EE massively overcharging customers once contract ends.

[HamishS]

My 24 month contract with EE has just ended today, and in the run up to the end date I have had texts and emails from EE about the contract price once it ends. 
EE is telling me that unless I take action and choose a new plan they will continue to charge me the existing price of my current plan. Bear in mind that my current plan cost includes the price of the handset, so from paying off and buying my handset over the course of 24 months EE is wanting to charge me the same amount as if I was still paying off a handset. This cannot be in line with consumer rights, surely?  
For EE to say they’ll just leave things as they are for now until I choose a new plan is disgustingly parasitic. For more context, my handset is one from their “Good As New” range, so not even a brand new product that I’ve paid off during my contract. Now EE are fully aware that I own this handset but will continue to charge me the same, hugely inflating the cost of the contract just to balance it out for their sake. 
Now obviously I am not continuing with this plan and will choose a new one to reduce the cost,  but knowing that this tactic is the default for EE is disgusting. It’s set up in such a way to rinse their own customers for huge profit knowing that a lot of their customers who are likely vulnerable and may not be so vigilant in keeping up to date with their phone plan will be getting ripped off by EE who would rather let this kind of thing happen without considering the people affected. 

I have only posted this to alert others who might not realise that their service provider is acting like a parasite and unless you are able to take control they will just completely abuse your position as a customer. Really disgraceful stuff. Change you methods EE because you will likely have lawsuits about this in the future. 

[XRaySpeX]

EE's traditional contracts have no concept of paying off the handset. You agreed to pay the same price for the full duration of the contract. There will however be a 10% discount 3 months after the end of min. term. You may always choose to upgrade your contract to a cheaper SIM-Only contract from the last 45 days of your contract term.

[bristolian]

You are free to choose a SIM-only plan once your minimum term has ended, and EE - as per industry requirements - has notified you of this option in advance of the pertinent date. You can request this once in the 45day upgrade window, and will take effect on the "out of contract" date - no overcharging will take place at any time.

The new FlexPay plans will likely suit you in the future, where the hardware/device & airtime elements are contractually separated.

[Chris_B]

@HamishS  It was in the contract T&Cs that you agreed too at the time what will happen at the minimum term date  so your basically saying you not read the contract or understand it. 

[HamishS]

Did you not read or understand my post?
EE know exactly what they’re doing when they have policies in place like this, and you know it too. My post here was criticism of the tactic that they’re using and the fact it will likely take advantage of their most vulnerable customers. 

By your comment I gather that you have no issue with a price that stays the same, costing as much as if you were paying for a handset and contract together. 
Just because it’s in the T&Cs doesn’t mean it’s not a disgustingly greedy tactic from EE to make a huge profit from a setup that relies on their customers not realising they’re being charged huge amounts of money for no reason. 

Why else would they be having to make changes to the transparency of their pricing? Why would they be needing to start showing the actual increasing price each March? Because as it stands right now they use yet another sly trick to make people think the increase is 3.9% when it’s got an additional 10% they hide under an acronym. EE and the other phone networks are all in hot water for this, I’m not just randomly piping up for the sake of it.
The more customers that make noise about this the more likely it’ll be that they realise we have the ability to influence change. But then there’s people like you who just jump into these posts and say the same thing every time. 

[Chris_B]

@HamishS  And it’s all stated in the T&Cs of the contract and that you took out.    It very transparent if you had read it.   The only ones who complain about this are the ones who don’t know what happens at the minimum term date be a hey didn’t read the contract.    You are complaining about not knowing this you think it’s EEs fault. 

[HamishS]

Thanks for the clarification and info.
These new plans only exist because of the bad press they were getting from being so underhanded with this policy. 
We need to speak out against the way these tactics are employed to take advantage and make vast profits from their customers. EE need to see that the policies they use are abusive and they wouldn’t be having to switch up their transparency unless they had been getting into hot water over the issue. 

[HamishS]

EE know exactly what they’re doing and they know exactly how to get away with the policies that reap huge profits from customers who are unlikely to speak out. Saying they “have no concept of paying off the handset” is the most bogus idea, they wouldn’t have had to scramble to change the way contracts are structured now without being the subject of multiple reports about the underhanded tactics they’re guilty of using among with the other major networks. 

[HamishS]

Ok thanks so much for the input 

[nothingaboutme0]

I understand your frustration with EE's pricing approach, but I do want to acknowledge that EE does provide a reliable service. While their pricing strategy may need some adjustments, they have a strong network and customer support.