topic Re: PAYG Account closed without notice in Pay as you go

PAYG Account closed without notice

frustrated2273 — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 12:23:44 GMT

My stepmother (80) has had a EE PAYG SIM for as 6 or 7 yrs. She only uses the SIM a a backup to call for help when out driving, or in the event of a power cut. She believes she was in credit by 10-15£.

She found she was unable to make any calls for the last 4 weeks. When I looked at her phone it was showing emergency calls only. I managed to log in to her account on EE.CO.UK to find the account is closed. She is confused as she does not believe she has had any communication from EE, however she does recall getting some text messages that were confusing, and she was worried they were a scam so deleted them.

Is there any we we can:
1) Get her sim and phone number reactivated?

2) Get her credit balance back?

She never used the ee.co.uk portal to manage the sim - I registered her sim there about 18mths ago.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice offered.

Re: PAYG Account closed without notice

XRaySpeX — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 12:50:07 GMT

@frustrated2273 : Sounds like your PAYG SIM may have gone into hibernation due to non-use. If it has, topping-up now would be too late.

When did you previously make a chargeable action? EE PAYG SIMs are deactivated after 6 months of non-chargeable use. You then have a further 3 months period of grace to call EE to reactivate it before it is lost completely.

You needed to make a chargeable action like making a chargeable call or text, topping up or buying a Pack or Add-on, not just using your mins, texts or data from your pack.

She would have received warning emails of this but it seems she deleted them. It's also in the T&C's.

1. & 2. Yes, if it has been in hibernation for less than 90 days & she phones CS.

Re: PAYG Account closed without notice

Peter_W — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 15:56:06 GMT

Hey there, @frustrated2273

I can appreciate this will have come as a surprise if your mother wasn't aware of this policy, but this is a policy that applies to all of our pay as you go numbers.

We have an article with some more details on how this all works, and when applicable how to restore her number, here:

Understanding Pay As You Go Hibernation – and how to keep your number active - The EE Community

Peter