EE refusing to unlock phone and being nasty

[Sarah2212]

Hi all, so I got a phone that's a Nokia 6303 classic. I don't like smartphones and don't need them. The phone used to be locked to Orange so when Orange changed its name to EE, it had to get unlocked (from the network) and then it worked just fine. It still does, no issues. 

I have now purchased a second Nokia 6303 classic, as a spare phone. I got it second hand as these phones cannot be bought new any more. It's been used very little and in as new condition, but locked to Orange. 

So I went to my local EE store (Lichfield) to get it unlocked and I requested a pay as you go SIM card. 

The woman got abusive and aggressive and refused to deal with me because I wasn't there to take out a $500 contract. She said contempteously "just call 150" and then she threw me out of the store! 

So I went back home, left a negative review to reflect her behavior and then called 150. 

When I finally got through to an agent, and explained what I wanted, the dude initially tried to talk me into taking out a contract so I had to make him aware that I was calling to get the phone unlocked (took him ages to understand that!) and for a pay as you go SIM and nothing else. 

He was also peeved that I wasn't prepared to take out a contract, so he refused to get the phone unlocked and mumbled something about "call Nokia", which is nonsense as Nokia have nothing to do with network unlocking and cannot be contacted. He gave me the Nokia email address for press inquiries!!! Useless dude!  

Seems they are all on commission so they can't be bothered with customers that don't take out expensive contracts!

I have tried to unlock the phone online but it didn't work. 

Can anyone help me to get the phone unlocked and then to get a pay as you go SIM so that I can use it? 

I have previously tried to change provider for my main phone due to previous experiences with very abusive staff at EE but found that all other network providers refuse to provide me with a pay as you go SIM, EE are the only network provider that at least still admit they still do pay as you go SIM's so I have to stay with them and use them for that second phone - but I'm not getting very far with them being abusive again because I'm not taking out some expensive contract!

[Ali_A]

Hi @Sarah2212 

Welcome to the Community. 

Sorry to hear about your experience with getting your device unlocked and ordering a Pay as you go SIM. 

You can order a Pay as you Go SIM card online at Free Pay As You Go SIM | EE with the convenience of having it delivered to your home address. 
Alternatively, you can pop into any local shop or supermarket as they usually have PAYG SIM packs by the till which you can pick up straight away.

For handset unlocking, please call our Customer Service team and select the options for Technical Queries, where a guide will be able to raise a manual unlocking request for you to check if it's still possible.  

Ali

[Northerner]

Hi @Sarah2212 

The phone is an old obsolete device and obsolete operating system. It's unlikely EE will be able to unlock it. 

If I remember correctly it runs Series 40 or maybe 60 OS and maybe unlockable online via legacy tools downloadable online.

Thanks. 

[Sarah2212]

Hi Ali_A, 

Thank you for your reply. 

I tried calling the EE agents but the dude was not willing to help, he refused to assist me with getting the phone unlocked. 

But I'll try again and maybe I'll come across someone a bit more helpful next time. 

As for the SIM card, yes if all else fails I can order that online, supermarkets don't do Pay as you go SIM's any more (only contract SIM's) so that's unfortunately no longer an option. 

Thank you, 

Sarah

[Sarah2212]

Hi Northerner, 

Not sure who told you that but that's nonsense. Unlocking a device has nothing to do with what type of phone it is. My other phone is an identical one and it works just fine. 

Thank you, 

Sarah

[Chris_B]

@Sarah2212  The phone is that old it might not be possible to have it unlocked as the unlock codes for it might have been deleted by now because the device is that old so it’s classified as obsolete.           The device still might operate perfectly fine but it still an obsolete device as after all the device is from 2009 and that’s when Nokia was actually making phones.   Nokia stopped making phones in 2013 as that’s when it’s sold the phone business to Microsoft.  Even Microsoft don’t manufacture phones.,  so yes it’s very obsolete now