How can EE behave like this?

[PI1]

I was just out of contract with BT and had been offered a renewal deal of £31.99 per month for full fibre 500MB but I was just out of time on the original deal offer.  I discussed with BT and, after I had talked it through with them and emailed them proof of the original deal, they agreed to offer me the same so long as I changed to EE.  I agreed, but as soon as I received the documents it turned out they were charging me £36.99.  There was no way to respond to these documents other than calling them.  When I called them (and every time I called them it took a long time to get through to them) they said they would honour the original offer, but they had to listen to the call and it took 24 hours for the call to be available for them to listen to it.  Next day they simply said they couldn't honour the deal.  So I cancelled and changed to another provider.

I then called 10 days after this to make sure they understood that I had cancelled within the 14 day cooling off period.  They confirmed that they understood this, they checked and they repeatedly reassured me that if the transfer took place as planned then I would have nothing further to pay.  I said that I didn't trust them from my previous dealings with them but they repeatedly reassured me that it would be ok and that the recordings of the call were evidence that I would not be billed.  The transfer took place as planned and they immediately told me I owed them about £300 in cancellation charges.  I called, they told me that although they agreed I had cancelled within the 14 day cooling off period their systems routinely churned out this sort of rubbish (my paraphrase) but it would all work our over the next few days and I wouldn’t actually be billed these cancellation charges.  I've just been billed these cancellation charges!!! 

I have made formal complaints throughout this process, they don't make a difference.  I will be complaining to the Communications Ombudsman and, if necessary, pursuing this all the way through legal proceedings, but please do yourself a favour and avoid this appalling company no matter what they promise you or what they say.    They don't even deserve one star.

[PI1]

Not even sure what that means @XRaySpeX  sounds like your argument is getting a bit desperate.  Also, interested to know how you interpret the second sentence of my second paragraph which states that EE agreed that I had cancelled within the 14 day cooling off period and that no cancellation charges would be payable.  How would this make sense if I had cancelled so far outside of the cooling off period?

[Mustrum]

@PI1   no one on here has access to account information, so  you will need to speak to Customer Services. It may just be a timing issue that means you have the bills before they have been cancelled, automation does take time to catch up, or maybe someone has not done what they said they would.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

[zulu17]

Thank you for your clarifications @PI1 . There do seem several area of concern here that hopefully the company will look at. They might need a bit of prodding to do so. According to information previously posted in this community there are three levels of complaint handling that  EE operate at.  (The guide that you raise it with , if unresolved a team manger and then ultimately the Executive Complaints Team). I would suggest that if speaking to EE again you do ask for it to be passed to the Executive Complaints Team. You should at least get a contact point that way.Timelines allowed  for complaint resolution are quite generous to the company unfortunately.

[PI1]

Thanks @zulu17 that's really helpful information.  I will ask for it to be passed to the Executive Complaints Team.  

I'm a litigation lawyer and I will get it resolved appropriately, even if I have to take it to a court judgment.  My worry is that more vulnerable people may be mistreated in this manner and never get to the resolution they deserve.  It's very poor from such a major player in the UK telecoms market and the fact that EE are delivering such an atrocious level of poor service deserves to be more widely known.

[Katie_B]

Hello @PI1. 

Thanks for coming here. 

I have sent you a private message for more information.

Speak soon, 

Katie

[8632958]

We recently joined EE broadband. Worst thing we have ever done. We were left to connect everything ourselves. Easy for some people but we are elderly. Not used to tech. Nothing works properly. Technician on phone for 2hrs 20mins. Still not great. He advised us to go back to Virgin!!! Biggest load of rubbish I’ve ever invested in