TLDR is I did PAC transfer of mobile phone number from Lebara to other provider while there were funds left on my Lebara balance (~ £795).

Lebara sent me a Deadlock letter after my requirement that they won't do this refund to bank account or via cheque, only to original payment method (which is no longer available for me).

I got positive decision from Ombudsman that Lebara does in fact owe money the refund (Ombudsman ordered to provide me with a cheque).

However, since that moment there was no communication from Lebara end, despite multiple emails from my side to their email addresses.

I already tried to contact The Guardian Consumer Rights Champion, but no response.

What do I do next?

Lebara is rumoured to have extremely terrible ethics in terms of protecting their customers since they cut cost absolutely everywhere to compete with other budget companies. Your SMS messages and call records are kept by the company. I would not be surprised if they are profiting off of selling your data. Most of their staff is based in India, which means they are likely not complying with UK/EU rules on many things too.

​

I've heard rumours that they've been selling your name, address (if you have a contract), and phone numbers to make more money cause they're so unprofitable.

​

They also pay to remove all bad reviews on trustpilot and other review sites... That's why you see almost all 5s cause they delete the 1s...

I have a Lebara sim card and was just going to add roaming to it, but was thinking on getting the travel eSim on my kid's iPhone as they are with Voxi, who are excellent for them in the UK but USA roaming his not good value.,

Hi Guys i had big trouble switching to e-sim last time (in Jan-26) to the degree that i almost lost my primary number which i was using for 6+ years. currently i am using temporary lebara esim (because no slot for physical sim ) and main number is in my another phone.

wanted to check if the process is smoother than before now ? or anyone still had bad experience recently.
thanks in advance.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LebaraUK/s/77uLvDeZpa

I have had help to format and constructing this post, however the data is factual and I wanted to share a detailed breakdown of my recent experience with Lebara UK, specifically around uSwitch promotional deals, “new customer” eligibility, and customer‑service failures. This isn’t a rant, it ia actually VERY SHORT forensic summary that might save others a lot of time.

Please share your experience.

1. The Promo Trap: “New Customer Only” (But Not Disclosed Clearly)

I bought a Lebara promo via uSwitch.
The order was processed with a £2.50 postage.
The sim arrived, not linked to the uswitch deal and ZERO information.
Nowhere in the journey did it say:

• “New customers only”, or
• What counts as a “new customer”.

Three weeks later, Lebara told me the offer was for "NEW CUSTOMER ONLY" I can only assume they deamed me ineligible because I had previously bought SIMs (for my partner and daughters) using my name/email. As the order was for a new phone with a different number i did not see the problem, and the customer service preson was vague at best to the rules?

This rule is:

• Not disclosed
• Not defined
• Not consistent with past behaviour

2. Customer Support Is… Rough

Across multiple interactions:

• Agents didn’t read previous messages
• I had to repeat the same info over and over
• Every reply was “I’ll escalate this”
• No one actually escalated anything
• No proactive communication
• Eventually they blamed uSwitch

It took three weeks to get a simple answer to why is my sim not assigned to the deal i order...

3. Misleading Advice About Porting

I asked if:

>

Agent said yes. (the call was recoreded around 4.30pm today so Lebara can verify this.)

But multiple reports show:

• Porting back an old number removes promotional deals automatically.

So the advice was wrong.

4. How Widespread Is This?

Based on review data (2025–2026):

• 15–25% of negative reviews mention promo/activation failures
• 70–80% of all sentiment is negative for support
• Resolver gives Lebara 1/5
• BritainReviews shows 27% would buy again

Most complaints involve:

• Promo failures
• Porting issues
• Roaming problems
• SIM activation delays
• Billing disputes
• Support loops

5. Why Ratings Look High Anyway

Lebara’s high ratings mostly come from:

• People who buy a cheap SIM
• Activate it
• Never contact support

If you’re doing anything more complex — multi‑SIM, porting, uSwitch deals, roaming — the experience is very different.

6. TL;DR

• Promo rules are unclear and inconsistently enforced
• Support is slow, repetitive, and often misinformed
• Blame is pushed to uSwitch even when the issue is internal
• Porting back old numbers can kill promos
• Complex cases get stuck in escalation loops

If you’re considering a uSwitch/third‑party Lebara deal, take screenshots of everything, and be prepared for a fight if anything goes wrong.

Lebara is currently offering 50% off for the first 3 months when you sign up through a referral link. It runs on the Vodafone UK network with 4G and 5G coverage, and you can cancel anytime as the plans are monthly.

A few current offers:
• 5GB for £2.50
• 30GB for £5
• 50GB for £7.50
• 100GB for £10
• Unlimited from £12.50

How to get it:
Open the referral link
Choose a SIM plan and sign up
Activate your SIM or eSIM once it arrives

Referral link:
https://aklam.io/yf3kf0wU
Non-ref:
https://www.lebara.co.uk/en/home.html
T&Cs:
https://get.aklamio.com/terms