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Help - Misled by EE
For a couple of years I have had a pay as you go SIM card with free texts from EE/Orange. This suited both me and my partner well as we don't use our phones much except texting and don't want any unexpected bills.
In Sept 2013 I received a phonecall from EE/Orange asking if I wanted to sign up for a SIM only contract instead of pay as you go. I said that I was not interested in this deal as I was looking at getting a new phone on contract. Her reply was "But you will get a phone after 6 months in your contract if you go with this one" she then went on to list loads of different phones that would be available to me, none of these phones were the latest model, but a bit older, which sounded reasonable. The deal she described to me was £11 per month, 1000 free minutes, unlimited texts and 250mb data. I said I didnt need anywhere close to this, but this was OK seeing as I would probably use my new phone a lot more and would get use of this contract six months down the line. I even asked for two of these deals so my partner could get the same.
Now, almost six months down the line I contacted EE who has no record of anyone calling me, no recordings of me accepting the contract (even though the lady on the phone said that she was going to repeat the deal and record it) and told me that a SIM only deal doesn't come with a phone(well, obviously!). I seem to be getting nowhere with their customer service who adviced me to go to the shop where I set this deal up(after me having explained that it was someone who called me!!). Also there are no record of my account numbers I was given at start of contract. I did change our phone numbers back to our old numbers, and I am wondering if what might possibly have happened is that the temporary numbers we were given stored the records, and did't get linked with our our old numbers?
I am just really annoyed that they seem to get away with false promises, and it surprises me that customers can be treated like this as obviously all I am going to do is go somewhere else when contract ends and never use EE again.
Is there anything I can do regarding this? I realise I should've asked for this deal in writing. At least it hasn't been a costly mistake, just a very dissapointing one!
In Sept 2013 I received a phonecall from EE/Orange asking if I wanted to sign up for a SIM only contract instead of pay as you go. I said that I was not interested in this deal as I was looking at getting a new phone on contract. Her reply was "But you will get a phone after 6 months in your contract if you go with this one" she then went on to list loads of different phones that would be available to me, none of these phones were the latest model, but a bit older, which sounded reasonable. The deal she described to me was £11 per month, 1000 free minutes, unlimited texts and 250mb data. I said I didnt need anywhere close to this, but this was OK seeing as I would probably use my new phone a lot more and would get use of this contract six months down the line. I even asked for two of these deals so my partner could get the same.
Now, almost six months down the line I contacted EE who has no record of anyone calling me, no recordings of me accepting the contract (even though the lady on the phone said that she was going to repeat the deal and record it) and told me that a SIM only deal doesn't come with a phone(well, obviously!). I seem to be getting nowhere with their customer service who adviced me to go to the shop where I set this deal up(after me having explained that it was someone who called me!!). Also there are no record of my account numbers I was given at start of contract. I did change our phone numbers back to our old numbers, and I am wondering if what might possibly have happened is that the temporary numbers we were given stored the records, and did't get linked with our our old numbers?
I am just really annoyed that they seem to get away with false promises, and it surprises me that customers can be treated like this as obviously all I am going to do is go somewhere else when contract ends and never use EE again.
Is there anything I can do regarding this? I realise I should've asked for this deal in writing. At least it hasn't been a costly mistake, just a very dissapointing one!
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Comments
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Was it definitely Orange/EE who called you? Because they don't always - I ask because if the advisors have said to go back to the store you got it from, it sounds like they have records of it being someone else.
What numbers are you using?
Is it possible they could have put you on an EE contract?
Are you being billed at all? Or having to top up and (I don't mean this to sound rude) what is your actual problem? Is it that you now can ot get the deal you were promised or is it that you are paying for the deal and cannot get new phones?0 -
Any direct sale automatically places a notepad on the account detailing the offer and who ordered it for them.
If there are no notes, it's a third party who called you.I spent 25 years in the mobile industry, from 1994 to 2019. Worked for indies as well as the big networks, in their stores also in contact centres. I also hold a degree in telecoms engineering so I like to think I know what I’m talking about 😂0 -
Thank you for your replies, and sorry for not explaining this very well.
After saying yes to the deal offered in September I got welcome letters from EE customer service saying welcome to the contracts and giving start and end dates of the contracts. No third party was mentioned at any point on the phone or in the letter.
We have been paying monthly for the contracts since September, and I was very happy to see that we were soon reaching 6 months so we would be getting the phones we were told about(which is an offer EE is saying never took place). My problem is that I would not have accepted these contracts if EE had not offered new phones. I would've stayed on pay as you go and paid a lower monthly amount until I had found a phone I wanted on contract.
I never signed any paperwork, which is why I am surprised that there was no recording of me accepting the contract.0 -
Thank you for your replies, and sorry for not explaining this very well.
After saying yes to the deal offered in September I got welcome letters from EE customer service saying welcome to the contracts and giving start and end dates of the contracts. No third party was mentioned at any point on the phone or in the letter.
We have been paying monthly for the contracts since September, and I was very happy to see that we were soon reaching 6 months so we would be getting the phones we were told about(which is an offer EE is saying never took place). My problem is that I would not have accepted these contracts if EE had not offered new phones. I would've stayed on pay as you go and paid a lower monthly amount until I had found a phone I wanted on contract.
I never signed any paperwork, which is why I am surprised that there was no recording of me accepting the contract.
Did you dial 150 from one of your phones to get through? And have you got the welcome letters still?0 -
I do still have the welcome letters.
When you are asking if I called 150 to get through, I am aware that 150 is EE customer service - but I never called them regarding this offer. They called me. If that is what you are referring to?0 -
I do still have the welcome letters.
When you are asking if I called 150 to get through, I am aware that 150 is EE customer service - but I never called them regarding this offer. They called me. If that is what you are referring to?
Thanks. I meant what you called when you queried it.
Also if you have the welcome letters, can you tell me how many digits in the account number/s. If 8, you're still on Orange and if longer, sounds like you have been transferred to EE. And it would be them, not Orange you'd need to speak to. Just trying to determine that first.0 -
Oooh that might be what it is. I called 150 to query about it, but that brings me to EE. I also tried to get EE on facebook to look into this, they have now replied and asking me to bring the welcome letters into the shop so they can be faxed to head office.
The account numbers however is 8 digits, so I will check with Orange to see what information they can find before going into a shop.
Thanks very much for taking your time to help me with this0
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