Lycamobile changing from being an O2 MVNO to an EE MVNO?

smellthemoney

antzokay135 said:

Hi,
I need some advice. I chose the Lycamobile MSE exclusive bundle for both my wife and myself after reading the article on here. It has been great until the last few days. We lost signals on both our phones. I contacted customer services and got through after 30 minutes listening to an automated message saying how delighted they were to be updating the service. When we did get through we were then told that we didn't have any service because our area was being updated and that we would get a text saying when it was up and running. 
A few hours later I got a text but my wife didn't but when I tried to ring my wife it said I had no network coverage. I couldn't send a text either. I then discovered that Lycamobile had switched from O2 to EE without telling anyone that they were. W cannot get EE within 3 miles of our village so our phones are useless.
I sent a text to get my PAC number to port to Lebara and received it straight away. I then sent a text to get my wifes PAC code and it wouldn't send. I tried 3 times and all failed. The next day it had sent all 3 texts but got no reply. We then got 3 texts at 3.00am to say that they cannot provide her PAC code at this time and to contact customer services. Only neither of us can get through to customer services. I then sent an email saying that we cannot use our phones and to send a PAC code but we have had no reply. 
I am asking for advice as to how do we get the PAC code from Lycamobile and do they have to provide one? Also, they took our monthly payments out and we haven't had a signal since so can we ask for our money back?
Any advice greatly appreciated.

Read this web page. www.portnumber.co.uk/transfer/mobile/from-Lycamobile  If you wish to use the 'text-to-switch' service, simply SMS text PAC to 65075 free from your Lycamobile SIM to get your Lycamobile PAC code by text message and begin the porting process. You need to travel to an area where you can still get a mobile signal for you to send and receive text. PAC code should come through almost instantly after you send the text. 

K1977

savergrant said:

K1977 said:

I specifically chose Lyca as it uses 02 where I've always had good signal so everytime I switch network I've always chose a provider who uses them, I'm reading a lot of people are having problems since the network change but strangely it's had the opposite effect for me, I've noticed my phone is loading much quicker on the internet and I'm now getting full bars on my 4G signal which I never had before, I do agree though that customers should have been informed of the changeover especially for people who already know they have bad/no EE signal in their area, least then they could have been prepared and change network

Just out of interest what does the ofcom coverage checker say for your address? Coverage maps do change so it is possible that ee have improved their mast since you last checked, and o2 might have an ageing infrastructure?

I have green ticks for voice, date and enhanced data for indoor and outdoor, I don't know if this has always been the case as I've not checked EE before as I've always used 02 networks out of habit, on checking I've just noticed that Vodafone seems to be the poorest signal in my area

goodolddays

I went to Lyca mobile for O2 for signal where I live- suddenly reception is gone and I find they are on EE. I tried twice to contact them on the chat- when I eventually got through they just tried to blame my phone and said they were upgrading. when I challenged them on this both times they just hung up. I then phoned, when I eventually got through, I got the same story. when I asked if they had moved to EE without telling me they said yes. When asked for a refund NO CHANCE. Have moved to O2- they have some good deals. DONT ~TOUCH LYCA MOBILE WITH A BARGEPOLE !!!

PHK

I agree completely, they hung up on me multiple times  when I complained, disconnected their chat  and have not followed their own.code of conduct.  I complained in writing via email  as well and have not had a response at all. Truly the worst customer service I've ever had. 

How MSE can recommend them is beyond me. 

savergrant

PHK said:

I agree completely, they hung up on me multiple times  when I complained, disconnected their chat  and have not followed their own.code of conduct.  I complained in writing via email  as well and have not had a response at all. Truly the worst customer service I've ever had. 

How MSE can recommend them is beyond me. 

Frankly mse have been recommending them on price alone for ages, and for those who benefit from o2 reception. They have been completely blindsided by this unannounced change, which until virgin started moving batches of customers to another network I wouldn't have thought possible. If lyca envisaged that some of their customers would lose signal because of this 'upgrade' they should be prepared to refund account credit. If not they should fix the signal 

griffb

Another one here already on EE, got a Lyca sim last month as a backup on a different network.....

savergrant

griffb said:

Another one here already on EE, got a Lyca sim last month as a backup on a different network.....

Hopefully you're only in for the month then you can move to lebara. I doubt they will be doing the same thing to their customers.

PHK

I finally received a response from Lyca, they'll CONSIDER a refund however they want the emails sent when a payment was taken. But they don't send an email they send you a text message. 

Obvious delaying tactics. Didn't include the complaint reference number their code of conduct says they'll provide. 

Worst customer service I've seen in a long time.

TYOJ10

Their customer service is second to everyone.
I was suddenly left with no signal whatsoever, and had it not been for MSE, I’d have no idea why. What an abysmal, and irresponsible/dangerous way to treat customers.
I had a terrible experience with them last year, so this is the final straw, and I’m voting with my feet.

Little_Miss_Moneysaver

Both myself and my husband specifically chose Lyca Mobile, due to it offering 100 minutes worth of International Phone call minutes per month, as well as being on the O2 network, along with 1000 UK mins & UK texts, via it's low cost package of £5 / month each. 

This unexpected migration from O2 to EE is a real problem for us, as we ONLY get O2 signal in the whole village.  No signal at all from the other networks, indoors or outdoors, throughout the whole village, which is in the East Midlands. 

The international phone minutes were particularly useful in our case, to keep in touch with elderly parents, on both sides, who all  live overseas, and can only use a mobile phone for phone calls, due to being very old.
   
So, using services like WhatsApp, or Skype, or anything like that, to make international calls is a total no-go for us.

We are really sad about this migration to EE, as it has a massive impact on our daily lives - so hope the new CEO of Lyca Mobile ( Richard Schafer ) reads this post!  

On one of the articles we read on the internet about this whole mess, said that Lyca Mobile will be offering WiFi calling "IN THE FUTURE", to it's customers, due to this new EE partnership. 

I can't find any info on the timeline for this. I hope it's not just a "teaser rumour" Lyca are putting out, as having WiFi calling would be a massive help & solution, due to no EE signal where we live.   

If anyone knows when (2023? 2024? later than that?) Lyca Mobile is likely to roll that out, please - for the love of God - post an entry here! 

Thank goodness for MSE writing an article about this, as we were flummoxed as to why we completely lost signal suddenly, and tried the "turning mobile on/off" that Lyca's email ( with spelling errors in title! ) said to do, which simply didn't work.