IPhone 6S, EE unlock process?

I have brought an iPhone 6S from eBay off someone else and it is locked to EE, in the description, the seller said that the phone was a replacement from Apple. Anyway, the phone is locked to EE and when googling how to unlock it, on the EE site it said I have to go in store to do it. So I went in store and ordered the unlock and the EE agent filled the form, gave IMEI and everything and paid £8.99. This was done on the 30th of January 2016. I was told it can take up to 7-10 days and for iPhone there's atleast a 10 day wait, that's what EE site said anyway. Whereas it hasn't been 10 working days yet, looking online and reviews of EE's unlocking service people have gone months without EE unlocking their device and the customer service reviews on trustpilot is 0.8 out of 10! I want to know has there ever been anyone else in my position who has done the same as me and how long did your unlock take and any inconveniences? I go New York next week and need this device unlocked. Also did you get a notification from EE that your device was unlocked? The EE agent said I would but online reviews said that they didn't.

Is it safe to delete photos that I saved to a thumb drive?

I have no space on my phone (iPhone 5s if it matters) so I used my charger to hook my phone up to my laptop and copied all my pictures into a thumb drive there. I want to delete all the pictures on my phone now, but I'm really worried. These pictures have so many memories that I do not wish to loose, so if I delete them will they still be safe on my thumb drive?

Find my iPhone app? Phone stolen?

Find my iPhone app? Phone stolen?

Added (1). Hey everyone. My phone was stolen tonight and it just popped up on the find my iPhone app… I'm a bit nervous to head over there to say the least. How are you supposed to approach this situation?