Calling to the UK from South Africa on a PAY AS YOU GO

[jaquiharris]

Hi,

I have an EE number and am already in South Africa and did not know about setting up roaming before I left. Now when I try and call a number or text a UK number while here in SA it tells me these calls are barred.  So now I cant phone 150 it says its barred, I cant phone any number it just says its barred.  I can received text messages and calls, but cant make any.  My problem is that i dont know how long I will be here for and if I dont make a "Chargable" call they will deactivate my sim card and then I wont be able to use my credit cards or anything wht HMRC as they all send "Pins" out to the phone to enter when logging on to the sites.... Please advise how I make my phone roaming.  I am constantly on WIFI and have signal so network issues are not a problem.  I am on an android phone.

I have already had the problem where they cancelled my last number and I spent ages changing the mobile number on all my associated accounts and things and DO NOT WANT THIS HAPPENING AGAIN !!!!!

I can see nowhere on the site where I can email EE or chat to them on line.... (quite bad for a 1st world country)....  Please dont suggest that I call them form another phone, I did try call the UK from my SA mobile and it cost me R700 for 8min.... I dont have that sort of money to waste, especially since some have spent 3h on the phone trying to sort out similar problems.

thanks in advance for your replies and help

Regards, Jaqui 

[Schockwave]

@jaquiharris , if you are abroad, then you cannot receive a new SIM card, as it has to be sent to a UK address and activated , in the UK first. You need to make sure that you have credit on your account, but if you have not used your SIM card for 6 months, then it will have gone into hibernation and here is how you will have to get it activated again:

https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/Pay-as-you-go/What-is-pay-as-you-go-and-flex-hibernation-and-how-do-I-...

[Leanne_T]

Hi there @jaquiharris 

We would only need a deposit for a pay monthly account if the credit application advises this is required. This is not something we would need for a pay as you go SIM card. 

The link @Schockwave has provided has details on pay as you go hibernation and how to contact us. 

Leanne.

[jaquiharris]

Hi,
Can you please help me, I have noticed 3 transactions that have gone off my
account and I dont know who has taken them off. Can you confirm if it was
yourselves ? the amounts are as follows
Mon 11 Aug ... Apple.com/Bill.... £14.99
Tue 12 Aug .... Apple.com/Bill.... £0.99
Tue 12 Aug.... Apple.com/Bill....£14.99

I know I spoke to a Justin there about my Roaming issue I was having and he
said he had to take a deposit off my account to send out a replacement sim,
I told him not to worry I didnt feel comfortable paying a fee that would be
refunded, as this this not sound correct, so EE is the only one who has my
card details. I did not respond to the text messages when I recevied
them... Please can you look into this and correct it. I have this morning
toped up my mobile with £5.00 to keep it from going into hibernation. I
told Justin that I did not want a new sim.

Please can you let me know what happens now, will you refund me the amounts
?
Thank you
Kind regards
Jaqui

[Mod edit - Number removed, please don't share any personal details in public]

[XRaySpeX]

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@jaquiharris wrote:

he said he had to take a deposit off my account to send out a replacement sim,

---

There is a charge of £1.50 when you order a replacement SIM by phone. It is only free when you get it from an EE store. It is not any type of deposit. It will be sent to your UK home addy.

[Schockwave]

@jaquiharris , we cannot confirm anything as we have no account access, but it must be something you have signed up to pay with Apple, like a reoccurring payment, check on your apple account to see what it is, you can do this by logging into your Apple account and see subscriptions, as that is something you have actually decided to pay with Apple.

[jaquiharris]

Hi,
I dont have anything with Apple AT ALL... thats why its so scary... I gave
one of your chaps who called me from EE my card details to get my
roaming sorted and he said I needed to get a new sim and needed to take a
security deposit.... and then these transactions started to go off....I
have now blocked the card. I dont like Apple !
Thanks
Kind regards
Jaqui

[jaquiharris]

This all sounds rather funny to me, he said it would be an amount between
£1 and £30 and would be refunded when I got the card... anyway there were 6
charges that went off my account that I did not recognise and the bank has
now stopped my card.
I have now topped up with £5 so hopefully my card wont go dormant now for 6
months and then I will top up again.....
Kind regards
Jaqui

[XRaySpeX]

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@jaquiharris wrote:
he said it would be an amount between£1 and £30 

---

Those Apple transaction add up to circa £30 + £1. None of what you were told by the CS guy makes sense, compounded by the coincidental charges to an Apple a/c you don't have. It's all very suspicious.

[Leanne_T]

Hi @jaquiharris 

What was the number that called you? Did you request a call back from an EE guide after getting in touch with us? Did they call on a different number or the EE number? 

Leanne.

[jaquiharris]

Hi Leanne,
I sent an email because I could not phone, and gave them my SA number to
contact me on, so he called on my whatsapp number from 07871023398....He
asked for my card details to take the security deposit from me and said
that when he requests a new sim card then all my details have to be
re-entered on the system including my banking details that I buy my top up
from...
Hope this helps.
Kind regards
Jaqui