Account closed when moving to pay as you go

[JStaz4]

I am travelling around Asia/Australia for a year, meaning that the Sim only contract I have been on with EE for years no longer made sense. I contacted EE before leaving, and requested that they move me onto pay as you go from 13/11/24, which they confirmed over message. They said that once the transition had happened, to call 150 to load credit (as I needed to text every 2-3 months to keep number/account active) and it would still be free to use 150 in South Korea. Turns out it isn’t free to call 150 or any other EE contact number outside the EU, not that it matters as when I try and make it a call it comes up saying calls from this number have been suspended. I logged onto my account via the EE app and final a notice saying my account has been closed. I don’t know how this has gone so wrong, and am concerned that now my number will go back into circulation and cause more issues further down the line, as I still use WhatsApp etc to communicate with people at home. Annoyingly I cannot speak to anyone at EE, as I can’t call out (and even if I could it would be very expensive if I was put on hold!) and there seems to be no online mode of speaking to them (there is no instant message option on the help tab on the EE app) . Is anyone able to help? 

[bristolian]

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@JStaz4 wrote:

requested that they move me onto pay as you go from 13/11/24...and am concerned that now my number will go back into circulation and cause more issues further down the line, as I still use WhatsApp etc to communicate with people at home.

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There's 2 aspects here.

1: All PAYG SIMs are governed by the hibernation policy, which requires chargeable usage at least once every 179days, with a further 90days grace to reactivate before outright disconnection.

2: All new PAYG SIMs, which includes migrations from pay-monthly, need to be first used in the UK before roaming is auto-enabled thus allowing usage abroad.

[XRaySpeX]

1. You need to call CS to delete your old contract MyEE a/c & then you can set up your new PAYG MyEE a/c afresh, using the same mobile no. & email addy if desired. You can't mix them under MyEE.
2. When was your SIM moved to PAYG? It takes 30 days notice to cancel a contract & before it is moved to PAYG. Had that change taken place while abroad you can't now use it at all while abroad. To be used abroad EE PAYG SIMs need 1st activating on EE's home UK network. If it wasn't you can't now use it until you return to UK.
3. The timescale is too short for hibernation to come into effect.