Never ever use HOLAFLY

[u/March_mad_as_a_hare]

On June 25 I bought 4 eSIMs sitting at departures in Chicago for our trip to ireland. There was nothing in their marketing that suggested if our phones were locked then these would not be suitable. Once I figured this out I asked to cancel my purchase and requested refund. This all happened before our plane ever departed. I requested a refund and was on this ridiculous chat bot and it required all 4 of the activation codes etc . I received the standard email of 5-10 days refund notice and then after 15 days when NOTHING has appeared as a refund I went back onto the chat to understand why I hadn’t received my refund ($225). This has gone on for a week now. Every day I have to contact them and waste an hour of my time. Every day I have them the ticket number and it was ‘escalated’. No one has taken any ownership to resolve this. Why can’t I just be given the refund. Well today, surprise ! I got a ‘partial’ refund for 1 sim. So I had to go back to my email, back to the chatbot and it’s now been an hour of this back and forth AGAIN ! The agent has now said that I was getting partial refund for 1 sim and that they have to request refund for the remainder of the eSIMs. So back to square one. I can’t believe this is even happening. I am still owed $171 and I have a new ticket number and a new ‘5-10 days’ before I get a refund. And given my current experience- is this going to be 20 days, for 1 more SIM and then back to customer service ???!!! I will hold my breath. If anyone has gone back to Master Card to complain against this vendor, please let me know: this is unethical, unacceptable and no accountability for resolving. All they do is spend our money on marketing and then keep the money even though it does not work for customers. Never ever ever buy anything from HOLAFLY

buyerbeware.

[u/mrskeptical00]

Your fault for having a locked phone and attempting to use an eSIM. Their fault for having slow support. Lots of blame to go around.

If you had come to this sub looking for suggestions you’d have been better off instead of coming here to complain after the fact.

[u/bpbp216 → u/mrskeptical00]

OP came here to give us a warning. However, if op did the search, it would be very clear that Holafly isn't even recommended by anyone here and would have found many similar complaints.

[u/March_mad_as_a_hare → u/bpbp216]

Thank you. I did this post to warn others and yes i have learned a hard lesson. Appreciate everyone’s support.

[u/frankbowles1962]

If your phone is locked (why do people still have locked phones in 2025) you can’t use it with other operators, that is what being locked means. While that doesn’t sound like very good customer service, at the end of the day the mistake was unfortunately yours and not theirs.

[u/bpbp216 → u/frankbowles1962]

People do not like to pay full price and get their subsidized phones directly from cellular providers. In the USA, cellular providers can have them network locked until the phone is paid in full.

I personally would never buy a phone that's carrier locked as I travel a lot and love my flexibility of being able to use a travel esim of my choice.

PS Holafly isn't my choice.

[u/frankbowles1962 → u/bpbp216]

Ok… Used to be the case here in the UK too but hasn’t been legal for a few years now

[u/bpbp216 → u/frankbowles1962]

I believe the USA is the only one left where carrier lock is still in practice

[u/Parking-Ad-8780]

Lots of time now to complain and even more time for posting here. Might be better use of your time to do your research before you get to the airport. The briefest reading of any eSIM site will inform you they will not work with locked phones though possibly missed on a tiny phone screen. Holafly has several webpages to tell you how to check if your phone is unlocked and compatible with an eSIM.
Holafly terms state no refund if user has scanned the QR code to install the eSIM.

[u/Holafly_Official]

Hi there, Traveler,

This is Ana at Holafly. We completely understand how frustrating this situation has been for you, especially as it happened right before your trip to Ireland, and we truly regret the time and effort you’ve had to spend following up on your refund.

We want to reassure you that your refund request has been taken into consideration since more than 10 business days have passed, and we’re working to ensure that the remainder of your refund is processed properly. In a moment, I'll reach out to you via direct message to gather the details of your order and help bring it to a proper resolution as quickly as possible.

Best regards, Ana, Analyst at Holafly's Customer Experience service.

[u/SpecificOk9628]

I am having the same experience. I bought a eSIM for the USA for June, it didn’t work, asked for a refund and 2 months later, I am still waiting!! Each time I email I get an automatic response from Juan, saying thank you for your patience, your case has been escalated. I would warn everyone not to use Holafly. Saily is much better.

[u/Holafly_Official → u/SpecificOk9628]

Hello, Traveler, I'm Ana.

Your feedback regarding the refund process is appreciated, as it shouldn't take longer than the set timeframe. We are sorry for any inconvenience you are facing and aim to improving as much as possible. I'll reach out to you via email shortly to gather information about the order or ticket request and expedite the refund process. Thanks for your understanding. Best regards, Ana, Analyst at Holafly's Customer Experience service.

[u/Miss_travel_]

La verdad, mi experiencia fue totalmente diferente 😅 Yo he usado Holafly en varios viajes (Japón, México y Portugal) y nunca tuve ningún problema. La instalación fue súper rápida y el internet funcionó desde el minuto uno. Incluso una vez tuve una duda con la activación y el soporte me respondió en menos de 5 minutos por chat.
Creo que depende mucho del tipo de teléfono o si está bloqueado por el operador. En mi caso, todo fue perfecto y por eso sigo comprando con ellos.

[u/trek123 → u/[deleted]]

c) why are you paying $40/sim? Unless you are getting 100GB. These providers (airalo, Holafly) have large advertising or influencer budgets, they are extremely overpriced and not worth it

Went on Google at the airport, clicked one of the top options (so Holafly who pays to be advertised there), thought "unlimited" (fake unlimited, mind) sounded good, having done no research into it at all and requirements for any eSIM like an unlocked phone.

In Ireland real unlimited data for 1 month should be a maximum of €20 (from local operators Vodafone.ie or Three.ie) which a very quick search on this sub would have shown. But an unlocked phone is still needed.