Lost my phone in China

[Derdle]

Help please. I have come from the UK to China to visit the Canton Trade fair and on the first day I lost my phone a Galaxy S24 Ultra. I need a phone urgently as communicating here is causing me some distress. There is a Huawei shop next door to my hotel where I could pick up a cheap phone. However I love Samsung devices and have always had Samsung phones even my kitchen appliances are Samsung. I would rather cross Guangzhou City tomorrow to go to the Samsung Shop and buy a replacement S24 Ultra but I am concerned it will work when I return to the UK. I am with EE. My UK purchased S24 Ultra worked fine here in China so I assume it will, the other way round. I just want to check that there is no default language or similar setting etc etc set up on the phone that cant be changed. I obviously understand that I will have to change the Sim card when I return but is there any difference in the phone. I hope you can help me Kind Regards Kevin

[Derdle]

As I said thank you for the advise. 

I don't think that any one is actually understanding the problems.

This is not like losing your phone in Europe.

I cant use a web calling app as web to phone needs credit and I have no way of buying credit because my cards and phone are lost and even if i had my cards with me. UK debit cards don't seem to work for online purchase's when in China.

for example I tried to purchase a phone online in the UK so i would have one ready when i return,  using my business partners debit card and it fails 2 stage authentication because of our location. 

I have obviously tried to call the CS numbers from another phone as how would I call from mine? it is lost.. I have tried a land line and another Mobile neither work.

All i want is an email address to  contact them on is that so much to ask. Why don't they give one out. 

I have tried every possible way to contact CS at EE and nothing is getting through......the only thing that would work is an email address. a simple email address They offer a postal address something people used 15years ago. 

the whole world communicates through email so why refrain from giving one.

regards the 2 stage authentication Each time i login in it counts down to how many logins i have left.

so if You are not compelled to set up 2 stage authentication here. what is the count down all about.

I do appreciate  the help but I don't think the gravity of the situation here can really be understood because of the things we take for granted in Europe. I cant even use my VPN (Nord) because it is blocked. There are a couple of VPN's that work here in China but the Sites are blocked. so you need to install them before entering and they are very expensive.

[Derdle]

Hi Bristolian 

As I mentioned in an earlier post I do have security enabled on my phone....however i'm in the Country that makes nearly all of the worlds handsets so I should imagine there are people here who no how to circumvent the security.....

Bak home or In Europe I only pay with a debit card. I dont use Samsung Pay or Google pay as I don't trust them.

But here you have no choice but to use WeChat or Alipay, So I had no choice but to link my cards to those Apps. 

I may well be safe but all i wanted was to ask EE to block my phone to be extra safe but I can't contact them.

[Derdle]

Regarding the Ofcom Comments.... Below is directly from Ofcom's website.

I have followed the procedures laid out exactly as they suggest and tried to use the contact numbers that are provided.

The network provider and the industry Regulator have a duty of care to ensure that the information provided to a consumer is accurate. If it is not then they can be liable. I is no good for them to assume that just cause something works in 1 situation(or in this case country) it will work in all.

Therefore I think if anything happens then there must be some liability with one or the other.

.................................................................................................................................................................................................

What should I do if my phone is lost or stolen?

Be extra careful when taking your phone abroad as thieves often target tourists.

You should take care when using your phone in public, don't let it out of your possession.

Not only are many smartphones worth hundreds of pounds, but thieves can quickly rack up huge bills on stolen phones.

You may be liable for all charges run up on your phone when it goes missing up until you report it as lost or stolen to your provider.

If your phone goes missing and you are with Three, Virgin Media O2, Vodafone or EE for mobile services, you should only be responsible for paying up to a maximum of £100 for any unauthorised usage outside of your allowance - if you report your phone as missing within 24 hours.

If you are with Vodafone and you miss the 24 hours but report your phone as missing within five days, you should only be responsible for paying up to £500 for unauthorised usage outside of your allowance. See the Government's announcement.

Therefore, if your phone goes missing when you're abroad, it's important you contact your provider as soon as possible to avoid facing high charges because of unauthorised use. Even if there's a slim chance you may find your phone, it's worth talking to your provider about whether a temporary bar can be placed on your account.

Once you have reported your phone as lost or stolen, your provider can bar your SIM to stop calls being made on your account. Your provider can also stop anyone else from using your phone by blocking its IMEI, a unique 15-digit serial number. You can get your IMEI number by keying *#06# into your handset or by looking behind your phone battery. Make a record of this number, as well as the make and model of your handset and keep it somewhere safe.

You can also download an app which can trace your phone if it is lost or stolen and can enable you to wipe details remotely – such as findmyiphone and Android Device Manager.

Some mobile insurance policies may provide some cover for unauthorised use so it is worth checking the terms and conditions of your existing policy, or when considering a new policy.

Remember, if you do decide to take out mobile phone insurance, you may be obliged to let your insurer know if your phone is lost or stolen within a certain time frame too.

You should still also let your mobile phone provider know.

Make sure you put a passcode on both your handset and SIM to make it more difficult for thieves to use.

The Met's guide on protecting your phone  is also a useful source of advice on how you can protect yourself from becoming a victim of phone crime.

How to report your phone lost or stolen

Provider Dialling from the UK Dialling from abroad

3	333 (Three phone) 0333 373 3333 (any other phone)	+44 7782 333 333
EE	07953 966 250	+44 7953 966 250
O2	0344 809 0202  (pay-monthly) 0344 809 0222 (PAYG)	+44 344 809 0202 (pay-monthly) +44 344 809 0222 (PAYG)
Vodafone	03333 040191	+44 7836 191 191 (pay-monthly) +44 7836 191 919 (PAYG)
Tesco Mobile	4455 (Tesco Mobile phone) 0345 301 4455 (any other phone)	+44 845 3014455
Virgin Mobile	789 (Virgin Media phone) 0345 6000 789 (any other phone)	+44 7953 967 967

[Peter_W]

Good morning @Derdle, thanks for highlighting all of these details. 

If you've raised a webform with our dedicated complaints team and had a confirmation email, then I'd like to reassure you 100% that this will be picked up.

They're a specialist team and work over a combination of call and email, so it can take a few days for them to review your case and get in touch, but you should definitely hear something within the next few days. 

As a few of the guys have suggested here there are multiple options for you to get in contact, including both over the phone or via messaging in our app, but due to the restrictions in place in China I can appreciate this may be more complex than usual. 

What day was it that you originally raised this as a complaint?
Peter

[Derdle]

Hi Peter

Thankyou for the reply, I received the auto response by email after filling the webform on the 25/10/2024 at 00:57 but with the 7 hour time difference that would have made it the 24/10/2024 at 18:57 UK time that I sent it. 

I gave as much detail as possible in the Web form to prove it was me for security reasons including the mobile number that was lost. the number of my galaxy watch attached to the account, my full address, my email address on my EE account, full name, amount from my last bill, and my agreement number. I even told them the model of the mobile phone and model of the previous phone as these were both supplied by EE. Hopefully this was enough information to prove my identity. I explained the situation and that I was in China and was struggling to communicate and requested an immediate block on the phone and for a new sim to be sent out. I also gave a second email address(business email) which my colleague can see on his phone in case they emailed when I was out of the hotel and not with my Laptop.

from sending the request it has been 4 days but not heard anything.

I am flying back tomorrow. I leave China at 13:00 and with the time difference I will be in the UK at around 17:00 on the 29th Oct and will call as soon as I land.

[XRaySpeX]

A SIM will only be sent to your registered UK addy.

[Derdle]

Of course I know that,🙄 where else would I want it sent?????

I  said in my last post I'm flying back tomorrow It would be no good for them to send it to China... LOL😅

[Peter_W]

Thanks for confirming that @Derdle.

Our complaints team usually aim to review cases and respond within 72 hours, so apologies that this has taken longer than expected. 

As @XRaySpeX has mentioned, we aren't able to send SIMs internationally to get you reconnected, but I appreciate the biggest concern is to make sure the SIM and device are blocked so we can be sure there isn't any unauthorised activity. 

I'm going to send you over a Private message so we can look over ensuring we've investigated all of your options here.

Peter

[Derdle]

Thanks I have replied privately

[XRaySpeX]

You said "sent out" which I took to be out to China. Also your post was discussing a complaint you put in on the 24th, not what you were up to today.