Can I buy a phone set using mobile credit

[Fairsky]

Hello , I have pay as you go sim which I use mostly while I travel EU . Now I don’t need it much but it have about £150 credit on it. I need this sim but I don’t need that much balance now. I need a mobile set about (£200 under 4G) . I already have a pay monthly plan. So can someone help me whether I can use the balance to buy a handset or not ? I went to a ee store they said they are franchise and suggest me to do it online but I could not find any option here.
many thanks  

[nick_ro]

Hi,

I very much doubt you can do that, it's rare for even a mobile network to refund pay as you go credit.

I always advise people not to top up with too much because if circumstances change or you want to switch to another network, you will lose that credit.

My advice is, call EE sales on 08009566000 select option 2 to become a customer  and then option 1 to buy something and this will get you through to the sales team. They should give you a straight answer.

[XRaySpeX]

PAYG credit is not transferable nor refundable. 

[nick_ro]

Why did you top up so much anyway? I would understand if you were travelling to countries outside the EU but them again you could have just bought a local sim.

Anyway you now have plenty of credit to see you through the year!

[James_B]

Hi @Fairsky,

Welcome to the EE Community. 🙂

Sorry, it isn't possible to use pay as you go credit to purchase a phone.

James

[nick_ro]

Maybe you could suggest this internally as it sounds like a good idea??

[XRaySpeX]

Needs more than a suggestion; would require a change to the PAYG T&C's. 

[nick_ro]

Yes maybe, but it would be a unique selling point, it would be another perk of being on EE Pay as you go, EE needs something that stands out from the rest.

The only thing I can think of that's sort of similar is Vodafone freebies and rewards that let pay as you go users build up an allowance to put towards a new phone.

[XRaySpeX]

EE operates such that PAYG Perks << Contract Perks!

[nick_ro]

A lot of people cannot get contracts, that's the main reason of Pay as you go existing.

A lot of people have declared themselves bankrupt....such people are suspended from credit for a period.

Under 18s cannot get contracts and not all parents would get contracts for their children, this age group is likely to use a lot of data and minutes.

People on low incomes may get turned away from obtaining credit.

People who have a poor credit history who are now back in the black will still have limited access to credit for some time after.

Pay as you go is a gateway to Pay monthly contracts and if it is poor value or offers little choice, it doesn't give the Pay as you go user much enthusiasm to take out a contract.

If you could use Pay as you go credit to buy a phone or any device or simply have the facility to bank Pay as you go credit and build up an amount to buy a phone when it was T-Mobile and when I was under 18, it would have been ideal for me!

Even when I became a student, I had a low income and it would have been perfect.

So there are quite a few groups of people who would benefit from this.

When it comes to EE pay as you go, there are more reasons to use the competition such as Three and Vodafone who allow the basics like 5G. EE has only just allowed 4G voice(Volte) on Pay as you go. 

I'm positive that if majority of Pay as you go users could have a pay monthly contract, they would.

Between 1997 and 2009, Pay as you go was much more popular because majority of these customers were first time buyers of mobile phones, from around 1999, you could simply buy a prepay mobile phone from around £49.99 however the services were expensive, before this time, it was mostly business men and women who had mobile phones.