Charged for calling a Spanish mobile when EU roaming is included in my plan

[venetas]

I've noticed an issue on my latest bill where I've been charged for calls to a Spanish mobile number, even though my contract explicitly states that I can use my phone's calls, texts, and data allowance while in Spain.

What's particularly concerning is that I've called this number multiple times during the billing period. EE support confirms that calls to the number starting with 0034649XXXXXX should be free of charge, yet calls to 00649XXXXXX are being charged.

1. It seems the EE system has started treating the same number differently. I've always dialed it with the country code as 0034649XXXXXX, and now it appears the system is misrecording the same number.
2. When I try to dial 00649XXXXXX from Spain, the number doesn't even exist, yet my bill claims I made calls to it totaling 70 minutes (!).

Has anyone else experienced something similar? How long did it take to get this resolved? 

[Chris_B]

@venetas  Calling a 00649 isn’t a EU number that’s a area code for Turks and Caicos Islands 

So you’ll be charged accordingly to that destination as that’s not within the EU that you can call and use your allowance for.    

You can call any EU number while within the EU and use your allowance and this doesn’t cover calls outside the EU as in this case 

[venetas]

The number I called is +34649XXXXXX, however EE claims it's 00649XXXXXX but it says Spain in brackets on my bill.
Additionally, when you dial 00649XXXXXX from Spain, you don't get through as such number simply does not exist.

[bristolian]

Were you roaming in Spain whilst making these calls? Or in the UK?

[XRaySpeX]

An '00' prefix indicates an International code follows it.

'0034' indicates Spain & should work in Spain.

'00649' indicates Turks and Caicos Islands & would be chargeable when called from EU.

So, to call the Spanish no. you want you should use '0034649XXXXXX', not '00649XXXXXX'

[venetas]

Yes, I was in Spain and dialled +34 followd by the Spanish mobile number all the times I've been making a call to this number. Never dialled +64

[venetas]

That's the thing, I've dialled +34 followed by the Spanish mobile number each time I was making a call to this number.

Some of the calls are recorded as +34 by EE and some as +64 despite always having dialled +34.

It's just EE not making record of the +34 in some of the calls.

[venetas]

Never dialled +64, that's the whole point. 

[Caroline_45]

I’m in the same boat. Two calls to restaurants in Portugal while I was in Portugal and EE has turned them into calls to the Middle East despite my mobile showing clearly they are Portuguese numbers. Call centre man said he would credit my account as goodwill as they were chargeable calls. Refused to engage with the problem. Clearly EE’s systems have issues and customers are being punished. Also heard the guy talking to a colleague and laughing at me while I was on the line. Great service!

[Katie_B]

Hello @Caroline_45. 

I am very sorry to hear about your recent experience. 

You can submit a complaint by completing this online form. 

A member of our complaints team will be able to look into your call issues and also investigate the call you had with an EE agent and send some internal feedback. 

Katie