EE - poor customer service & attitude

goosander

I've had my iPhone on contract from EE for about 6 months now and have had no problems until I went abroad at which point I found EE to be a nightmare.

I was on a work trip abroad and had my work phone stolen, so needed to use my personal phone instead. At first it was OK, it seemed to work then I realised that I couldn't make any calls or send any texts except for to one number which worked. At first I though it might have been the Chinese networks which are not the best but finally the penny dropped and I realised there was a problem with EE.

I phoned them from the hotel phone and spent 15 minutes waiting to get through (cost £20) and was then told that roaming was not enabled on my account despite me asking for it to be when I took out the contract. So why did calls to one number work but not others?

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I start getting threatening texts from EE about exceeding my credit limit (bill gone over £1000) which was irritating but I decided that I could live with the phone being cut off as I was due home in a couple of days.

When I got back I was surprised to find that EE had barred my phone from making any calls (even those using inclusive minutes and to the free 150 customer service number) and also cut off data too. I was pretty annoyed about this as they were denying me the use of air time I had paid for.

When I phoned up to complain I just got awful attitude from them saying cough up £300+ now or you can't use your phone. I think this is a discraceful attitude bearing in mind I was up to date with my bill and the £1000 of roaming charges had not even been billed yet.

Unfortunately I am stuck with them for another year at least, but come the end of the contract I'll be going elsewhere. I'd recommend staying clear of EE if you depend on you phone abroad as they are difficult (and expensive) to contact and there attitude is appalling.

grumbler

A shadow 'credit limit' is a norm for all networks. So is a requirement to make an interim payment when the limit is reached if you want the phone to remain active.

goosander

Maybe so but they certainly didn't mention it to me when I bought the phone.

I'm not too bothered about being prevented from making chargable calls when the credit limit is exceeded but am pretty miffed that they prevent you from using already paid for minutes & data

mobilejunkie

You'll be even more miffed when you discover you're external credit files have been wrecked for the next 6 years if you haven't paid.

grumbler

mobilejunkie wrote: »

You'll be even more miffed when you discover you're external credit files have been wrecked for the next 6 years if you haven't paid.

I think you misunderstood the situation. The bill will be paid in full, but EE demand earlier payment. I don't think that EE can report anything bad if the OP refuses.

grumbler

goosander wrote: »

Maybe so but they certainly didn't mention it to me when I bought the phone.

Not everything is and can be mentioned.

11. Credit Limits.
We can set and change credit limits for Charges. If You go over Your credit limit, Your Service may be suspended. (See point 2.10 of the terms and conditions).
...
2.10
We may set and change credit limits for Charges. We can suspend Your access to the Services if Your limit is exceeded. Charges are not capped by any limit We set as some Charges, for example international and Roaming call charges, may not be recorded against Your Account immediately, and the Charges incurred could therefore exceed Your credit limit before Your Account is suspended.

Terms and conditions for pay monthly customers joining on and from 26 March 2014 – v02

I'm not too bothered about being prevented from making chargable calls when the credit limit is exceeded but am pretty miffed that they prevent you from using already paid for minutes & data

It's a possibility that you will never pay. As a result they can consider your advance payment as a contribution to the chargeable calls already made.

Anoneemoose

Where did you take the contact out?

mobilejunkie

grumbler wrote: »

I think you misunderstood the situation. The bill will be paid in full, but EE demand earlier payment. I don't think that EE can report anything bad if the OP refuses.

The last part is true, but the OP didn't say whether they actually paid - which is why I said "if".

goosander

Anoneemoose - the contract was taken out in an EE shop.

Grumbler - you are correct in your assumption, the bill will be paid but at the time EE were demanding payment the bill had not even been issued which meant not only were they demanding payment before they are entitled too it but also denying me the opportunity to scrutinise and check the bill (I was expecting it to be high but not over £1000).

I ended up paying £350 to get the phone working and the remainder will be collected by direct debit in a week or so. After checking the bill the charges do all seem to be correct, so the bill will be paid (never any question of that as it will be claimed back from work as an expense).