Urgent: 33-year-old mobile number cancelled in error

[Robster8]

Hi everyone,

I am in an incredibly stressful situation and desperate for a Community Guide or EE Staff Member to escalate this.

I have owned and used the exact same mobile number since 1993 (33 years of my life, long before EE even existed). This was my personal number for 20 years before I ever moved it into a shared account managed by my ex-partner, purely to get simplified billing and lower cost on mobile and broadband plans. I have always been the sole user.

Due to a major misunderstanding, my ex assumed I had already completed a network port and requested the line’s removal. EE officially cancelled the line on 1 May.

I called customer service, who confirmed the number is currently sitting in the standard 90-day quarantine pool. However, they insist that only the account holder can request to pull it out of quarantine. My ex-partner has since relocated, has no social media, and is completely uncontactable (probably with a new number).

Losing it doesn’t just mean changing a number — it cuts me off from over three decades of personal history, banking security, and critical logins. I’ve already missed vital messages that have cost me financially.

Can a member of the EE Support Team please intervene, look at the quarantine pool, and help me rescue this number onto a fresh independent PAYG SIM or new account in my name only, or issue a PAC? I can provide photo ID and proof of long-term use immediately. Time is ticking on the quarantine window and I am incredibly anxious about losing my number identity over an administrative technicality.

Any help would be massively appreciated. Thank you.

(Word of warning to couples going through separation: Move your own number to your own account while you can. Not the case here, but this loophole could leave a vulnerable person without their lifeline when they need it most—an interesting talking point for consumer programs like BBC Watchdog, and something I’d never have known about if it hadn't happened to me.)

[XRaySpeX]

This is not CS & user discussion forum can have no access to your specific account. You need to raise this with CS.

[garybs29]

So you want EE to break all sorts of DPA & GDPR guidelines too, good luck with that. The last part in bold must be a joke too surely based on that I can see the headlines now "company doesn't break laws"

[Robster8]

Hi both, thanks for the replies.

@XRaySpeX: I completely understand that this is primarily a user discussion space and that regular members don’t have access to specific accounts. I’m specifically hoping an official EE Community Manager or Staff Member (who do monitor and administrate these boards) can see this and escalate it internally to the appropriate back-end team, as standard customer service lines have already hit an administrative brick wall.

@garybs29: I’m absolutely not asking EE to break any DPA or GDPR rules. To be completely transparent, I still hold the fully authorised login credentials to that shared account and can view the bills right now. If I wanted to act in bad faith or bypass security, I could simply log in or call pretending to be the account holder. I refuse to do that.

I am choosing to go through the front door honestly and transparently. This has been my personal number since 1993 — I owned and used it independently for 20 years before it ever touched a joint billing plan purely for simplified management. I’ve always been the sole user. My ex-partner cancelled the line on 1 May by honest mistake, assuming the network port was already complete. They have since relocated and are now completely uncontactable.

Major networks have established compliance pathways and manual exception policies precisely for extraordinary circumstances like this. I’m simply asking the EE Community Team to use that internal discretion to pull the number out of the early quarantine pool and securely verify me via photo ID and historical proof of my 33-year sole usage so it can be moved to a fresh PAYG SIM or new account in my name only (or a PAC issued).

I’m just keeping everything crossed that an official EE team member can step in and help rescue the line before the quarantine window closes. Thanks again for your input!

[XRaySpeX]

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@Robster8 wrote:

that regular members don’t have access to specific accounts. I’m specifically hoping an official EE Community Manager or Staff Member

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They are in the same boat! They can address general points but not a/c specific ones.

This is not the platform for escalating cases to EE. You must discuss this with CS.

[Rach_H]

Hi @Robster8,

Welcome to the Community!

I'm so sorry to hear about what has happened here, and I can absolutely understand your concern. If this account isn't in your name then our team wouldn't be able to reactivate this without first speaking with the account, as they are the owner of the account and the number.

Rach

[Robster8]

The account holder is not contactable by me, so what is your advice with that in mind, perhaps EE can issue an urgent notification or message  to the account holder.?

thanks

Rob

[Peter_W · Accepted solution]

Hi again, @Robster8 

I'm really sorry, but it's not possible for us to reach out to a customer at someone else's behest. 

I can appreciate it's a really tough situation, and if there's ever instances where customers experience a change of circumstances such as this, it's always best to complete the relevant ownership changes as soon as possible.

As it stands though, if this number was transferred to an account in which she is the official account holder, then the only way we can take action with this is if she proactively contacts us directly.

Peter

[bristolian]

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@Robster8 wrote:

Due to a major misunderstanding, my ex assumed I had already completed a network port and requested the line’s removal. EE officially cancelled the line on 1 May.

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A side point here is that a number-port and disconnection, are mutually exclusive.

A port-out auto-cancels the existing contract as a matter of course, hence a disconnection request is not necessary. When a port-out completes, there is nothing left to cancel.

Thus a cancellation request being actioned, is good evidence that a port-out cannot have been actioned.

This may be the misunderstanding referred to.