EE account falsely showed final bill paid - worth taking to the Ombudsman or not?

Cherryx

Hi all,

I’m hoping for some advice before I escalate this to the Communications Ombudsman.

I left EE earlier this year after more than 10 years as a customer. A few weeks ago, I noticed my credit score had dropped and discovered EE had reported 3 months of missed payments. I had no idea anything was outstanding — I never received a final bill, reminder, or arrears notice, and when I checked my account before leaving, everything showed as paid. I'd made sure to pay early on my last month to make sure I didn't forget given I am trying to repair my credit score and have been very militant over the past few months about things like this.

When I contacted EE to raise a complaint, I was told a final balance of just over £10 was still owed due to the way my March/April bills were paid and adjusted. This was the first time I’d been told about this balance. In the past, EE had always texted me about late payments, but this time I had no warning and as far as I knew I'd paid my final bill.

I checked my online account, which clearly shows the final bill of this odd sum of £10 as “paid” and displays “You’ve already paid your bill this month.” It even says any further payments would simply credit my account. From my perspective, there was no reason to think I owed anything — EE’s own portal showed it was cleared.

EE explained that the £10 remained because my final bill included a pro-rata credit for unused days after disconnection, which reduced the total but didn’t clear it completely. However, despite the contradictory evidence I sent, EE’s complaints team simply repeated that the balance was outstanding regardless and said the credit file markers were a true reflection. They never explained why the portal said it was paid, and they offered no solution before reporting the missed payments and were completely useless.

I’ve since paid the £10 just to close this off, but the 3 missed payments remain on my credit file and have been there for several months. EE issued a deadlock letter, so the next step is taking this to the Ombudsman. EE have failed to even mention my evidence or screenshots in their letter and now won't speak to me about it, they were purposefully dodging the questions around the customer portal saying it was paid and I had to push back to get an answer. I also tried contacting their credit reference team, who also said because of the deadlock letter there's nothing they can do yet basically. 

This feels incredibly unfair and very unprofessional — I was never informed about the balance, EE’s own system said it was paid, and now my credit score has taken a big hit. As a freelancer, I rely on passing credit checks to hire vehicles and equipment, so this could directly affect my work opportunities or ability to access credit when needed.

Has anyone had success getting EE to remove missed payments in a similar situation? And do you think the Ombudsman will side with me given the portal evidence?

Thanks for reading — any advice would be much appreciated.

Ayr_Rage

DUPLICATE

First post started 1 hour 40 minutes earlier

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6628717/ee-reporting-missed-payments-despite-portal-showing-bill-as-paid-dispute#latest

p00hsticks

Ayr_Rage said:

DUPLICATE

First post started 1 hour 40 minutes earlier

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6628717/ee-reporting-missed-payments-despite-portal-showing-bill-as-paid-dispute#latest

and another with a sligghtly differnt title but same text here - I'l lsuggest they are merged
EE Reporting Missed Payments Despite Portal Showing Bill as Paid – Dispute — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Ayr_Rage

Yes, it was duplicate CONTENT, I should've been a bit more specific, too early!

soolin

I'll close this thread as it overlaps the earlier one - I'll refer it to the forum team.