Traveling now - issues with eSIM
A previous poster advised to avoid Airalo at all costs.
Not sure I'd go that far, but they are deceptive in how they sell their eSIMs.
I purchased a 60-day data only eSIM in March, for our trip that started towards the end of April.
From the app, about how eSIMs work:
>You can buy your eSIM before your trip. The validity period doesn't start when you buy it. Note, some eSIMs need to be in use within a specific time period after purchase...
>Install as soon as you like...
There were no caveats I can find on the eSIM I purchased. I installed right away but didn't activate until the later part of April.
The eSIM expired 60 days after I installed it. Which was roughly 27 days after I activated it.
I didn't see the chat function in the app, so I tried to contact them through the website. The contact us info was extremely difficult to find. Finally found it. Filled in their form. Got a reply the next day, in Turkish, saying they were working on it. The day after that, told me that I had gotten the wrong place. No offer to forward to their other office. No explanation about how to contact them.
I put a review on the Play store. They told me of the chat function on the app.
After the chat bot went about a hundred rounds refusing to understand which of the three-four total eSIMs I'd purchased in the last few years I was talking about, they transferred me to a live person, who also refused to understand. Even though I had given both the order number and a copy of the email confirming the order.
In the end, she told me that the date of installation determines the expiration date, not the date of activation. No matter that their own store's page directly contradicts that.
So, if you buy, don't install until you're ready to activate. And know that the promises they make in the store are not things they take seriously.