I have(had) an 021 number with Vodafone that I've had for some time (10ish years).

I rarely use it for outbound calls these days, and a few years ago i switched it from postpay to prepay. Now its been deactivated because I forgot to put new credit on it, and apparently they get cut off 1 month after the credit expires.

I rang the callcentre, who advised if I went to the store and purchased a replacement sim I could retain my number. Annoying but doable, so I rocked on down to the nearest vodafone/first mobile store. The guy at the store said he couldnt do it because the number was "inactive and in quarantine". He thought we might be able to do it if we moved it back from prepay to postpay, but after 20 mintues of farting around and credit checks this was also a no go.

Can anyone tell me how the hell I get my number back? Surely it shouldnt be this hard.