July 30, 2019
Lidl Connect Caveat Emptor
Lidl is one of my favourite supermarket chains. On the advice of one of my Warm Showers hosts, I bought a Sim card from them for 10 Euro. Then I added another 15 of credit so that I will have data for 12 weeks of this 13 week journey.
I activated it with an video call to an agent who looked at the security features of my passport. Fortunately he didn't ask for proof of a permanent address in Germany.
I was unsure how billing would in Switzerland which is outside the EU. So I used my mobile data sparingly. When I eventually queried the billing, I saw that I was charged more than 10 Euro for 10 minutes of usage!
It's really hard for users to prevent this: If you spend any time in an EU state other than a Germany, you want to enable data roaming on your phone. But then your phone will also use data when you leave the EU. It's very easy to forget about your Sim card when you leave the EU because quite often it's nothing more than a line painted on the road.
This must be the most user unfriendly product that Lidl offers.
Today I finally sent my complaint to the correct email address. They explained their (unfriendly) pricing structure. But they also credited my account with 10 Euro. So I'm very pleased it's all sorted!
Today's ride: 78 km (48 miles)
Total: 3,236 km (2,010 miles)
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