topic Re: Septembers bill incorrect - unable to view online in Contracts & Billing

Septembers bill incorrect - unable to view online

AHarMan2 — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 07:49:02 GMT

Hi all

I was always under the impression mobile services were paid a month in advance ?

My monthly bill is always quite high due to the number of plans and devices for a family of 4.

Bill usually generates the 9th of every month. I have looked Today and despite reducing my bill by £170 in cancelling plans and changing a handset plan to sim only (all of which was completed by end of August), the estimated bill for Sept is higher than last month.

I cant see the bill right now, when I click on view bill it takes me to Augusts, but In my understanding, I would have already paid 9th Aug to 9th Sept in Aug bill, so for each line / device / plan there should be at least a weeks refund then ontop of that, from end of aug to 9th Oct should be charged for new plans etc.

In other words, I agree Augusts bill was correct and that was paid which without any changes would take me through to the 9th Sept.

However, one of my devices which was a device plan was upgraded to sim only on 27th July which would have taken affect end of august. So that should have reduced from £137 to £28 a month.

One of my numbers I cancelled with notice on the 1st August and took affect on 1st Sept.

Lastly a watch plan which was £37 a month was changed to a £5 a month plan.

All changes would have taken affect by the start of Sept.

So how can my bill for Sept be the same if not higher than last month ?

I cant do anything right now but will be on the phone once I can see it. I have never had an issue with EE billing before so its a shame to become aware of an issue like this, but gives me hope its not actually as high as last months.

Re: Septembers bill incorrect - unable to view online

AHarMan2 — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 09:17:05 GMT

So I spoke to a helpful CS advisor who stated it is a fault on EEs back end due to my account being moved to real time billing.

What happened was the extra charges of £247 were due to 0345 numbers and 07 numbers (as I do call my Mums mobile) and as a result I have been charged for those. Now regardless of if those numbers should be included in any allowance or any add ons etc, my account does have a £0 spend cap so regardless I should not be paying / being charged anything above my monthly sim plan.

I would urge everyone to check their bill this month and call CS if you are seeing the same issue.

Re: Septembers bill incorrect - unable to view online

Christopher_G — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 13:44:54 GMT

Hi @AHarMan2

I'm sorry to hear that you had this problem with your bill. Thanks for getting in touch with our Mobile Care team. Please keep us posted on what happens and let us know when it's all sorted.

Chris

Re: Septembers bill incorrect - unable to view online

MC74 — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 16:45:48 GMT

I have exactly had the same problem, the date my account was moved across to realtime billing everything became chargeable on the system and I hit my spend cap the same day. Now my normal bill of £15 is up at £250 and October already has unbilled charges of £330+

Despite promises of resolution and it getting sorted and the re-calc time regenerating my bill and call backs nothing has been done. The last two advisors suggested cancelling my direct debit to ensure money isn’t taken from my account. The complaint I raised has been closed but the matter unresolved. The person today told me the re-call team can’t do anything and and someone else has to sort it.

I have asked to have the complaint re-opened but no one seems to be taking ownership or actually fixing the issue. Each call handler can see the problem but they can’t fix it and need someone in the back-end of things to fix it which just doesn’t happen.

I think there are going to be many many people very annoyed with EE this month and I expect a mass exodus. I have been patient for 3 weeks trying to sort this and no resolution yet,

I must have spent over 4 hours on the phone to EE so far about this matter, I don’t want to have to do that every month - no matter how good the hold music is !!!

My gut tells me EE will be featuring on Martin Lewis money saving expert in the near future from many upset customers.

Re: Septembers bill incorrect - unable to view online

AHarMan2 — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 16:53:27 GMT

The advisor i spoke to told me they could see on the system that it was a known issue and they passed my account across to a specialist billing team.

I didnt hear back from them and chased it several times. On the 4th day of trying i was on the phone to an advisor for an hour but she sorted it with the specialist billing team and her manager who could see from the notes on my account, that it was a known issue and I should not have been charged for the 01, 07 and 0345 numbers.

Im sorry to hear you have not been as lucky but all I can say is keep on persisting and you will get through to someone, but insist its a known back end issue with moving to real time billing.

The bill will never re-generate in your account online, but it will show as paid when they sort it.

I was affected 26th Aug to 8th Sept, and since then I have been calling 07 numbers on O2 network and not been charged for out of bundle calls.

I agree however, this does need senior escalation and it can be pot luck if you get through to a competent support agent.

Re: Septembers bill incorrect - unable to view online

Ali_A — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 12:35:25 GMT

Hi @MC74

We want to give all our customers an excellent service but if you feel your complaint hasn't been handled they way you had hoped we want you to know how we can fix it. Please visit our Complaints code of practice page for details about our complaints handling process.

If you'd like to re-open your complaint, or raise a new one, you can do so using our online form at Make a Complaint, where our dedicated complaints team will look into the details and take ownership of the complaint.

Ali

Re: Septembers bill incorrect - unable to view online

AHarMan2 — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 12:40:37 GMT

The problem is not all agents know how to deal with the issue.

Surely if it's a known issue with customer bills when being moved to real time billing, agents should have a set procedure to follow.

Could this be fed back into the highest CS level possible, as clearly not everyone is being handled the same way. I know I had to chase it and it got solved, but it shouldn't be down to customers to do the CS reps job for them.

Re: Septembers bill incorrect - unable to view online

MC74 — Sun, 22 Sep 2024 08:34:41 GMT

still no resolution, obviously DD collection of £250+ failed as I cancelled it on EE call handlers advise to do so.

Now sent message have to pay bill by certain date….
So another call to EE, told they can delay that so I don’t lose service, just listen to this recording and then we can proceed …..

”your credit file will be updated to reflect a late payment”

Absolutely Not !!!

I have always recommended EE to friends and colleagues but I am now just wanting to leave the contract, this is the worst service I have ever had from them, I’m fuming about this.

4 weeks plus and still no resolution !

Re: Septembers bill incorrect - unable to view online

Katie_B — Sun, 22 Sep 2024 09:08:12 GMT

Hi @MC74.

I am sorry to hear this has not yet been resolved.

So we can try to help further, what was the last update from our customer care team?

Katie

Re: Septembers bill incorrect - unable to view online

MC74 — Sun, 22 Sep 2024 09:45:25 GMT

So spent another 30 mins on the phone today, only to be told the same rhetoric I have had before.

The call handler went off investigating, cam back, he’d never seen this issue before.

The recalculation team will update the bill within 72 hours of it being generated and that amount won’t be deducted from your bank.

I said thanks. I was told the same about my last bill and here we are 10 days later. I’m afraid that’s not good enough and need to speak to a team supervisor as now been waiting 4 weeks for resolution.m since I raised the issue. My new bill now at £427.15 instead of £12 a month.

A supervisor came on the line said they understand the issue and will go through to an escalation team.

Going to raise a “Bril” issue or whatever that is,

Apparently bill was supposed to have been recalculated but suggested it may have been missed, has been left that someone will get back to me but he going to email someone called “Andrew” who is going to be an incident owner….

I asked if this bill gets sorted what’s to stop me having to go through this every month now I’m on the new realtime system ?

There was some suggestion that it may have been me roaming (I travel for work) that has triggered this rather than it just being that I have been moved to the real time billing system - who knows. I’ve been told so much different stuff now so I’m losing faith, half expecting my services to be terminated due to non payment of a bill, then having to have a fight to get out of contract because I’m still “in contract” and probably ofcom involvement.

i hope I’m wrong but so far, if I could try and imagine a worse case scenario of trying to resolve this I don’t think I could, so many empty promises to date.

well that’s another 1h and 4 minutes on the phone today trying to sort it !

To make matters worse I am a carer for disabled people who rely on me being able to contact them and contact me so if my phone gets cut off, it’s not only me that will be let down. I may have to go and buy a PAYG sim on another network just in case.

Re: Septembers bill incorrect - unable to view online

Katie_B — Sun, 22 Sep 2024 13:53:31 GMT

Hi @MC74.

Thank you so much for providing me with a detailed update.

I understand how important it is for you to have your phone working whilst being a carer.

Did the manager provide you with a timescale for a call back?

I would recommend allowing the incident owner to look into this further, should this not be resolved please let me know.

Katie

Re: Septembers bill incorrect - unable to view online

AHarMan2 — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 10:34:53 GMT

Sorry to read this @MC74 that really is awful customer service frankly.

To be clear, if you have unlmited minutes and texts, then any 01, 07 or 0345 should be covered. In every single bill prior to this incident I was never charged for those numbers.

If I didnt have unlimited minutes and texts, and i know making a call will take me over my limit then yes fair enough charge me. But this was not the case at all.

I also had the agent ask me if I was abroad at the time which I would have thought on EEs side of things, there system should log somewhere the nearest mast which picked up the call, but I know for sure I was never abroad at the time and even offered the agent evidence to which I was told it was not necessary.

It makes no sense to have out of bundle call charges for these numbers and since the 8th of Sept the issue has not re-occurred either. Its also rude of the agent to make reference to your credit file which legally EE have to provide a correct bill in the first place.

I hope this gets sorted sooner rather than later but yes, you may unfortunately have to chase for daily updates on this.

Also re:

The call handler went off investigating, cam back, he’d never seen this issue before.

Again lately im seeing incidents of call handlers being poorly trained which is a shame. I was lucky in that the agents I spoke to were well aware of this issue but were not sure how to escalate it (again poor training in house I would suggest.)

To be fair ive been with EE a long time and up until now not had any major issues like this, but I do wonder in something as fundamental as billing, why was this not highlighted before real time billing was rolled out ?