berkshire united kingdom 25 november 2009 founder gav thompson 1 headquarters uxbridge greater london united kingdom 2 area served united kingdom key people mike fairman ceo mark bowden cfo 3 products mobile telecommunications products and services owner telef nica website giffgaff.com giffgaff stylized giffgaff is a mobile telephone network running as a mobile virtual network operator mvno using the united kingdom o2 network . owned by o2 s owners telef nica 4 giffgaff was launched on 25 november 2009 . 5 contents 1 history 2 products and services 2.1 customer service 2.2 4g 3 controversies 3.1 unlimited internet 3.2 advertising campaigns 4 references 5 external links history edit within 2010 its first year of operation giffgaff won two industry awards the forrester groundswell award in november also the most innovative community award at the social crm customer excellence awards . 6 7 in november giffgaff was nominated for the marketing society s brand of the year but lost to the department store john lewis . 8 in june 2012 giffgaff was named best mvno mobile virtual network operator in the mobile industry awards . 9 in 2014 giffgaff won the which best telecom services provider award . 10 products and services edit giffgaff sim card at launch the first product was a prepaid sim card providing all standard 2g and 3g mobile phone services charged on a pay as you use basis . after launch bundles of minutes texts and data called goodybags were introduced . the idea for bundles emerged from the community forums . in june 2012 it was announced that customers would be able to set goodybags to renew automatically once a debit or credit card was saved on the site . 11 on 17 october 2012 giffgaff added data only goodybags called gigabags to their lineup of products . 12 in march 2014 giffgaff announced that it would add a line of 4g lte goodybags available for purchase from april 2014 . 13 in may 2014 giffgaff announced that they were now an official apple carrier 14 which was closely followed by another announcement that they would soon be stocking iphones in their online shop this would unlock options on iphones that would have normally been locked for users including tethering and voicemail options . iphone devices were on sale from 4 june 2014 . 15 customer service edit giffgaff has no customer service phone lines . non account specific problems are raised via an online message board system and are answered by other giffgaff members in exchange for payback points which are exchanged twice a year for cash via paypal or account credit . account specific queries are directed to agents who are employed by giffgaff . if neither of these avenues resolve the issues there is a dedicated complaint team and responding to complaints can take up to five working days . 16 4g edit as of september 2015 all of giffgaff s goodybags 17 come with 4g data included at no extra cost . if the user doesn t have a 4g ready device or is not in a 4g area the device will connect to o2 s 3g service . controversies edit unlimited internet edit after goodybags with unlimited internet allowance were introduced complaints were made to the advertising standards authority asa from customers who had their internet access disabled . the reason given by giffgaff for their disconnection was a clause in the terms and conditions stating we may disconnect you if you do anything ... which we reasonably think adversely impacts the service to other giffgaff customers or may adversely affect the network . the complaint was not upheld by the asa who concluded that unlimited internet was advertised correctly . giffgaff noted that their customer service agents had used the clause above incorrectly and promised to rectify this . 18 advertising campaigns edit in may 2013 giffgaff ran an online and television advertising campaign with the strapline don t be scared which featured zombies converging on a village . although the television advert appeared after the 9pm watershed the asa received 105 complaints . the asa did not uphold the complaints stating that it was not in breach of any bcap rules . 19 in october 2013 giffgaff ran two adverts in an online campaign with the strapline different takes guts . the advert featured a crowd of people dressed in white in an empty swimming pool throwing guts at each other . the asa upheld the complaints that the content was in violation of bcap rules for harm and offence and also bcap rule 5.2 because the advert was not suitably age rated . it was recommended that the advert not appear again in its current form . 20 in august 2014 giffgaff ran three adverts in an online campaign with the strapline at home with your parents you re not the boss which featured siblings being subjected to awkward situations parents one of which was reported to the asa and featured an adult son walking in on his parents as they were engaged in sexual intercourse . the asa upheld the complaint that the content was in violation of bcap rule 4.1 for harm and offence and recommended that the advert not appear again in its current form 21 references edit case study giffgaff . figaro digital . retrieved 11 april 2013 . giffgaff makes a spooktacular move to uxbridge . giffgaff blog . retrieved 10 april 2013 . the team . giffgaff.com . retrieved 20 september 2013 . our brands acerca de telef nica telef nica . www.telefonica.com . retrieved 2016 09 13 . bradshaw tim 3 january 2010 . original ideas suggest customer knows best . financial times . retrieved 13 january 2010 . elliot nate . winners of the 2010 forrester groundswell awards consumer international . forrester blog . forrester groundswell . retrieved 23 march 2014 . giffgaff winner of most innovative community award 20 may 2010 . social crm excellence award . community.giffgaff.com . retrieved 23 december 2010 . 2010 marketing society brand of the year finals . brandrepublic.com . 19 november 2010 . retrieved 23 december 2010 . winners 2012 . mobile industry awards . mobile today . retrieved 27 august 2012 . why giffgaff is our best telecom services provider 2014 . http blogs.which.co.uk . which 2014 . retrieved 29 august 2014 . external link in website help cutlab gary . giffgaff goes semi contract with its recurring goodybags . gizmodo . gizmodo uk . retrieved 15 march 2014 . cutlag gary . giffgaff unlocks tethering potential with gigabags mobile data plans . gizmodo . gizmodo uk . retrieved 15 march 2014 . campbell matthew . giffgaff to launch 4g service in april . mobile today industry . mobile today . retrieved 15 march 2014 . iphone carrier profile . giffgaff.com . retrieved 4 june 2014 . iphone coming soon to giffgaff . giffgaff.com . retrieved 4 june 2014 . has giffgaff become too popular for its own good cnet . cnet . 12 december 2011 . retrieved 28 april 2014 . sim only deals and plans giffgaff . www.giffgaff.com . retrieved 2015 09 05 . asa adjudication on giffgaff ltd a12 192632 . adjudications . advertising standards agency . retrieved 15 march 2014 . asa adjudication on giffgaff ltd a13 248779 . adjudications . advertising standards agency . retrieved 15 march 2014 . asa adjudication on giffgaff ltd a13 248779 . adjudications . advertising standards agency . retrieved 15 march 2014 . asa adjudication on giffgaff ltd a14 277947 . adjudications . advertising standards agency . retrieved 21 november 2014 . external links edit official website v t e uk mobile network operators ee o2 three vodafone uk mobile virtual network operators mvnos asda mobile bt mobile bt business mobile the co operative mobile delight mobile giffgaff gt mobile id mobile lebara mobile lycamobile now mobile talkmobile telecom plus tesco mobile the people s operator truphone virgin mobile former mvnos dialog vizz family mobile kitemobile mobile by sainsbury s life mobile v t e telecommunications industry in the united kingdom economy of the united kingdom science and technology in the united kingdom companies infrastructure providers arqiva babcock international bt wholesale openreach interxion telecitygroup telehouse europe service providers current andrews & arnold asda mobile bt group bt global services bt business bt consumer ee plusnet claranet colt group the co operative cable & wireless communications delight mobile family mobile inmarsat kcom group eclipse internet lebara mobile lycamobile mapesbury communications o2 uk giffgaff origin broadband sky sky broadband talkmobile talktalk group aol broadband talktalk business talktalk mobile talktalk tv telecom plus tesco mobile three tru virgin media virgin media business virgin mobile uk vodafone vodafone uk voipfone wightfibre zen internet defunct atlantic telegraph company be un limited bonelli s electric telegraph company cable & wireless plc cable & wireless worldwide dolphin telecom electric telegraph company energis general post office ionica london and provincial district telegraph company mercury communications mobile by sainsbury s national telephone company ntl ovivo post office telecommunications pipex priyo mobile rabbit stan mobile tiscali uk universal private telegraph company suppliers current arm holdings artevea csr icera metaswitch pace sarantel spirent telent defunct gec plessey telecommunications marconi company marconi communications picochip standard telephones and cables other carphone warehouse hibu phones 4u dial a phone government and regulatory bodies broadband stakeholder group defence science and technology laboratory european conference of postal and telecommunications administrations international telecommunication union ofcom phonepayplus industry bodies gsm association internet service providers association lonap london internet exchange manap symbian foundation internet telephony services providers association other adastral park british approvals board for telecommunications british telecommunications act 1981 british telephone sockets bt research bt site engineering code communications act 2003 earth stations in the united kingdom hull colour pages interception of communications act 1985 internet in the united kingdom telegraph act telegraph act 1868 telegraph act 1885 telephone numbers in the united kingdom uk telephone code misconceptions web blocking in the united kingdom category commons retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title giffgaff & oldid 742697946 categories mobile virtual network operatorstelecommunications in the united kingdom2009 establishments in the united kingdomcompanies established in 2009hidden categories cs1 errors external linksuse dmy dates from april 2014official website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links 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