Missold Tablet Contract by EE - I'm an idiot

auspiciousmind_2

I'll start by saying I suffer with incredibly bad anxiety - which is why I've spent the last 9 hours worrying and searching the internet.

Today I decided to find out what deals EE had on the iPhone 6 as my iphone 5 has decided to start playing up. In June I was due for an upgrade and decided to go sim only until the iphone 6 prices dropped within my price range. I currently have unlimited mins, texts and 2gb of data and I'm paying around £27 for it on a 12 month sim only plan. When I went Sim Only I was offered a "free" tablet as a loyal customer with 2gb of data - I asked more than 3 times if it was "really free?" and if there were any monthly charges - I was told no. He then said I could have 10gb of data on the tablet for an extra £2 a month on my phone bill. I thought what the hell it's free and £2 on a £25 contract isn't going to kill me.

Anyway I called today about upgrading - they said that was fine and I was given 2 prices (high upfront fee with low monthly payment or Low upfront fee with higher monthly payment) - I asked if those offers could be put in my account notes so I could ring up after thinking about it for a day or so. No problem. I asked if EE "recycled" old phones for cash back and the operator told me it wasn't something he could do but I should log in to My EE account and do it from there.

I can't remember the last time I logged into my EE account so after asking for a new password I did so... I was shocked to see that I had a 12 month sim only plan which was only £12.50 a month but that I also had a 24 MONTH Tablet contract at £15.00 a month. Although my anxiety is horrible, a plus point is when it comes to money and contracts I'm always sure to question everything over and over again and I'm 99.9% sure I was told the tablet was free - and that when I asked if their was monthly charges for it that the man on the phone said there was not. I know 100% for sure I would have never agreed to be put in a 24 month contract for a tablet... especially at £15 a month.

I immediately rang customer services to ask why this had happened, I was passed on twice before someone actually spoke to me.. When I explained everything above she told me I was wrong and that I had signed up for it...that the tablet was "FREE" as in there was no upfront fee but I would have been made aware of the monthly fee. I refuted that i was told about a monthly tariff - If I was I would have never taken out the contract. She carried on trying to tell me that I was wrong etc.. So I asked if the phone call in June had been recorded - and if so I wanted it to be listened to and reviewed. She put me on hold for a few minutes - and when she came back she told me that a "manger would listen to it and get back to me in 24hrs".

I'm now so anxious that I'm stuck in a 24 month contract with a tablet at £15 a month, the ETF would be horrific so as much as on principle I would love to just cancel everything I have with them for making me feel so stupid / anxious - I can't afford to. On top of that a few friends of mine are ex EE staff and they have told me that they are aware of miselling of tablets/broadband - and also chances that my call wasn't recorded. I just feel completely shafted by EE and so stupid for not logging into my EE account for so long. I can't stop mulling everything over in my head. I'm so buttoned up about finances I notice straight away - I've really dropped the ball this time

WellKnownSid

So, are you saying you thought you were on a 12 month £27 a month deal, but are actually on a 12 month £12.50 deal with a 24 month £15 deal?

And you actually took the tablet in June? Sorry, trying to get my head around it...

auspiciousmind_2

WellKnownSid wrote: »

So, are you saying you thought you were on a 12 month £27 a month deal, but are actually on a 12 month £12.50 deal with a 24 month £15 deal?

And you actually took the tablet in June? Sorry, trying to get my head around it...

I'm so sorry, I've realised how confusing it.

I took a sim only phone contract for £25 out in June and was "given a free tablet" with 2gb of data on for what I thought was the duration of my sim only deal.. Because I was a loyal customer. The guy on the phone said I could upgrade the data to 10gb of data for an extra £2 on my tariff.

I asked repeatedly if the tablet was really free. I know for sure I was definitely not told it was 24 months.

According to "my EE" account I'm actually paying £12.50 a month on a 12 month phone contract and £15 for 24 month tablet plan

WellKnownSid

What tablet was it?

What's the chances of having a few friends who are ex-EE?

auspiciousmind_2

WellKnownSid wrote: »

What tablet was it?

What's the chances of having a few friends who are ex-EE?

Tab 4 (7in)

Where I live there is a call centre so actually their are a few friends of mine that are EE employees or ex Employees.

WellKnownSid

Did the manager get back within 24 hours? What was the outcome?

In the grand scheme of things it's probably not a great deal (because it'll be hard to upgrade in the next 18 months without paying more) but I've certainly been offered worse over the years. Vodafone in particular seem to have a fixation for trying to sell tablets...

As you've alluded to, rather than go from say £25 a month to £10 because you're now out of contract, they'll often try to come up with a bundle that'll keep you signed up at more or less the same price "For the same amount of money that you're paying now, we'll give you a free X and for just £2 more you can have Y data too, how does that deal sound?" / "I think it's an amazing deal, in fact I've never seen a deal like that come up on the system, you must be an amazingly loyal customer..." / "I will need an answer now, though, because once I clear the screen I won't be able to get it back - it'll be whatever deal is being offered at the time".

The trouble is - mobile providers aren't really that competitive when it comes to consumers and small businesses. As with most things today, you're usually much better off going via a middleman.

auspiciousmind_2

No they didn't ring me back... I called back myself.. and was told that there was no notes about a manager ringing me back at all and the probability of them ringing me back at all was 0. He offered to sort it out himself... There was no recording, the best they could offer me was to drop the tablet from £15 down to £10 a month..I held out for more and put up a bit of a fight but they weren't going to back down.

It is my own stupid fault for not looking at the account earlier. I accept that and this has been a lesson learned. :mad:

The ETF is around £180 - So the options I've given myself are to sell the tablet and my old iphone 5 use the money to clear it or a friend offered to take the contract in her name after christmas. I just don't want anything to do with EE anymore and I'm planning to go Sim only when my phone contract is up.

On a different note I called EE about a problem I was having with mobile signal... and right at the end of the call they asked me if I wanted to take advantage of a FREE tablet. I told him to read my notes and put the phone down!