Mobile phone query!

[Lautrec]

Calling all infrequent mobile phone users.

 I have a mobile phone which I always keep in my car for emergency breakdown use only. I do not charge it with a cash card as they only have a life of one month and as I do not have call to use it very often, the credit gets wiped out after the 30 day period. But without being charged it enables me to call for my breakdown assistance in the event of an mechanical breakdown.

I did hear somewhere that there is a card issued which does not have a time limit. Can anyone give me any information on this please?

[BJSLIV]

http://www.nrjmobile.fr

Is the "non expiring" service you heard about.

[Payrac-man]

Hi All,

I bought an NRJ simm on E-bay and it's fine however I have been unable to top up by phone as it wont accept my Amex or Visa card. Also it says in the blurb you can top up at the Credit Mutuel hole in the wall well, I failed as I couldn't find the correct menu it just wanted me to withdraw cash. I finally found a newsagent in Cahors that sold top ups but these seem few and far between. No locals I spoke to had even heard of NRG. Maybe it will improve as more people give up Orange.

P.S.  Anyone want an Orange Simm One carefull owner Etc Etc.      

[Jarousse]

Have you tried topping up on their web site it's easy if you have a french account of some sort

they even give you a limit to how much you want to top up.

www.nrjmobile.fr

Pauline 

[Payrac-man]

Hi Pauline

That was my next port of call. I only have a checking account, can you do it with that?

 

[Jarousse]

Hi

As long as you have a carte bancaire then i think it possible.

Pauline

 

[derf]

I don't see why anyone would want to buy an NRJ sim card on Ebay; if you can buy it direct for €15, then get €6 credit back to use for calls when you enable the sim,  then when you register you get 50 free SMS, plus if you top up €20 you get another €4 credited to your phone, how much did you pay?

[Tourangelle]

Does anybody know whether Virgin is a good deal in France or not?  I know about the UK, but they have just started here, and I was thinking of changing.

[Payrac-man]

Hi,

20 Euros including postage brand new with all the extras. Reason being I couldn't get the website to accept a delivery address outside France.As I don't have a French visa card I will just have to buy top ups but as they dont time out this wont be too much trouble now I know a shop that sells them.

 

[Jc]

I have an English Virgin phone(roaming is included) and besides their PAYG options they offer a direct debit facility;they gave me £5 credit when I bought the phone and I still have most of it.

[Department71]

We have also purchased a NRJ card I have a couple of questions if anyone can help me with, we have registered it etc via the internet, we are now back in the UK until the end of May when we will return to France. Do I have to make any phone calls or top the card up before our return to France in six weeks or lose the service. I remember something about UK cards and having to do something within the first month or lose it all. Plus on their web site they show a VISA card sign to top up via their web site, UK Visa's? One other thing when we returned to the UK we had a text message from them saying we can topup using Vodaphone UK coupons, any ideas on this.

 

Thanks

Steve

[Deimos]

One thing if you subscribe to NRJ from their web site is that you can select your telephone number (obviously provided somebody has not already chosen the one you want). You can key in your preferred number and it will tell you if you can have it (and try again, etc.). Carrefour also sell/top-up NRJ cards.

From what I’ve seen of Virgin (French version), they have adopted the “expiring credit” scheme common to all French PAYG (except NRJ).

I was going to go for NRJ, but being dis-organised I knew that when I needed it I would be out of credits and in urgent need so I went for Orange Initial (been with then for quite some time now and no problems). No commitment, slightly cheaper than PAYG calls (not much though) and 7€ per month (no charge for the SIM). Its automatically billed so no need to send payments every month or 2 and no “limits”, no topping up, etc. Of course its more than the NRJ scheme but does sit between the PAYG and full subscription stuff. SFR do something similar (though not quite as many features for the same price as Orange Initial) and to be honest, for me another reason was that SFR coverage in my house is not great whereas Orange coverage is good. (I believe NRJ run over the SFR network).

Ian

[Lollie]

Not sure where you are but Breizh Mobile seem reasonable for mobicarte,  you buy mainly online.   We bought a phone and pre pay from Virgin UK very cheap which whoever is visiting uk takes with them, after 30 pounds of calls they deblock free, so now we use a Breizh sim card here and the virgin when on holiday all with the same phone.!    Briezh do a mini forfait for just 9.90 euros which is perfect for teenagers just starting out!!

Having said all this, I have just discovered Breizh and just ordered a prepay card for 9.90 euros to start and see how receptions bear up. If okay then the kids will just have to say goodbye to Orange!! 

Lolle  Dept 44

[fulcrum]

[quote user="Deimos"] and to be honest, for me another reason was that SFR coverage in my house is not great whereas Orange coverage is good. (I believe NRJ run over the SFR network).

Ian[/quote]

For me. This is quite an important consideration.

[Le_Jars]

I bought an NRG sim card way back, but now when I want to re-charge it, I can only see 'expiring' terms. Am I looking at the right page? I was able to buy as many euros of calls as I liked before, without them expiring. Have they changed this does anyone know???

[Clair]

They changed the rules in Oct last year: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/757893/ShowPost.aspx

[Le_Jars]

Sigh..... isn't that just typical but depressing?

Is there another company that I (we) can switch to but keep our existing number?

[Clair]

Sorry, I cannot suggest any other mobile company. I managed to top up with NRJ before the deadline and still have about €15 worth of calls, which should cover all emergencies for the next 20 years!

[BJSLIV]

Yes its important to remember that since the rules changed, as soon as you top up the NRJ phone any credits remaining become the expiring type.

So don't add a few units just in case!!!

[Polremy]

We changed from Orange to NRJ because of the no expiry date terms. We were most annoyed when they changed their mind. We now have a Tesco simcard. It cost £10 (bought on line by a relative in England) and came with £21 worth of calls. So far it has been excellent. We only use our phone for emergencies or to send texts to remind our daughter back in the UK to keep in touch. Each time I text I receive a message telling me how much credit I have left. Can't see the point of a French simcard any more! Texts do cost 40p and so do calls I think!

[Martin963]

nrj seem to have got quite a lot of criticism over this matter;  serves them right.

In retrospect it looks like it was a simple try-on to get in customers,  probably in the full knowledge that they were not going to respect the conditions of the contract that had been initially promised,  ie non expiring credit.

If we tried something like that as the mere "customer" we'd be sued,  but it seems it's OK for the big companies to do that sort of thing..

nrj have a particular appeal to the young via their radio network,   to me that makes their attitude to their customers even more heinous.

And if it was an uneconomic scheme they should have worked that out before launching it.

Sorry,  don't know what's got into me here,  rant over folks!

[Gyn_Paul]

No you're quite right to rant, Martin. In retrospect it seems like NRJ

performed a typical, cynical, big-business trick to hook customers and

then mug them. The only reason their tricked and betrayed customers

don't desert them in droves is because all they've done is sink to the

level of all the others.

Now that the EC has blasted the phone providers for their iniquitous

(sp) roaming charges, it's about time they got their hooks into this

particular money tree.

When you stop and think about it, it's an appalling way to treat

customers: I buy a tank of oil at the begining of the winter and hope

it will last beyond the winter. I don't expect the tanker to come back

6 month's later and siphon off what's left in the tank just because,

after 26 weeks, I haven't used it all .

ohhhhh - you've got me going now !

p

[BJSLIV]

I just think that we have been quite lucky in the UK with our PAYG kept on standby for no charge.

I fear that if the companies were pressed to look at their charges across Europe it would be the UK free phones that would go, not the French model. Indeed it could turn out like the outcry against  bank charges that may well lead to the abolition of the UK "free" banking model.

To extend Gyn's analogy. You top up the oil tank, but having the phone available is a bit like leaving the heating ticking over in winter on frost protection gradually emptsing  the tank even if you aren't there.

If you aren't using the phone to make calls the service is still available, and it may even be red hot with incoming calls.

I know it comes as a shock to us pampered Brits , but you don't often get something for nothing in the real world.

I do think the NRJ policy change was a bit suspect, but they did give gamblers the opportunity to top up with non-expiring credits.

 

 

[Martin963]

BJSLIV - sadly I think you're probably right on this one.   What you say makes a lot of sense.

Funny really,  because in the UK we are so ripped off on some things,   and then on others - may be through gritted teeth  - we have to admit that things are not so bad.

After-sales service and insurance claims being two that spring to my mind.

[Gyn_Paul]

[quote user="Martinwatkins"]BJSLIV - sadly I think you're probably

right on this one.   What you say makes a lot of sense.

Funny

really,  because in the UK we are so ripped off on some

things,   and then on others - may be through gritted

teeth  - we have to admit that things are not so bad.

After-sales service and insurance claims being two that spring to my mind.

[/quote]

Which bag are you putting these two in? or is it one in each ?

p