Roaming All-Inclusive Pass suddenly removed --

[sophievanw]

If anyone could help I would appreciate it. I had Roaming ROW as an all-inclusive extra, which up until now has worked fine in the USA. I'm currently in the USA. Yesterday, I received a notification that the Roaming all-inclusive extra has been switched to Roaming EU. I've tried for hours to switch this and to contact someone at EE but it's impossible to reach a human or to do this online. I need my phone for work and cannot use this without buying additional roam abroad passes (I already had to buy one so I could call EE). Suggestions are welcome. 

[Northerner]

Hi @sophievanw 

• When did you arrive in the USA? 
• Have you changed your plan/tariff.

If you download Skype and use the number in my signature you can call EE over wifi. 

Thanks 

[kayl0rz]

I think I may be in this same boat next week. I had roaming with inclusive minutes that included the USA and I had a text yesterday saying about EU roaming, so I wonder if they’ve changed it and we don’t have USA included anymore! I’m in the USA for work next week and I don’t want to have to pay £5 a day! The only reason I’ve stayed with EE and my plan for so long is because of this included in my plan! 

[sophievanw]

It took me nearly three hours but I was finally able to get to customer support on the message function in the app. I got nowhere by selecting help, so I opted for the thinking of cancelling choice. That eventually got me to a person. I did have to text "help" around 20 times in a row to get their attention. My account now reflects Roaming ROW, as it did previously. This appears to include USA (according to the info). I cannot test today as I already had to pay for a day pass. 

Good luck.

Thanks for the Skype number -- I have saved that and will try that first next time.

[FCorrespondent]

I'm going to add my experience here, as it will help others.

I also have only stayed with EE due to the Rest of World (ROW) Inclusive Extra as part of my sim-only All Rounder plan, to avoid having to buy expensive roaming passes / daily charges, while visiting Australia. I got the same SMS stating that EE were making changes to the roaming aspects of my plan, and it felt like the benefit of free roaming in Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and the USA was being removed.

I liked that my phone simply worked while roaming anywhere in the EU or these countries, and used my plan's UK data and call allowance. I am out of contract and rolling month-to-month, and the only obvious way to get back to the same position was to "upgrade" and commit to a new 24 month contract with the "Full Works" plan, which at £48 per month, was far more expensive than the plan I was currently on.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO THIS

I ended up using the EE App and contacted them using the "Help > Message Us" option. You will have the annoying chatbot at first but after some short complaining to speak to a human, it will put you through to somebody. The person I spoke to was very helpful. They explained that under the change, you can still have either the EU Roaming, OR the Rest of World (ROW) enabled as an Inclusive Extra, but only one at a time. Previously, you just had it all. It makes no difference since really you can only be in one place at a time... but you now have to remember to contact them whenever you need to switch your roaming extra between the Euro zone or the ROW countries. You can do this on the app, they did it for me on the spot. You'll get an SMS telling you which one you have enabled immediately.

The cynic in me suggests that they are short on making the details obvious, in an attempt to get people to 'upgrade' to the new "Full Works" plan, as it is the only plan that is clearly stated to have both EU and Australia, USA, etc.. included simultaneously. If you are happy to remember to switch your Inclusive Extra between EU and ROW before you land... save yourself the added monthly cost and a new 2 year contract for no other reason.

[comeocome]

Can you clarify by doing it in the app - you mean by asking them via chat function in app, or you figured it out that you can switch between benefits yourself in the app? Like some some sort of button to toggle on/ off? 

The agent on phone told me the former, which is a hassle each time I have to call them. Seems like you cannot do it yourself in app, Because the app only allows you to do it every 30 days (what if someone has to fly back and forth between EU and US in the same month?!) 

[comeocome]

Would love to hear your experience after you have tested it

[Lesley_W]

Hi @comeocome 

You can change your Inclusive Extra every 30 days on the app. If it needed changed sooner, you can do it by texting PICK to 150 or by getting our customer care team to change it.

Lesley

[comeocome]

Doesn’t work with text. And for the app - what if someone has to travel to EU and US within the same month?

[FCorrespondent]

When I changed the Inclusive Extra via the app, I was already chatting with a human via the Message (Chat) feature. Get past the useless chatbot and get onto a human (keep asking, it takes a few minutes and attempts) and then the operator on the other end did it instantly.

If you want to do it via the app without contacting somebody at EE, it does have restrictions. When I logged in and went to manage my Inlusive Extras, the app stated I couldn't make a change until sometime in May (3 weeks away) and I've no idea why they would restrict it, given a human operator can do it instantly. They obviously don't want to encourage switching between extras too frequently. BUT it's absolutely no hassle for the person on the other end of the chat, when you to ask them it's done instantly.

Another annoyance was that I couldn't see what my "Inclusive Extras" options were via the website or the app. It was not at all obvious that I could select ROW, because all it showed me was that I currently had "EU Roaming" enabled. Pretty bad user experience on the EE app.