Lebara Mobile (UK) Reviews

Thank you Nitisha for reactivating my sim. Great customer service.

Date of experience: 04 July 2020

Date of experience: 04 July 2020

What a shambolic company this is. Had an absolute nightmare with them.

I ordered a SIM card on the 21st of June. I cancelled my current contract with EE, ending today (4th July). After one week I contacted Lebara because no SIM had arrived.

They told me a mistake had been made, that the SIM was not sent, and as my contract was due to run out they would send the SIM out by special delivery.

By Thursday the SIM had still not arrived so I contacted them again. They put the blame on Royal Mail. They told me they'd send another SIM out by Special Delivery (next day).

Both times I was given 'Tracking numbers' that did not work.

The SIM never arrived. I contacted them and was told the SIM was 'With the Post Office' and I should go there Saturday morning to pick it up.

I went to town to pick up the SIM, only to be told by the Post Office it was not there and they had no idea why Lebara would say it was. I was advised to contact Royal Mail, and after a 40 minute wait, was informed that the 'Tracking numbers' provided to me weren't 'Tracking numbers' at all, but were in fact delivery confirmation codes.

Royal Mail confirmed that these SIM were NOT sent special delivery, but in fact sent 'signed for'.

After losing all my Saturday morning, I then re contacted Lebara with this information. They said Royal Mail were 'wrong', and blamed Royal Mail for the tracking numbers not working (they weren't tracking numbers!).

Sorry, but if you are given tracking numbers by the Royal Mail, you simply put them into the website and it tells you the status. The fact that the website states 'unknown tracking number', plus the fact Royal Mail themselves stated to me that this was not a tracking number, then further confirmed that the item had NOT been sent special delivery and in fact had been sent signed for, kind of proves that Lebara just tell a bunch of lies.

Waiting since 21st of June (today is the 4th of July), is clearly a joke.

After reading reviews on here, many are written in very bad English, and considering that they are a UK based company, I would be very dubious about the reviews.

Date of experience: 04 July 2020

Very good customer service! Cheers, Nitisha!

Date of experience: 04 July 2020

Excellent service from Nitisha today, she was quickly able to resolve my issue.

Date of experience: 04 July 2020

I have been trying cancel my Lebara £5.00 30 day contract and here’s why, Lebara claim in their advertising that they “piggyback” on the 4g Vodafone network.
Well that’s not accurate there are 5 bands of networking 5g 4g 3g and 2g Lebara don’t claim to run on 5g so we will leave that out.
Lebara claim to run on Vodafone’s 4g network and for mobile data they do but for calls the 2g option is blocked as is 4g VoLTE I have tried the sim in a £10 Asda 2g phone and its perfect 5 full bars but that’s because its running on the 2g network now if that’s all you wants its cheap and perfect but no online data.
I have an iPhone 7se bought unlocked from apple store online and the Lebara sim changes my default settings so if I try to enable 4g VoLTE calling Wi-Fi Calling or tethering in mobile data settings I get a message saying to enable 4g VoLTE or Wi-Fi calling contact Vodafone (get your debit cards out) so no 4g Volte calls no tethering and no Wi-Fi calling.
It gets worse with my IPhone it also blocks 2g so even if I were willing to forgo mobile data the Lebara sim blocks 2g so I can’t even enjoy 5 full bars on my iPhone like I can with a £10 2g phone from Asda.
In technology terms Lebara calling and texting is medieval it’s like many years ago when three were 3G only but at least then when the calls were at their worst they defaulted to o2’s 2g network for which Three had to pay by the call, but Lebara don’t even have a fall-back position of 2g of any kind its 4g or no signal which explains why so many people left bad reviews on Trustpilot for poor call quality when it was supposed to be on Vodafone the undisputed best coverage in the UK.
Anyway that’s why I’m leaving but it’s not the end of it yet I emailed a detailed and legally correct notice to end my 30 day contract and it ended with the following:
“This cancellation is final, I have fulfilled my legal obligations with regard to this contract cancellation with this email and this cancellation cannot be changed or nullified by you with the use of spurious emails, SMS messages or phone calls”

And guess what I got a reply “sorry your having problems please send a screenshot”
I will keep you posted should be fun watch this space, and watch for another Spurious reply to this review, don’t they even bother to read what you say?

Hi labara’s technical team have now contacted me 4 times and we have discussed the data and voice calling ability of Lebara compared to Vodafone I recorded the calls in case I what I say is misrepresented so I will now amend my review.
Labara’s sim changes the mobile data and 4g calling on my IPhone 7 Se running ios13.5 (the latest ios) to restrict voice calling to 3g if mobile data is switched off even if you using your home internet you still have to have mobile data on in settings/mobile data options with mobile data on you get 3 option’s 4g,VoLTE On, 4g, VoLTE off, and 3g VoLTE is very important to voice calls Vodafone contracts will have it as standard but in Lebara if you choose option 1 4g,VoLTE on you get a message saying and I quote “Cannot Activate 4G calls on this account, contact Vodafone UK” If you take the second option 4g, VoLTE off it will allow this but no VoLTE.
But worse if you turn off your mobile data either you are on your home or work broadband or your just not using it then Lebara will change your setting to 3g If you again go to settings/mobile data options you now only get two choices Voice 4g or voice 3g if you choose voice 4g you get a message I quote again “Cannot Activate 4g Calls on this account contact Vodafone”
That’s the sum of my conversation with labara’s technical team and they agree with this assessment “call recorded”
So to sum up if you leave mobile data off even at home using home broadband you will only get 3g calls, leave it on and you will get 4g but no VoLTE this is not anything like Vodafone.
Second amendment: I have a response from (you’re not supposed to use names on this site so I just call him Mr Upset) Lebara under my review in which Mr upset says I have personally upset him and the first reason for this he disagrees with my technical statements well I hope he’s happy now my amended review is agreed with his own technical team (call recorded)
Second point Mr upset says that I have and I quote “I notice your only other review is regarding Vodafone where you advise people on the process of taking them to court to be awarded a large payout”
My rebuttal:
like all call centre responses its vague with Half truths
First I did not invent the problem with Vodafone’s call centre 87% of reviews of Vodafone are bad and 1 star with most reviewers wishing it could be minus stars not one.
My review advises people to ignore the call centre the sole and only Purpose of which is to practice deception I don't mention money
My advice is very reasonable you can read it and judge for yourselves on Trustpilot Vodafone I promise it won’t upset you.

Date of experience: 03 July 2020

Great customer service experience to easily transfer my old mobile number to lebara to be done in one working day. Friendly and easy to communicate my request with a swift response time!

Date of experience: 03 July 2020

My call was answered quickly and my query dealt with efficiently

Date of experience: 03 July 2020

Just signed on with Lebar. It was fast and painless. Now in the process of changing numbers to my old mobile number - so far, so good!

Reggie was excellent in this: very patient, professional and caring. I would recommend Lebara in a heartbeat.

I then called Lebara Customer Service a second time, and Jeetendra was superb as well.

Thank you for great customer service - I walked away from the calls with a smile, need I say more?

Date of experience: 02 July 2020

Nitisha was very helpful and efficient, great customer service.

Date of experience: 02 July 2020

NItisha is a very nice person, she makes you wait a little, but in the end you get what you wanted, thanks Nistisha

Date of experience: 02 July 2020

Had to call the second time after number got ported over to ensure the 4g settings are activated on my phone. The analyst i got was amazing and knew all his stuff plus he was also technically minded.

Date of experience: 02 July 2020

Recently switched from Vodafone. The process wil straightforward. Customer service were very helpful in setting up my phone, am not very technical, so far I’m very happy, great speeds and a fantastic price on a sim only deal through Uswitch. Rick

Date of experience: 01 July 2020

Thank's for brilliant support ...Nitisha Is very nice and patient and spend lots of time to help...TThanks

Date of experience: 01 July 2020

I was helped with the transfer of my mobile number to Lebara by a very helpful and efficient advisor named Nitisha. Really very helpful, and answered all my questions. Excellent service.

Date of experience: 01 July 2020

Help sending my PAC. It took a while to get through, but got my PAC sorted without any hassle I’m new on mobile telephones and have never had one before so the help was fantastic and the price is great. Five stars all day long!
PS; I’ve had more hassle writing this review lol

Date of experience: 01 July 2020

A bit long wait but when I chatted with a well mannered Nitisha from support team, she resolved my problem immediately, great work five stars

Date of experience: 01 July 2020

I needed some advice and Natalie was most helpful.

Date of experience: 01 July 2020

My experience (although early days still) has all been good. I am older so not maybe as full-time glued to my phone as some but pleased. Good price. Good service. Admin easy. One experience of customer service was prompt, efficient and pleasant. Superior to previous providers.

Date of experience: 01 July 2020

Actual network service is fine. If you need customer services then it's another story. Chat: Incorrect advice and failure to alter my package ended up costing me additional money. Email: The email I received to assist me with several issues related to an entirely non relevant topic and appeared to be copied and pasted incorrectly by an advisor. Voted with my feet and left.

Date of experience: 01 July 2020