Is Lycamobile as bad at Customer Services as all reviews say?

QrizB

Two of my household (incl. me) on Lycamobile. We've had no need to contact CS, but the service just works.

savergrant

GenieBoy said:

savergrant said:

Most mobile networks don't take direct debit, they take recurring payments by credit/debit card. These are harder to cancel as they don't appear on a list of payees (in effect each payment is a one-off spend) so you would need to inform your bank that you are not authorising any further payments to that business. Or you could 'lose' your card and request a new card and 'forget' to update your payment details.

This won't work if they have a continuous payment authorisation. You'll have to contact your bank and tell them to stop it. 

Funnily enough someone has posted on here that, having received a replacement card from their bank, their lyca bundle autorenewal failed and they lost their promo deal. But it does depend on whether the bank issue a card with the same number or not (if there is the potential for fraudulent use of the lost card they prob would)

HillStreetBlues

Thanks for the answers.
As it turns into PAYG  how to you just cancel the service?
Not looking to port number, just want number /sim cut off

savergrant

If you have another mobile you could use a stac, and give that to your other provider. Otherwise once you are sure they are not taking any more payments you can just chuck the sim in the bin.

adindas

savergrant said:

If you have another mobile you could use a stac, and give that to your other provider. Otherwise once you are sure they are not taking any more payments you can just chuck the sim in the bin.

I understand. to get a STAC code, simply text STAC to 75075. You should receive your STAC from your current provider within a minute, though it can sometimes take up to two hours. Is this method e.g text to 75075 is also applicable to Lyca or Lebara monthly contract for MSE deal ?.

What is trhe difference to Just dial *190# and entering 1 to confirm the cancellation with Lyca.

savergrant

Probably no difference in effect. It is just that ofcom have mandated that every provider accepts instructions this way, so they can't hide service cancellation instructions in the middle of boring t&c's where no-one will find them. Don't really understand why you have to give a stac to a different provider though, would make more sense to me to give it back to the existing provider;
STAC
             your STAC is abc123456
0700987654 abc123456
            Your service is terminated

flaneurs_lobster

savergrant said:

Probably no difference in effect. It is just that ofcom have mandated that every provider accepts instructions this way, so they can't hide service cancellation instructions in the middle of boring t&c's where no-one will find them. Don't really understand why you have to give a stac to a different provider though, would make more sense to me to give it back to the existing provider;
STAC
             your STAC is abc123456
0700987654 abc123456
            Your service is terminated

One reason why you can't PAC/STAC to the same supplier.

The PAC & STAC code usage void the need to give notice to your current provider, but only if you are actually taking out a new mobile agreement with another supplier.

savergrant

flaneurs_lobster said:

savergrant said:

Probably no difference in effect. It is just that ofcom have mandated that every provider accepts instructions this way, so they can't hide service cancellation instructions in the middle of boring t&c's where no-one will find them. Don't really understand why you have to give a stac to a different provider though, would make more sense to me to give it back to the existing provider;
STAC
             your STAC is abc123456
0700987654 abc123456
            Your service is terminated

One reason why you can't PAC/STAC to the same supplier.

The PAC & STAC code usage void the need to give notice to your current provider, but only if you are actually taking out a new mobile agreement with another supplier.

But if you just want ro cancel a service (e.g. ditch tech and go offgrid) you still have to jump through your current provider's hoops. Although to be honest I would pac to a junk payg sim with no payment method setup. It is all rooted in the "keep your number" culture and stac is a bit of an afterthought.

PHK

savergrant said:

GenieBoy said:

savergrant said:

Most mobile networks don't take direct debit, they take recurring payments by credit/debit card. These are harder to cancel as they don't appear on a list of payees (in effect each payment is a one-off spend) so you would need to inform your bank that you are not authorising any further payments to that business. Or you could 'lose' your card and request a new card and 'forget' to update your payment details.

This won't work if they have a continuous payment authorisation. You'll have to contact your bank and tell them to stop it. 

Funnily enough someone has posted on here that, having received a replacement card from their bank, their lyca bundle autorenewal failed and they lost their promo deal. But it does depend on whether the bank issue a card with the same number or not (if there is the potential for fraudulent use of the lost card they prob would)

It’s not to do with the card number. When you make a purchase with a card, the merchant doesn’t keep the card number. They get a ‘token’ which is used for one of two things. 

If they need to refund you if it’s a straightforward purchase. 

If you’ve set up a continuous payment authority, to take the payment each month. 

What should happen is:

if you’ve got a new card because the old one expired (or is physically damaged) then the token remains valid. 

If you’ve got a new card because the old one was lost, stolen or the card details copied or cloned, then the tokens are rescinded. 

(It’s slightly more complicated than that in practice to allow for example , when a payment falls just as a card is replaced)

savergrant

My original point was that telling your bank your card has been lost would prevent future payments going through. Sorry if I  wasn't clear about the telling your bank the card was lost. Of course simply losing the card and not telling the bank wouldn't stop further payments. But I think we would agree that if the bank knows the card is lost they would block payments authorised by it (and advise you to update your payment details.)