Is EE breaking the law?

dalc87

Recently my wife and I purchased new iPhones from Argos using a few coupons, rewards boost and a 0% on purchases credit card saving over £100 on the base cost :beer:

We worked out that doing it this way and using SIM only plans we will save £770 over a standard 24 month contract we would have had to sign to get the phones we wanted (ours were on their last legs having done the same thing 3/4 years ago).

My SIM card worked perfectly from the day we bought the phones but we needed to order a replacement from EE for my wife with arrived after about 4 days using this page https://explore.ee.co.uk/Order-a-new-SIM

As you can see, there is nothing to suggest the replacement SIM will cost anything so you can imagine my shock when our latest bill came in and we were charged £10.21 for delivery.:shocked:

I spoke to EE today and all most of them could say was "yeah, we always charge for Royal Mail delivery". I refused to accept this response and managed to leverage (our contracts are up next month) my way into having this refunded.

The new consumer contracts regulations for online orders etc http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-contracts-regulations state that any delivery costs must be given before a transaction is made or at least during. So my question for anyone a little more savvy with such things is, is EE breaking the law by charging for delivery after the fact or for not clearly displaying the cost in the first place?

Stevie_Palimo

They will have this covered and would have explanations as to why you failed to see it or why the cost was not shown clear enough for you.

dalc87

So far the only explanation or defence they have offered is "we always charge". No fine print. It's doesn't exist to miss as far as I can see. There is no mention of cost whatsoever on that SIM order page.

forgotmyname

A replacement SIM costs £10.20 on that page, was the £10.21 on top of that?

dalc87

No, that was the full charge. Interesting, that £10.20 didn't show up when I originally ordered. Still quite sneaky though as it pops up in light coloured writing above where you have clicked so it's easily missed.

tomtontom

dalc87 wrote: »

No, that was the full charge. Interesting, that £10.20 didn't show up when I originally ordered. Still quite sneaky though as it pops up in light coloured writing above where you have clicked so it's easily missed.

It's the same colour font as the rest of the text, the same colour as I'm using here. You select your network and it appears, straight below where you've just clicked.

Are you saying they've added it after you ordered?

agrinnall

It's listed in the T&Cs although you have to dig a bit for it (still only took me a couple of minutes).

On this page it's under Non-Standard Price Guide for EE, page 5.

http://ee.co.uk/help/accounts-billing-and-topping-up/terms-and-conditions/yourcontracttermsandconditions

molerat

Interestingly there is nothing shown when I click EE or TMobile but Orange states There is no charge for your new SIM.

tomtontom

molerat wrote: »

Interestingly there is nothing shown when I click EE or TMobile but Orange states There is no charge for your new SIM.

You need to select the contract type also. It won't let you proceed without doing this.

Exile_geordie

Pretty clear to me

molerat

Yep, as soon as type of contract is selected the £10.20 charge writing overpowers the rest of the screen