EE Data Breach Advice

beetlebooper

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice and guidance on what my expectations should be in regards to some really shoddy behaviour on the part of EE. So here's what happened:

I have been an EE customer for many years, but someone else has paid for my phone bill and held the number in their EE account. The relationship with that person broke down completely earlier this year. Obviously, part of the process is that I need to move my phone number into my own account so I can manage it.

As my contract is coming to an end I bought a new phone through Carphone Warehouse on the EE network. I then rang EE Customer Service to discuss the transfer of my existing phone number to my new account.

I explained the situation in full to a Call Taker and what I needed to achieve with him. He immediately commented 'that's not something we're able to do. You're going to need to put your differences with XXX aside and ask XXX to speak to us about the number.' Even though I explained repeatedly this was not an option, the call taker didn't change his answer. When I requested to speak with a manager he commented 'you can, but she won't tell you anything different.'

I then had to give this call taker even more information - which I wasn't happy to do- and explain the severity is as such that if a Restraining Order were in place would he tell me to 'put my differences aside', if it was a divorced couple, or if this person had died, would he say the same? His response was, 'yes if you were divorced we would expect you to get along to resolve the issue with the account'.

At this stage he began connecting me to his Manager. It is worth noting that he also only asked my name at this point!

The manager I was connected to, was very helpful and established there was no intermediaries for me to go through to ask the other person to call in regarding the account to set up a temporary password and follow those protocols EE has in place. She agreed to send a text message to the person asking them to call in.

The first call takers comments really upset me for about an hour after the call- it was an ill informed, judgemental and offensive personal comment that went significantly over the line of what I think a Customer Service Call Taker is qualified to comment on. Most importantly it's none of his business! Are companies like EE trained in this sort of thing?

The other party then sent me a text stating the temporary password they had set up. I rang back and went through the Change of Ownership process, however there was an issue in that I failed the Credit Check element of the change. He ran through my options, and we left it at that he would send another message to my the other party asking them to put in a 30 day disconnection notice on that number as there was no more I can do.

At this stage I understand the other party received the text and rang back to talk about the disconnection- where one of EE's Customer Services Officers disclosed to them that I had failed the Credit Check. Their staff felt it was appropriate to disclose private information to do with my personal financial status with someone other than myself. This is massively wrong and a complete breach of my personal data- right!?

The Call Taker felt it was appropriate to communicate my private information when all that needed to be communicated was that the 30 day Disconnection notice had been requested and needed approval.

I put in an email explaining all this to EE on Monday, but I didn't mention any sort of compensation or resolution at this stage- I thought I'd see what they came back with.

The executive complaints team have just rung back and sorted it so I will have my old phone number going forward, and offered to wipe my bill for this month. They also said they've told the ICO about the data breach and will be running an internal investigation with the staff involved.

I didn't accept any offer as I wanted some time to think about it- so he's going to call back tomorrow. When I pushed that I wanted some sort of compensating he offered half price bills for 12 months- which would be about £150 off. He mentioned its in their T's & C's that they don't offer compensation- but how can that be the case when it's in their T's & C's that they'll protect my data?

Is their current offer standard or sufficient? It doesn't feel like much for the size of the balls up they've made. Has anyone had any experience of this sort of thing, and if so what did you get? Who would I have to speak to to get 'more' if I'm not happy with their offer? Do I need a lawyer!?- I can't afford one!

Any help and advice much appreciated from a very confused Beetlebooper

beetlebooper

Just to add to that- they've just tried to contact the other person in question to discuss my complaint! What on earth am I supposed to do!?!

JJ_Egan

If you want more compo then you want a lawyer or one of those no win no fee firms .

Your post rambles to much to really understand .

[Deleted User]

I actually work in a call center and up until the 'disclosed to them that I had failed the Credit Check' they did everything absolutely correctly and by the board, you have no comeback or complaint whatsoever for that part.

I'm more unsure about telling the other party about the credit check fail as you're not their customer so perhaps different rules apply. Probably it was incorrect and they will review it and speak to the manager and/or agent.

I think their offer and the fact that they gave you your number back is more than generous.

littleboo

As above, you weren't an EE customer if you weren't paying the bill and they could have refused to even engage with you.It sounds like they have done their best to help you out and in doing so dropped the ball. The offer sounds very fair, what do you think you should get?