Misrepresentation and misselling of service contract

[dinuka]

I have been an EE customer for over 7 years and about a year and half ago I have switched my accounts to small business account. On the 16th of November I contacted the EE Business Upgrade team to find out about the upgrade options for my current two sim only plans. 

I wanted to upgrade one of the sim only plans data from 10GB to Unlimited and the other sim only plan to a plan with an iPhone 12 256GB. Agent I spoke to advised me that he can offer me the iPhone 12 256GB for £42+VAT and 10GB sim only plan will be upgraded to Unlimited data for £24+VAT. On top of that he offered a Series 7 Apple watch for £18+VAT and he specifically mentioned that it is normally £28+VAT. Since it sounded an excellent deal I agreed for everything to be upgraded.

I received both iPhone and the Apple watch today and I noticed that the phone EE sent me was iPhone 12 128GB but not the iPhone 12 256GB as promised. I contacted the customer service and I was told that I have to return the handset and make a new order to get this issue corrected. I reluctantly agreed since I was not sure that I will be offered the same offer again and the main reason I opt in to upgrade was the combined offer price. At this point I was under impression that it was only the iPhone EE got wrong.

I opened the Apple watch this evening and to my surprise, it was an Apple Watch SE not an Apple Watch Series 7 as promised. When I checked the EE website Apple Watch 7 series is indeed £28+VAT but the Apple Watch SE is £18+VAT. The upgrade team falsely missold an Apple Watch SE stating that it will be an Apple Watch 7 which is normally sold for £28 but they actually sent me the £18+VAT Apple Watch SE.

As a long term loyal customer I feel betrayed and cheated by the EE Upgrades team. This is misrepresentation under the Misrepresentation Act 1967 and I would really appreciate if someone can help me to figure out the next steps.

Anyone who is reading this post, please be careful when dealing with EE. As a business owner you have wasted nearly an hour of my time today on phone calls to customer service earlier today which I could have used for something productive. 

As soon as I resolve this issue I will be moving away from EE since you are very dishonest company!

[Chris_B]

@dinuka  You next step is to return everything and move networks.   As you clearly stated you intend to do this at the end of your post.  What’s to figure out ?   

[dinuka]

Thank you @Chris_B that was very helpful. You are an absolute star and I really appreciate you getting back. I am enlightened by your response and it is the most helpful advice I ever received on a public forum. 

If anyone else from EE looking into this post, EE have switched all my accounts to new tariff and it states that you have started charging for the new tariff. I would like to know the process when returning devices. Will I be refunded the charges? Since I am returning the devices I will not be using the data for either of the devices. 

[Chris_B]

@dinuka  You get a 14 day cooling of period to call customer services and inform them you don’t want the device you’ll be sent a returns pack.  

[Katie_B]

Hello @dinuka. 

Thank you for coming to the community and making us aware of this.

I am so sorry to hear this has happened. 

If you wish to make a complaint regarding this business upgrade you can complete this webform and a member of staff will get back to you as soon as possible.

Katie 🙂

[Northerner]

Hi @dinuka 

There is no customer account access on these forums. Really someone needs to listen to the call to establish what you were told and what you agreed to in the call. It's very easy to make assumptions based upon just your version of events.

As @Chris_B said you have 14 days to return your items if purchased online. Your contract will revert and you can upgrade again. 

As @Katie_B said you can complain online or when you speak to EE CS about returning your equipment. 

If however you have made the decision to return the devices and leave then good luck with your new network.

Thanks

[mikeliuk · Accepted solution]

Hi @dinuka ,

In addition to the above good advice, it may be worth considering whether this is a breach of contract situation where you have agreed commercial contracts over the phone, with an authorized and appointed representative, and you have upheld your end of the contracts but the service provider has failed to perform their end of the contract.

You could recommend that the service provider reviews the call as recommended above and should state that you are prepared to adjust your position if evidence, such as a recording, is presented to you that you mis-remembered the call. Any contemporaneous notes you made at the time would support your version of events and typically I request the conclusions are emailed to me if transcripts are not available.

Certainly, you've done the right thing in informing the service provider as soon as you became aware. Hopefully you've paid by credit card and might be able to discuss with your bank if any protection applies to such arrangements.

As you mention, the authorized representative of EE has wasted your time in discussing a contract which he had no intention of performing, and you will waste further time in try to reverse any fraud (perhaps none) which has taken place. I feel that a better approach would be to request that EE performs its verbal contracts, and you may want to take independent legal advice on the matter if the circumstances seem to warrant that. Good luck!

[dinuka]

Thank you @mikeliuk  @Katie_B @Northerner @Chris_B,

@mikeliuk As advised I have emailed the customer service completed an online complaint form. 

I have spoken to customer service this morning and arranged everything to be returned. I was told that the account will be reset after the return is complete and my tariff will be returned to the previous.

@mikeliuk I agree with you and this was an excellent advice. As you mentioned I have the notes I made during the call and I am confident on what was agreed. I have mentioned exactly what you advised on the email I sent. 

I had excellent service from EE for past 7 or 8 years but unfortunately this incident put me off EE. I really hope that EE customer service will get back to me and make it right.

Thank you again for your help everyone and I really appreciate it. 

[Leanne_T]

Thanks for coming back to us @dinuka

Please let us know how you get on once the team get back to you. 

Thanks. 

Leanne.