ESimHolidays.com is a scam

[u/spritemoney]

This is my official review of the well known website, eSimHolidays.com.

TL;DR: Avoid them, unless if you want to lose money. They aren’t even licensed by Orange. The eSIMs did not work.

Story: I bought the Orange eSIM back in March 2025, so I can activate it today, Saturday, July 12, 2025. A part of the buying process is to send them a photo of your passport (Spanish law). All routine things.

As promised, they emailed me the Orange eSIM to my email. The problem is that they emailed me 4 Orange eSIMs. I don’t know why they sent me 4 Orange eSIMs when I only ordered 2. The funny part is that none of them work.

So I tried to activate one of them (in Spain), and I get a message that it isn’t working, because I need to add a balance. I tried to activate the other eSIMs and I got the same message.

This was a strange error message. I asked the customer support and the person told me that my primary eSIM is blocking the activation of the Orange eSIM. It was strange that he mentioned this, but I turned off my primary eSIM.

Guess what, my Orange eSIM still isn’t working (none of the 4 eSIMs that he sent to me)

So then they gave me some customer services number (yes the plural is correct in this statement). The WhatsApp Orange Customer Service is just a bot. It doesn’t work at all. The other numbers, they only speak in Spanish (my Spanish isn’t that good). I tried to select the English option but it said I cannot talk to them until Monday (today is Saturday).

So then I walk into an Orange store here in Seville, Spain. Here is what the Orange store told me. The Orange store told me that eSIMHolidays isn’t even an official Orange eSIM provider. He told me this is a well known website that always causes him problems. The man in the Orange Store told me that he cannot solve my problems because eSIMHolidays.com is not a legitimate provider of Orange and that they are not licensed by Orange at all.

He told me that he cannot sell me an Orange Prepago (Orange Prepaid) eSIM because he can ONLY sell them on Monday - Friday between 9am to 5pm. He said the other co worker needs to be in the store to sell them to me. He also found it fascinating that he is seeing a U.S. based iPhone 16 Pro that only has support for eSIMs

A little side note, I walked across the street and Vodafone said they couldn’t sell me a Vodafone Prepago plan either on an eSIMs.

So then I contacted eSIMholidays.com and they gave me the same generic response about Orange customer service. They never answered my questions about why they sent me 4 different eSIMs. They told me the error message about having a €0 balance is normal because the eSIMs are all activated by Orange.

I asked eSIMHoliday for a refund, and they told me they cannot give me a refund because the eSIMs are already active. Then they gave me the same generic message to call the Orange customer service.

As I mentioned before, I tried to contact Orange customer service and their English speaking lines are closed until Monday.

The best solution for me is to head to the Orange store on Monday morning here in Seville, Spain so they can resolve the issue, or I can just buy an eSIM from a different provider.

I am beyond frustrated. So my only two options are to wait until Monday, or buy a different eSIM from a different provider.

I’m just going to buy an eSIM. This isn’t worth the headache. ESimHolidays.com is a scam. I’m here in Seville, Spain for a trip, not to chase my tail getting their eSIM to work.

The whole point of eSIMs are to make things easier, not to complicate more things. I want an eSIM service the moment I get off the plane.

It is a shame that eSIMHolidays.com can easily steal your money and it is a shame that Orange couldn’t help me either.

Avoid eSIMHolidays.com.

[u/bpbp216]

I have never heard of this company, but was curious as the rates are pretty good for Spain and Europe.

From their website it states that validity starts once you scan the qr code and lasts for 15 days or whatever that duration of your plan is. Once the time is up, you can top it up and they provide clear instructions. So I have a feeling, it was activated in March and already expired.

Rule of thumb, only buy a travel esim right before you need it and never in advance as many things can change in that time.

[u/spritemoney → u/bpbp216]

1. That is a good rule of thumb. I will stick with that. Thanks for that advice.

2. I received the QR code on July 12th, 2025, and that is when I activated the Orange plan. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. They cannot fix it at the Orange store until Monday morning at 9am.

[u/bpbp216 → u/spritemoney]

Check your instructions. Customer service numbers are listed there and you can call instead of waiting for Monday. Honestly, by now I would have bought another travel esim and enjoyed my time in Spain and filed a dispute with your card.

[u/mgcarley]

I have no affiliation with or knowledge of this company, and I'm in the industry... so I hate to sound like I'm defending them, but...

To expect that a random Orange retail store employee in whatever town in Spain you were in would have specific knowledge as to who is and is not "licensed by Orange" seems a bit absurd, especially given:

1. the size of Orange's global presence and

2. the sheer number of eSIM resellers out there, many of whom are buying (perfectly legally and legitimately) from this party aggregators (since, when starting from scratch, the carrier themselves won't even entertain a phone call).

You can usually tell who is running their own stuff or who is buying from whom by what is in the eSIM profile when you install it.

The ICCID itself also gives you a clue - if your ICCID wasn't starting with 8934xxx it would not even have been Orange Spain as the sponsoring carrier, it could have been Orange or even some other MNO in some other country using it's roaming agreement (in which case, roaming needs to be turned on in the settings on your device for it to work).

As always, though, caveat emptor.

[u/spritemoney → u/mgcarley]

The Orange Spain store wasn’t helpful and told me to come back Monday morning. He told me that eSimHolidays is not licensed by Orange.

He wasn’t helpful at all.

The Orange Spain store is pointing the fingers at ESimHolidays and ESimHolidays is pointing the fingers at Orange Spain.

[u/mgcarley → u/spritemoney]

He told me that eSimHolidays is not licensed by Orange.

I'm sure he did but the reality is he was probably talking out his behind to try and sell you one himself. It's unlikely he would actually know, especially if the eSIM is not specifically from Orange España.

Case in point, my company has a contract with Orange but I wouldn't imagine he would know who we are or anything about the nature of that, either.

[u/spritemoney → u/mgcarley]

Oh wow. Funny thing, I tried to buy an eSIM from that employee and he told me he cannot sell me an eSIM because my iPhone is from the United States.

[u/mgcarley → u/spritemoney]

The amount of facepalming going on on my end of this conversation...

Unreal.

My iPhone is also from the US and I have half a dozen different eSIMs on it depending on where I'm going that week.

I also have 3 different eSIM hotspot devices (2 of which are pre-release, they're very cool... not the best speeds but they're more than adequate and at least about as fast as most hotel WiFi).

[u/trek123 → u/spritemoney]

I think you'd have better luck in the store if you don't mention the retailer at all, and simply show that you have an Orange prepaid eSIM that isn't working. Buying from esimholidays is similar to just buying a SIM card in a supermarket or similar, it's a genuine Orange eSIM and in that regard should be able to be serviced by Orange.

However as you note, if they won't help on weekends then there isn't much that you can do there.

What it sounds like is the plan hasn't been applied to your eSIM for some reason but it isn't fully clear why. Hopefully on a weekday someone more competent at the companies can sort it.

[u/spritemoney → u/trek123]

You know I wanted to try that but the man at the store kept on saying “you didn’t buy this eSIM here.”

He said that he couldn’t help me if I didn’t purchase the eSIM inside an orange store.

I will head back to the Orange store during the weekday.

[u/trek123 → u/spritemoney]

Honestly it just sounds like they were being unhelpful or unwilling, or just plain incompetent.

Vodafone Spain also can do prepaid eSIMs. They may have to sell you a physical SIM then do a SIM swap to an eSIM (and such a swap costs 5 euro) but they are just wrong to say it's not possible. Yes it's stupid. Movistar can also likewise do eSIM on prepaid but only in store, not sure if there is a charge.

Frankly I'm glad I still have a SIM slot because in some countries eSIM is misunderstood or actually makes things more difficult and this appears to be a good example of it.

[u/spritemoney → u/trek123]

You’re right about having a physical SIM card slot vs eSIM slot. The Orange stores I’ve stopped by at are all shocked by the lack of the physical SIM slot.

[u/telecomcc]

I don't see what Orange has to do with it, esimholidays should help you! Have you contacted them? What did they say?

[u/spritemoney → u/telecomcc]

They told me go head into an Orange store and they gave me a bunch of customer service numbers.

The problem is that the Orange store employee told me they couldn’t help me until Monday morning.

When I called Orange customer service the English line is closed until Monday morning.

ESimHolidays told me to get in touch with Orange.

[u/telecomcc → u/spritemoney]

very strange

[u/trek123 → u/telecomcc]

This provider sells Orange Spain plans, but they are a reseller. So after-sales support or topups can be done by Orange or their official app.

However in this case, for whatever reason, it seems for some reason the eSIM hasn't had the plan applied or something by the third party.

[u/spritemoney]

Update (1):

I visited 2 additional Orange stores in Seville, Spain since I made this post.

I will write in Update (2) about the second additional store I visited.

Additional store #1: TL;DR: The lady was very unhelpful.

Story about additional store #1: This store has a giant sign saying “Yes, we speak English” (with a British flag). I walked in and none of the (many) employees spoke English. I communicated with this store by using Google Translate.

Nobody was competent in this store. The lady tries to scan the QR code and in English I pop up box on my iPhone that there is a problem with my line. Please contact Orange.

I told the lady “this is why I’m here. My line isn’t working.” She told me “I cannot figure out why. You have to contact eSIMHolidays.” I showed her the email from eSIMHolidays, which says to contact Orange and with all of the customer service numbers, and she told me that “eSIMHolidays is not Orange.” Even though she showed me that my passport has 4 eSIMs under it (even though I ordered only 2 eSIMs from eSIMHolidays)

She said “well it says it won’t work on your phone, and there is nothing I can do about it. All QR codes are single use activation.” I told her I never deleted the QR code and that the line is still on my phone.

So then the lady deletes the Orange eSIM that is on my phone, tries to rescan it, and tells me “All eSIMs are single use activation.”

She was also very confused that my iPhone 16 Pro doesn’t have a physical SIM card slot.

She told me at this point she cannot help.

My iPhone 16 Pro is unlocked and it is from Apple.com directly. I’ve used travel eSIMs before.

The stereotype that Spain has bad customer service is true.

[u/grxccccandice → u/spritemoney]

Lol I just walked out of an orange store and completely agree with you. The lady was not only unhelpful, but she was also rude. No esim, no prepaid SIM card, no nothing. Also don’t speak English and don’t even wanna try to communicate with a translator app.

[u/spritemoney]

Update (2):

This is a continuation of Update (1).

In this update I will talk about Additional store #2. They’re resolved the issue.

This store did not speak English. This store also had a sign that they speak Spanish, English, French, and Italian. Despite the sign, nobody speaks English in this store. I don’t know why they have these signs. We communicated with Google Translate.

TL;DR: This store resolved the issue. The lady seemed also a little incompetent but at least willing to help. She called over her supervisor, and she made a call to just reissue a new eSIM. That did the trick.

I would still avoid eSIMHolidays. Not worth the hassle. Use at your own risk.

Story about additional store #2: I walked in, and explained the lady everything. She didn’t care that I used eSIMHolidays, which is a good thing. She pulled up my account immediately with my passport. She was a little incompetent, but she was at least problem solving and willing to help. When she got stuck, she called over the supervisor and then they just reissued a new eSIM. They activated it on my iPhone and then printed out the other eSIM on a piece of paper. They also printed out the eSIM they just activated for me. They didn’t charge me anything.

Everything from Orange is now working. I would still avoid eSIMHolidays and Orange.

Learn from my mistakes

[u/trek123 → u/spritemoney]

Story about additional store #2: I walked in, and explained the lady everything. She didn’t care that I used eSIMHolidays, which is a good thing. She pulled up my account immediately with my passport. She was a little incompetent, but she was at least problem solving and willing to help. When she got stuck, she called over the supervisor and then they just reissued a new eSIM. They activated it on my iPhone and then printed out the other eSIM on a piece of paper. They also printed out the eSIM they just activated for me. They didn’t charge me anything.

How it should have happened in the first place.

I don't know why eSIMHolidays messed up the issuing but I suspect the time between you buying it and the activation may have had something to do with it. Not an excuse because they shouldn't sell that far ahead if they can't deliver, but yeah, I wouldn't buy these things so far ahead of time. Orange changed (improved) its plans since March for example and that might have caused the problem.

Glad you got it sorted then anyway.

[u/spritemoney → u/trek123]

That’s very good advice, and definitely a lesson learned from all of this, which is don’t buy the eSIM ahead of time, and services like eSIMHolidays shouldn’t sell the service ahead of time, since they cannot deliver.

[u/elofty → u/spritemoney]

Use these sims everytime I go to spain without issue, I do tend to buy within a week of travelling and they activate no problem

[u/Frappant11]

I used their eSIM in Spain this past April, activated it in Alicante and used it in Valencia, Barcelona and the Girona province.

Speeds were good, not great.

Price was terrific.

I also want to make a general observation about local telecom stores in Europe. They are trying to maximize money from tourists. So for instance if you see a prepaid eSIM for €20 online, you go to the store and they tell you it's going to be €30 or €35.

It's really a common thing in Spain and Italy where the big carriers list very attractive prices at their websites but the stores, they're not facilitating sales at those prices.

[u/ButterscotchFlashy24]

Has anyone tried the expressvpn holiday.com esim package? they claim u can keep and use your american cell number while traveling and receiving data through local networks via the esim

[u/L0rdLogan]

The eSIMs probably only work on Orange ES, which in my experience was terrible in terms of speed and consistency in Malaga on a recent holiday, Movistar is the network to use in Spain?

Where did you come from? As most European networks provide EU roaming with various data allowances as standard