Contract has extended by a year

[nathan1231]

Hi all,

I switched to EE from BT in December 2023 and due to a billing error on EE’s side, I wasn’t actually charged for over a year. At the time the mistake was noticed and corrected I was told I wouldn’t owe them anything back and going forward I would pay my contracted amount. As I was in a 24 month contract, I checked my account for upgrade deals before I start shopping around and was surprised to find my contract doesn’t actually end until November 2026 with a start date of December 2024 showing.

Add to this when I spoke to EE at the time of taking out the contract I was assured I wouldn’t pay more than a new customer for my service and the deals are significantly cheaper than I currently pay. I can’t find any information about this promise apart from my confirmation email has a price promise but there’s no information anywhere as to what that means.

[Matt_124]

What plan are you currently on?

Any price promise offered in the past around renewals on BT would have been something to the effect of to not pay more than a new customer for the equivalent Halo packages offered when you come to renew your deal - it would have no bearing on what price you pay mid-contract or when compared to a different non-Halo package. This part of the Price Promise was a BT promotion/feature on Halo packages and is not something offered on EE.

I'm not sure whether that aspect is still something offered by BT even, as their Price Promise section at https://www.bt.com/halo/terms now only refers to maintaining the same contract price when your minimum term ends and you roll on out-of-contract (with the exception of CPI rises/Yearly price increases adding onto it yearly). This was always something included on Halo packages.

An equivalent package in that sense means a package with identical features and benefits. If you were on BT and had a Halo 3 or Halo 3+ package, then you received additional features over the standard Broadband packages and would have been offered the 'going rate' for Halo 3/3+ Packages on renewal of this type of package.

In a similar vein - if you are on an All Rounder or Full Works package (being rough equivalents to Halo 3 & Halo 3+ with some differences) on EE then you receive additional features over the advertised Essentials (standard) package, naturally coming at an extra cost due to the additional features - customers on an Essentials package would have to pay for these features/benefits separately as add-ons if they wanted them. The features of these EE packages are detailed here: https://ee.co.uk/content/dam/help/terms-and-conditions/broadband/plans/ee-essentials-all-rounder-and... 

In the last 30-90 days of your minimum term you will be in your re-negotiation period where you can look to renew and change your package, unfortunately nothing can be done until then. Downgrading to an Essentials plan at that point would mean the requested return of equipment used for features that are not included on Essentials plans such as Smart WiFi or Smart Hybrid Connect, unless you took these as add-ons at that time.

Edit: Price Promise detailed on this page (https://www.bt.com/exp/halo) in regard to never paying more than a new customer when renewing - this is unlikely to apply to EE however as it is not a feature offered on EE packages. On BT it would have typically applied when renewing on a Halo package, as these are the plans it is offered on.

[nathan1231]

Im on Full Fibre Gigabit All Rounder. 

As you can see from the attached image, my contract start date was 01/12/23 but my end date is showing as 30/11/26 in the app

The price promise was explained on the phone as me price never being more than a new customer but I understand the call would have to be found and listened to in order to substantiate that, and it doesn't change what the price promise actually is. Although had I known it may have impacted my decision to buy since it wasn't and still isn't the cheapest available in my area 

[Matt_124]

You are on a Gigabit All Rounder - which would naturally be more expensive than Gigabit Essentials as it has the Inclusive Benefits you see in the email and here: https://ee.co.uk/content/dam/help/terms-and-conditions/broadband/plans/ee-essentials-all-rounder-and...

You're comparing two entirely different plans which aren't supposed to be the same price as they have differing features.

The benefits in question are Keep Connected Promise, Expert Visit from an EE Guide, and potentially Price Promise (although it is not detailed as a current feature on any EE documentation I can find). These are not included on Essentials plans.

The Price Promise here (if i had to assume based on what it was on BT) would only apply when you come to the end and possibly to renew your deal. Read my post above where I explain it in terms of what happens with the Halo packages, it would likely be similar here. When you transferred from BT, were you previously on a Halo plan? If not, then the Guide upsold you to the equivalent of one - ultimately you would have had to have agreed to this and could at any time have compared the prices and objected.

It doesn't provide any details on what the Price Promise is there, and it is not listed out in any current EE documentation.

Ultimately if you agreed to the package and were happy with the price at the time you are bound by the minimum term. You may want to consider dropping to an Essentials package next time if you are not happy with the cost, bearing in mind you will lose your included Guide Visit and Keep Connected Promise (and possibly Price Promise, although technically any customer can usually get a new customer deal when renewing at the end of their minimum term - but if you're on a All Rounder or Full Works package you will lose the additional features).

[nathan1231]

That's fine, but right now I can't even check my deals as my contract appears to have been extended by a year. 

Is this an error or is there a reason the start date on my contract has moved forward by a year?

[Matt_124]

If the start of your service was delayed, including the associated billing, the contract term would have only kicked in on resolution of the issue. 

In your contract you would have agreed to pay X amount for a 24-month minimum-term, so this would line up. 

[JimM11]

@nathan1231 When did the correction happen looks like EE could not be bothered to go get the money off BT and just bumped you up to the 24month period to get there slice off the cake at your expense, which is WAY wrong!

[nathan1231]

I'm not sure I agree with that but I understand that's beyond the remit of what can be done here. Thank you for explaining

[nathan1231]

They emailed me on 27/02/25

The email I received said:

Hi,

We're sorry, due to a system error, we haven't been billing you for your home services as we should have.

We've fixed this now. Because this is our mistake, you won't have to pay any contract charges until your next bill.

However, any out of bundle charges will be backdated for up to 90 days. You'll see these on your next bill.

To keep an eye on your bills, just head over to the EE app or visit ee.co.uk/login for the latest info

[Matt_124]

No worries, apologies for the long replies and bluntness of any replies.

Extremely difficult to articulate the point with the limitations of text-based comms, especially after a long week at work!

All the best and let us know if you have any more questions🙂