Oh no, I'm on Skinny and lost my ported number last weekend

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Oh no, I'm on Skinny and lost my ported number last weekend

LostBoyNZ

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#317944 29-Nov-2024 10:46

I wonder if anyone is here from Skinny and may be able to please help?

Last weekend I lost the phone number I've had for 10 years (ported over from Spark 10 years ago), and now I have a completely new 0204 number. Unfortunately I didn't have luck via online chat or phone support, as they weren't able to find the number I lost in their active numbers. But I was certainly using the number before last weekend for texts and calls, and really hope there's some way to still get it back.

I've checked with someone I know at Spark, and they confirmed my old number is not in their pool, and said I need to ask Skinny to escalate my problem for the "Porting Team" or "Provisioning Faults" take a look. But over the phone with Skinny support, they weren't able to escalate it as the number I lost wasn't showing as an active number. Doh!

If anyone here is able to PM me, that would be a massive help. Thank you :)

boosacnoodle

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#3314119 29-Nov-2024 11:08

How did it become lost? Did you not top up for over 12 months?

LostBoyNZ

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#3314141 29-Nov-2024 11:42

A glitch in the system I suspect. I topped up at least once a month (last one was last week), on their $17 four weekly plan.

But last Sunday I purchased a 2nd Skinny SIM, linked it to my account via their website, and then paid $5 to choose a custom phone number on that new SIM card. I triple checked I was managing the new SIM, and proceeded. It worked, that new SIM has my newly chosen number. But then a couple of days later I realised the number on my primary Skinny SIM had gone, and logging in to the website I see a completely new 0204 number.

Over the phone with Skinny support they were able to find my original request from 2014 to port my Spark number, but they said that's weird, it's a request wanting to change from a Spark number to an 0204 number, how unusual. So, knowing I had that Spark number on my Skinny account for the last 10 years, I think something last weekend glitched, and reversed that original request. So weird :/

I'll try calling again on Monday when I have more time.

KiwiSurfer

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#3314147 29-Nov-2024 11:57

Good luck, I had a awful porting experience with Skinny some time ago where they just kept parroting the wrong information over and over again. The issue only got resolved with help from staff at other telcos(!) -- with zero support from Skinny themselves. Worst come to worst, take them to TDR as soon as you can -- you will need proof of you raising a complaint to Skinny and no resolution from that. That may be the only way to resolve your issue.

LostBoyNZ

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#3314149 29-Nov-2024 11:59

Eek! Thank you for the advice, that's a worry to hear it can be such a difficult experience :(

Behodar

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#3314153 29-Nov-2024 12:25

Interesting. I have my Skinny account set to automatically top up when my balance drops below $20, but a couple of weeks ago I happened to open the dashboard and found that my balance was below $20. The automatic top up was still configured, and a manual top up worked, so I have no idea why it hadn't topped up.

It sounds like there might be glitches all around. Scary.

Wheelbarrow01

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Chorus

#3314314 29-Nov-2024 23:43

Not my area of expertise at all (at least not for many years) but I do have a customer experience contact across both Skinny and Spark mobile who may be able to assist. No guarantee but I can at least ask the question and get someone local to look into it. Given your description of topping up last week, the number definitely shouldn't have just vanished into thin air just because you were trying to activate a second SIM and number, but it is possible that the Skinny stack only allows a single mobile number registered to any given email login, which may be where the trouble has stemmed from. Just a wild theory and I could be totally wrong....

Flick me a PM with the details (the two mobile numbers and the email address you used to register, your name and a contact number) and I'll raise it with my contact on Monday (unless someone direct from Spark/Skinny weighs in to assist over the weekend)

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nzbnw

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Spark NZ

#3314341 30-Nov-2024 09:14

If the number has been returned to Spark it would be visible in common porting systems across the industry.

If you provide details happy to check as that really will define how to proceed.

nzbnw

LostBoyNZ

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#3314342 30-Nov-2024 09:20

Thanks so much for the offers of help!!

Thankfully the person I know at Spark was able to find someone to talk with, and it's now all sorted, phew!

Apparently they also said they'll look into what caused the problem in the first place, so, assuming they actually do, hopefully it will help avoid anyone else having this problem. I really wish KiwiSurfer didn't have to go through taking them to TDR and that whole process :(

Really though, thank you for all the helpful replies, we've got a great community here!

KiwiSurfer

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#3314604 1-Dec-2024 14:05

Lucky, it does show it's who you know sometimes eh. Glad to know its all sorted and fairly quickly too. Just for the record I didn't go to TDR -- I was very patient and eventually after three weeks and with help from staff at other providers I was able to complete the port into Skinny with zero help from Skinny themselves. Perhaps I should have gone to TDR earlier though!

Behodar

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#3326792 1-Jan-2025 13:21

Behodar:

Interesting. I have my Skinny account set to automatically top up when my balance drops below $20, but a couple of weeks ago I happened to open the dashboard and found that my balance was below $20. The automatic top up was still configured, and a manual top up worked, so I have no idea why it hadn't topped up.

It sounds like there might be glitches all around. Scary.

Well, this is still a problem. I'd forgotten all about it, but today my phone stopped working and when I looked at my account I saw that once again the automatic top up hadn't happened. The balance had dropped below the necessary $17 so it didn't renew the plan, and I had to do it manually. Interestingly auto top up was disabled this time around so I enabled it again.

I tried to contact Skinny support but that doesn't seem to be working either: it prompts for email address and password, and then tells me that the email address isn't connected to an account.

RunningMan

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#3326794 1-Jan-2025 13:32

I've spoken to several people recently who all say they no longer receive Skinny inforrmational SMSs such as plan renewal reminders, and haven't been able to re-activate in the Skinny dashboard.

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Behodar

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#3326796 1-Jan-2025 13:37

I've had two marketing messages since November but nothing useful.

RunningMan

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#3326797 1-Jan-2025 13:51

Looking back through messages, the last useful ones about plan renewals, top up required etc were March 2024.

Behodar

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#3348101 26-Feb-2025 17:09

Behodar:

Behodar:

Interesting. I have my Skinny account set to automatically top up when my balance drops below $20, but a couple of weeks ago I happened to open the dashboard and found that my balance was below $20. The automatic top up was still configured, and a manual top up worked, so I have no idea why it hadn't topped up.

It sounds like there might be glitches all around. Scary.

Well, this is still a problem. I'd forgotten all about it, but today my phone stopped working and when I looked at my account I saw that once again the automatic top up hadn't happened. The balance had dropped below the necessary $17 so it didn't renew the plan, and I had to do it manually. Interestingly auto top up was disabled this time around so I enabled it again.

I tried to contact Skinny support but that doesn't seem to be working either: it prompts for email address and password, and then tells me that the email address isn't connected to an account.

Just for a little bit of closure on this, it's now working, at least for certain values of "working".

My balance was a little over $20 and the $17 plan renewed today. The automatic top up happened successfully, but interestingly it only topped up by $17 despite being configured as "Auto Top-Up $20 when balance is below $20". Oh well, at least it didn't cut me off again.

Edit: Apparently this is because I have "Set & Forget" turned on, which means that it never actually uses the credit in the first place but rather renews from my credit card.

sleepyash

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#3362785 10-Apr-2025 21:41

Seperate from the OP, I ported from One to Skinny in March, and found the transition quite clunky. Maybe it's cos I'm Gen X, and my technology side of my brain is diminishing!? Also for me, the Skinny App dashboard on my iPhone doesnt work (IP 13 Pro and iOS18 something), did the obligatory remove app and reload, and power down etc.... basically the first level support couldn't help, so ive given up. I also have this random $3 credit, just sitting idle, and the dashboard can't use it for my next top up (the CSR said unless I buy an add-on, the next top-up can't provision it).

I use to be on-account plan (with One for 20 odd years), not sure I'm use to pre-pay, probably cos I'm old-school and like sameness... LOL.

Randomly found some performance network issues, which Ive never experienced with One/Voda .... like the 4G wasn't working despite have having 10GB remaining... very odd (and thought you wouldn't have these issues on the Spark mothership network.