Hi

My father in law passed away late 2018.  He had a vodafone mobile, and my nother in law wanted to keep the number alive - he was fairly wide travelled with a long overseas work history and she wanted the number going in case he gets contacted by oveseas people who weren't aware he had passed away.

She asked and Vodafone had told her that all she needed to do was keep the phone topped up once a year and use it a couple of times and the number will stay alive.  She's done that.  The last top up was a week or so before 26th July and she has the auto txt confirmation in the phone, and she last made a call to keep it alive in April (she thinks, she didn't have the phone on her to tell me the exact date).

Recently however the number disappeared from her use.  She contacted a Vodafone store and they explained that yes the number has been given away, and no it should not have been.  As far as she can make out there hasn't been a issue with the top ups.  But so far they've not got the number back.

She wants the number back.  She is extremely unhappy about the situation, and she's elderly and lots of what she is being told isn't something she can wrap her head around.  Phoning doesn't help, they always tell her she has to go into a store, and the closest store is a 20min drive away in Albany Auckland.  She's driving there and making no progress, and then having to drive back again to make no progress, and so on.

Does anyone know who we can contact to get this resolved?  She's an old woman who is still grieving her husbands death and doesn't need some salt in the wound like this.