Doha, Qatar: Prepaid mobile users in Qatar have expressed their concerns over shorter validity duration of credit balance provided by telecommunication companies for their services.
The credit validity for Ooredoo pre-paid services for the recharge of QR10 to QR99 is just 30 days (one month) that means a customer’s credit balance will nullify if it is not used within 30 days period while the credit validity for recharge over QR100 + is 90 days (three months). The mobile SIM remains active for 179 days after a recharge.
“I recharged my mobile SIM number with QR80 but I had no need of making enough calls through that credit and also did not use the mobile data due to continuous internet connectivity at my home and office but the credit balance turned zero after one month. It is a shorter duration window which should be increased,” said a customer using Ooredoo services.
It is pertinent to mention that the validity period for a customer’s credit balance starts from the date of recharge. To extend the validity, a customer must make another recharge before the current validity expires; otherwise, the balance is nullified blocking all outgoing calls and messages.
Meanwhile, Vodafone's prepaid credit recharges from QR 10 to QR80 are valid for 30 days while the line validity is 180 days from the recharge date. The credit validity of recharge from QR 100 to QR 500 is 90 days. To maintain the validity of credit balance, customers need to make a subsequent recharge within this period.
If a customer recharges for an amount from QR10 to QR80 and fails to use it, it will expire after 30 days. The minimum recharge amount is QR 10, and the maximum is QR 500 whose credit validity is 90 days (three months). If one customer does not make any recharge within 180 days, the SIM will expire.
A Vodafone pre-paid customer said “I recharged my SIM with QR20, and now it's expired because I didn’t use it within 30 days! Why is the validity period so short?”
He added, "I went out of town for a month, and when I came back, I found out my recharge expired because I didn’t use it in time. If I am away for a while, why can't my credit last longer? Now I have to recharge again, and it’s just so inconvenient.”
