EE are refusing to send me a new SIM card

[dobspf]

I moved to Australia in January from the UK. I still have over 12 months to run on my EE contract. My EE sim card has been damaged and I have asked EE to send me a new one but they are refusing to do this. So I am now paying for a service that EE cannot provide. In view of this, I have asked them to cancel my contract but they are refusing to do this unless I pay a hefty early termination fee. Is this legal?

[XRaySpeX]

Yes, if you are really saying EE is refusing to send a replacement SIM to you in Oz but is quite willing to send it to your home addy in the UK. EE is a UK firm intended for UK residents who are present in the UK most of the time & so will not ship abroad.

You have already broken EE's Stable Links policy.

[BrendonH]

They are not refusing. They just don't ship abroad.

They will ship to your UK address so of you have a family member or friend living there then once it arrives there you can get them to post it to you.

[dobspf]

yes.. what's really interesting is I phoned EE before I took the contract out to tell them i would be moving to Australia after 6 months. I wanted to know if i would be able to use my phone here without incurring extra charges using the roam further swappable benefit. Sure, no problem they said. I told them I would need it to phone UK and Australian land lines and mobiles. Sure, no problem they said. It very quickly became apparent that I couldn't phone Australian numbers without incurring extra charges. There was also never any mention of the fact that i needed to reside in the UK for the duration of the contract or the stable links policy. Bottom line is, they'll tell you anything, including blatant lies to get your business, but once the've got your money they couldn't care less about the misinformation they provided. Sadly, most of the time, there's nothing the little people can do about it.

Now with regards to my broken sim card, they will only send a new one to my registered UK address. Only problem is, I don't live there any more as I sold the house. They also wont send a SIM card to a friend or family member's house. So I just have to accept that I took the sales team at their word 9 months ago, didn't read the small print of the contract, and continue to pay EE lots of money for the next 15 months with no service in return. 

[BrendonH]

As already stated EE is a UK network it is meant for people living in the UK who can go on holiday but not to move there.

If you were moving to Australia within 6 months of taking out a contract you shouldn't have taken a 24 month contract.

This is not miss-selling this is you deciding to take a contract when you knew fill well you were moving to Australia.

Go on your MyEE and change your address to a friend's house.

Wait a few days then request a new SIM. It'll be sent to your friends house and then they can send it to you.

You don't need proof of address to change your address.

[dobspf]

Hi Brendon, you're wrong. The definition of mis-selling is "the act of selling something that is not suitable for the person who buys it"

so when EE told me I could move to Australia after 6 months and continue to use my phone in the same way I did in the UK for the entire duration of my contract, they mis-sold the contract to me.

When EE told me I wouldn't incur extra charges to use my phone in Australia, they mis-sold the contract to me, as again this wasn't true.

if you're going to offer advice to people, please keep it within the realms of your knowledge. 

[BrendonH]

They must have thought you were going there on holiday which is suitable.

My knowledge is that you can't buy a UK contract and expect them to support you of you move to another country.

I go to Canada a lot I don't buy a Canadian SIM and expect them to support me whilst in the UK.

You made the decision to buy a UK contract knowing you were leaving the country you can't spout miss sold now. 

I gave you a solution to the aim delivery issue that's down to you to take it.

[dobspf]

No Brendon, I made it very clear to them I was moving here for a minimum of 1-2 years, and possibly permanent.

[Northerner]

Hi @dobspf 

I think the only option you have here is to have your SIM delivered to a UK address and then posted out to you. The problem with this is the SIM may need to be activated on the UK network as other posters have mentioned. EE is a UK carrier designed for the UK network. 

If you feel you were miss sold then you should complain and you can do so here. I wouldn't just cancel your contract as that would mean a default and your credit record tends to follow you around the world, if you are not a AUS national you don't want that reflecting on your record. 

Thanks 

[XRaySpeX]

What's good for the goose is good for the gander 😉! You say EE misrepresented the contract to you. You misrepresented the situation to us in your OP by saying EE refused to send you a new SIM full-stop w/out mentioning that they would send it to your UK addy.