"got it sorted, but no normal mobile user is going to have the perseverance to work through the issues or"
Bzzzzt
My mother had this problem and with enough calls and evidence (I had to attempt phoning her 3 times in an evening noting the exact time, for example), it got sorted out. Pretty quickly actually. I think she called the network 3 or 4 times and it was fully resolved in 2 days.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
