Complaint – Mis-Sold SIM Contracts & Request to Retain Number

[Meryem9]

Hello,

I’m writing to make a complaint about how my two EE SIM contracts were sold at your Canary Wharf store.

I told the staff I was only in the UK temporarily and would be leaving in August. I asked for SIM cards for short-term use and made it clear that I didn’t want a long-term contract.

The adviser assured me that taking out contracts would be cheaper and that I could cancel at any time. However, he did not inform me about any early termination fees or that I would lose my numbers if I cancelled — which I clearly said I wanted to keep. Trusting this advice, I agreed.

Before leaving the UK, I paid all outstanding bills on the same day. Now that I’m abroad:

• The SIMs don’t work

• I can’t switch to Pay As You Go

• Cancelling will result in penalty fees

• And I can’t access Live Chat via the app or website

This feels like mis-selling, as I wasn’t given full and accurate information at the time of purchase.

I kindly request:

1. Cancellation of both SIM contracts without penalty

2. Keeping my current phone numbers to use when I return next year

3. If possible, switching the SIMs to Pay As You Go with roaming for this month so I don’t lose the numbers

Thank you for your time and understanding. I would appreciate a fair resolution.

Kind regards,
Meryem Kuvvetli

[Northerner]

Hi @Meryem9 

You can complain here: https://ee.co.uk/help/contact-ee/complaint

You need to activate any PAYG SIM on the UK network or it will not work. 

Thanks 

[XRaySpeX]

Did you receive a Welcome text upon arrival abroad?

As you are on contract, did you activate roaming on your EE a/c before leaving UK by texting ROAMING to 150? Having a roaming billing add-on doesn't of itself activate roaming on your a/c. Having roaming activated on your EE a/c, not just on your device, is crucial to using your contract SIM abroad.

Often just rebooting the phone is the simple remedy. Also try selecting a network manually rather than auto.

Otherwise if you are on contract you need to call CS to get your roaming activated. Try calling CS on the Freephone no. in my sig. using a web-calling app over WiFi

[Rach_H · Accepted solution]

Hi @Meryem9,

Welcome to the Community!

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. We aim to get the best plan for our customers, so I can understand your disappointment that this hasn't been the case here.

As @Northerner has advised, it would be best to speak with our Complaints team, who will be able to look into what has happened, and work to find a resolution to this for you.

If you do move to PAYG then you wouldn't be able to use your SIM abroad without first re-connecting to the UK network. If this isn't something that you are able to do then you would need to reach out to our team after 6 months or so, to prevent your number being hibernated and cancelled, due to lack of use.

Rach