EE did not block third party charges

[Tjade]

I have had to pay £258 as EE did not block third party charges when I reported my phone stolen & specifically asked.

My iPhone 13 was stolen on the 13th October 2024. I immediately went into the EE store in, Greater Manchester that morning on the 13/10/24 to  report my phone as stolen. I wanted to ensure no one would be able to access any third party finances through my phone.  I immediately saw text messages with the third party charges.

 I specifically asked the man on shift who was helping me to BLOCK all third party charges on my iPhone as it was stolen. As my phone provider it is a legal requirement to block all third party charges when a phone is reported stolen. This was not done. 

I also called apple on the 13th to ask them to put my phone into lost most. As EE did not block third party charged (AS REQUESTED) It has lead to someone (unauthorised account confirmed by Apple) being able to access my apple billing and charge £258 worth of apple bills to my EE account.

For the past 3 months, EE have continued to shut down my services as Apple charged them the £258, I was being promised by different advisors this will be investigated and that I will receive a call back. I have also had to keep putting the payment In dispute which has now lead to my credit score being impacted by -60 points!

Apple are refusing to refund EE the money, as they said third party charges were not blocked to EE, so they are not liable for the charges. 

This is completely unfair to me as a customer having to pay £258 of Apple Bills, because my data was not protected and blocked, when requested! 

I would like to stress that you should not allow third party charges on my bill unless I gave consent which I haven't. Furthermore, third party charges on a phone bill are the most unsecured type of transactions and you should not allow them under any circumstance, particularly if you do not take responsibility when the transactions are fraudulent.

I have now paid the £258 to longer impact by credit records but I will give you 48 hours to resolve this matter after  which time I will contact the press and television and I will leave EE for another provider.

[bristolian]

There is no access to individual customer accounts on this public forum, you should persist with EE-CS and follow their formal complaints process if you're unhappy.

My understanding of "charge to bill" is that consent is given via the third party by means of password/PIN, indeed the Spend Cap facility has no control over these charges either. I rather suspect your complaint about Apple charges lies with Apple themselves.

[Katie_B]

Hello @Tjade. 

Thanks for coming here. 

Are you aware if a complaint has been opened on your account?

You can find a copy our complaints process by visiting this page. 

If you have not yet opened a complaint I would recommend doing this by completing our online complaints form and a member of our complaints team will be in touch soon. 

Katie

[Tjade]

I have already spoke to Apple several times of this issue. They have denied the refund request as they said third party charges to EE were not blocked, therefore the fraudulent charge was compromised.

Which is my problem, as when I went into store and reported my stolen phone, they confirmed to me all third-party charges were blocked on my account.

I have now been advised by the complaints team people in store cannot block third-party charges. I also spoke to a agent on the phone in store and requested they block any external charges or anything linked to Apple. Might of not used the terminology ‘third party’ but thinks it’s pretty flipping clear.  So my issue here is as a customer why was I not advised this and PROTECTED?! 

[bristolian]

The advice from Apple has a strong hint of "they would say that, wouldn't they", about it.

Although unsurprising, that doesn't make it correct advice