topic Re: How can EE behave like this? in Broadband & Landline

How can EE behave like this?

PI1 — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:46:34 GMT

I was just out of contract with BT and had been offered a renewal deal of £31.99 per month for full fibre 500MB but I was just out of time on the original deal offer. I discussed with BT and, after I had talked it through with them and emailed them proof of the original deal, they agreed to offer me the same so long as I changed to EE. I agreed, but as soon as I received the documents it turned out they were charging me £36.99. There was no way to respond to these documents other than calling them. When I called them (and every time I called them it took a long time to get through to them) they said they would honour the original offer, but they had to listen to the call and it took 24 hours for the call to be available for them to listen to it. Next day they simply said they couldn't honour the deal. So I cancelled and changed to another provider.

I then called 10 days after this to make sure they understood that I had cancelled within the 14 day cooling off period. They confirmed that they understood this, they checked and they repeatedly reassured me that if the transfer took place as planned then I would have nothing further to pay. I said that I didn't trust them from my previous dealings with them but they repeatedly reassured me that it would be ok and that the recordings of the call were evidence that I would not be billed. The transfer took place as planned and they immediately told me I owed them about £300 in cancellation charges. I called, they told me that although they agreed I had cancelled within the 14 day cooling off period their systems routinely churned out this sort of rubbish (my paraphrase) but it would all work our over the next few days and I wouldn’t actually be billed these cancellation charges. I've just been billed these cancellation charges!!!

I have made formal complaints throughout this process, they don't make a difference. I will be complaining to the Communications Ombudsman and, if necessary, pursuing this all the way through legal proceedings, but please do yourself a favour and avoid this appalling company no matter what they promise you or what they say. They don't even deserve one star.

Re: How can EE behave like this?

XRaySpeX — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:53:04 GMT

@PI1 : You can't avail yourself of the statutory 14-day cooling-off period by just migrating to another ISP w/out telling EE 1st that you are cancelling within the statutory 14-day cooling-off period & that you will switching to another ISP.

Re: How can EE behave like this?

PI1 — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:01:15 GMT

@XRaySpeX you need to read the 2nd paragraph of my post. I specifically called EE to confirm my cancellation within the 14 day cooling off period and EE confirmed to me that (1) they understood that I had cancelled within the 14 days, (2) that if the transfer took place as planned there would be no cancellation charge and (3) I did not need to taker nay further steps to cancel within the 14 day cooling off period.

Re: How can EE behave like this?

zulu17 — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:09:39 GMT

Hi @PI1 You mention that you made formal complaints throughout the process.Have those complaints been closed by EE or are they still active (albeit not currently resolved to your satisfaction,)?

Re: How can EE behave like this?

XRaySpeX — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:12:33 GMT

I did! Your 2nd para in which you informed EE of your switch & invoked the cooling-off period was 10 days after your 1st para in which you switched to another ISP.

Hence I stand by my reasoning. You did things in the wrong order by 10 days!

Re: How can EE behave like this?

PI1 — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:14:08 GMT

I can't tell what, if anything has happened, with these complaints. I get a standardised email with "We're looking into your complaint, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can" but it's not possible to reply to the email and I haven't heard back from them. When I'm on the phone with them in the initial call they say they will call me, but I haven't been called.

Re: How can EE behave like this?

PI1 — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:17:43 GMT

The 10 days isn't after the transfer actually takes place, it's 10 days after the initial order to EE!!

Re: How can EE behave like this?

XRaySpeX — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:22:06 GMT

Well, it's what you said in your OP & thus all I have to go on. It's also chronologically in that order even if it's not actually 10 days.

Re: How can EE behave like this?

PI1 — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:33:41 GMT

The chronology is:

Day 1: order broadband for an agreed £31.99, get charged by EE an actual price of £36.99, complain and get told there's nothing EE can do for 24 hrs

Day 2: 24hours makes no difference so PLACE AN ORDER with somebody else instead

Day 10: confirm cancellation within the 14 day cooling off period, EE confirm this and that no cancellation charges will be payable

Day 14: transfer goes through as expected

Day 17: £300 cancellation charges are billed

Is it your role here to try and muddy the waters and move the attention away from the behaviour of EE?

Re: How can EE behave like this?

XRaySpeX — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:49:47 GMT

Yes, as I said, Day 2 & Day 10 are in wrong order by 8 days.

Re: How can EE behave like this?

PI1 — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:56:03 GMT

Not even sure what that means @XRaySpeX sounds like your argument is getting a bit desperate. Also, interested to know how you interpret the second sentence of my second paragraph which states that EE agreed that I had cancelled within the 14 day cooling off period and that no cancellation charges would be payable. How would this make sense if I had cancelled so far outside of the cooling off period?

Re: How can EE behave like this?

Mustrum — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 20:20:12 GMT

@PI1 no one on here has access to account information, so you will need to speak to Customer Services. It may just be a timing issue that means you have the bills before they have been cancelled, automation does take time to catch up, or maybe someone has not done what they said they would.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

Re: How can EE behave like this?

zulu17 — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 20:39:36 GMT

Thank you for your clarifications @PI1 . There do seem several area of concern here that hopefully the company will look at. They might need a bit of prodding to do so. According to information previously posted in this community there are three levels of complaint handling that EE operate at. (The guide that you raise it with , if unresolved a team manger and then ultimately the Executive Complaints Team). I would suggest that if speaking to EE again you do ask for it to be passed to the Executive Complaints Team. You should at least get a contact point that way.Timelines allowed for complaint resolution are quite generous to the company unfortunately.

Re: How can EE behave like this?

PI1 — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 22:15:04 GMT

Thanks @zulu17 that's really helpful information. I will ask for it to be passed to the Executive Complaints Team.

I'm a litigation lawyer and I will get it resolved appropriately, even if I have to take it to a court judgment. My worry is that more vulnerable people may be mistreated in this manner and never get to the resolution they deserve. It's very poor from such a major player in the UK telecoms market and the fact that EE are delivering such an atrocious level of poor service deserves to be more widely known.

Re: How can EE behave like this?

Katie_B — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:12:27 GMT

Hello @PI1.

Thanks for coming here.

I have sent you a private message for more information.

Speak soon,

Katie

Re: How can EE behave like this?

8632958 — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:19:45 GMT

We recently joined EE broadband. Worst thing we have ever done. We were left to connect everything ourselves. Easy for some people but we are elderly. Not used to tech. Nothing works properly. Technician on phone for 2hrs 20mins. Still not great. He advised us to go back to Virgin!!! Biggest load of rubbish I’ve ever invested in