Complete waste of time - "new" customer via BT and false deals

Annoyed_Dave · ‎16-10-2023

I am in the market for both a new contract and phone and was enticed when I seen that I can get 30% off the contract as well as a "Flex" agreement on the handset via EE:
https://ee.co.uk/mobile/pay-monthly-phones-gallery/best-of-both

Note there is NOTHING whatsoever on this site to indicate this is currently available to "existing" customers only.

I completed the ordering process, passed all security checks, then just received a note to "call" customer services...
They advised my "home address" was wrong for my bank account (which I checked and confirmed was nonsense), before then advising they could sort this....

Except, they can't. I was very close to taking out a £42 contract for the same, except instead of two different agreements (1 being the phone which I could happily pay off at any time), I was going to be locked in at £42 for 2 years...
I initially cancelled this as I was unhappy at having to pay any extra at all given what was offered on the site... but then afterwards realised the above and I am so glad I didn't proceed.

They also told me they couldn't even do this (the Flex agreement) and it could only be done online or by certain teams.

I then spoke to customer services to complain, who looped me back to the same team, who then advised the same again, but to either phone customer services to get it put through via Flex (as they might have or know the team that have access).. or to just try again online.

Very frustrated already at this point.. I tried again. This time it took the £30 initial payment from me for the phone... then an hour or so later.. AGAIN told me to call customer services. So I call the number in the email and wait on hold 3 times before it went to a silent tone and I was hung up on: 0800 956 5029

I then spoke to chat who also concluded they couldn't help, so gave me this number: 0800 079 0531

Once through to them... again wasting my time, told the same thing with the best deal being a full contract (no benefit of separate phone payment) of £60 per month.

Told that there was an "error" on the website that meant "new" customers were getting access to this deal only meant for "existing" customers.

What an absolutely ridiculous fiasco this has been. There is nothing on your site, nothing on BT's site and nothing stopping me from placing this order only to extremely frustratingly find out that it's void after having to make phone calls I didn't want to make.

And the final insult... you took £30 out of my account before telling me I now have to wait 3 to 5 business days before I can get it back. Utterly ridiculous.

If this is how you treat "new" customers, then I am absolutely thankful I'll never be one. I was in the middle of suggesting my wife also get a SIM only deal with yourselves too, as reception issues have plagued us on Three, but I'll gladly revoke that suggestion after this horrendous experience.

Christopher_G · ‎17-10-2023

Hi @Annoyed_Dave

Welcome to the community. I'm really sorry to hear of your experience.

Are you a BT broadband customer? That page that you posted says 'BT broadband customers get exclusive and exciting offers on EE pay monthly phone plans and SIM only deals'.

Chris

Annoyed_Dave · ‎17-10-2023

Yes I am.

Tell that to customer service who told me it's only for "existing" EE
customers (despite it not saying this anywhere....)

Nobody on the phone able to fix it either as I chose Flex pay for the
handset (to keep phone and bill separate).

Total farce.

Kirigaya_Kazuto · ‎17-10-2023

From what I can see, you have to be a BT broadband subscriber to get these deals

The new customer deals would be on this page:

EE Mobile | Mobile Phones, Tablets & Mobile Wifi | EE

If you want to gp with EE for Sim only, i'd recommend LycaMobile, they operate on EE and are very fairly priced

Annoyed_Dave · ‎17-10-2023

Been a BT Broadband customer for 3+ years now. This wasn't the issue.

Kirigaya_Kazuto · ‎17-10-2023

Oh, I understand what you mean now.... Yeah, that's very confusing as the website pretty much implies it is also available to "new" EE customers that have BT Broadband

Annoyed_Dave · ‎17-10-2023

They said they can't use Flex pay for "new" customers. i.e. that option is only meant to be available for existing customers. Yet it is not noted anywhere between original links, through to completing my order.

In my opinion, my original order should have been honoured, yet it seems EE haven't bothered to provide access to most of their teams to the Flex pay system, so nobody could complete that for me, even if they wanted to.

Yesterday was an infuriating experience for me (many hours wasted).

Christopher_G · ‎17-10-2023

Flex Pay plans and the Better as One 30% are available to new EE customers, @Annoyed_Dave.

We don't have access to your account here to check the reasons why these weren't available to you. I understand how frustrated you have been with this process. If you would like to raise a complaint, you can do so through a webform on our complaints page. That team will look into this and get back to you.

Chris

Annoyed_Dave · ‎18-10-2023

The order process just failed to complete properly both times. Leaving me with a page asking me to call EE.

Then when calling, nobody I spoke to had the necessary access, (Flex pay), to actually fix my order. So even IF that bit of info I was provided with was also incorrect, no-one on the other end had the tools to sort it anyway. As I said, total farce.

I've received a few phone calls now, clearly attempting to rectify this, albeit just way too late. I've already procured a contract and handset elsewhere and have no reason to cancel this.

Thankfully, the ordering process via the competitor was extremely slick and the device even arrived the next day (yesterday). I was also able to separate payments for the handset and contract with no issue.