Hi All,
Wow i am shocked, and equally annoyed having read these comments as I have had identical problem and thought i was going mad as it has felt like EE are wanting to wash their hands of any responsibilities.
Like most of you my issue started off with an intermittent fault in which my screen was flickering, subsequently this led to the front screen turning off, before moving to the inside and then back to the front screen (with the middle screen working fine). In addition to this i have had issues with the camera failing to recognise forward and rear facing (so hazarding a guess to being a glitch somewhere or gremlin).
Since finding out that my insurance wasn’t in place I was led to go through my local store. As the phone started playing up at 6 months old, I knew I was still covered by warranty so trusted this would be an easy fix – no such thing!
Having turned up in store I ran through the issues and explained that when you put it into repair mode that this then sometimes brings the front screen back to life, I also mentioned the mobile had lived in a £65 case from day dot and had not been dropped and was in immaculate condition. I was then asked to remove the case from which he examined the phone before recording on the repair as the mobile having no damage or marks. At the time of signing the mobile over I was told to sign the phone over and didmt need to read this unless I wanted to. Being a bit, OCD I did before asking if I could take some photos as I mentioned I wished to ensure there wouldn’t be any chances of someone trying to pull a fast one by saying this was caused by damage one sent off to the repair department (as although not legally trained was trying to avoid any issues) – Low and behold this is exactly what had happened. Worst still when I asked what findings were there, they said that they hadn’t opened the mobile, as the alleged marks where enough to warrant the damage (what I believe is a closed shop as a. this damage wasn’t there or recorded and b. even if it was they haven’t provided proof that this has caused the issue). THE RESULT OF THIS IS A £750 quote (without even knowing where the fault has come from) . When I then said they had recorded this down as no marks or damage and signed it over they said this wasn’t sufficient, to which I replied if I was to pick up my mobile now how could they ascertain what was or wasn’t on the mobile, as it then had already been moved? Guess what they said they can’t?
Having taken this up with EE I can honestly say I cannot believe a company of this size has got as far as it has, as the procedures in place and training provided to their staff to handle these issues are almost non-existent - as saying I am sorry for the issue doesn’t equate to helping fix the issue. Having already experienced a bad issue with EE customer services via my Broadband services, where no one takes responsibility or ownership for issues caused internally, I thought I may have just been unlucky, however this is clearly a bigger problem as the same issues appear to be happening within my mobile contract, these range from; Promised callbacks not happening, Assurances these issues have happened with other customers and that this can be resolved to just then lack of compassion and eventually a low ball offer, completely going against the policy the phone was damaged?
Since experiencing the problem, I have spoken to the EE Store and the assistant who had helped me agreed that this was an issue and that he agreed with how badly this is handled – to the point he said it wasn’t fair on the customers. Furthermore, he said he wasn’t trained to inspect the mobile to which I have then questioned why they are allowed to record and handle items leaving a loophole of problems and issues. Using a similar analogy you surely wouldn’t hand a rental car to someone who’d inspected the vehicle stating it was all ok, only then to find someone else assesses it and then states its damaged!! Come on EE, this is ridiculous and unfair.
I am now being told by EE that we are in deadlock and that despite all this information we need to go via the omnibus man, despite me saying I feel they haven’t really conducted a fair assessment considering the information provided.
I am prepared to fight this as far as I can but am interested to know how many more people have been fobbed off with these issues, as I hope to flag up these issues to avoid others being pulled into what should be an avoidable situation. Obviously, some of this responsibility should also be shouldered by Google, as EE have said as the manufacturer they dictate some of policies they work too?
In posting this I hope someone high enough within EE will be prepared to reach out to address these issues mentioned. I had been a a customer of Sky for 18 years and consider myself a loyal customer – based on my current experience I will be avoiding EE / BT moving forward and likewise advising others to do the same (or at least be vigilant to these issues.
