Wind Topup abroad (problems again)
 

Hi,

I'm still using my WIND sim everyday for roaming data but I made a mistake and missed the deadline to topup in Germany before the renewal of the monthly Mega-15000 pack by a matter of hours. Now my account is in negative and I cannot make calls to the 4242 line to use the German O2 scratchcard via any means. I've tried making topups on Mondowind with 4 different UK credit cards (amex, visa, mastercard & visa debit) several times but everytime within a few hours the transaction is declined.

I know it's been asked before but short of coming to Italy just to topup this card what can I do? Is there a number I can call to topup from a landline maybe? If this is possible I can maybe get somebody in Italy to buy a proper Italian scratchcard. It's a real pain as I really was relying on this sim on Thursday for a trip in Germany and I have no backup with me at all...

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks in advance.
Michael

Well, I don't know if I'm getting somewhere but I've been trying mondowind over and over again. The usual email I get about 2 hours later seems to have changed because last time I received: "Carta non accettata dai nostri sistemi." instead of the usual:

Gentile Michael,

l ordine che hai effettuato presso mondowind on line h stato annullato in quanto la carta di credito che ci hai fornito non appartiene all intestatario dell ordine

Ti aspettiamo ancora su www.mondowind.it

Cordiali saluti,

Servizio clienti mondowind on line

I'll keep trying and maybe somebody will notice!!

The last email is speaking about a different name between the credit card and your account... :confused: I think that's the usual crappy MondoWind.it :chair:

Anyway do you have a negative balance or simply 0,00? If you want I can refill your simcard with 3 € and then you can use a 02 UK scratch card.

Hi Andrea,

I've just tried 1 final time to topup on mondowind with the Visa & Amex. I expect it will fail within an hour or so as usual :-( I noticed you're allowed to have an address in commune "Estero" now on mondowind so I updated all this info from the previous Italian one but it doesn't seem to make any difference. One strange thing is my orders do change in status from "Ordine in corso di verifica" to "Ordine in corso di evizione" but then go to "Ordine annullato" an hour or 2 later - they used to go straight to "annulato" before I changed the address. I have even called AMEX and they told me there hasn't been even a single authorisation attempt made by anybody in the past 36 hours on my account so I guess mondowind doesn't even bother trying!!!

It's particularly annoying because I was in Germany within 30 mins of the renewal and bought a 30 euro German o2 scratchcard but couldn't load it into the phone because of this. It's really a mad system Wind have that they completely block clients when they run out of credit abroad! I'm now back in Belgium but will be in Germany again on Friday - not that it matters as I couldn't use this scratch card I have even if I was there now!

Anyway, I think my account is actually at EUR -22,10 because the EUR 30 Mega-15000 renewal was taken when my balance was about 8 euro. Here's a copy of the last entries from 155.it:

Bonus Mega 15000 09/01/2007 07.37.40 09/01/2007 07.44.47 7.500,00 € 7.500,00 € 0,00 € 0,00 €

Canone Mega 15000 09/01/2007 07.36.50 09/01/2007 07:44:47 -30,00 € -7,90 € 0,00 € -22,10 €

Bonus Mega 15000 25/12/2006 07.34.50 25/12/2006 07.41.27 7.500,00 € 7.500,00 € 8,50 € 0,00 €

Thanks so so much for the offer to put in a 3 euro credit but as I'm in need of at least 25 euro it's probably too much to ask. Perhaps I could send you some money by Paypal, bank transfer or however you suggest and you could load enough into my account to get it active again? I'm super desperate to get this up and running as I absolutely must have my emails when travelling in the Benelux and Germany this week and as I was expecting it to work the Wind is my only solution. I'll send you a PM with my phone number etc.. once I get the latest "ordine annulato" message for my final mondowind attempt just in case you can somehow help me out. I still feel bad asking such a thing and totally understand if it's not possible. Thanks again so so so much for the help thus far!! Just let me know anytime if there's anything I can help you with in return :-)

Greetings,
Michael

PS: for amusement value here is a copy of my "ordine" list on mondowind:
Ricarica Rewind on line da 45 euro (40 euro traffico telefonico e 5 euro costo di attivazione) 12/08/2006 Consegnato al Cliente
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 17/10/2006 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 80 euro 17/10/2006 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 03/01/2007 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 07/01/2007 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 08/01/2007 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 09/01/2007 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 09/01/2007 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 10/01/2007 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 10/01/2007 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 10/01/2007 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 10/01/2007 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 10/01/2007 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 10/01/2007 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 10/01/2007 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 10/01/2007 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 10/01/2007 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 10/01/2007 Ordine annullato
Ricarica ReWind on line da 50 euro 10/01/2007 Ordine in corso di verifica

Well, as expected the last attempt was "annulato" too :-(:-(:-(

It seems my rather large amount of attempts on mondowind has actually resulted in a more definitive reply though - maybe even from a human being. The rejection email said just this: "non accettiamo carte di credito emesse all`estero"

I guess this means they now confirm there's no way to get a foreign credit card accepted so I might as well give up.

Yes, you're right... MondoWind.it (that's the same of Shop3 :confused:) is terrible and this deny to foreigner credit cards is without any logical sense.

PS: I'm writing you a PM.

Wind continues to shoot itself in the foot
 

The "no non-Italian credit card" issue seems to be something that Wind really believes in. I had the same problem a month or more back, wrote to 155, wrote to Wind, received no replies of any kind, then finally had a call from a Wind telephonic agent who told me that I should get an Italian credit card if I wanted to use Wind. Period the end. I asked if they cared about non-Italian business, and she just repeated that I should get an Italian bank and Italian credit card.

What I will do is finish up what little is left on the Wind SIM and get a TIM SIM. If everyone did that, perhaps Wind would understand that having a successful business depends on having repeat business.

Well, pay attention. Tim has the same trouble. Directly from their online shop http://www.tim.it/consumer/l6152/libera.do: "Il contratto si considera concluso nel momento in cui l'accettazione del Cliente, mediante invio dell' "ordine digitale", giunge all'indirizzo elettronico di Telecom Italia S.p.A.; il Cliente riceverà, tramite e-mail, la conferma della conclusione del contratto. Si considererà senza effetto l'ordine effettuato da chi non sia residente o domiciliato in Italia, non abbia compiuto 18 anni e non sia in possesso di codice fiscale e/o Partita Iva. Il Cliente dichiara di conoscere ed accettare i limiti di acquisto in vigore al momento della conclusione del contratto e riportati nel form "Info"; qualora tali limiti siano superati l'accettazione sarà considerata priva di effetto. Gli importi indicati nel catalogo sono espressi in Euro e comprensivi di IVA. "

Fast resume. If you are a not italian you will be not able to use their online shop :( Maybe in the first weeks they will 'pass' every requests as MondoWindOnLine, but I suppose that they will have the same end very soon... :(

What a crappy service we have in Italy... :confused:

Italian resident or Italian credit card
 

Good point you make about TIM...but if I do have a codice fiscale and reside part-time in Italy but do not have an Italian-bank-issued credit card, will I end up in the same hole with TIM as with Wind, which refuses to recognize an non-Italian-bank-issued card as valid?

Yes, I think that the end will be the same :confused:

With Wind same thing... all the people here has a 'codice fiscale' (everyone has one! :) ) and a 'residence' in Italy... the problem is the credit card, good luck (on Tim shop online i can't use mine too - an italian one! - so i can't imagine what kind of troubles for foreigners...)

hi everyone,

I m using wind sim cards for a while.
But i think that i made a mistake.
I'm now with a 0.00 credit on it.
I still have scratch cards to recharge but when i call the *124*4242# i don t have the call back.

I m supposed to go in italy next month, anyone can tell me if i ll be able to recharge my card even if i'm 0.00???

Is the 4242 call will be ok from italy?

I hope u understand me,

Thanks,
Helene

Hi Helene, welcome!

Well, when you have 0,00 credit you can't use the international roaming so you can't call 4242 from abroad.

But don't worry, when you'll be in Italy you will be able to call directly the number 4242 and to refill your sim card even if you're 0,00! :)

thanks for answering

Still have a big question :)


I have the mega no limit option.

I heard about a change of cost by wind.

Now i can read that the prices will change again in february.

My question is: the cost u announce in the post new prices is 0.0125 euro per Kb.

But with the 3000 euros bonus that the mega no limit allow this cost seems to be really cheaper!!??

0.0125 euro per kb is
12.5 euros per megaB

So with my 3000 euros i can use more than the 200 mb that i used before the costs changes???

I think i m wrong but if someone can tell me how much i can traffic with my mega no limit and my 3000 euros bonus in february and the next months, it ll be nice!

Thanks,

Hi Helene.

Just 2 questions:

1. did you deactivate the option when you stayed in France? If you didn't do it, I think that you risk to have a 'under 0' balance :( And you have a big debit with Wind it's better to buy a new simcard than refilling the old one :p

2. do you want to use "Mega No Limit" in Italy or abroad? If you use the option in Italy no change for you, if you use it abroad you had new prices from December -> http://www.prepaidgsm.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1330

If you need an international data option "Mega No Limit" is not more the best solution... :(

With the Mega NoLimit outside of Italy now you pay 0.90€ per KB sent/received, which means € 921.60 per MB!!! It means that with your 3000€ bonus you get a little more than 3MB while outside of Italy... The new rates are available without the "mega" options.

Somewhat related issue. I only have a few euro left on my phone; I'm going back to Italy in a couple days and might not be able to get on line right away when I arrive. I want to top off the sim card in advance.

Normally I do that online, while in Italy with my phone turned on, so the Wind network can see my phone and send the confirmation. Any issues or problems if I do it 18 hours ahead of time, while I'm out of the country and my phone is turned off, and my phone doesn't get turned on and registered to the system till I arrive?

To answer my question- yes, it worked.
I paid for a topup on mondowind before leaving the states, and when I arrived in Italy 18 hours later it registered the credit.

Sorry if I didn't answer sooner, anyway of course it worked! :)

I thhink I got trapped too
 

Hi,

knowing I'd have to recharge, I could not as I was abroad and the credit card was not accepted :(

I checked and the balance meanwhile is -9.xx EUR.

Does this mean I have to topup with at least 10 EUR from within Italy before I will be able to use a German O2 loop scratch card ? Or would be 1 EUR enough to "enable" the O2 topup (because of different balances and delayed alignement) ?

Any other way than travelling to Italy ?

Regards,

Torsten

I think you can top-up with O2 Loop scratch card in any case (it should not depend on the credit you already have), but you have to do it while you are in Germany or it won't work.

I'm having a problem with no callback to the 4242 number

No, you can't as the normal phone function is suspended once there is no credit and they charge you for the call to recharge....

Greetings

Torsten

mine has credit but still won't allow incoming or outgoing calls, and they haven't replied to an email about it

andy you're simply in the last month of validity :D

The callback is not more allowed!

The callback to *124*4242# is free of charge, but I suppose you need at least 1 cent to use int.roaming.

that is exactly what I was refering to: no credit, no chance :(

Few hours ago I was able to top up online my italian Wind sim-account with finnish Visa Electron. First i put my VE card-numbers, and site redirected me to log e-bank.

It was okay after that, I got confirmation message to my e-mail.. Balance activation took about 1 hour. :)

I've been trying to top up my Vodafone Italia SIMs using PayPal without any success for the last week or so. There's no error message or anything, but the final confirmation screen does not appear after I approve the payment when using my German PP account. When I use my US PP account, I get an error message ("sorry, we are unable to process your transaction at this time" or something like that).

Either they've stopped accepting foreign PayPal accounts (and don't mention this anywhere) or there's a bug on their website. Either way, I'm probably going to have to top up with a German Vf card - I'll ask at the local store if they have any low-denomination ones (they do, but do not usually sell them - perhaps they'll make an exception for a foreign account).

Here's what I did to top up my Vodafone Italia cards - and I suspect it'll work just fine for any others that accept PayPal from their country only: I created a new Italian PayPal account, using the address of a friend where I usually stay when I'm there (which is also the address I used for Vodafone). PayPal doesn't ask for a codice fiscale, and I didn't link an Italian credit card or bank account to my new account (because I don't have any). Then, I transferred some money from my German PayPal account to the new Italian account. Hey presto - it worked fine, and I was able to top up each Vodafone Italia account with 5 euros, enough to keep both of them going for another 11 months. I don't know why I didn't think of this before!

I don't have any problem with Wind Italy. Just to be sure I added 15 euro using my Canadian credit card from here in Calgary and it went through with no problem. Recieved an email and a text message ( on my Wind phone) confirming the transaction. I do it through the Wind Client Area.

FWIW, Vodafone just accepted my German credit card for a top-up. And the PayPal trick described above still works (note that as PP is notorious for freezing accounts, you should only try this with small amounts as a last resort).

Wind Finally Caught Up With Me
 

Well after 4 years of being able to topup my Wind card from Canada, the website is now refusing to accept any of my credit cards or paypal. Giving saveonroaming.net a try and if it dosen't work I'll let it go. Still 37 euro on the card so will have to use it up before the 17th.

Isn't wind sold yet? I know it was up for sale but could that be the reason why?

Sold or merged with a Russian company. I don't know if it's gone through yet. Shouldn't make a difference but.... When we are in Italy this year I will pick up a debit card from our bank in Pescara. That should solve the problem.

Hello,
is the problem, because they use the "Verified by Visa e MasterCard SecureCode", you do not have with your credit cards or do they accept no foreign Credit Cards (like 3 UK)?

They don't exactly say but I think it's the same as TIM, no non Italian credit cards. I had the same trouble with Vodafone UK but Nomi UK still accepts my Canadian credit cards. I topped up with Wind Italy one year ago with no trouble. The Wind site accepts interact cards so when we go this summer I'll visit our bank in Pescara and get a card.

I have verified by Visa and it comes up on the site but after everything is entered they say they can't accept it and make other arrangements for payment. If it wasn't for the fact I've got 37 euros on it I wouldn't worry. I got this one for free including 5 euro of credit a couple of years ago.

And if you use PayPal which error does it give?

Error
 

No matter if I try credit cards or Paypal I get "La richiesta di ricarica non e stata accettata" I paid saveonroaming 15 euro by paypal, no trouble, but they haven't added it to my Wind number yet. The Wind website also allows to pay from a Unicredit bank account but we haven't got an interact card from them. I'll get one next time we are in Italy.

Saveonroaming was able to add 10 euro. I'am good for another 12 months!