Lyca Mobile Problems

Pjgray1

Hi i Joined Lyca Mobile on the martin lewis 12 gb Deal Paid my first instalment of 1.49 on 20th July .After receiving my sim i tried to activate on line with no avail so i phoned the number which said they would help me transfer my old number so i waited 2 days to get a message on my phone to top up credit as i had a package deal i phoned them back to explain i had deal they informed me ive lost my deal because i transferred my old number and they couldnt help me so i asked for a pac code to get my number back and return to giff gaff i tried to retrieve number but i had no credit so i had to top up 5 pound to get my pac code i am now bac on giff gaff lyca mobile is useless i only hope they dont continue to take money from the plan as its not a uk call center im talking to i cant get any sense out of them

MSE_Laura_F

Hi @Pjgray1, I've moved this to the Mobiles board. You might also like to email furtherhelp@moneysavingexpert.com since this is an MSE Blagged deal.

Thanks,

MSE Laura F

jimjames

I found it was a bit of a faff to register the phone with Lyca but it did work. There is a PIN code they email when you sign up but it's not very obvious and is different to the PIN you get sent as text message when you connect initially.

dman6609

I signed up for the same 12GB deal. Sign up process is poor - Lyca website is a mess, price details inconsistent. Two different registration passwords sent (one emailed, one by text), both invalid. The iOS app is also poor and did not show the correct bundle details. Live chat assistant cut me off after less than 15 seconds while I was trying to type a question. I also purchased separate bundles
for my family, using their details and separate accounts. Same problems signing up and no 12GB bundle appeared. Very very poor system compared to giffgaff. I’ve given up on the family accounts and will be switching myself away from Lyca asap. Avoid. 

sdduk

I have the 1p for 6mths deal but you are right not the easiest website, took me a while to work out how to get my plane up and running very confusing, and custom service well rang 322  press the number i needed and they hanged up on me straight away terrible service. 
Just hope i don't need to get in touch with them from now on, But apart from that its a good deal 6p for 6mths. 

oldagetraveller1

I didn't take up the 1p "deal" but a different one which works out at the same price over a year. I wish I had gone for the 1p thing, it would have meant 1p down the pan and not just over £1!

However, I don't think it will be a very long partnership. Within a 24 hour period, since activating the SIM, I have received two dodgy SMSs to the Lyca number. Coincidence or something else?

Unfortunately I have started a number port in, which no doubt will be a miserable failure if their so-called customer service is an example.

Tried to phone them, 322 and the landline number yesterday. Good luck with that. I got fed up of waiting on four attempts.

Tried live chat, that was another long wait and when connected was about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

If and when the number port completes it will be goodbye.

d123

oldagetraveller1 said:

Unfortunately I have started a number port in, which no doubt will be a miserable failure if their so-called customer service is an example.

Tried live chat, that was another long wait and when connected was about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

If and when the number port completes it will be goodbye.

If it's any consolation I ported into and out of Lyca last week without any problems.

jimjames

oldagetraveller1 said:

However, I don't think it will be a very long partnership. Within a 24 hour period, since activating the SIM, I have received two dodgy SMSs to the Lyca number. Coincidence or something else?

Complete coincidence I suspect. I've had similar with new SIMs in the past. If the number has been recycled then it might be signed up to stuff or on a scam list. Certainly one I had with Tesco had been used for gambling sites in the past. Most SMS spam is auto generated so completely random. I very much doubt any connection to Lyca.

oldagetraveller1

I will eat humble pie re the number port, it did complete as requested.

However, trying to obtain a PAC is being very difficult.

Texting 65075 with "PAC", results in "Sorry, your PAC request has failed". Their "live chat" cannot provide one. Even calling 322 and eventually managing to speak to someone resulted in the lady advising she couldn't, the system wasn't allowing it.

I have resorted to sending an e-mail asking for one.

d123 - "If it's any consolation I ported into and out of Lyca last week without any problems"

How long after your port in did you manage to obtain a PAC?

I wonder if their system hasn't caught up yet and I'm trying too soon after porting in?

RRatchet

I have also had an issue with Lyca Mobile. I paid for the MSE21GB deal (Months 1-3 £3.95/mth Thereafter £8.45/mth Equivalent cost: £7.33/mth) and two more different deals for family members. Having seen that there were some -ve issues with Lyca Mobile I decided to activate my plan first before involving OH & DD.  The first issue was the deluge of texts from Lyca and having to sort out which were relevant. These continued despite texting STOP back. The second issue was that the password provided to access/create and account on line was invalid as was the replacement one I requested except it wasn't as the 2nd one did work after a bit of 'satellite' delay. So whilst exploring the site I managed to click the auto renew to off and you cannot switch it back on for this deal ie for this deal it is irreversible. In order to switch auto renew back on you have to choose another deal. Nowhere in on the site could I find reference to this and I have tried.Maybe I've not understood it correctly but I'm sure that MSE said that auto renew had to be on for the deal to work and subsequent discussion with a Lyca mobile CSA seemed to confirm that belief. The man I spoke to said there was no way back, and he in the middle of trying to sort another problem out cut me off. I had been trying to add a card to my online account so that I could top up/pay for another plan so that if the MSE21GB deal was really dead I could still use my phone. However I kept getting the following " Merchant credential Failed". Not sure what the reason was but suspect that it had something to do with the format that Lyca insist on displaying my address as. I'm not about to add the real screenshot but to give you an idea they had my address as: Any House, Any House, Any Town, Any Shire, POST C0DE; when the address registered for my bank account is Any House, Any Area, Any Shire, POST C0DE. Their website is not intuitive/easy to use or understand; even down to minor things like the heading 'Billing History' which would be better called Usage History. The second CSA I spoke to, a female with excellent english was more helpful. She did say that even though the Saved Cards:ADD NEW CARD:Add credit card details refers to credit cards it actually includes debit cards but she was at loss as to explain why I could not add my debit card. What she did say was that as the port in of my old number from Tesco was still in progress it could be cancelled and that the MSE21GB plan could be cancelled and there was the possibility of a refund. Decided to go with this option; I only hope that my old number is not lost into the ether; she assured me I would be able to keep it. There was an issue as what refund I might expect partly as I had used a tiny amount of data & 2 zero billed phone calls whilst setting up the sim and my bank statement said that £3.95 had been taken from my account but the amount detailed in Transaction History on my Lyca Mobile account was £3.

I'm now deciding whether to buy another MSE21GB SIM only deal and whether to go ahead with the 2 other deals for my family.
I'm not sure it's worth the hassle.

oldagetraveller1

I'll not quote your whole post RRatchet! I had very similar issues with not being able to add a payment card, same message re Merchant. Tried three separate cards, from different banks. I even contacted one bank to check if my card was o.k., it was. I was eventually able to do it using their app.. It was not until there was a card in the account it was possible to switch off auto renew, kept defaulting to "on"!

I looks like you have phoned their "Help desk"? Totally futile for me with no option to converse with a human. How did you manage it?

The chat was not much better, trying to upsell rather than assist.

Not impressed with them at all. I found it a very frustrating experience. If checking their reviews on Trustpilot, many of the 5 star look to be very similar and to me, very suspicious.

Of course, there probably are many satisfied customers, but not this ex one.