topic Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price in Contracts & Billing

Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

1001steve1001 — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 12:19:13 GMT

My £11.79 price is going up by £2.25 a month. A 20% increase.

20 PERCENT!

I've been a loyal customer for years. EE obviously does not need me anymore.

Steve

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

XRaySpeX — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 12:26:33 GMT

@1001steve1001 : Yes, in March as per About annual price changes which you accepted.

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

bristolian — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 12:34:15 GMT

@1001steve1001 wrote:
My £11.79 price is going up by £2.25 a month. A 20% increase.
20 PERCENT!

When mid-contract price rises were first allowed by Ofcom, they were percentage-based thus lower-priced plans had a lower increase. Then the inflation-crisis hit and price-rises breached double-figures, causing mass complaints.

There has been a general trend across the industry since then, towards "simplicity" that is best achieved by fixed-price increases, also achieving the price certainty over a 2year minimum-term that consumers generally want.

The negative-side of fixed-price increases is that they tend to be a higher-percentage on lower-priced plans, as in your case. Whatever the industry or individual operators do, is likely to cause upset somewhere. There are a handful of providers out there who advertise fixed-prices across 24months, but they may have other drawbacks in other areas.

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

1001steve1001 — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 12:49:53 GMT

I'm out of contract, and I'm well aware of the "price changes which you accepted", so no need to shove that in my face.

My point is, ........... this is a 20 PERCENT INCREASE. 20 PERCENT.

You will justify that increase, so I'll leave the discussion here.

I'm looking at plenty of sub £10 contracts, and will shortly leave EE.

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

Chris_B — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 13:50:37 GMT

@1001steve1001 Say your contract was £50 per month would it be a 20% increase? It’s a fixed price increase regardless of the amount you pay. Not sure why you look at it as a 20% increase because that rule doesn’t apply across all price points.

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

1001steve1001 — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 19:55:20 GMT

I said it is a 20% increase, because it is. £11.79 plus £2.25 increase. Don't try to tell me otherwise.

I'm not interested in other price points that come out at lower percentages, because I'm not paying those other prices.

This 'simplifying inceases because that's what users desire' is a load of rubbish. Ee has found a way to bring in more revenue.

I'm off to Tesco or Asda, for £7.50 and £4.50; with the same service.

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

garybs29 — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 20:41:51 GMT

"Same servicr" yes, ok. Didn't know either of those used the biggest & best EE network

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

XRaySpeX — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 20:51:04 GMT

Not the same service, just the same network. They are MVNOs that piggy-back on EE's network but provide their own services.

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

Matt_124 — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 22:57:32 GMT

Not even the same network in this case! The 2 MVNOs named in that response use the blue-branded and red-branded networks respectively.

I hope a coverage check has been done for their sake, but I somehow doubt it.

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

bristolian — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 23:55:16 GMT

A classic example of where a coverage check only even tells part of the story. Service & performance levels are not predicted.

As mentioned, Tesco is an O2 MVNO & Asda piggyback on VF.

To claim the "same service" is at best hopeful, otherwise "interesting"

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

Chris_B — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 09:53:13 GMT

@1001steve1001 It’s a fixed price increase that you agreed too, it’s not based on a percentage of when you currently pay. That fact you can do math is great but it doesn’t mean anything when it’s a FIXED PRICE INCREASE. It’s there in the writing should you have chosen to actually read any of it.

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

jonathanrawle — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 14:52:18 GMT

I have an old EE contract that has always had inflationary increases. I have never agreed to a fixed increase, and it has never been in any written terms I have agreed to (which I do always read). Today, EE have e-mailed me to tell me I'll have a 31% increase in March! They can forget it. They have really done it this time, as I'll be moving providers to a deal that is cheaper even without the increase, offers EU roaming, and will presumably have a website that actually works when I log in to check my account, rather than giving errors and sending me round in circles.

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

Chris_B — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 17:41:55 GMT

@jonathanrawle As Decembers CPI rate hasn’t been published yet. I’ll say this to something else

December CPI rate is published 21St of January

https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/consumerpriceinflationukdecember2025

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

Profile closed — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 18:07:13 GMT

@1001steve1001

Indeed. My £9.50 SIM plan is increasing by £2.49 on March 1st. Just over 26%.

It’s totally irrelevant to me whether someone paying £80 a month for a high end phone and service is only paying a nominal % increase.

In a financial context flat increases are regressive and mean that customers like us subsidise others.

I have “triple play” services so the SIM’s are only part of it. Lethargy will play a part but doesn’t mean I like it.

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

bristolian — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 19:06:06 GMT

@Profile closed wrote:
@1001steve1001
In a financial context flat increases are regressive and mean that customers like us subsidise others.

Many, myself included, totally agree that flat-rate increases may be "simple" but penalise lower-priced plans. Blame for this is not entirely with the operators but also with Ofcom for initially accepting and latterly, encouraging it.

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

Profile closed — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 19:24:42 GMT

@bristolian

Indeed. We are governed by morons who want to offload half the job upwards and downwards to unelected apparatchiks.

Whilst keeping 100% of the money and expenses, obvs.

It’s “Blue Monday” today. Two glasses of Malbec haven’t helped. You may have noticed.

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

Profile closed — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 19:30:07 GMT

It’s gets better. Wife’s £7pm SIM is also going up by £2.49 - 35.6%.

Outstanding work there Ofcom.

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

jonathanrawle — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 21:06:10 GMT

As they have unilaterally changed the terms I agreed to, am I allowed to leave without paying the 30 day "notice period"? The so-called notice period is nothing of the sort in any case. If I request a PAC, I have to pay 30 days from when I have used the PAC, in other words, when I am no longer using the service. That's not a notice period. It's a 30-day penalty for leaving. Do I have an argument for not having to pay this? I think so, but no doubt I'd have to phone up, and at this point I really don't think it's worth it for the sake of a month's payment.

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

bristolian — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 21:57:07 GMT

@jonathanrawle wrote:
As they have unilaterally changed the terms I agreed to, am I allowed to leave without paying the 30 day "notice period"?

I'd recommend you seek independent legal advice, however I strongly suspect it will be along the following lines...

No terms have been changed, mid-contract price rises will be part your T&C. O2 were recently in the national press for changing the fundamental terms of their mid-contract rises and the notification of this triggered 30day release clauses - not the actual rise itself, which would occur subsequently.

I would recommend you check the relevant T&Cs for when you last re-contracted, and if you can identify a specific term that you believe has been breached, you will have your answer. The most recent T&Cs do make separate reference to "price rise percentage" & "price rise amount", you'd have to check yours.

Re: Re: Unjustified Price Increase During Fixed Contract – Request for Refund and Price

jonathanrawle — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 22:09:24 GMT

The last change in terms I received said:

We’re moving the following number(s) to new terms that will apply from 31 March 2022. This means the price of all of your charges (including your price plan charges) will increase each year from March 2022 by the Consumer Price index (CPI) rate of inflation (5.4%) published in January that year plus 3.9%:

[details of number and price removed]

If you’re not happy with these changes you are able to cancel these number(s) without charge.

So the terms I was on did specify that my price would be increased by CPI +3.9%. At that particular change, they also said I could leave without charge.

But as I said, life is too short to waste time arguing with these jokers. I'll be moving somewhere cheaper with EU roaming (which I still don't know if I have with EE as their website is broken and their add-ons incomprehensible, although I suspect not). I've found a cashback deal where I'll get three months free, so I can try the alternate network as my second eSIM before using my PAC.