EE -T-Mobile forced off the old Flex plan

TomSir

Hi,

I need some help and advice about being forced off the T-Mobile Flex account.

I have been with T-Mobile since the 90's, when it was one-2-one. In the early years of 2000, I contracted in to the Flex account, it was the best tariff they ever had, I had a credit limit to use my phone on calls, data , international calls up to the amount of £170 - it was exactly what i wanted, plus I was in friends and family so add a 50% discount. I was still on this until last Tuesday when my phone was stolen on the way home from work. I was gutted totally depressed as i had a lot of content on my phone.

I phoned EE, and asked them to send me a replacement sim, they said they can't because they don't have any any t-mobile SIMS and there is nothing they can do. I will have to change to another different plan, I said i did not want a another different plan, unless they can give me what i was on i want my old plan back. I was already depressed about loosing my phone, now they just want to kick me while I am down. I explained to the EE person they can't do that, he told me there is no way EE can give me replacement SIM. After some time, he talked me into getting a new contract by first telling me they will try to give me a like for like I said ok, but when they looked at what i could get for what I was paying there was nothing that could compare and eventually ended selling me a plan which will cost me two and half times more and I will not have International calls either, I have told them I am not happy about the way the have forced me into a corner and have left me with no choice but to take the plan, i really needed a phone for Friday, they said I would get on by Thursday, no phone on Thursday arrived, I had to phone EE mobile on Thursday evening, they have said they could not check - their system was down and will let me know the next day, received a message on Friday saying i will get my phone on Tuesday.

What they have done is this legal ?
Is there anything i can do to get my old Flex plan back.?
My contract ended many years ago but continued as a rolling contract, can they stop this ?
Have EE acted fairly by forcing me to switch?
Is there any thing i can do ?
I have four other lines for my family members with EE , i have been with them for over 20 years, I am totally unhappy with the service from them.

All help and advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Neil_Jones

TomSir wrote: »

Hi,

I need some help and advice about being forced off the T-Mobile Flex account.

I have been with T-Mobile since the 90's, when it was one-2-one. In the early years of 2000, I contracted in to the Flex account, it was the best tariff they ever had, I had a credit limit to use my phone on calls, data , international calls up to the amount of £170 - it was exactly what i wanted, plus I was in friends and family so add a 50% discount. I was still on this until last Tuesday when my phone was stolen on the way home from work. I was gutted totally depressed as i had a lot of content on my phone.

I phoned EE, and asked them to send me a replacement sim, they said they can't because they don't have any any t-mobile SIMS and there is nothing they can do. I will have to change to another different plan, I said i did not want a another different plan, unless they can give me what i was on i want my old plan back. I was already depressed about loosing my phone, now they just want to kick me while I am down. I explained to the EE person they can't do that, he told me there is no way EE can give me replacement SIM. After some time, he talked me into getting a new contract by first telling me they will try to give me a like for like I said ok, but when they looked at what i could get for what I was paying there was nothing that could compare and eventually ended selling me a plan which will cost me two and half times more and I will not have International calls either, I have told them I am not happy about the way the have forced me into a corner and have left me with no choice but to take the plan, i really needed a phone for Friday, they said I would get on by Thursday, no phone on Thursday arrived, I had to phone EE mobile on Thursday evening, they have said they could not check - their system was down and will let me know the next day, received a message on Friday saying i will get my phone on Tuesday.

What they have done is this legal ?
Is there anything i can do to get my old Flex plan back.?
My contract ended many years ago but continued as a rolling contract, can they stop this ?
Have EE acted fairly by forcing me to switch?
Is there any thing i can do ?
I have four other lines for my family members with EE , i have been with them for over 20 years, I am totally unhappy with the service from them.

All help and advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks

T-Mobile hasn't existed in this country since 2010 when it merged with Orange to form EE. So you can't get another T-Mobile SIM when the closest equivalent is going to be something else on the EE offerings.

So to answer your questions:
1) Not their fault your phone was stolen, but tariffs can and are withdrawn without any notice. Legacy tariffs tend to be the most expensive going.
2) If your phone has been stolen tell EE to block the number/SIM.
3) Not their fault your phone was stolen.
4) Cost of international calling has fallen dramatically in recent years, you may well be better off on another plan financially.
5) Again, not EE's fault your phone was stolen, and also not really EE's fault they don't do a tariff that was offered under effectively previous management.

Depending on the countries you call you may well be better off on another package,. Seriously. You don't say which tariff you were on but this document suggests international calls to landlines are charged at 41p a minute.

Looking at 3 as a random alternative some drop as low as 4p a minute.

d123

TomSir wrote: »

What they have done is this legal ?

Yes, why would you think otherwise.

TomSir wrote: »

Is there anything i can do to get my old Flex plan back.?

Just like you can no longer go shopping in Presto or Woolworths, no.

Unless you do have a Tardis?

TomSir wrote: »

My contract ended many years ago but continued as a rolling contract, can they stop this ?

Yes

TomSir wrote: »

Have EE acted fairly by forcing me to switch?

T-Mobile doesn't exist anymore, so yes.

TomSir wrote: »

Is there any thing i can do ?

Change network if you aren't happy with the EE offer.

TomSir wrote: »

I have four other lines for my family members with EE , i have been with them for over 20 years, I am totally unhappy with the service from them.

Thats interesting but totally immaterial.

Neil_Jones

EE have form for terminating legacy brands, see how all the legacy Freeserve/Wanadoo/Orange email addresses were shut off in early 2017.

unforeseen

Neil_Jones wrote: »

EE have form for terminating legacy brands, see how all the legacy Freeserve/Wanadoo/Orange email addresses were shut off in early 2017.

Yep, the same way that Telefonica dumped my BT Cellnet account when they took over O2.

marlot

Have a look at plusnet to see if any of their plans suit you better. Runs on EE.

I'm on 4.5Gb/month, unlimited texts, unlimited calls for £7/month. And I only have to give 30 days notice.

PixelPound

Neil_Jones wrote: »

T-Mobile hasn't existed in this country since 2010 when it merged with Orange to form EE. So you can't get another T-Mobile SIM when the closest equivalent is going to be something else on the EE offerings.

So to answer your questions:
1) Not their fault your phone was stolen, but tariffs can and are withdrawn without any notice. Legacy tariffs tend to be the most expensive going.
2) If your phone has been stolen tell EE to block the number/SIM.
3) Not their fault your phone was stolen.
4) Cost of international calling has fallen dramatically in recent years, you may well be better off on another plan financially.
5) Again, not EE's fault your phone was stolen, and also not really EE's fault they don't do a tariff that was offered under effectively previous management.

Depending on the countries you call you may well be better off on another package,. Seriously. You don't say which tariff you were on but this document suggests international calls to landlines are charged at 41p a minute.

Looking at 3 as a random alternative some drop as low as 4p a minute.

They weren't terminating his tariff but could not give a new T-mobile sim. Not sure if OP simply asked for a t-mobile sim or a replacement sim and activate that for his current tariff. It might be they won't change it over but if OP asked for a Tmobile sim, that might be why they said no.

As to costs, the Flex tariffs gave you a certain amount, e.g. £170 worth of calls/texts etc for a monthly cost of a lot less, like say £30. However as you say the OP may be able to get same amount of use for a similar value off a new tariff.

esuhl

How does a replacement SIM have anything to do with a tariff?


The SIM is essentially just an identifier for the account -- like an electronic customer number, isn't it?


It sounds like EE are being opportunistic in cancelling your existing account/tariff without any notice or warning.

TomSir

Hi,
Thanks for the replies.
i expected EE to replace the SIM and let me carry on with my old T-Mobile account. Yes, a SIM is only an identifier for an account, I am sure they could give me the same again, the SIM I was using was an EE SIM, I think it would be just a matter of assigning the SIM to my account. correct me if I am wrong. I think they are definitely taking advantage of my situation to force me on to another plan/tariff.

As a customer I think they have been unfair they could have easily supplied me with a new SIM and connect this to my old account.

PixelPound

esuhl wrote: »

How does a replacement SIM have anything to do with a tariff?


The SIM is essentially just an identifier for the account -- like an electronic customer number, isn't it?


It sounds like EE are being opportunistic in cancelling your existing account/tariff without any notice or warning.

agree, they probably have been inf to transfer any tmobile customers to EE

OP should really be insistent, you can order a new sim in a shop or online.

d123

These are the 3G EE price plans that Orange customers were forced to choose from (if they didn't transfer over to EE 4G).

https://ee.co.uk/content/dam/ee-help/help-pdfs/EE-Price-Guides/ee3g-paym-standard-price-guide-19082019.pdf