Sob story that happens to be true!

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Sob story that happens to be true!

JayADee

2148 posts

Uber Geek

#137998 16-Dec-2013 15:56

Arg! I've posted this to skinny support via their page but one of you might know the answer. Or Skinny may answer here.

I recently bought my husband and I a $2 Skinny sim. Mine is in my iPhone 5 and activated and switched to my number online with no problems. I got the promos added no worries. I was going to put his sim in his iPhone 4 this week and keep his old number on it just like mine. I really want both of us on the skinny minutes promotion and $16 combo.

Unfortunately his iPhone 4 went for a swim with him in a boating accident just yesterday when the stabi-craft he was a passenger in ended up upside down at the Ohiwa Harbour bar. A rogue waves warning was issued to them when they radioed their approach to the bar. One hit them near side on. My husband went into the drink head first. His backpack containing the iPhone 4, his wallet and prescription glasses plus a couple metal water bottles was clipped to the boat so it survived and so did he because of his well fitting life jacket. He popped to the surface and kicked off his boots. He was pounded by large waves for an hour clinging to the boat. The owner was trapped under the boat a while and suffered mild shock and mild hypothermia and was treated with oxygen. The boat is repairable, the fishing gear and his prescription sun glasses are in the drink. The iPhone 4 spent hours underwater being towed by the coastguard and then parked under water at the dock until the boat could be righted with a crane-like truck and my husband could cut the pack loose from the boat dangling from it's bow from the crane.

I've taken the sim out of the phone and have put the phone in a bag of rice to see if drying it out will resurrect it.

This means I can't activate his sim until the boat owner's insurance pays out (I hope we're covered by it!) and we can get him a new phone. We can't afford to buy him one now because our dog just had a second round of emergency surgery for a twisted gut (he just got back from surgery two days ago!) and I had to quit working due to serious illness eight months ago. I can't use my phone to activate his sim because mine takes a nano and his a mini. I don't have a phone I can borrow either.

My question is, since I already have the 2 dollar sim can I still get the skinny minutes promotion when we finally get the new phone from insurance? Or is there a time limit? It's important because due to my health problem I rely on the cell to contact him if I get into difficulties. I have no idea how long the claim will take especially since it's Christmas and New-years coming up. I'm guessing quite a while.

Hope that wasn't too boring.

ubergeeknz

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Vocus

#953144 16-Dec-2013 16:11

After a dunk like that in salt water, you're probably stuffed. Did you rinse it thoroughly before drying it out? edit: also do you need a cheapie to use in the meantime?

Yabanize

2350 posts

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#953164 16-Dec-2013 16:28

If you ring Skinny on their 0800 number they can activate the sim for you :)

wellygary

8335 posts

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#953171 16-Dec-2013 16:48

Unless the phone was in a plastic bag or other protection it is toast, - before you attempted to dry it out you should have given it a good soak in fresh water to try to get the salts out, but I think it is probably a moot point.

Get yourself an adaptor and stick the his micro SIM into a cheap phone (the $30 Huawei from skinny would do) and have them activate it and port his original number over to it,

I doubt the boat owners insurance will pay out on your personal property, best to make a claim on your contents insurance.,
If the boat oners insurance does come to the party, they can just settle with your insurance company directly.

LivingSkinny

513 posts

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Skinny

#953174 16-Dec-2013 16:50

Hi

What a sad story - I hope the insurance works out.

One bit of good news is that the offer on the $2 SIMS for the Skinny minutes applies every month that your $16 Stretch combo renews between now and October 14. That means when he does get going he will still get the offer.

What I would also suggest though is that you take advantage of one of our $0 Christmas phone deals.

https://www.skinny.co.nz/2885_EN.htm

For example for $50 you could get $50 credit (which you will always use anyway) plus you get a free Huawei U5130 which your husband could use until he gets his insurance claim sorted. When he gets his new iPhone you can just transfer the remaining credit over (subject to the $20 per week transfer limit).

One other thing to consider is will he replace with another iPhone 4 or will he get the 5? If he gets a 5 you will need another nano SIM - the $2 Online SIM offer ends 23 December 2013.

Cheers

Paul

JayADee

2148 posts

Uber Geek

#953852 17-Dec-2013 17:51

Thanks for the replies everyone. To answer your questions, yes he did rinse it in fresh water first. I also took the Vodafone sim out and patted it dry. I left the sim tray out to provide more water egress points.

If the boat insurance won't cover it I'll try our home insurance.

I don't know what phone he'll get next. He'll want an iPhone for sure, he really likes this one. I think the 4 is still available? Probably get him that one, I doubt insurance will stump up a new phone price? I don't know we've never claimed before on anything.

Ok I just asked him he said he just wants something that texts and phones but he hates his friends phone that you have to choose the letters in some convoluted way for texts. So he's fine with something inexpensive (his iPhone was my old one) as long as it's easy to use.

I'll check out the free skinny phone deal. Any suggestions as to which is easy to text on? Thanks.

Yabanize

2350 posts

Uber Geek

#953856 17-Dec-2013 18:13

JayADee: Thanks for the replies everyone. To answer your questions, yes he did rinse it in fresh water first. I also took the Vodafone sim out and patted it dry. I left the sim tray out to provide more water egress points.

If the boat insurance won't cover it I'll try our home insurance.

I don't know what phone he'll get next. He'll want an iPhone for sure, he really likes this one. I think the 4 is still available? Probably get him that one, I doubt insurance will stump up a new phone price? I don't know we've never claimed before on anything.

Ok I just asked him he said he just wants something that texts and phones but he hates his friends phone that you have to choose the letters in some convoluted way for texts. So he's fine with something inexpensive (his iPhone was my old one) as long as it's easy to use.

I'll check out the free skinny phone deal. Any suggestions as to which is easy to text on? Thanks.

iPhone 4 is no longer available unless shops still have some older stock

iPhone 4S is. It is $649 for a 8gb model. It's an upgraded version of the 4

There is also iPhone 5c (the same as the iPhone 5 but in coloured plastic) for $899

Or the new 5S for $1199

You can buy them from skinnys website here http://skinny.co.nz/2789_EN.htm or from the apple online store or telecom or vodafone stores

As for other phones in the skinny Christmas offers there is the $300 Alcatel one touch mini that looks good. It comes with $300 credit

It has a large 4.3 inch screen, runs android 4.2.2 (quite new) has a 1.3ghz dual core processor. It should be easy to use and text on with an on screen keyboard similar to the iPhones however I haven't used one. But it's worth it because in the next couple of years you will spend $300 on top ups anyway but this way you get a free phone

Christmas offers: https://skinny.co.nz/2886_EN.htm?katid=15&supid=103-2

Yabanize

2350 posts

Uber Geek

#953857 17-Dec-2013 18:15

LivingSkinny: Hi

What a sad story - I hope the insurance works out.

One bit of good news is that the offer on the $2 SIMS for the Skinny minutes applies every month that your $16 Stretch combo renews between now and October 14. That means when he does get going he will still get the offer.

What I would also suggest though is that you take advantage of one of our $0 Christmas phone deals.

https://www.skinny.co.nz/2885_EN.htm

For example for $50 you could get $50 credit (which you will always use anyway) plus you get a free Huawei U5130 which your husband could use until he gets his insurance claim sorted. When he gets his new iPhone you can just transfer the remaining credit over (subject to the $20 per week transfer limit).

One other thing to consider is will he replace with another iPhone 4 or will he get the 5? If he gets a 5 you will need another nano SIM - the $2 Online SIM offer ends 23 December 2013.

Cheers

Paul

Do the sims that come with the Christmas deal phones have free skinny minutes?

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kingjj

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#953858 17-Dec-2013 18:19

Sorry to hear about your predicament, I've got to agree with the other posters, you will likely be out of luck after it was in the salty brine for that long.

If you have any issues getting a replacement phone until insurance (hopefully) comes to the party I have an iPhone 4 I'd be happy to lend you in the interim. Happy to courier it up at my expense if required.

Good luck!

JayADee

2148 posts

Uber Geek

#953911 17-Dec-2013 19:43

That's really sweet of you to offer but I'd be afraid of something happening to it! I prefer not to borrow things. Very generous of you though. I watched a youtube clip of the Alcatel and I agree, that looks pretty user friendly. (I'm the geek of the house, he wants easy) He should handle something like that no problem since it types like an iPhone and has a similar looking contact list.

I'll wait to see what insurance comes up with I think then go with something along those lines. Hubby is home for the holidays so it's not as urgent as it would be if he were at work.

I'm still hopefully of resurrecting the 4! Anybody know how long to leave it in the rice for? I thought a week should do it.

Until now we've gotten by on vodafone's best mates only plan for about $8 a month. It allows so many calls and texts to one other person it might as well be unlimited. I decided to switch us when he started texting people other than me socially and work related and thought we could switch to skinny's text only monthly combo for $8 if we weren't using our combo enough to warrant keeping it. Skinny texting works with any nz phone, not just skinny phones so he could text his friends and work related as well.

I've got to go look outside there is a cat rescue happening in a huge tree!

Edit: turned out to be police rounding up a horse! Got to love small town NZ. The cat is still stuck.

Yabanize

2350 posts

Uber Geek

#953922 17-Dec-2013 20:11

JayADee: That's really sweet of you to offer but I'd be afraid of something happening to it! I prefer not to borrow things. Very generous of you though. I watched a youtube clip of the Alcatel and I agree, that looks pretty user friendly. (I'm the geek of the house, he wants easy) He should handle something like that no problem since it types like an iPhone and has a similar looking contact list.

I'll wait to see what insurance comes up with I think then go with something along those lines. Hubby is home for the holidays so it's not as urgent as it would be if he were at work.

I'm still hopefully of resurrecting the 4! Anybody know how long to leave it in the rice for? I thought a week should do it.

Until now we've gotten by on vodafone's best mates only plan for about $8 a month. It allows so many calls and texts to one other person it might as well be unlimited. I decided to switch us when he started texting people other than me socially and work related and thought we could switch to skinny's text only monthly combo for $8 if we weren't using our combo enough to warrant keeping it. Skinny texting works with any nz phone, not just skinny phones so he could text his friends and work related as well.

I've got to go look outside there is a cat rescue happening in a huge tree!

Edit: turned out to be police rounding up a horse! Got to love small town NZ. The cat is still stuck.

Yeah good luck. Be quick though as the offer ends on the 24th for the $300 credit and phone

You can also get the phone by itself without the credit for $199 I believe

But with the $300 you can also transfer some of it for you to use aswell so you won't have to top up for ages

kingjj

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#953928 17-Dec-2013 20:23

Offer still stands if required, Its just gathering dust so wouldn't worry me not to get it back. Good luck!

LivingSkinny

513 posts

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Skinny

#953944 17-Dec-2013 21:05

Do the sims that come with the Christmas deal phones have free skinny minutes?

No sorry they don't but you can get one on the website for just $2. It is a micro SIM for the Idol Mini - I had a play with one of them the other day and personally I think they are a great phone and very well priced.

JayADee

2148 posts

Uber Geek

#954020 18-Dec-2013 07:12

kingjj: Offer still stands if required, Its just gathering dust so wouldn't worry me not to get it back. Good luck!

I'll pm you. I'll take you up on the loan if ours doesn't come back to life after drying, and thanks.

JayADee

2148 posts

Uber Geek

#954813 19-Dec-2013 13:51

Kingjj has very kindly leant us an iPhone 4 and we've already restored my husbands settings to it and believe it or not the old sim still worked!

I'll try out our sea salt phone after more drying time and I'll activate the skinny sim later in the month. Everything is great.

Thanks so much kingjj especially and to everyone who helpfully replied.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Ps the cat got resued yesterday by the power co. cherry picker, scratched them in gratitude and ran off. My dog looks a little brighter but will need more time before he's allowed back on walks. I have no idea what the police did with the horse.

Yabanize

2350 posts

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#955644 20-Dec-2013 20:24

I used one of those alcatel one touch idol mini phones today, I must say it is Very nice.

Nice size, not too smal, not too big, Nice software/user interface, easy to use, not slow or laggy at all

The phone is extremely thin