EE cancelled service on me

[IWC1966]

Hi all. Has anyone else had the following problem? I recently received an email telling me to return all my EE broadband kit, and received the envelopes to do it. I did not request to cancel any services, and our bill payments are all up to date by direct debit. Called EE to be told my account had been cancelled, the phone number we have had for 30+ years taken away and all other services would be switched off. They told me this was an error on their system and should not have happened, but could not reverse any of it and cannot explain how it happened. The phone number is lost and we have to open a new account (with a full term contract),  get a new number, and if we do not we will also lose our email addresses unless we pay extra for that full service separately.  If I had cancelled within contract term I would be penalised, but they have done it to me with no penalty. A contract works both ways? Will Ofcom do anything to intervene and tell EE to compensate us? Feel I should walk away from everything BT/EE as they cannot guarantee this won't happen again to me or anyone else, and still cannot explain why this has happened. Dreadful situation, but nothing I can do about it. Beware.

[Katie_B]

Hello @IWC1966. 

Thanks for coming here. 

I am sorry to hear this has happened and understand your frustration.  

When you called our customer care team was a complaint opened on your account?

If not I would recommend completing this online form and a member of our complaints team will be in touch.

Speak soon,

Katie

[IWC1966]

A complaint has been opened. However I was told at the time that the problem could not be reversed, our phone number is lost and I can only proceed by opening a new account. I am awaiting a call back from EE for an explanation of how this has happened, why it cannot be resolved and their next steps. Should I now be speaking to the Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme that EE uses?

[Katie_B]

Thanks so much for letting us know that you have a complaint and awaiting a call back @IWC1966. 

EE's complaint code of practice can be found online by visiting this link. 

Katie

[XRaySpeX]

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@IWC1966 wrote:

we will also lose our email addresses unless we pay extra for that full service separately. 

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EE does not provide any email service. So EE cannot make you lose your email addys; only your email provider can.

[IWC1966]

Our email addresses are all BT provided, originating from 20+ years ago. As BT services are now rebranded EE, the emails are on condition of keeping EE services or paying £7.50 to keep each working in the same way. If I don't keep EE broadband, or pay just to keep the emails, they are cancelled. 

[XRaySpeX]

Ah, OK, it's a condition of your BT email that you remain with EE BB to keep your email free.

BT services are not rebranded EE. They are still 2 separate cos. with their own services, products & prices with BT concentrating on business users & EE on consumers.

[IWC1966]

I today received a bill for £246.18, quoting me as ending contract early. As EE ended the contract on me, I will be claiming that from EE. Not a single call from EE since I called on 2 June to explain, apologise, or offer a solution. Told today that I have to recontract for 2 years with BT as my contact details are now indelibly linked to a closed EE account. I also have to get a BT router, which is why I switched to EE as the older BT router was not effective enough. I can, of course, now go elsewhere. Still no working home phone, and our number lost. Just received an email saying my case is closed. It is not resolved, and the ombudsman/Ofcom will have to get involved.

[Peter_W]

Hi again @IWC1966.

I can totally appreciate this will have come as a shock to you, and am disappointed to hear you've not had any further updates since you last spoke with us about this. 

With any case, if you're not satisfied that it has been resolve you can reopen it at any point within the 28 days from when it was closed.

If we were still unable to agree on a resolution from there, it would then be referred to deadlock and can be taken to the Ombudsman for independent review. 

This is definitely a strange one, but if you get back in touch, or go for the complaint option @Katie_B highlighted, I'm confident we can get this resolved.

Peter

[Rbc2]

This happened to me today too. My broadband and home phone had only been in place with EE for 6 days (I had moved home and switched to EE) and suddenly I get an email saying they are sorry to see me go and can they have their equipment back!!! I called and they said they had received a request to move my contract to another provider. This is nothing to do with me. Why would i transfer after only having the service for 6 days? And when it had taken over a month to organise and several calls to get my old number transferred over?? But there was nothing customer services could do. It couldn't be reinstated. Like @IWC1966, I lost all my services, my account and my old number (which had been in place for only 24 hours) and had to start from scratch again. I have to have a new contract, new equipment, set up a new email address, and request my old number be transferred all over again!!! It's appalling that this can happen without my knowledge and without anyone checking that I wanted to cancel or transfer. I clearly didn't transfer to a new provider accidentally (which customer services tried to suggest) because I have had no contact from anyone else and I have no broadband from anyone else. EE had no visibility on who authorised this transfer or which company requested it. How is this possible?! It's a terrible situation. All I can think is that EE has been hacked. It makes no sense.