My Visit to UM Headquarters!
 

Hey gang-

So, here I am in Zurich for work with the afternoon free. After weeks of trying without success to get any response from UM about my inoperative +423 UM sim, and trying to get my balance transferred to my +44 sim, I was willing to try anything. So, with a piece of UM letterhead and Google Maps, I located their address in Kloten, a suburb of Zurich near the airport.

12 Francs of train and bus fare later, I was there! An office park on the Obstgartenstrasse.

Up the elevator, and there it is- headquarters. Looking through the glass walls and door, the place looks abandoned. But with fingers crossed I ring the buzzer. My luck holds- a fellow answers the door and lets me in.

I explain my tale of woe- and the fact that I was very angry that I just two weeks ago purchased the +44 sim only to learn I should have gotten one free. And about the unanswered calls and emails.

The fellow is very helpful and takes my info and says he can fix it right now! So, I relax and look around for the first time while he goes to work in a back office.

The UM offices are about half of the 4th floor of this office building- fairly large. But all I see are row after row of empty cubicles and some meeting rooms. I count I think 3 people total in the place. This is a Wednesday afternoon around 1pm. I suddenly realize why calls and emails are unanswered.

But quickly the fellow returns and tells me he has transferred my +423 balance to my +44 sim, and credited me most of the cost of the +44 sim that I bought. I am once again a happy United Mobile customer!

I would have loved to ask some questions like "where is everybody" or "is UM going to make it", but I was almost afraid of the answers so I thanked the fellow and left to get back on my bus.

In the end, I was delighted that my one hour investment of time had been a success, but I left worrying about the future of the whole prepaid roaming worldphone business- something I rely on in my work.

Well, it's a beautiful day in Zurich, and a cold beer awaits, so I'll sign off for now. Thanks again to the nice fellow at UM who helped me out, and best wishes that we all have phones working for a long time!

Kupe

Zurich's a great city. I have only spent a day there but it was pretty fantastic. Switzerland certainly warrants another visit or three during my lifetime.

I'm glad you got your SIM working, at least...

Stupid idea to waste so much time and money, which you would have better spent in downtown, just to get back some € 12 (after subtracting the travel costs).
Regarding their apparently abandoned office: UM's customer care is outsourced to a call center in Horb, Germany. Afaik they only have their second level support in Switzerland. Further in Switzerland they have spring holiday until April 19th. Last but not least UM have also fired some people.

@ Inquisitor

And who the ..ck are you to judge other peoples decision and what they do in their free time???

Providing you bring lots and lots of money ;)

Actually, I think the OP was after more than just the €12 that you state, as judging by his previous posts he also had substantial levels of credit on his +423 account.

In my opinion kudos to him for deciding to track down the office and getting his problem sorted so fast!

I kind of agree with inquisitor here... My time off is worth a whole lot more than the credit on a SIM card. I can count quite a few better things to do in Switzerland than visit UM's offices.

And also for keeping us informed of the situation at UM HQ :thumbup:

Henning reports on telefon-treff.de, that United Mobile confirmed a total system failure rendering all UM +44 SIM cards unreachable and unusable.
So kupe, what have you done while that UM-fellow disappeared in the back office today? Have you unplugged any cables or likewise? I understand, that you were really angry, but would you please return to the UM office tomorrow and fix whatever you did there? I'm abroad and relying to UM right now. As I'm changing planes at Zürich tomorrow, I'm considering to pass by then, too.

I think it's only positive if someone takes the time to visit they HQ of UM, it's his decisions and if he want to buy a ticket costing money it's his decision. Why atticking him about that. It's his money and his time.

Sure it's really a question can you judge form how many people are working in the office if things are doing well. 13.00 is around lunchbreak, holiday whatever. The geram links report technical problems, are htese really technical problems or financial problems ?

I have left UM some month ago and bough a different sim card. I would suggest other to do the same as it seems that obviously you can't rely on UM anymore.

But this is nothing new in the free roaming industry, in the end it looks like everyone sooner or later has problems, some stay some go.

I have said it several times, get your own did number, setup a forward to a roaming free mobile, you maybe pay 8-10 cents for incoming and whenever a provider gos out of business you just get another card and forward to that number. This way you don't have to hand out a new mobile number every year or so.

Fact remains that +423 is gone and UM seems to have problems on the +44 also. I had been a fan of UM for a long time but now they are screwing up things.