Mis-sold Flex Pay upgrade in store

[Astral64]

Hey all, I hope someone would be able to provide some insight to an issue I believe i'm facing.

I was in store 2 days ago to upgrade my contract via the upgrade anytime feature (for £100) which I always ensure I take with any contract as I typically upgrade every year.

I said to the sales person a specific iPhone 16 deal for £74 per month that had upgrade anytime as a feature, and he went through the system and instead offered a flex pay plan for £68 per month, with the airtime over 2 years, and the device over 3 years. I made sure to confirm twice throughout the sale and again just before the end of the sale that upgrade anytime was still a feature and he said yes it was, and at any time of the contract I can still do the upgrade anytime as long as I pay the fee and return the handset.

I've just checked my account and it literally says "because you are paying off your phone, you're not eligible for an upgrade". I'm obviously not looking to upgrade now, but that made me a bit concerned that the app was saying that under my plan, and upon a Google search I can see that EE blatantly says on their website that Upgrade Anytime is not a part of any flex plan.

Is there  anything I can do with this? I have no interest in a 3 year contract and only agreed to it because I was told I could still upgrade anytime. Given EE do not allow returns on in store sales, is there any potential to not return the phone, but change the contract to the £74 24 month contract I initially wanted?

Thanks!!

[Schockwave]

Hello @Astral64 ,

Welcome to the community,

Once you have paid off the payment for your IPhone, you should be able to upgrade anytime, as the agreement is 3 years, that is why you cannot upgrade at the moment, and that is why it says you are not eligible for an upgrade, so he has not mislead you in that sense, but you would have to pay the flex pay for the IPhone in full before you can upgrade again.

You can always pay more per month if you so wish, it just makes it easier for customers to have a 3year flex pay and then a sim only contract, hope this makes sense.

[Ali_A]

Hi @Astral64 

Welcome to the Community. 

Sorry to hear your disappointment that Upgrade Anytime is not available on our new Flex plans.

Although not quite the same, with FlexPay you could still upgrade to a new contract at any time, provided the airtime plan is paid off in full and you're sticking with us for the new contract. (You would still see an early cancellation fee on the airtime plan if you were to pay this off and leave outright though). 

As Flex Pay style contract works differently from the Subsidy contracts, it won't be possible to change your plan. 

Have you been back to the store to discuss the conversation you had at the time of upgrade? 

Ali 
 

[Astral64]

Hey, thanks for the reply. To clarify, I am referring to the EE titled feature "Upgrade Anytime" that is a feature of specific contracts, not the concept of simply upgrading anytime. 

I asked if Upgrade Anytime was a feature of this specific contract, and if I wanted could I pay the set fee and upgrade at any point of the contract without incurring the full "pay out of the contract" fee, and he assured me this feature was part of it.

I believe the member of staff was new, however as he needed to call over a colleague to help him a number of times, which I think is where the issue lies

[Astral64]

I think i'll need to go into store next week once I'm back from a trip as I absolutely made it clear I require the Upgrade Anytime feature as part of this deal and he assured me it was and I wouldn't need to pay the phone off in full before doing so.

[Ali_A]

Thanks for getting back @Astral64 

That's a good first step, as they may be able to discuss what options the can help with. 

Please keep us updated with how you get on. 

Ali