Being added to an A/C as a 3rd party contact via call with Customer Services

[Mellman]

Good Afternoon, 

Just seeking clarity on something - My father is the account holder and bill payer - however I am the primary user of the internet in our house. I did some research on these forums and found that it's possible for an account holder to nominate a 3rd party to be able to speak to EE via a call with C/S to set this up. All good there. We took the time to do this around 10 days ago, upgraded our internet package and were told we'd be sent a new router. 

Today, I called C/S as the 3rd party authority to consult about the location of the router as we've received no email or delivery and was told abruptly by a C/S representative (or whoever you get put through to 1st) that EE does not allow anyone aside from the account holder to speak regarding the account - they were adamant that this was a cut and dry situation - I explained that I'd seen information to the contrary time and time again on this forum and she said that will be "looked into" - my Father was not at home at the time to field the security questions as the account holder and the call was terminated. 

Who do I believe here? Did we waste our time with the very helpful C/S attendant 10 days ago setting all of this up? She was receptive to the idea and showed no hint of our demand being an impossibility. 

[Mellman]

I genuinely cannot believe I am having to resurrect this thread over a year later.

Unbelievably, we are going through the same third-party authority **bleep**show with EE again.

After everything documented in this thread, the complaint that followed, and all the effort that eventually went into getting this sorted, I believed this issue had finally been resolved.

Since then I have dealt with EE on this account countless times.

I have ordered new EE TV boxes myself.

I dealt with upgrading us from the old BT equipment to the EE router.

I have had two EE WiFi extenders sent to our house.

I have dealt with numerous technical support issues.

Normally EE sends a security code to my registered mobile number, I read it back, I am verified and we continue.

I would estimate that I have spoken to EE at least 20 times since the original problem documented in this thread was supposedly resolved.

Yet here we are again.

We currently have an ongoing broadband/WiFi fault and I spent approximately three hours on the phone with EE technical support on Saturday troubleshooting it.

The adviser dealt with me throughout that entire call, factory reset equipment with me and then gave me a special urgent callback link to use if the problem continued.

I used that link this morning.

I was then suddenly told that I do not have the required level of authority on the account.

After arguing the point, the adviser eventually agreed to continue discussing the technical fault with me.

However, when I asked for the router to be replaced after all of the troubleshooting we have already carried out, I was told that EE could not send replacement hardware because I am not the policy holder and do not have sufficient authority.

I then said I wanted to make a formal complaint about what was happening.

I was told that I was not authorised to make a complaint either.

I am absolutely furious.

How are we back here again?

What exactly was the point of everything we went through last year if, over a year later, EE can suddenly decide that the authority which they have repeatedly accepted ever since no longer allows me to actually resolve a fault?

I have ordered equipment, arranged upgrades, had extenders supplied, dealt with technical support repeatedly and been verified using the security code sent to my registered mobile number.

Yet apparently I can spend three hours troubleshooting a faulty router with EE, but I cannot ask EE to replace that router.

And apparently I cannot even make a complaint about being prevented from doing so.

The original authority fiasco documented in this thread resulted in a substantial complaint and was eventually supposed to have been sorted out.

I now want another formal complaint opened because it is completely unacceptable that we are back in exactly the same situation again.

I would really appreciate it if somebody from the EE Community Support Team could look at this, particularly given the history already documented in this thread.

I am absolutely fed up.

[Alex_H]

Hi @Mellman,

I am really sorry to hear about the experience on your recent call, I have sent a response to your private message to try and help with your issue.

Alex

[Mellman]

Thanks for the response Alex, I've replied to your private message, let's see if we can get this solved (again!).

Cheers

Tom

[Mellman]

A positive update following my post earlier today.

Alex_H from the EE Community Support Team contacted me privately and escalated the situation to the Executive Complaints team.

I have now received a call from Executive Complaints and, importantly, they have confirmed that I AM correctly authorised on the account.

So after everything that happened on the phone this morning, and after being told that I could not have replacement equipment or even make a complaint because of my authority, there was not actually a problem with the authority that was put in place following the complaint last year.

The complaints adviser has now ordered a replacement router for me, which is being sent by Royal Mail 48, and will be calling me again in three days to check how things are progressing.

They have also told me that what happened this morning will be fed back to the team that the telephone adviser belongs to so that any knowledge gaps can be addressed and additional training provided where necessary.

I am very grateful to Alex_H for picking this up and getting it back in front of the Executive Complaints team so quickly.

I am also relieved to have confirmation that the authority on the account is correctly set up, because after everything we went through last year I genuinely could not believe we were apparently back at square one.

Obviously I am still extremely unhappy about what happened this morning. Being incorrectly told that I did not have sufficient authority directly prevented me from obtaining replacement equipment for an ongoing fault and I was then told that I could not even make a complaint about it.

However, Executive Complaints have now taken ownership of the situation, so hopefully we can finally move forward.

I will update again once the replacement router arrives and we have been able to establish whether it resolves the underlying technical problems.

[Katie_J]

This is great. 

Thanks very much for keeping us updated @Mellman. 

Katie

[mpu]

Hi Mellman
Do you have any reference for your complaint? I have just the same issue as an added name on my mother in law's account, been fine for 2 years, but yesterday got blocked on getting any information.
Thanks

[JimM11]

@mpu Every case is different and there is not for sure any one shoe fit's, reach out to the EE Guides, @Katie_J @Alex_H hopefully one off them responds if working and not on the day off.

[Rach_H]

Hi @mpu,

Thanks for coming to the Community!

I'm sorry to hear about the trouble you've had when you reached out to the team. Were they able to advise you on why you were unable to access the account?

Rach

[mpu]

Hi @Rach_H (please let me know if I should log this as a new topic)
I have 'managed' my 90+ mother in laws account for some years, with BT then with EE. As a named contact / third party on the account, and able to deal with problems, switch to Digital voice and now switch to full fibre.
Normally with no security issues, other than the standard.
Yesterday I called to check whether OpenReach were really attending today, since although EE had told us they were, we had no contact from OpenReach.
I called support and after explaining what I was after, I was told that GDPR prevented them from giving me any information on the order schedule, not even if OpenReach were planning to attend or not. I escalated and got an even firmer 'no order or schedule information other than to the account holder'. They acknowledged they could see me as a third party on the account but wouldn't budge.

My MiL lives about 70 miles away, 1.5 hours car drive. Each way. It will be a nuisance if I have to drive there every time there's a  query.

(I drove there, the promised call back with MiL in attendance never happened, and an extremely helpful service agent gave me all the details I asked for (nothing too extreme, only timelines) and escalated the issue to OpenReach with only the normal security question and no need for MiL to re-authorise me)

[Katie_J]

Hi @mpu. 

Thanks so much for providing additional information regarding your recent experience. 

I am unsure as to why the first agent was unable to proceed with the call. 

Did they ask a security question that was incorrectly answered?

Speak soon, 

Katie