topic Re: Mis sold mobile plan in Contracts & Billing

Mis sold mobile plan

Beamo74 — Thu, 14 May 2026 09:21:22 GMT

On 24th January I visited an EE store to upgrade my phone and also arrange a new contract / extend my existing contract.

Right at the beginning of the consultation, I stated to the sales assistant that I did not want my phone bills to rise from the £45 a month I was currently paying.

I selected a new phone and was then informed that the phone came with a sim card. At no point was it mentioned by the sales assistant that this sim card came with a monthly charge, The sales assistant actually suggested that I gift the sim card to a friend as it came with 30GB of data each month. Still no mention of a charge.

Fast forward 2 phone bills later, and I now have 2 mobile phone contracts, 2 mobile phone numbers and a bill of £60 a month. The new sim card actually comes with a charge of £20 per month (it should be £30, but I receive a £10 a month discount for having 2 contracts!!). How kind!

I was on holiday abroad in March and used my phone quite a lot. I presumed the rise in phone charges was due to using data while abroad. `On April's bill, there was again a charge of £60 for the month. When I checked my bills online, I had been charged the additional £20 for my "second contract" again.

I contacted EE customer services who themselves suggested that I had been mis sold a product in store. They suggested I contacted the store. I did this and explained the situation and was then told they would look into the complaint and phone me back within 2 days. On the third day, I had to phone the store back myself.

During this telephone conversation, I was told that they had looked into my previous bills and the charges were correct. Correct from the point of view that I had taken out a second contract and the £60 per month covered these. What they are failing to understand is that I did not agree to take out this second contract and was never informed of the additional charges that would apply. When I suggested that I return the new, unused phone and sim card for this new contract to the store for it to be cancelled, I was informed that the 28 day "cooling off period" had passed and there was nothing the store could do

I am now planning to visit the store at the weekend to speak to the manager.

Has anyone had experience of this before?

I feel like I have received terrible customer from the initial sales assistant back in January, I have been mis sold a product and I am now receiving abysmal customer service from the store as I was miss sold a product.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Re: Mis sold mobile plan

Schockwave — Thu, 14 May 2026 14:21:12 GMT

Hello @Beamo74 ,

Welcome to the community,

Did you ask to do an upgrade or was this actually an additional line, as this is what it looks like? If you did not specify an upgrade, then it seems that it was a new or additional line that you are paying for. You should have specified that you wanted an upgrade with a new phone, there is no cooling off when bought it store, and if online or by phone, then there is only 14 days cooling off, not 28 days.

You were actually told it comes with a 30GB of data each month, so you should have said that you do not want another contract with a phone. Did you actually read the contract before signing it? It would have shown you that you have an additional number with payment for it, which you could have rejected it.

Re: Mis sold mobile plan

Beamo74 — Thu, 14 May 2026 14:44:39 GMT

Thanks for your response.

In answer to your questions -

I informed the sales assistant at the time that i just wanted to upgrade the phone and I was happy to stay on the contract I was already on (the one that was due to expire). I presumed that it was a case of supplyiing me with the phone and transferring me onto a new, similar contract. There was absolutely no discussion about an extra line and I was not made aware that I would be taking out an extra line and an extra payment.

The extra 30GB was explained to me as more of a gift rather than an extra contract / cost. Why would the sales assistant suggest I gift this new sim to a friend if? Why would I knowingly pay £20 a month for a friend to use the sim?

I was sent the contract direct to my phone. What ever happened to an A4 size piece of paper that is easier to read?

I guess the saying "always read the small print" comes in to play here?

When you say there's no cooling off period, do you mean a cooling off period doesn't exist as I went into the store?

Other things to note -

I still have the device from the expired contract that I am paying £39 a month for as EE have a weird system in place where you pay the contract off in 2 years but the phone is paid off over 3.

When I contacted EE customer services on the phone, the person dealing with me said I should never have been given a new phone without paying off the outstanding balance on the old one. Another example of terrible customer service from EE

This whole episode feels like I was tricked into taking out a new sim / phone line at a cost.

I look forward to visiting the store at the weekend.

Re: Mis sold mobile plan

Schockwave — Thu, 14 May 2026 15:01:20 GMT

@Beamo74 , that is right, there is no cooling off period when bought in store, as you have the chance to look at it and make sure it is what you are looking for, whereas by ordering it by phone or online, you do have the 14 day cooling off period, as you are choosing it and can then decide whether it is right for you.

Unfortunately, the store have their own policy and online or by phone have theirs, so you would have to deal with the store, as they did the contract with you. You should have had a receipt with everything explained on it, at least that is what I thought and should sign it there.

You can complain here:

https://ee.co.uk/help/contact-ee/complaint

See if that gets you anywhere, but when they said there is a 30GB data monthly, I would have thought you would have a contract for that one and a new number. Have you actually checked that you also received a new number? It would also show on your account.

It is right, you had a 3 year contract for the old phone, so would still have to pay that one off, and customer service is right about giving you a new phone before paying the other off first, so completely correct, but your gripe is with the high street store and not the online store, unfortunately.

Re: Mis sold mobile plan

Beamo74 — Thu, 14 May 2026 17:09:39 GMT

Thanks for the info on the cooling off period. Although, when I spoke to the store on the phone last week, they told me there is nothing they can do regarding a possible refund as I have passed the 28 day cooling off period. I am getting very mixed information from the person I have been speaking to from the store.

So I do have a new number. I only realised this when I checked my account following my discovery of the raised phone bills.

Randomly, I have not used either the new phone or the new sim card.

I guess we will see what happens when I visit the EE store at the weekend.

If I get nowhere, then I will approach the communications ombudsman

Thanks for the replies

Re: Mis sold mobile plan

XRaySpeX — Thu, 14 May 2026 17:45:58 GMT

@Beamo74 wrote:
then I will approach the communications ombudsman

Not directly until you make a formal complaint to EE & if you don't get satisfaction after 8 weeks or come to a deadlock you can take it to EE's ADR provider. See Complaints code of practice and here is the Complaints Form .