Sunrise Prepaid? No Thanks!

Vic had the great idea of losing her cellphone during our recent holidays so we got her a temporary (cheapo) phone with a Sunrise prepaid card.

And as she mainly communicates via SMS, we went for an offer which includes 1’000 free messages (to be sent within a period of three months – should bearly be enough.. ;-)) and a whopping CHF 2.00 conversation capital.

Two weeks later, she informed us that she wasn’t able to send any SMS anymore!

After a quick call to the Sunrise helpdesk, she was then informed that (free) messages could only be sent if she had a credit; which she didn’t, of course, as you can imagine just how long the CHF 2.00 lasted for.

“No problemo: let’s top up your credit online”, I said and proceeded to find the appropriate link on the Sunrise homepage.

“Dear customer”, it told me, “in order to recharge your account, you need a special, really hush-hush, secret password”. “And in order to get one, simply send an SMS to….”. *BOING*.

But ahaaah: it was also possible to call a special number and request the password…..from your mobile phone. *BOING*.

“Oh well”, I told Vic, “I’ll simply pop by the station on the way to work and reload it via the ticket machine”. A great service, BTW: you enter the cellphone number, the amount you wish to “upload”, insert your credit card and woosh, Bob’s your uncle.

Well: at least that’s the way it works with all the other phone companies I know of.

Sunrise doesn’t go “wooosh”, Sunrise goes “whir, whir” as it prints out a 73 digit code you then have to enter into your phone. *BOING*

So, Granmas, Uncles, and Godmothers of this world: forget about giving little Johnny a Sunrise Prepaid card for Christmas with the intention of topping it up remotely whenever you feel like it.

Get a Swisscom one instead!