Really shocked by this, as a long-term generally happy customer of ee.
My current iPhone (X) is smashed and so this week I wanted to get a new phone urgently. My 2 year contract had finished. I could see online that ee didn’t have any 12 Pros in stock and so I called up to get the PAC code. I live right by an Apple Store and could see phones available for same day collection, so I wanted to get a SIM-only contact with Vodafone. This also worked out £350 cheaper over 24 months than EE’s best ‘upgrade’ offer. On calling up (and waiting for 20 mins) I had a long conversation with an apparently nice and helpful rep called Curtis. He knocked a bit off the price but, crucially, said that there were a small number of phones in stock and that he could get one for a next-day delivery. There was a lot of faffing around paying for the next-day delivery, discussion of what time it would arrive etc; then I agreed to the contract. He told me to expect a text message the next morning confirming the slot.
but... nothing. I called EE and was told I was in a queue for an unspecified time before one was available. ??
As I need a phone now, I asked to cancel the contact, which was made under — it seems — entirely false pretences. I was told that I would receive a call back to explain what had happened the same day. Nothing. Have tried to call back but can’t get through to anyone. So I don’t have a functional phone and spent an hour on a conversation premised on something that the sales rep must have known was a blatant falsehood.
Was he assuming I wouldn’t notice if I didn’t get a phone after all?
Why is it impossible to sort this out?
How can tricking customers into thinking they can buy unavailable phones be a good business model?
