Lyca Mobile MSE blagged offer

HaroldWhistler

Having seen people comment about the Lyca mobile website being a bit dodgy occasionally when it comes to sign up/payments etc, can anyone vouch for/advise on the Lyca "MSE 1" offer? (Or any other blagged Lyca offer)

I saw it listed on the MSE comparison tool for SIM deals. The offer (at time of writing) listed for the MSE 1 deal for instance was £0.05 per month for 6 months and £4.75 a month after that for a SIM with Unlimited Mins, Unlimited Texts and 3GB of Data.  

I was considering using this as a temporary SIM in order to do a PAC switch to that temporarily and then transfer back to another network to get a new customer price for Unlimited Minutes. And possibly considering one of the other larger data deals for a longer term SIM given they use the O2 network. 

What I was wondering was the method of ensuring that the Lyca product doesn't auto renew and keep charging you. With other networks I have seen it is explicitly a 30 day rolling when you sign up, or else with providers like Lebara, or Smarty, their website is generally very smooth so you can log in and just turn any Auto Renew function off. With Lyca though, I am a bit concerned seeing posts on here about people finding the sign up ends up glitching after payment, or their website being very dodgy. 

Are they reasonable to go for? 

*Update - I signed up for the MSE 1 deal. With Lyca, you don't appear to have a Lyca account immediately set up at the same time. I am guessing you have to wait for the SIM with your Lyca number to sign up and change Auto Renew to "off". 

spaargeld

Like others, we have had dreadful experience with Lyca. Quick to take the payment. Not so quick to send the SIM card. Never did send the email with authorisation code. Today, when I asked for a PAC number to remove our services and move elsewhere, the woman ended the conversation after telling me we didn't need one! Then phoned customer service, keep being asked "please hold while I transfer you" - and the number goes dead. Be warned! 

Phil300

I did the lyca mobile blagged £1.95 a month starting in September it didn't auto renew, I put £5 on the account in September then took up the top up£20 get £5 free so that was £30. October it didn't renew called lyca got it working for another month then November came not enough credit to renew! I'm retired and rarely leave the house but I think it was charging me for the Internet all the time. I had to keep reconnecting the home broadband. I did call them but they were very unhelpful. I think you have to do a new deal every month and keep the minimum amount in your account. I did try to go back to the Vodafone £6 deal I had been on for years but all they could offer me was £11 a month! I have now gone to a £6 a month with sky mobile. 

eDicky

The easiest way to rid yourself of Lyca (or any network) is to text 'PAC' to 65075 if you want to retain the phone number, or 'STAC' to 75075 if you do not, and give the resulting code to a new provider. When this is actioned (within a working day or two), it terminates service with Lyca and eliminates the possibility of any future payment to them. Your number will port to the new network if PAC is used.

HaroldWhistler

eDicky said:

The easiest way to rid yourself of Lyca (or any network) is to text 'PAC' to 65075 if you want to retain the phone number, or 'STAC' to 75075 if you do not, and give the resulting code to a new provider. When this is actioned (within a working day or two), it terminates service with Lyca and eliminates the possibility of any future payment to them. Your number will port to the new network if PAC is used.

Thanks, that makes sense. PAC code seems the best way to be sure!

scoobyjones1

I ported over to Lyca. You then have to activate the MSE offer on your phone by using the 8 digit PIN they give you in the first email you receive. If you want to keep your old number you need to get a PAC code from your old provider (text PAC to 65075). Then , when you get this you have to manually add this on the Lyca website (dark ages!).

I had a problem receiving calls and texts at first but after a couple of calls to the free customer helpline it now seems to be working. However the 02 coverage comes with caveats. 5G will not work on iphones as yet. 4G or LTE as it is in my area is not supported because they do not use VOLTE (voice over LTE) so I am relegated to 3G for calls which is poor quality and due to be phased out soon. As as I result I will next try the MSE, Lebara offer...which uses Vodafone...better for 4G but no 5G in my town...yet!

todthedog

 Signed via MSE blagged offer and received PIN in the post.
Logged onto website no minutes or data showing on my account.
Called helpline and followed the instructions to receive a code via email. Supposedly automatic !
No email with authorisation code ever received.
Rang helpline again and encountered the rudest person ever.
Tried to explain, was told not to repeat myself shut up and listen or write for help. His English was very poor and attitude worse.
I have written to cancel the contract.
It may look cheap but personally would rather pay more for service. Any service.

savergrant

Signed up for the 4gb 5p in January, renewed for month 6 at midnight. 40 minutes later I get a text to say the bundle threshold has been reached and they are unable to renew the bundle for 4.75. So after the introductory period ends the product will lapse without me doing anything? To be on the safe side i have turned off autorenew and will port the number on 21st July anyway but it is an interesting take on an introductory offer.

datz

savergrant said:

Signed up for the 4gb 5p in January, renewed for month 6 at midnight. 40 minutes later I get a text to say the bundle threshold has been reached and they are unable to renew the bundle for 4.75. So after the introductory period ends the product will lapse without me doing anything? To be on the safe side i have turned off autorenew and will port the number on 21st July anyway but it is an interesting take on an introductory offer.

I just use a multi-use virtual card on Revolut (specifically created for Lyca) with a very low monthly spending limit - the payment fails the moment Lyca try to charge the higher amount after the 6 months. I never PAC my numbers to Lyca, and with several Lyca SIMs on the go at any one time, it makes managing them a lot easier for me.

Unrelated, but I noticed that my Lyca SIMs are now being serviced by the EE network (i.e. no longer on O2). I haven't seen any announcement regarding this, which is weird... but I can't complain because EE have the best coverage in my area.

savergrant

datz said:
Unrelated, but I noticed that my Lyca SIMs are now being serviced by the EE network (i.e. no longer on O2). I haven't seen any announcement regarding this, which is weird... but I can't complain because EE have the best coverage in my area.

Strange, mse still list lyca as on o2. Do you mean newer sims, or that your existing sims are now connecting through a different network (I'm not sure how to check that).
Actually just checked and network operators list lyca, o2, 3, vodafone, and 23432. So it looks like lyca is instead of ee.

gt94sss2

Lyca are moving their customers from O2 to EE

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2023/06/confusion-as-uk-lyca-mobile-users-swap-from-o2-to-ee-mvno.html