnected
AN elderly couple are outraged that their pay-as-you-go mobile phones were cut off because they had not topped up within seven months.
Dave (78) and Patricia (76) Collenette, of St Saviour, had over £60 worth of credit on their Jersey Telecom sim cards but because they had not recently topped up, their phones were disconnected.
Mr and Mrs Collenette, who have two sons, explained that they mainly used their phones to text their sons when they were abroad and in case one of them was to have an accident, or feel unwell.
Full story in today’s JEP
Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post. Click here for subscription details. Individual editions are also available online.
Travel
To, from and around the Island
Airport Arrivals/Departures
Harbours Arrivals/Departures
Bus Information/Timetables
JOIN US ON...
Facebook and Twitter
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Got a story? Get in touch
KIT 4 CLUBS
Win a share of £10,000
2012 is the year of the London Olympics and to celebrate this great event the Jersey Evening Post, in association with sponsors Ogier is giving all sporting clubs a chance to win a share of £10,000.
This is Jersey
Jersey Evening Post
Useful links
Yep, had this myself a few weeks ago, my work mobile is a pay as you go and as I am on call 24/7 it’s really important that I can be contacted. I hardly ever use it to make calls but I need to be contactable at all times so a contract phone would be a waste of money.
I’d enjoyed a long bank holiday weekend and when I got back to work my answerphone was full of messages from people desperate to contact me. I had no idea my mobile hadn’t been working so I went straight to the JT shop and was told I’d been cut off. I had over £10 of credit but as I hadn’t topped up in 7 months I’d been cut off. There was a guy next to me complaining about exactly the same thing so it must be common.
This is outrageous, I need my phone for work and they have cut off an essential service with no prior notice. I don’t doubt that there is a disclaimer somewhere in the basement on the back of a toilet door at JT but it’s still not fair.
I now have to top up my phone every 6 months whether I need to or not to avoid being cut off.
THIS IS CRIMINAL!
Report abuse
Simply not topped up, or not turned their phones on either? I’d be very suprised if a phone that was recently active on the network would be cut off.
In JT’s defense, a lot of PAYG SIM cards will be lost, and people might not care about replacing them. I remember when I had my first PAYG, I had my phone stolen, but didn’t save the original documentation of the SIM card (ie the credit-card sized card you pop the little SIM out when you buy it), so the number was lost. I didn’t inform JT, and I doubt they could have done anything if I had, as it wasn’t registered to me so I could be anyone phoning up to cancel someone else’s number maliciously.
I assume after a certain period of inactivity, JT sweeps up numbers. What else are they supposed to do?
I’d suggest this was just an unfortunate turn of events from a couple who use their phones in an unusual manner (i.e. turn them on once a year when their sons go on holiday) and have no doubt that JT will resolve the issue. Why this trivial consumer issue made it into the local news I have no idea!
Report abuse
Jersey telecoms = Jersey Rip off never never use Jersey telecoms how awful to rob an elderly couple. It is legalized robbery nothing less !!!
Report abuse
Is this the whole story? This is an elderly couple who, obviously, were not fully aware of the “small print”. Did anyone discuss this on their behalf with JT or is it simply that because they had not abided by the terms of the contract the phones were cut off. I could understand the article if it were the case that, representations having been made, JT had refused to reinstate their phones. But, as your article is silent on the point, I suspect that no one has raised the matter properly with JT. Hardly a story then, if that’s the case.
Report abuse
this couple are not alone , in using their phones like this, many other pensioners ( may have to watch the pennies) do the same , and only use their phone in a emergancy.
shame on you telecoms , reconnect them now.
in fact the person who santioned the withdrawal of service , from a in credit customer , should make the trip to vist them and say sorry for any distress.
Report abuse
That is a disgrace. The credit should be reimbursed and let the customer transfer to a more friendly mobile phone provider.
Report abuse
This happened to my cousin from Ireland who kept a prepay phone over here. I called the network for her who were happy to reconnect her.
After that I always made sure to get out her phone once a month and make a token call to my land line to be on the safe side…
Having said that, when I was in France the top up vouchers are all timed – 20€ is good for about 30 days, 50€ will get you a whole 60 days worth before they reset you to zero…
Report abuse
According to the full article in today’s JEP, Jersey Telecom allow seven months without a top-up which is more generous than the National standard (do the other Jersey operators switch you off after six months) and more than double some UK operators which require top ups every 3 months.’
What has it got to do with Jersey what occurs in a foreign country? About time we stopped taking notice of what goes on elsewhere. We are not the UK and I for one am getting fed up with all the impositions placed upon us by outside influences which have brought us no benefit.
Report abuse
This is a standard T&C for pretty much every provider, this is just another pathetic attempt to undermine/ have a dig a JT.
Here are Airtel’s, which in fact seem worse to me!
JEP perhaps you can do some investigative journalism for once!
10.3 The Customer is responsible for ensuring that their account/ number is topped up at least every six (6) months (ie one hundred and eighty (180) days).Failure to do so will result in the Customer’s Service becoming suspended and the Customer will not be able to make outgoing calls/ SMS, or use Chargeable Services. When the Customer’s Service is suspended the Customer has a further 120 days (3 Months) to top-up their account to remove the outgoing calls/ SMS suspension. If the Customer fails to top-up their account within 180 days (6 months) from the date JAL/GAL implements suspension of outgoing calls/ SMS and the use of Chargeable Services, JAL /GAL has the right to terminate the Customer’s Service and the Customer’ s number, Service and unused credit will be forfeited and lost.”
Report abuse
Jersey Telecoms changed their conditions of contract April2011 and are allowed to do so without reference to their customers’ – their comment was “we are simply following our competitors”, however, ALL other PAYG mobile operators in Jersey do not operate this way, guess where i’m taking my business !!!
Report abuse
To be fair to the telecom companies they do have to have a policy of getting rid of dormant accounts so that they can reuse the numbers.
There must be hundreds of accounts that fall in to disuse for one reason or another every year.
I have a phone on a contract but I have a phone on pay as you go as well for occasional use. The credit is valid for six months and the phone will expire a month after that so it is a case of topping it up about three times a year and making an odd call to keep the phone alive.
The balance message does give you the dates when you check the balance so it is not hidden from you.
Report abuse
As other people have said this is standard practice & covered in T&C’s. You’ve got to wonder at why anyone who obviously uses the phone so infrequently would have £60 worth of credit on it.
Is this really news?
Report abuse
Maybe JT could place certain numbers under protection for vulnerable or elderly users who need a phone but might not use it all the time. JT is, I believe, owned by the States. Whilst it should strive to make a profit, its primary purpose is to provide a civil service, i.e. communication to the citizens of Jersey. Some Corporate Social Responsibility lessons should be learned here.
Report abuse
Wikipedia: A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties with mutual obligations.
The most important feature of a contract is that one party makes an offer for an arrangement that another accepts.
If you don’t like it – don’t buy it.
Simples (to some of us anyway.)
Report abuse
I imagine that there are many others, like myself, who don’t live in Jersey but who have a JT mobile number that we only use when we come to the island. No doubt our usage pattern would be obvious to a human being looking at the account but not necessarily to a computer.
I now anticipate finding that my number will be given to someone else under this change of terms and conditions. That should cause some confusion!
I have a couple of other SIM cards for countries that I am only an annual visitor to and they immediately reinstate the service when topping up on returning there.
18 months would be a sensible and safe margin, I would have thought.
If you are reading this, JT, don’t look too hard for my account under ‘B’!
Report abuse
To me it seems plain greedy to insist that people have to top-up every few months … i see on here a number of comments in the defense of JT all about re-using dormant numbers and while i totally understand that and it is of course a good idea to do … there is no need for someone to have to top-up to prove the number is still active … JT could just text the number and ask if the phone is still in use, after say 7 months of no use, and unless the person replies saying it is still active then they de-activate after 12 months. Why do you have to pay them to prove you still own the phone?
Just seems money-grabbing under the frail veil of customer service to me!
Report abuse
Telecoms = 7 months, Airtel = 12 months, and Sure come in at only requiring £5 top up once every 12 months.
So if you are dormant users like the above, there’s your best option. Looked into it after my wife received a text today to say she had until mid june to top up or be cut off.
Report abuse
is this really news. the couple have not kept to the terms and conditions. like most things if you don’t ,you may lose service. i understand you only need to top up once every seven months with only £ 5.00 then that £5.00 is for use and you do not lose your previous remaining balance.most people spend more money on a sandwich. they are not taking your money and giving nothing back.
as stated by comment 8 you’ll find most providers are the same.i understand many pensioners have phones for emergency but 999 calls can always be made whether you have credit or not. if you only use the phone for incoming calls why would a provider keep that service when you never spend money with them.it seems alot of people are quick to slander jersey telecom but at least the money they make goes back into the jersey states pot and you get through to a human being in their call centre.
Report abuse
Rather than simply suspend accounts, why don’t JT, or other phone providers, send the phone a text message, warning them that their account will be suspended if they don’t top up within 30 days?
If the phone is lost, or not used anymore, then the account holder won’t respond. However, if the phone is still being used then they can sort something out
Report abuse
Airtel killed my PAYG and it had nearly £10 credit on it!
So not just JT.
Report abuse
If this is a story then I think the JEP are scraping the bottom of the barrel here. It’s pretty common knowledge that these phones get cut off if not topped up over time so perhaps their sons’ could of told them before they went on holiday? It is a stupid story because it will not change anything.
Report abuse
What an odious money making malpractice this is…they have PAID…to invalidate their service which they have already PAID for is taking their money…taking money without permission…hang on there’s another name for that….escapes me at the mo…begins with R.
Report abuse
No. 2 Loco It might be a ‘trivial consumer issue’ to you but 70 pounds on a sim card is a lot of cash which can not be utilised by the owner and is sitting earning interest Jersey Telecoms bank.
Report abuse
Read the small print before you buy x All companies have their down sides and ways of getting you nower days x
Report abuse
In reply to ‘Someone’ (No.
who attempts to convince us that Airtel’s terms and conditions are worse than JT’s: you obviously don’t realise that the minimum top-up is only £2 on Airtel as opposed to £5 on JT. So for someone who hardly makes any calls it would be cheaper to just buy £2 of Airtel credit every 6 months and by doing so there is another huge advantage:
Under the existing Airtel Power Plan, this would entitle you to free calls and texts to one other Airtel number “for life”. Furthermore, it costs 5p per minute on Power Plan to ring any local mobile or landline (10p/12p on JT- double the cost) and just 10p per minute to phone any Guernsey, UK or other EU landline or mobile (20p on JT and I believe this is after they drastically reduced their UK mobile tariff). My only proviso is that I have just noticed that Airtel are now introducing a new plan called ‘One’ with a higher tariff of 9p per minute for local calls and I don’t know if this is what a new customer would have to pay (but still cheaper than JT anyway!).
Yes, I was also hit by the change in JT’s Terms and Conditions as I had several PAYG SIMs on JT which were topped up but not being used. I had no warning of the changes. I just tried to make a call last week and couldn’t. No incoming calls were possible either and even their free 152 helpline was unobtainable.
So I had to visit the store last Friday and was served by some smug teenager who assured me that I was wrong about not being pre-warned as JT would have sent me warning texts, even though they most definitely did NOT send me any texts. I’m not willing to top up £5 on each of my SIMs just to keep them active when I hardly use them so as it stands I HAVE LOST OVER £30 IN UNUSED CREDIT and I will now lose all those numbers registered in my name. It is a huge rip-off but when it results in end-of-year profits above expectations, the JT management millionaires will use it as another excuse to inflate their own bloated remuneration packages.
If we all just turn our backs on JT it will be better for us and, eventually, better for JT when they are forced to recruit cheaper (and fewer) managers and hopefully this will lead to lower tariffs and a change in attitude towards their customers.
Report abuse
The same thing happened to my grandparents, it doesn’t matter how often you use you phone (mostly used for texting the grandchildren or family on holiday etc) it’s if the phone hasn’t been topped up in the last 7 months it gets cut off.
They had topped it up with £60 and as they don’t use it often had no need to top it up again, and they had to top it up with another £5 before it could be reconnected so the same thing will happen again in another 7 months.
Report abuse
Seems to me a fairly limited argument if you ask me… if every JT number begins 07797 and is then followed by 6 digits, that’s over ten numbers for every man, woman and child in Jersey, it beggars belief that they’d run out of combinations within six months!
Report abuse
Stick to your guns J.T.
This is a cynical ploy to get reimbursed.
Read the small print before you accept a service.
Report abuse
This is just topping up actually!! I use my phone every day for calls and text messages and mine was cut off the other week….purely because I have not topped up in 7 months!!! I need my phone and it is luck I discovered it was cut off when I did rather than in an emergency.
Is it really the users fault if they don’t top up every 7 months? They do give you the opportunity to put £100+ on your phone credit at a time (which is what I do) so that you don’t have to top up as regularly!!
Report abuse
17. jerseygirlno71 Why would the couple in question want to top up with just 5 pounds. How would they know how long their conversation with their sons might last. Jersey Telecoms should refund and be done with it. These monopolies should be more responsible.
Report abuse
Standard practice around the world. There are only so many numbers you can use. The databases are swept for dormant users and deleted.
Whilst away recently, had a foreign sim and it was only valid for a matter of weeks unless it was topped up.
As for the guy who said he needed it for call out, if it was that important you WOULD pay for a contract phone. Your call out cant be very important and your customers not valued if you are prepared to scrape on a PAYG. Utterly ridiculous blaming a service provider when you wont pay for the service.
A non news story with the usual JT haters in here.
Report abuse
truthseeker you clearly have no idea or knowledge of the commercial reality of the world. To maintain an accoutn (PAYG or otherwise) costs money to run, therefore they telecom companies have every right to legally charge you. This is a simple commercial reality and usual like yoruself to whinge and moan abotu anything, rather than look at facts.
The details are BLANK AND WHITE in the contract abotu this, only an idiot wouldn’t realise this process (see Mulvie Le Pew for evidence). If Mulvie NEEDS a work mobile, then there shoudl be a phone provided which ensures this doesn’t happen. If someone is stupid enough not to realise this when they sign a contract, more fool them.
I suspect this must of happened to you truthseeker – hilarious – why am I not surprised…
Report abuse
Nathan, I believe that they’re only allowed to allocate certain blocks of numbers with 07797 by international agreement – and any given 6 digit JT number is either a landline (01534) OR a mobile (07797) – you won’t find your home number on a mobile and vice versa. That’s what a geeky friend told me anyway
Report abuse
To be honest it seems perfectly reasonable that if a mobile phone has not had any activity for 6 months that it is not being used, and therefore is either lost or stolen and so switch it off.
If you are one of those people who has a phone for people to ring you, but never ring out, well what did you expect? a service for free in jersey? ha! dont think so..
Report abuse
I use my pay as you go mobile to call some numbers, it is a lot cheaper than my contract mobile.
The use of a pay as you go mobile requires regular top ups that keep pace with your usage of the phone.
Very low use, then top it up with a fiver as least often as you can get away with.
You could get away with £15 a year which is pretty cheap.
Report abuse
RT “I suspect this must of happened to you truthseeker – hilarious – why am I not surprised…”
Your poor use of gramar shows complete idiocy
Report abuse
14.
‘The most important feature of a contract is that one party makes an offer for an arrangement that another accepts.
If you don’t like it – don’t buy it’
All well and good until they change the terms to something which you might not have agreed to originally.
The contentious issue is that they are pocketing people’s money after changing the rules of the game.
The new owner of my JT cellphone number is going to get fed up with people asking for me!
Report abuse
Again, this has nothing to do with phone use. You use your phone every day, £15+ a month and this can still happen. It is not use, it is how often you top up which is what makes this disgusting. If it were on use then fine.
Report abuse
This happened to my wife last week.
Previously if the phone was not used,for a set period, the company would deactivate it.
Now even if you use the phone. If the phone is not topped up within the set period it is deactivated.
So it would appear that JT are allowed to change their terms and conditions without notifiying the customer.
Another example of how some companies love to take the money and stick two fingers up to the customer as well.
Report abuse
Does the fact that I played cricket with John Henwood count for absolutely nothing now?
Report abuse
Posts on here quote, send a text to let those know they need to top up. Well, the phone needs to be ON in the first place to receive this text, no phone operator can preform miracles if something is in the OFF position!
However, there is a very simple solution to the problem.
In order not to lose your money on your PAYG mobile, and lets face facts here, this is an odd case where a number is suspended after 7 months of inactivity, this couple been in a minority, but use the damn phone, £5.00 every 7 months isn’t going to break the bank now is it!
Hey Presto, problem solved!
Report abuse
I think this more than sums it up, on the JT website for all to see:
http://www.jerseytelecom.com/templates/LayoutB.aspx?id=3325
An earlier rendition which runs almost identically to this one is I believe in all literature given out with PAYG, if not as the consumer you have the right to demand JT disclose a full copy to you in the sales shop at time of purchase.
To the people moaning JT cant just change the agreement. Yes they can, its their service and they can choose how run it. Your choice as an anonymous user (who has signed NO formal agreement) is to do just that, USE IT!
As with anything JT do, they are run through with a fine tooth comb by the JCRA, so stop with all the pathetic its not fairs.
Report abuse
It does make us look backward!
Report abuse
This is not phone inactivity!!!!!!!!
It is different, it is just not topping often. If you put over £100 credit on your phone you don’t need to yop up monthly. Again inactivity for 7 months is one thing…..not topping up in the same time is another
I will repeat for the people having a difficulty grasping this, tnis is not down to phone inactivity…..
Report abuse
RT “The details are BLANK AND WHITE in the contract”. Well, that sums it up, really. How can a BLANK contract have any legal effect?
Report abuse
This also happened to my mum. She had nearly £20 credit, but cut off. I phoned the shop to find out why, that was when they told me about the 7 month thing. I think it’s a bit out of order, not everyone uses their phone as often as some.
Report abuse
@RT “To maintain an account (PAYG or otherwise) costs money to run”
Yeah, it must cost a fortune to keep one extra line of data on the computer database!
Or can you tell us how exactly it costs them money to maintain a single record in a database with no human intervention required?
Report abuse
Oh Well RT
If the numpties on here can only attack your spelling and grammar it sort of points to you being correct as usual eh !
Report abuse
JT’s Policy is ridiculous. I topped up my phone with £100 last year and use my phone almost daily. However, I too have been ‘cut off’ in the past 2 weeks for the same reason as the JEP Article. i.e. I had not topped it up recently. JT should be taken to task by the JCRA; their actions are nothing short of criminal! If they dont change their ridiculous policy, then I am going elsewhere!
Report abuse
#23 Toastedteacakes
“No. 2 Loco It might be a ‘trivial consumer issue’ to you but 70 pounds on a sim card is a lot of cash which can not be utilised by the owner and is sitting earning interest Jersey Telecoms bank.”
Two obvious points:
1) If £70 is so much to them (and considering they didn’t use their phone in 7 months, it was clearly a daft move) then they should have just put on £5 or £10 credit. They’ve not been charged that figure, they willingly put it on.
2) Somebody has already said it’s no problem for the number to be reconnected, so one phonecall or trip to JT resolves the issue. It’s a trivial non-event that shouldn’t have been in the news. It’s like someone buying a toaster and it not working. Big headline: “Shop charges for broken toasters, everybody panic!”. In reality, the buyer would pop into the shop with their receipt, get another one and take it home.
Lets stop getting our knickers in a twist over nothing, and concentrate on the real problems, shall we?!
Report abuse
The misinformation in here is hilarious.
Day V Lately, one line of data? So only 1 person needs to be deleted??
Ever heard of licences? You know, you pay for how many licences for a piece of software??
JT are charged by the manufacturer who supplies them with the kit.
So if they have paid for 100K subscibers then they need to keep below that or face paying a substantial for the next 50k to be unlocked etc.
Why dont they get more I hear you cry?
Because we all want CHEAP calls and texts that is why. So by re using numbers they save money and can pass on those savings to the consumer. Competition has forced JT to slim down and make these kind of changes.
Anyone with any IT experience will know the above, it affects most companies in one way or another. Whether its microsoft for user licences on Windows or database manufacturers they all require their sheckles. Or do you propose they provide the service for free?
Top up or shut up is what I would say.
Report abuse
Probably not legal but they’ll carry on doing it until someone takes them to the petty debts court
Report abuse
As somone who has a contract phone by choice, either pay up or shut up.
If a phone is the important, you would use it more often.
Most things dry up or die if not used reguarly – Bit like torch batteries !
Report abuse
JT have been a customer care joke for a while now, probably since they axed 50% of their staff and filled the management roles with expensive foreigners who don’t care about or know didly-squat about Jersey. Do what I did & walk into Airtel (or Cable & Wireless) and ask to use MNP (Mobile Number Portability) to move your mobile number away from the pathetic service provider that is Jersey Telejoke. It’s free to use MNP & you won’t have to listen to the ongoing constant drone of JT BS.
Report abuse
50. Loco JT should have explained to the couple how ‘pay as you go’ operates. It seems to me that JT are very interested in receiving cash but a sudden lack of interest sets in when refunds are demanded.
Report abuse
Usual Jersey compassion (not) from some people here…
This is daylight robbery from JT, and i sincerely hope that a stop is put to this practise soon! Shame on you JT…
Report abuse
From my experience:
Loco 50:
Yes, the numbers can be reconnected – AFTER you buy a top-up.
Loco 2:
I can confirm that phones that were being used are cut off – it is whether they have been topped up and it doesn’t matter how much credit you have either..
Report abuse
My elderly parents have only got a mobile phone for emergencies so never use it day to day. They got cut off last year but i made a simple call to JT and after explaning the situation they re-connected without any fuss or charge.
Report abuse
I cannot believe the number of responses on this slating JT. Before I say anything further, I don’t work for them, never have and is highly unlikely I ever will.
Buy a PAYG phone pretty much anywhere in the world and this is a standard policy. It is not Jersey specific and it is not JT trying to pull a fast one. The phone these people bought likely was subsidised by JT so the top-up element is a means of JT recouping some of that outlay. It is not underhand, it would have stated it clearly in the Terms and Conditions they agreed to when they signed up.
Why they had £60 in credit is anyone’s guess but a more sensible thing for this couple would have been to have understood the terms by reading them and then simply topping up with a tenner every few months. They could use the cash rather than it sitting in JT’s pocket and they wouldn’t have been cut of.
I have sympathy for them but this is down to their own lack of understanding. Please do not point out that they are elderly, their family or friends could easily have read the terms through with them.
Report abuse
@MNP 54
Jersey Telecom may be rubbish but at least they are local rubbish !!!!
Report abuse
Nice of them to change the small print without telling anyone. I read my T&C and knew I had a year between top-ups. So I wondered why my spare phone wouldn’t work when I needed it last week.
Report abuse
Thank for the explanation exJT, but if JT with all their IT staff can’t write their own simple database (there’s even an Open Source GSM stack out there) without paying licence fees per user, then they’re even worse than I thought
Report abuse
Sorry I know this is late and I normally don’t do “comments” but there are a few pertinent details you don’t seem to know. This is not a longstanding standard service with JT. We have had PAYG for years and my husband rarely uses his. This is a new sevice with JT (not something we “missed” in the fine print. This is the first year we have EVER had a notification saying top up or lose it. And as for JT and other companies: Sure Mobile does not, I repeat DO NOT take your balance already paid if your phone is turned off. You simply pay £2 and your previous balance remains. Only JT TAKE the balance when they shut the phone off. Unfortunately we topped up to go to Malta last year only to discover that Malta has no reciprocal service with the UK, so now we are stuck with a large balance on the phone. I am not a JT hater – have used them for years. But I really am dissappointed in this new service. Once again Jersey goes over the top when trying to “keep up with the Joneses”
Report abuse
ExJT – Haha excellent response
That’s the exact response I’d expect from JT’s customer service department, which is quite frankly an absolute joke
My experiences with JT has left a bitter taste in my mouth, I’d raise a very large smile if they went bankrupt
Report abuse
This happened to my Grandad also. He had £25 credit on his phone again JT said he had to top up he only had that amount on it because he didnt wana run out whilst in the UK having to stay there for 3 weeks whilst his wife had an operation. he didnt use it as much as he thouhgt he would and now he is gona get stung for more money, he only wants to on a just in case basis and this cr*p JT say about using it for 999 or 112 without a sim is all well and good but it might be an emergency warrenting a 999 or 112 call it just be enough to ring a family member! so JT Suck for this reason!
Report abuse
63 AJM said
only JT TAKE the balance when they shut the phone off.
Not correct. Airtel took nearly £10 off me.
Report abuse
I live in Mexico and have a pay as you go phone from the Mexican telephone company owned by the richest guy in the world – Carlos Slim – from the moment of payment the ability to make calls ends at the end of two months, you have to then put more money in, however the money already on is not taken away, just the ability to make calls – however you can still receive calls – so I think JT are very fair.
Report abuse
This just happened to my parents too. They had £50 credit on it and had been making calls every month to make sure it wasn’t cut off – this is what JT had told them to do when they cut it off last time. Now they have lost all this credit and it was supposed to be for them to call me if they needed help. They hadn’t been warned. I am really annoyed. I think Airtel will be the answer with lower minimum payg top ups.
Report abuse
59. Outsider. You are wrong. JT is not a market stall flogging mobile phones. It is a reputable company and therefore should explain it’s terms and conditions before the purchaser purchases.
Report abuse
What a waste of time, if they are in their 70′s there son’s aren’t exactly away on school trips and must be at least in their 40′s so they should be ashamed if they have to ring mummy on her mobile to say they feel “unwell”! a few people need a cup of grow the hell up!
Report abuse
You are very hard hearted, Here we go again!#70
Perhaps you should consider the converse.
Suppose the parents in their seventies were taken ill or had an accident, would not the grown up sons be concerned and would hope to be informed?
The real story here is that JT have done something that there is no justification for doing (unless they are about to go under if they can’t get their hands on some short term cash by fair means or foul).
It is not about what people might or might not use their phone for. Pay as you go calls are priced to cover the service provider against low usage.
To those who say that JT need to get numbers back for re-use, suppose that everyone kept topped up. Would JT really run out of numbers?
Report abuse
All mobile operators do this – isn’t it something to do with recouping the cost of the mobile handset, which obviously costs more than the initial credit you buy and also to act against the black market in handsets to less developed countries, as well as all the points made above.
I don’t whinge when I pay my annual travel insurance and then don’t claim – I know the contract terms, and PAYG terms are made perfectly clear.
Another nothing story by a paper struggling for decent stories to pad out its advertising pages….
Report abuse
61
JT cannot just change a contract without your consent…..that is a breach and therefore illegal (unless they have hidden some stealth clause in the original contract to say they can do what they please).
The contract you have signed (with attached T&C) is a legally binding contract. Any changes to this would require further consent from the customer.
…..even in employment contracts, when your line management or job role changes you need to sign an agreement to the changes.
I’d check your small print……
Report abuse
I live in Timbuctooland. If you have a mobile phone and don’t use it, a man hits you on the head with a club and you get put in prison, however you can still receive calls while you are in there- so I think JT are very fair.
Report abuse
Lol at you lot thinking you can write your own databases etc. This isn’t an office network with a few IT bods, it’s a Carrier class communications system.
Why would they start developing their own and writing databases? That is what manufacturers are for, a limited understanding in here who can’t see sense over their hatred and jealously of JT. I have done my best to explain.
For that reason, I’m out!!
Report abuse
What’s jealousy got to do with it, exJT?
Jersey Telecom are not in love with my wife, as far as I know!
Can’t even imagine why anyone would envy JT either. Hatred, yes,I can understand, if they’ve kept your money (or culled your job).
Report abuse
Day V Lately – not having anything better to do I just checked my husband’s mobile number against landlines – and its there! Geeky friend’s theory shot down in flames I’m afraid!
Report abuse
Why are Jersey Telecom top up cards not available to buy at the UK company shopping outlet called Waitrose located in St. Saviour.It seems to me that JT do not believe in convenience.
Report abuse
LOL joleb, I was either misinformed or maybe something has changed since that observation. It was a few years back
@exJT, make your mind up whether these licence fees are either
a) so expensive that it would make sense to develop an inhouse solution – or -
b) cheap enough that it’s not worth it – in which case why is it such an issue?
Maybe I’m just irritated by years of seeing JT have a licence to print money by charging people for the use of tiny amounts of electricity. Ok, so they have to recoup the expenses of equipment and the costs of running the company but it often seems out of all proportion and charges are based upon a whim depending on the old principle of “what the market will bear”.
i.e. SMS txt message were free at first, as they cost almost nothing.
Compare the price of broadband to the offers we see on UK TV ads!
First they stopped people paying their bills in person in the Queen St shop, now they’re even charging people to pay using anything other than Direct Debit! Any wonder I snarl in the general direction of Minden Place and Grenville Street?
Report abuse
Let’s get back to the issue. It is on their contract, so don’t enter into a contract you don’t agree with. This is simple stuff, just because they may be ignorant shouldn’t excuse them from the law. Pay up if you want the phone privileges. Last time I saw JT isn’t a charity organisation.
Report abuse
That’s something we can all agree on, RT, JT are definitely NOT a charity! However, it is majority-owned by the islanders via _OUR_ government, and We The People have the right to influence their corporate ethics.
Report abuse
I WILL SAY THIS ONLY ONCE:
JT changed their terms and conditions of contract on the 1st April 2011 – their company policy allows them to do this without reference to the customer.
They sent text messages to those payg customers’ telling them they were going to lose the service BUT if your mobile was turned off you did not receive their text, their comment – TOUGH !!!
Report abuse
As 82. They only changed T & C’s April 2011, we used our phone all the time and no text notification of change. Met the sarky staff member today I think an earlier person wrote about who was sarky and arrogant and told me to go to Sure if I wasn’t happy, JT really want to keep their customers happy then & retain business?
Oh and for all you cynics the last time I topped up was December 09, when all the double deals were on so loads of credit was bought by many then and guess what this is the first time anything has gone wrong with the phone, tell me now you JT promoters out there where could I find out about this change to T & C’s, in a crystal ball PS: Only a joke on the last point, cannot afford the clairvoyant JT just ripped me off. But if anybody knows of any physcic ability the public can tap into maybe the public will be in the know as much as JT and no other poor soul has to face the wrath of the teenage tyrant with the bad attitude in the shop!!
Sorry other teenagers out there, always one bad apple in every cart!!
Report abuse
Mogit, I sent JT a text message saying that they must charge me them half the usual amount after April 2011.
If they don’t like it, TOUGH !!!
Report abuse