Tricky dilemma with 2degrees Mobile account

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bluemoon

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#315144 17-Jun-2024 15:13

I own a 2degrees mobile phone, but I am unable to use it due to hearing loss. So the only reason I own a phone is because a lot of online services require one in order to register an account with them - banks, electricity provider, Google, etc.

I understand that to retain a 2degrees number / account I must top-up my balance at least once every 365 days, otherwise the account balance is forfeited, and the account is deleted 30 days later. However, because I made a $10 top-up last November (see below), resulting in an overall balance of $17.30, I thought everything was OK.

But then I checked my account today, and discovered that my $17.30 balance has been zero'ed / forfeited to 2degrees.

So to keep the account active I immediately made a $10 top-up, and got this result ...

But seeing as the $10 top-up last November didn't amend my account expiration date to November 2024, I don't trust that today's $10 payment has updated expiration to June 2025 either.

What's more, I've just discovered in the T&Cs that to keep an account active the minimum top-up must be $20. So ...

[1] Having already lost $17.30, am I about to lose the $10 I paid today as well ...?
[2] Or if I make another $10 payment, will the two $10 payments combined equate to a $20 top-up ...?
[3] Or do I have to make another full $20 top-up to keep the account open ...?
[4] Or is it all too late anyway, and the account will be deleted in the next 30 days regardless of what I do ...?

Given I can't use a phone, and only possess one to accomodate online requirements, this is all getting rather expensive. As things stand, it looks to me like I could end up paying $17.30 + $10 + $20, yet still end up with my account being terminated.

I logged this with 2degrees support, but recent experience is that they don't answer emails, they just refer me to their FAQs (and I can't phone them, obviously), so I was hoping perhaps someone here has been in a similar situation and can shed some light on this ...

Thanks!

Larry

EDIT: Just noticed that for some reason the date-stamp on this post is 16th June, actually posted today 17th June.

SaltyNZ

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#3250032 17-Jun-2024 15:21

As long as you make a single topup of $20 within the next 30 days the account will remain active (though you have forfeited the original $17). Two topups of $10 are no good.

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bluemoon

32 posts

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#3250107 17-Jun-2024 17:16

Thanks for the info SaltyNZ ...

As illustrated above, 2degrees $10 top-ups state they expire in one year, so it doesn't seem unreasonable to interpret that to mean my account is fine and will remain active for that same period.

And that's how it's in fact worked in the past - the only top-up prior to November 2023 was May 2023, and that was for $10 as well. It looks like the May 2023 $10 top-up is the one 2degrees used to expire my account - they just ignored the November 2023 top-up.

In fact, checking back through my bank statements to when I bought the phone in 2018 (see below), the top-ups have always been for $10, and the account has always rolled over fine. The only $20 top-up was made two days after I bought the phone online in 2018, to establish the account.

So, as 2degrees clearly state that today's top-up expires in one year, I would interpret that to mean exactly that, and as that's always been the case in the past, I think I will wait and see what happens on this occasion ...

The alternative is to end up paying a total of $47.30 for one year's access to an account I can no longer use due to hearing loss.

Thanks again for your advice!
Larry

PS: In light of this experience I'll make sure to keep my balance at a bare minimum in future ... I can't help being curious about whether 2degrees have a maximum forfeiture figure, or would they be comfortable pocketing any amount of money from what they perceive to be an inactive account ... $100? $200? more?

Stu

Hammered
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#3250163 17-Jun-2024 20:24

bluemoon:
EDIT: Just noticed that for some reason the date-stamp on this post is 16th June, actually posted today 17th June.

With regards to the date stamp of your post, you need to check the timezone in your Geekzone profile settings are correct.

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Keep calm, and carry on posting.

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bluemoon

32 posts

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#3250173 17-Jun-2024 20:32

Ah OK, all sorted - thanks Hammered!

caffynz

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#3250180 17-Jun-2024 20:38

bluemoon:

I logged this with 2degrees support, but recent experience is that they don't answer emails, they just refer me to their FAQs (and I can't phone them, obviously), so I was hoping perhaps someone here has been in a similar situation and can shed some light on this ...

Do you know of New Zealand Relay? You can make phone calls to 2degrees via NZ Relay, free of charge. There's different services, depending on what you prefer, but there's Text Relay - fully text based both ways (you type, and the NZ Relay staff types back what the 2degrees person says on the phone), or Captioned Relay (where you can speak for yourself directly to 2degrees, and what 2degrees says is relayed via text messaging on the app). Most services open 24/7.

bluemoon

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#3250367 18-Jun-2024 12:09

That could be handy, thanks caffynz!