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LYCAMOBILE
I generally change my sim card once a year without any problems. This year I decided to buy a Lycamobile sim card and I have had a terrible time and the customer service has been absolutely abysmal. I am on a monthly rolling contract and I wont be renewing! I just thought I would bring this matter to your attention so that you might think twice before buying a sim card from Lyca.
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I had issues receiving calls and texts so I called their helpline and it seems they have fixed that. Poor call quality though as they use 02 but LYCA do not support VOLTE so that means so far I have only been able to use 3G for calls. I will try to use 5G in my town centre and will report back. Patience is a virtue with Lyca but it is good in some ways...100 mins of free International calls and it's fairly easy to turn off auto renewal for your contract. So for 5p a month I'm happy to try it for now. I just hope I can still port out my old number as and when I leave...,0
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I also took advantage of the 5p a month offer via the MSE site. Really wish I hadn't. Luckily, I was worried it might be too good to be true, so put the sim card into my older phone rather than in my new phone. Very unclear messaging. Eventually got it set up and it worked for a month, then they told me there was an issue with the payment being taken for the second month (worked fine the first month). Phoned, very difficult to understand the call centre person. Gave me a ref number and said it would be sorted by technical department. Got text half an hour later to say resolved. Not resolved - still unable to make calls as no credit, still no phone/data or text credit when I checked my account online. Phoned to explain, was told it was a problem with my bank refusing payment. I think I was also told that since the payment was declined, then my original offer was no longer valid, but I couldn't understand her enough to be sure. Credit card company say no payments have been declined. Phoned again, but when I gave reference number was told I had reached Swedish helpline. Which would have been preferable, as much easier to understand her than the English one! Told to phone back in 30 minutes. Phoned again - waited then line went dead when answered. I haven't had this much trouble with a company in a very long time. Bit disappointed that MSE are recommending a company with such poor customer service.0
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TSV8 said:I generally change my sim card once a year without any problems. This year I decided to buy a Lycamobile sim card and I have had a terrible time and the customer service has been absolutely abysmal. I am on a monthly rolling contract and I wont be renewing! I just thought I would bring this matter to your attention so that you might think twice before buying a sim card from Lyca.I made the same mistake last year. I was with them for less than a week. I couldn't get a PAC soon enough!Fortunately it was a MSE "deal" and I didn't lose much. Worth the loss though.The so-called customer service, or lack of, was the main reason for the rapid departure.0
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Same general experience as everyone else here:
- Used the MSE offer for something like 5p a month
- SIM arrived promptly, but you then have to attach your plan to the SIM (by calling a number special on the phone)
- This didn't work, so phoned for help
- The issue was escalated
- And escalated again
- And again
- And again
- And in the end they asked to refund me.
On the flip side I just ordered a lebara SIM and touch wood everything is going fine so far. Got emails to confirm SIM had been activated and when I submitted PAC code etc. Much better.
tl;dr: Would 100% not recommend Lycamobile
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I have posted on another thread that I actually had the opposite experience. Lyca pin worked and I could see the package as soon as I installed the app, whereas with lebara I sent a text as instructed and my plan should have activated but didn't. Having checked onl8ne help I followed the advice and emailed them all the info it asked for, only to get an email reply asking for the info I had already sent. Second response was better, package not attached to sim so then took two days to activate.0
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I wish I had looked on here before I was lured by the Lycamobile 5p/month for 6 months offer offer via MSE back in November.
I seemed to move ok, automatic credit card top up, then after 3 months discovered I had no credit just before I was due to go away. I have insulin dependent T1 diabetes, and therefore need constant phone contact in case of emergency, vulnerable. I spent all afternoon trying to speak to someone, impossible to get through to anyone whether by phone or by online chat. My online account indicated that my account had no balance. In order to have phone I paid for £5 update, I was unable to find the conditions so I assumed the same basis - clearly I am too naive, I discovered after just a day that ALL the money was used for data download of 28MB. As I was due to travel again and needed phone access I paid for another £5 update having tried unsuccessfully for several hours to get access to someone by phone or chatline. I am now left with using only wifi service or no availability for phone calls. Service definitely not to be recommended.
I sent an email to customer service at Lycamobile to highlight the issue, and to request REINSTATEMENT of the original contract and REFUND of £10. I received an email back 2 days later asking for a vast amount of security personal information, all of which is on my online account. Not holding my breath about getting what I've asked for...
Of course the account I had with Tesco is no longer available. I now have to get my PAC from them in order to change to anyone else. I need an O2 line because of service where I live - what does anyone recommend?
I hope MSE will point out that Lycamobile service leaves a lot to be desired!0 -
Sorry to hear that. Have you installed the lyca app on your phone? Do you know if lyca are still taking 5p per month from your bank? If the plan is still active you shouldn't need to topup unless you are going outside your allowance (such as premium rate or international). Unfortunately lyca have got a reputation for poor customer service staff, so if you need to talk to someone they aren't great.
Sadly if o2 is your only signal (double check that because you may have outdoor coverage and WiFi calling (boosting your signal using your home broadband) from another network) you don't have a lot of options (virgin, sky, tesco, lyca, and giffgaff). It depends a lot on your usage but maybe take a look at giffgaff. That said somebody will have had a bad experience there too. If you can get an outdoor signal and use WiFi calling indoors then 1pmobile (on ee) seem pretty reliable. Not actually the cheapest for most users but perhaps the safe bet.0
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