EE are awful customer service and lack of humanity

[harley111]

Well what should have been a simple transfer of contracts resulted in me being stranded 400 miles from home with no mobile phone or data. So i was unable to speak to Trainline about my ticket issues - costing me another £70 in train and Taxi fares.

I even went to a shop at Westfield to get this sorted - apparently without a drivers licence or passport they could not verify my identity. So therefore could not issue me with a SIM which would have sorted the problem Yet i can log on to my business account - which is of absolutely no help - so now i am sat at home with no phone signal - yet another failure of EE. I will have to wait until i can speak to EE when i can use my business landline tomorrow before this is close to being sorted. I willno doubt have to wait for a new SIM to be posted out. What makes me really cross is that i spoke to an advisor weeks ago - and was assured that this would all just happen with a couple of text messages - ha bloody ha.

[Chris_B]

@harley111  No store will issue a SIM card to anyone without ID otherwise any could request a replacement sim even if the account wasn’t theirs.  It’s called security and obviously you wouldn’t what someone taking control of your number,account,bank account and anything else that could be gained access too just because of getting your number.       

Can you please explain why you were told or why you think you need a new SIM card ?    You’ve gave no information except something about a new SIM card. 

[bristolian · Accepted solution]

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@harley111 wrote:

I even went to a shop at Westfield to get this sorted - apparently without a drivers licence or passport they could not verify my identity. So therefore could not issue me with a SIM which would have sorted the problem 

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The Westfield shop was absolutely correct to not issue you a SIM without photographic ID, I would completely expect and hope every EE shop would do exactly the same thing.

A replacement SIM is the key to your mobile number, and amongst other things, that often unlocks access to your bank accounts and other sensitive accounts. If any mobile network was prepared to issue replacement SIMs without requiring photographic ID of the account holder, the consequences simply don't bear thinking about.

[harley111]

I run a small family business - we have had EE mobile contracts for over 10 years. In March 2025 my brother passed away, leaving two mobile contracts running for him. I phoned EE to cancel these contracts. At the time we decided to keep one running - the one that was cancelled was paid ion full - absolutely no discretionary allowance for the fact he had passed away - as we are a limited company.

Fast forward to December  - my contract was coming to an end so i phoned EE to arrange for my contracted number to be transferred to the remaining term on my brothers contract. This was all discussed at length. I was told i would receive a message on the day of transfer - this was yesterday. I was 400 miles from home at train station having problems with my ticket - so needed to speak to the ticket company. i tried to make the call - to be told i had no credit on my sim. So i phoned EE - big mistake!!!!

We spoke about what was supposed to happen - and that i needed to make an urgent call to sort out travel arrangement. She assured me it would only take a few minutes to sort the problem out - HA HA. I have no idea what she did - other than disconnect my SIM from the network - i was then unable to make any calls - or use any data to access the internet. So I boarded the train and used the free WIFI to make an appointment at the EE store i would be passing on my way home  - as the EE business page was unable to help - no chat box - just a phone number - ironic when they have cut you off.

So i attended my appointment - only to be told that they could not / would not be able to help me as i was not carrying my passport or drivers license. They did not suggest me buying a SIM card to see me through so i could call the train ticket company - the shop was very busy - and i had been sat for 15 minutes waiting for help (despite having an appointment). 

EE proclaim to be good at customer service and yet they could not offer a solution - i was not offered a phone to ring business support - so i have had to do that today back in my office - and now i have to wait another day for a new SIM to arrive. So all in all very disappointing - my contracts will run until i can get them bought out by another supplier. At which point EE will never see another penny of our businesses money. 

Luckily i am independent and had the ability to pay for more train tickets - but i would not trust EE to help anyone.

I appreciate that they could not offer me a SIM that would unlock my bank - weirdly enough the dead sim still in my phone does do that - but they could have offered me a SIM so i could ring the train company to sort out my travel arrangements home - oh and to call a cab at the station too! Corporate stores do not give a monkeys. The young and enthusiastic team are beyond useless in a crisis.

[bristolian]

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@harley111 wrote:

I run a small family business ... absolutely no discretionary allowance for the fact he had passed away - as we are a limited company.

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Whilst unfortunate, this is strictly correct. Your brother was not the account holder and thus the bereavement process was - in legal terms - not applicable. The account holder was the limited company and had not therefore passed away.

If getting a temporary SIM was a resolution, there was no need to attend an EE retail shop to achieve this end - EE SIMs are available at supermarket checkouts, as one example.

You've not said so, but it sounds like you didn't have access to another phone should there be a problem with your primary - having some redundancy, even if intended for limited use, is often a good idea. That could potentially have saved you chasing down a rabbit hole and tying yourself in knots.

Good luck resolving your situation.

[Katie_B]

Hello @harley111. 

Welcome to the community. 

I am so sorry to hear you sadly lost your brother in March. 

The EE Store do require photo ID to be able to access your account, however, giving the circumstances I am sorry that we could not do more during your visit. 

I understand you may wish to open a complaint, I would recommend doing this by completing this online form and a member of our complaints team will be in touch to discuss this further. 

The EE Complaints Code of Practice can also be found HERE. 

Katie

[chrisjp1]

"I appreciate that they could not offer me a SIM that would unlock my bank - weirdly enough the dead sim still in my phone does do that..."

Banks, building societies and many other businesses routinely send a code by text message to a person's mobile phone to verify that the person trying to login is actually who they say they are.

If your mobile phone was inoperative because the SIM had been cancelled by EE, these businesses could not do this, and I can see why this would cause you trouble if away from home. But anyone who walked into an EE shop and was given a SIM on your account could put it into any mobile phone and access your accounts. That's why EE correctly insists on seeing driving licence or passport before they'll issue a new SIM. In fact I can see a case for wanting to see both, because only the driving licence carries your address.

As another poster has said, you could have bought a temporary SIM card from any supermarket or phone shop to tide you over. This SIM didn't need to be an EE one.

EE has clearly not been perfect in the way it handled cancelling and transferring these accounts, but there really wasn't any need for it to affect you as much as you have said it has.

[bristolian]

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@chrisjp1 wrote:

That's why EE correctly insists on seeing driving licence or passport before they'll issue a new SIM. In fact I can see a case for wanting to see both, because only the driving licence carries your address.

EE has clearly not been perfect in the way it handled cancelling and transferring these accounts, but there really wasn't any need for it to affect you as much as you have said it has.

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It's a fairly common complaint in these parts, of "I can't get a replacement SIM cos I don't have ID", but I can only assume that's borne out of frustration without thinking through the consequences of an alternative policy.

I can only assume that for every person that doesn't drive, there's another that doesn't travel abroad - so requiring one or the other safely covers the overwhelming majority of customers.

I concur entirely with your final paragraph, you have worded my thoughts in a way I couldn't quite manage.

[harley111]

It was incredibly frustrating - I happened to have a photo of me holding my passport taken for another security issue that had only been taken on Monday -  that was no good. I also have the government id check app on my phone - which does nothing to help either - despite having to upload all my ID to it. I understand cyber security is an issue - my problem is that i was not warned when the switch was arranged weeks ago - and when i phoned they clearly did not understand the issues that it would create and subsequently disconnected me entirely - that is an EE training and sales problem.