Lebara general information for the ‘not so tech savvy’

Inforapennyinforapound

Due to PlusNet closing I followed advice on MSE and decided Lebara is for me!

Anyway not sure in what order to do things I called them. I was told that to get a PAC code( Which I did). They then said I need a Lebara sim. I said I had seen a good online deal and was advised to get a sim with no plan attached. Any supermarket will sell them,they said. Couldn’t find one then saw on Lebara website I can apply for a free sim.

Got free sim,called them,was told to put in phone and dial 5588….now the naughty bit…they ported my current number over..then asked me which deal I wanted.Told them I saw great online deal on MSE..Can’t have it they said. Why not I asked. Because you’ve got your sim now,I was told. 🤔.

I didn’t know that when you order an ‘online deal’ that your sim comes to you in the post. I thought you had to get the sim first ( I am of a certain age) . My head was hurting now.
Outcome? I had to buy a 1 month contract more expensive than the online deal!

I am more than annoyed. I wish MSE had explained the procedure. It’s not something I do every day.

if I now want an online deal I have to get another PAC code,go to another provider then get another PAC code to go back to Lebara….. my head is really hurting now…

stuartp2000

Not sure I truly follow but I did the MSE deal, I joined Lebara under the deal, got the sim and new number.
then went online and entered my PAC code and a week later I had old number on new contract.

Generally how it should work so I think you’ve had bad advise or luck.

Inforapennyinforapound

Yes it makes sense now,. BUT what I didn’t know is that when you buy the deal online the sim gets sent to you. I was under the impression,after talking to some guy I could barely understand,that I needed to get the sim first and then get a contract. 

As I say unless you are ‘in the know’ then you feel a bit overawed by the actual process.

But well done for getting a good deal

savergrant

Inforapennyinforapound said:

Due to PlusNet closing I followed advice on MSE and decided Lebara is for me!

Anyway not sure in what order to do things I called them. I was told that to get a PAC code( Which I did). They then said I need a Lebara sim. I said I had seen a good online deal and was advised to get a sim with no plan attached. Any supermarket will sell them,they said. Couldn’t find one then saw on Lebara website I can apply for a free sim.

Got free sim,called them,was told to put in phone and dial 5588….now the naughty bit…they ported my current number over..then asked me which deal I wanted.Told them I saw great online deal on MSE..Can’t have it they said. Why not I asked. Because you’ve got your sim now,I was told. 🤔.

I didn’t know that when you order an ‘online deal’ that your sim comes to you in the post. I thought you had to get the sim first ( I am of a certain age) . My head was hurting now.
Outcome? I had to buy a 1 month contract more expensive than the online deal!

I am more than annoyed. I wish MSE had explained the procedure. It’s not something I do every day.

if I now want an online deal I have to get another PAC code,go to another provider then get another PAC code to go back to Lebara….. my head is really hurting now…

When you saw the mse (exclusive) deal did you see the option to sign up? It is a deal for new customers (we'll new email addresses at least) and can't be added to an existing lebara sim. Personally I would prefer to get a sim and then add a package but these deals are too good to turn down.
You didn't have to sign up to a different package, you can just leave it as pay as you go.
Unless you urgently need to port your number (such as exorbitant price rises) it is safer to wait until everything is running smoothly before porting.

oldagetraveller1

I've just taken up the MSE exclusive with Lebara for an additional s.i.m..

When purchasing I entered the existing account log in e-mail and password. "That e-mail already exists".

Ignored that and logged in to my account. First thing to pop up was the MSE exclusive and "buy now". I did.

New s.i.m. received the day after. Activated it and there are now the two s.i.m.s in the account. Gave them a P.A.C. and in less than 24 hours the number ported to the new Lebara s.i.m..

Auto renew is selected anyway and both will be paid using the same Debit Card.

savergrant

Personally I don't think you can really blame mse or lebara. The mse link says 'get deal' which goes through to address details and payment. Nowhere is there a number to call lebara to discuss the deal and make arrangements, then when you first spoke to lebara you didn't tell them you were looking for an mse deal so the advice they gave you was to get a sim, port your number before your account closed, then choose a package. Only once they had done that did you tell them you wanted ab mse deal. Had you mentioned mse when you first called them they would have redirected you back to mse. Where did you get the number to ring? I dont see it on the deal page.

"Due to PlusNet closing I followed advice on MSE and decided Lebara is for me!

Anyway not sure in what order to do things I called them. I was told that to get a PAC code( Which I did). They then said I need a Lebara sim. I said I had seen a good online deal and was advised to get a sim with no plan attached. Any supermarket will sell them,they said. Couldn’t find one then saw on Lebara website I can apply for a free sim.

Got free sim,called them,was told to put in phone and dial 5588….now the naughty bit…they ported my current number over..then asked me which deal I wanted.Told them I saw great online deal on MSE..Can’t have it they said. Why not I asked. Because you’ve got your sim now,I was told. 🤔."

Inforapennyinforapound

savergrant said:

Personally I don't think you can really blame mse or lebara. The mse link says 'get deal' which goes through to address details and payment. Nowhere is there a number to call lebara to discuss the deal and make arrangements, then when you first spoke to lebara you didn't tell them you were looking for an mse deal so the advice they gave you was to get a sim, port your number before your account closed, then choose a package. Only once they had done that did you tell them you wanted ab mse deal. Had you mentioned mse when you first called them they would have redirected you back to mse. Where did you get the number to ring? I dont see it on the deal page.

"Due to PlusNet closing I followed advice on MSE and decided Lebara is for me!

Anyway not sure in what order to do things I called them. I was told that to get a PAC code( Which I did). They then said I need a Lebara sim. I said I had seen a good online deal and was advised to get a sim with no plan attached. Any supermarket will sell them,they said. Couldn’t find one then saw on Lebara website I can apply for a free sim.

Got free sim,called them,was told to put in phone and dial 5588….now the naughty bit…they ported my current number over..then asked me which deal I wanted.Told them I saw great online deal on MSE..Can’t have it they said. Why not I asked. Because you’ve got your sim now,I was told. 🤔."

My point is that not being up to speed about sims etc I just thought that I needed to get a sim to put in my phone and only then get an online deal.
I really didn’t understand the process and that a sim was posted when taking up the offer. 

To be clear it’s like (I think) buying an internet deal but you need the phone /pc/iPad to be able to use the broadband(you don’t get sent the phone etc when buying broadband).

Hope I’m clear now. Just confusion around process. Obviously it seems that sims are preloaded with different gigabytes etc.. if that makes sense? 

As I said I do not buy a new sim every month,every year or even every decade. Just get overwhelmed and technology is moving on faster and faster.

if anyone has any suggestions now of how to cancel my contract and get this MSE deal nice and easily I will be very grateful😃

Thanks to all contributors. You make an old git very happy

J_B

Inforapennyinforapound said:

Obviously it seems that sims are preloaded with different gigabytes etc.. if that makes sense?

Not quite - sims are just preloaded with a phone number (which you can change, but that's another subject) and then, with Lebara, you can change the minutes, data etc

You can also end the contract after a month (with Lebara) and possibly you could resubscribe like oldagetraveller said above.

Inforapennyinforapound

oldagetraveller1 said:

I've just taken up the MSE exclusive with Lebara for an additional s.i.m..

When purchasing I entered the existing account log in e-mail and password. "That e-mail already exists".

Ignored that and logged in to my account. First thing to pop up was the MSE exclusive and "buy now". I did.

New s.i.m. received the day after. Activated it and there are now the two s.i.m.s in the account. Gave them a P.A.C. and in less than 24 hours the number ported to the new Lebara s.i.m..

Auto renew is selected anyway and both will be paid using the same Debit Card.

So you are paying for 2 sims?????you said both will be paid using same debit card….. now I am confused. Why 2 sims?

savergrant

Inforapennyinforapound said:

oldagetraveller1 said:

I've just taken up the MSE exclusive with Lebara for an additional s.i.m..

When purchasing I entered the existing account log in e-mail and password. "That e-mail already exists".

Ignored that and logged in to my account. First thing to pop up was the MSE exclusive and "buy now". I did.

New s.i.m. received the day after. Activated it and there are now the two s.i.m.s in the account. Gave them a P.A.C. and in less than 24 hours the number ported to the new Lebara s.i.m..

Auto renew is selected anyway and both will be paid using the same Debit Card.

So you are paying for 2 sims?????you said both will be paid using same debit card….. now I am confused. Why 2 sims?

Presumably the first one is near the end of its intro offer? Or possibly the second one is backup for when the first monthly allowance is used up.

savergrant

Inforapennyinforapound said:

savergrant said:

Personally I don't think you can really blame mse or lebara. The mse link says 'get deal' which goes through to address details and payment. Nowhere is there a number to call lebara to discuss the deal and make arrangements, then when you first spoke to lebara you didn't tell them you were looking for an mse deal so the advice they gave you was to get a sim, port your number before your account closed, then choose a package. Only once they had done that did you tell them you wanted ab mse deal. Had you mentioned mse when you first called them they would have redirected you back to mse. Where did you get the number to ring? I dont see it on the deal page.

"Due to PlusNet closing I followed advice on MSE and decided Lebara is for me!

Anyway not sure in what order to do things I called them. I was told that to get a PAC code( Which I did). They then said I need a Lebara sim. I said I had seen a good online deal and was advised to get a sim with no plan attached. Any supermarket will sell them,they said. Couldn’t find one then saw on Lebara website I can apply for a free sim.

Got free sim,called them,was told to put in phone and dial 5588….now the naughty bit…they ported my current number over..then asked me which deal I wanted.Told them I saw great online deal on MSE..Can’t have it they said. Why not I asked. Because you’ve got your sim now,I was told. 🤔."

My point is that not being up to speed about sims etc I just thought that I needed to get a sim to put in my phone and only then get an online deal.
I really didn’t understand the process and that a sim was posted when taking up the offer. 

To be clear it’s like (I think) buying an internet deal but you need the phone /pc/iPad to be able to use the broadband(you don’t get sent the phone etc when buying broadband).

Hope I’m clear now. Just confusion around process. Obviously it seems that sims are preloaded with different gigabytes etc.. if that makes sense? 

As I said I do not buy a new sim every month,every year or even every decade. Just get overwhelmed and technology is moving on faster and faster.

if anyone has any suggestions now of how to cancel my contract and get this MSE deal nice and easily I will be very grateful😃

Thanks to all contributors. You make an old git very happy

With broadband your new supplier will usually send you a router ahead of your activation date. You wouldn't normally ask for a router then sign up for a deal after receiving it, you would sign up for the deal then receive the equipment you need to make it work.
If you still want to get the mse deal and keep your number you will need to port away from lebara and then port it back. I would suggest a free sim from rwg is a good safe bet as some networks are cracking down on porting numbers in and out;
https://www.rwgmobile.wales/webshop/offers/order-a-free-sim-top-up-or-add-bundle-later/

When you port away from lebara you will lose your unused allowance so it makes sense to wait until nearer the end of the month or you are running low.

https://www.rwgmobile.wales/port-your-number/

You might want to put £5 credit on in case you need to return any calls/texts before porting back to lebara mse deal.