£50 to move my number across

[PtarrS]

I requested that my mobile number got transferred to EE. Even before the service started (which, after a phone call was meant to start three weeks later) I received a bill for £74. Now, the contract I chose when I asked for the portability of my number was £24. There was a £50 charge which I did not understand. During the phone call above mentioned I was informed that I have a "bellow average" credit score, and so the deposit had to be paid, but it would be returned after 3 months. I am actually one of those people who checks his credit score every month and I know that this was not accurate. In fact, during the call I checked it again and no issues. I am a full time permanently employed professional. I never had any issues of this kind, so I asked for the £50 to be removed, or to rescind my request to move my number across to EE. Suffice to say that EE has lost a customer and even if they were to get back to me now to say that they would wave the charge, why would I come back to a company whose customer service is deplorable?

[bristolian]

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@PtarrS wrote:

I am actually one of those people who checks his credit score every month and I know that this was not accurate.

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A "credit score" is a popular misconception. What you have is a statutory credit file, which individual lenders use to confidentially score you against their specific criteria.

Some credit agencies create their own set of arbitrary criteria and use this to sell you a "credit score". This number is meaningless outside that particular firm.

[XRaySpeX]

A Credit Score is just marketing hype on the part of the Credit Reference Agencies. EE will be looking of your whole credit history, or lack of it. How many credit arrangements have you taken out, how many credit cards have you, what is your repayment history with them, ...?

[Matt_124]

The charge was not for porting your number as you have implied in your subject line.

It is more likely to have been a "Deposit for Service" quoted on the bill, a type of Security Deposit based on the results of your Credit Check. It would have been explained to you when your order was processed.

There are two types of deposit:

A Registration Deposit and a Feature Deposit.

You can read more about them here: https://ee.co.uk/help/billing-payments/guide-to-bill/reasons-why-your-mobile-bill-might-be-higher-th... 

Credit Checks are based on much more than a "Credit Score", which is entirely arbitrary.

They look at the credit file in more detail than a single number. It's entirely possible for someone with a high "credit score" to receive a lower credit check result, or even fail a credit check, due to a variety of factors. Even trivial sounding issues such as spelling errors can affect this.

There is a little bit of information here on credit files etc: https://ee.co.uk/help/billing-payments/financial-support/credit-files-explained 

There is also more information available on the web from other sources to explain why this may happen.

[XRaySpeX]

Just to be clear a "Statutory Credit Report" isn't something that Credit Reference Agencies or lenders hold on you by dint of statute but a copy of the credit report information that they hold on you that you have a statutory right to request from them at any time. It doesn't exist as such until you request it. I don't have a "Statutory Credit Report" anywhere as I've never requested 1.