T-Mobile PAYG - account suspended before I've even started!

I may be missing something really obvious here, but let's see...

I bought a cheap phone (Nokia 1600) from the T-Mobile website, in the
£29.99 bundle that includes £10 airtime. It arrived today, and once
battery and SIM card were installed the phone itself was fine...

....but without any credit. The welcome letter in the package says "you
can start using your phone straight away", but an ominous accompanying
asterisk leads to a footnote explaining that this can take up to 48 hours
to appear. Not "straight away", then, is it?

Ah well, I thought, I'll go and sign up for the "My T-Mobile" section on
their website and at least get my debit card registered for topping up in
the future. So I go through the sign-up process, log in the first time...

"Your Billing Account has been suspended."

Um... *what*? This is a PAYG mobile, so what exactly is the bill this
implies I haven't paid? Okay, if the airtime hasn't gone through yet then
my balance is zero, but it is *not* in debt, so why should I be
suspended?

Still, I then thought I'd register the debit card anyway and see if
topping up that way works. So, I click the appropriate link, and this
fantastically useful message appears:

"SelfServe side error: Prepay user is not registered"

What the heck does that mean? Surely I registered to get into "My T-
Mobile" in the first place. I'm all at sea here - I'm entirely willing to
believe that I *am* missing something very obvious, rather than T-
Mobile's website *really* being as badly designed as it currently
appears.

--
Bewdley, Worcs. ~90m asl.

"David Buttery" <rabbiteer@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns994E9C32D9301rabbiteergmailcom@216.196.109 .145...
>I may be missing something really obvious here, but let's see...
>
> I bought a cheap phone (Nokia 1600) from the T-Mobile website, in the
> £29.99 bundle that includes £10 airtime. It arrived today, and once
> battery and SIM card were installed the phone itself was fine...
>
> ...but without any credit. The welcome letter in the package says "you
> can start using your phone straight away", but an ominous accompanying
> asterisk leads to a footnote explaining that this can take up to 48 hours
> to appear. Not "straight away", then, is it?
>
> Ah well, I thought, I'll go and sign up for the "My T-Mobile" section on
> their website and at least get my debit card registered for topping up in
> the future. So I go through the sign-up process, log in the first time...
>
> "Your Billing Account has been suspended."
>
> Um... *what*? This is a PAYG mobile, so what exactly is the bill this
> implies I haven't paid? Okay, if the airtime hasn't gone through yet then
> my balance is zero, but it is *not* in debt, so why should I be
> suspended?
>
> Still, I then thought I'd register the debit card anyway and see if
> topping up that way works. So, I click the appropriate link, and this
> fantastically useful message appears:
>
> "SelfServe side error: Prepay user is not registered"
>
> What the heck does that mean? Surely I registered to get into "My T-
> Mobile" in the first place. I'm all at sea here - I'm entirely willing to
> believe that I *am* missing something very obvious, rather than T-
> Mobile's website *really* being as badly designed as it currently
> appears.
>
> --
> Bewdley, Worcs. ~90m asl.

T-Mobile's website is atrocious. Orange's phone menu is a joke (try
registering a e-topup card to your orange phone to see what I mean).

"ABC" <simonbray@nospamemail.afraid.org> wrote in
news:f4oumr$nis$1@nntp0.reith.bbc.co.uk:

> T-Mobile's website is atrocious. Orange's phone menu is a joke (try
> registering a e-topup card to your orange phone to see what I mean).

I'm not surprised to hear T-Mobile are not the only ones. But how do I get
out of this? The impression I'm getting is that I can't top up without
being registered, but I can't get registered without a top-up!

--
Bewdley, Worcs. ~90m asl.

"David Buttery" <rabbiteer@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns994E9E3CECE61rabbiteergmailcom@216.196.109 .145...
> "ABC" <simonbray@nospamemail.afraid.org> wrote in
> news:f4oumr$nis$1@nntp0.reith.bbc.co.uk:
>
>> T-Mobile's website is atrocious. Orange's phone menu is a joke (try
>> registering a e-topup card to your orange phone to see what I mean).
>
> I'm not surprised to hear T-Mobile are not the only ones. But how do I get
> out of this? The impression I'm getting is that I can't top up without
> being registered, but I can't get registered without a top-up!
>
> --
> Bewdley, Worcs. ~90m asl.

You will need to call the T-Mobile customer services on 07953 966 150 from a
landline and register a debit or credit card.

"ABC" <simonbray@nospamemail.afraid.org> wrote in
news:f4ovh7$npc$1@nntp0.reith.bbc.co.uk:

> You will need to call the T-Mobile customer services on 07953 966 150
> from a landline and register a debit or credit card.

Thanks. Not that T-Mobile actually thought of *mentioning* anywhere that
I'd have to make a phone call first, at least not unless it was behind that
"Beware of the Leopard" sign...

--
Bewdley, Worcs. ~90m asl.

On Wed, 13 Jun 2007 09:21:16 -0500, David Buttery
<rabbiteer@gmail.com> wrote:

>.but without any credit. The welcome letter in the package says "you
>can start using your phone straight away", but an ominous accompanying
>asterisk leads to a footnote explaining that this can take up to 48 hours
>to appear. Not "straight away", then, is it?

Yes, because you can use it to phone Customer Services. (-:

Mike D

David Buttery wrote:
> "ABC" <simonbray@nospamemail.afraid.org> wrote in
> news:f4ovh7$npc$1@nntp0.reith.bbc.co.uk:
>
>> You will need to call the T-Mobile customer services on 07953 966 150
>> from a landline and register a debit or credit card.
>
> Thanks. Not that T-Mobile actually thought of *mentioning* anywhere that
> I'd have to make a phone call first, at least not unless it was behind that
> "Beware of the Leopard" sign...

Hmm

I didn't have to phone them first to register my electron / visa debit card.

I have heard that some card providers will only allow a card to be
linked to two prepay mobile phones at a time, in order to prevent stolen
cards being used to prepay large amounts of calls. Is your card already
associated with one or more other prepay mobiles?

Denis

Denis McMahon <denis.mcmahon@ntlworld.com> wrote in
news:fSWbi.1392$O%6.1050@newsfe6-gui.ntli.net:

> Hmm
>
> I didn't have to phone them first to register my electron / visa debit
> card.
<snip>

This is a Maestro card - and more to the point, it's the very same card I
used to buy the phone in the first place!

> Is your card
> already associated with one or more other prepay mobiles?

No. Actually my previous phone was never topped up in that way - I always
used vouchers/cards.

--
Bewdley, Worcs. ~90m asl.