Roaming misinformation

[Mumsy53]

Earlier today I called in the EE shop in Harlow (miles away!) to find out about roaming. The girl was about as useful as the chair she was sitting on! I know I have to text ROAMING to 150 before I go and set up the phone in settings, my son is going to do that for me. However, I don't feel able to sort put paying for roaming from the welcome text, not technically minded at all. That's ok, she said, you can buy an add on before you go. My son has searched and thinks my contract doesn't let me do it, so I am very confused. Clicking on links in texts and choosing a pass away fills me with absolute dread, and I am furious that the so called assistant wasn't helpful - she didn't know how much the add on was, seemed to expect me to do it, even though I told her last time it took 20 minutes of phone calls to ee and a lovely young Polish boy who spoke English before I got anywhere. It's not the first time ee have been next to useless at this branch 😞 Please help!

[XRaySpeX]

Yes, you were misinformed. You'll receive a Welcome text upon arrival at a country giving your roaming options & the opportunity to buy Roaming Passes.

[Mumsy53]

So why are the staff in the ee shops so hopeless, they can't give proper information!  Perhaps you can help more - this welcome text has a link, if I click on it can you show me a screenshot of the page it opens, so I am at least a bit prepared. Do I have to pay for the pass I choose or is it added to my bill? I am away 16 days, so think a 12 day pass then just do the last few days at daily rate, is this possible? If I can't get a pass sorted,  will it just be £2+ each day I use my phone?

[Chris_B]

@Mumsy53  The pass is added to your bill.  You need to make sure you don’t have a zero spend cap though.  Just text SPEND CAP to 150 and make sure it’s around the £20 mark.   The spend cap allows you to purchase the pass. 

[Mumsy53]

So in case I can't cope with links and passes I need to set spend cap to 16x £2.72 (is that the daily rate) and I'll be ok?

[XRaySpeX]

NO, I've never roamed on EE but I guess it's something like http://add-on.ee.co.uk/purchase

The daily rate for the EU is £2.72. The 12 day EU pass is £27.50. It will be added to your month's bill.

[Mumsy53]

I am going to Poland soon. Will text ROAMING to 150 before I go, make sure phone is set up for roaming, and hope welcome text arrives. That's when it gets bad, as, although I can click on a link, I would love to know what the page I land on looks like - will I need my login details, for example? If I ignore the text, will I just get charged £2.72 each day I use my phone? Will that get added to my bill? Is the spending cap per day or per month, in which case should I set it to 16x£2.72? Can't find anything on ee website, and girl in ee shop seemed to know next to nothing as she fed me misinformation and said I could pre buy a roaming add on 

[garybs29]

I'd imagine the text takes you to a link with options. You'll need to set your spending cap before you go.

To be brutally honest here if you're able to travel overseas you'll be able to add a roaming pass, it's not a technical thing so I wouldn't worry about it

[Mumsy53]

I have a printed idiot's guide to finding my boarding pass, along with instructions for if phone dies etc, also same for this roaming so far. Clicking on a link isn't intuitive for some of us, and I need to know what comes next. Anything involving a mobile phone is technical, especially for those of us who still use a landline in preference to a mobile. Spending caps are another unknown, and 'local' ee shop assistants are useless, just agree with anything you suggest like 'I can get a pass before I go' and 'Don't need Spend cap set up' Maybe someone is more knowledgeable and actually set up roaming and bought a pass on arrival can help