EE broadband -- explanation of bills

Money_Saving_Dude

I've recently moved to EE, using the Moneysavingexpert link (£132 line rental + £100 Amazon cashback + £2.50 per month).

Wonderful.

But I don't really understand my billing. The numbers work out as described above, but the line items are confusing and make no sense to me. Talking to EE doesn't help as you can only do it by phone, or more circumspectly using email (customer-service@ee.co.uk). Hence I thought I would ask here first.

*** Please note, in the description below all this ignores call charges. ***

The monthly charge is £2.50. Arithmetically this is constructed as Broadband & WE calls (£25.70) less line rental saver (£15.75) less customer discount (£7.45). But I don't understand what this equation means. The line rental has already been paid (@ £11 pm), so why isn't there a -£11.00 line item; why is it -£15.75?

Ok, so I'll go with the £15.75 discount. I interpret this to mean the charge for Broadband & WE calls (£25.70) includes the line rental of £15.75. This leaves £9.95. In order to get to my final £2.50 charge I need a further discount of £7.45. This is described as 'customer discount.'

That arithmetically gets me to the value I understand, but it seems extremely convoluted. Is this deliberate? To be clear (an oxymoron):

• Broadband & Weekend Calls - Monthly Price Plan £25.70

• less Customer Discount -£7.45

• less Line Rental Saver Benefit -£15.75

• leaves £2.50 charge (woo-hoo).

Well that's obvious (not).

Now, consider if I didn't pay the full line rental saver (£132). Would my monthly bill be £25.70 – 7.45 (= £18.25)? Ie £15.75 + £2.50. Is this correct?

• Broadband & Weekend Calls - Monthly Price Plan £25.70
• less Customer Discount -£7.45
• leaves a monthly charge of £18.25?

What happens at the end of the 12 months?

Why not have:

• Broadband & Weekend Calls - Monthly Price Plan £25.70
• less Customer Discount -£23.20
• leaves £2.50 charge.

That would make perfect sense. Are they going out of their way to be difficult? Any views welcome.

System

Money_Saving_Dude wrote: »

Are they going out of their way to be difficult? Any views welcome.

No, but yes they could make it a lot clearer.
EE's full price for broadband plus (some) calls is £25.70 a month, including a standing charge (which the telecom industry quaintly calls "line rental") of £15.75 a month.
You opted to pay a year's "line rental" in advance, at a discounted price of £132.
Therefore EE deducts £15.75 from its "bundle" price of £25.70. In their eyes, this is not a discount; it is a deduction to avoid charging you again, at their monthly rate, for the "line rental" you have already paid at their yearly rate.
They then also deduct a discount (for a limited period) of £7.45 a month.
After 11 months or so, EE will (presumably) offer you the option of paying another year's "line rental". Or you can pay monthly, at EE's full monthly bundle price, including monthly "line rental" at whatever their price for "line rental" then is.