Question about contract length

[lost_soul]

Hi - I have a question for the EE contract team.

I recently renewed my EE mobile contract and noticed that the to and from dates are as follows:

Start : x Mar 2026
End : x Mar 2028

(I used x as I don't wanted to keep precise information out)

However I believe that it should be for x-1 Mar 2028 - as if you buy anything else for a period of time (e.g. a travelcard), it's valid from the time of purchase - and starts on that day - not the day after.

For example, if I buy a travelcard today (Saturday) for 1 week, it will run out on Friday next week (I will still be able to use it on Friday) - not Saturday - as the valid days will be Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday = 7 days - making it valid til Saturday would be 8 days - which is not a week (7 days)

Same applies for months - I know for months, you have some months with 28, 29, 30 or 31 days, but the convention for 1 month is taken as dd-MMM-yyyy and the 1 month will expire on (dd-1)-(MMM+1)-2026 (obviously this statement will not work if month is December!)

Can someone from EE please comment?

[Schockwave]

@lost_soul , contracts do not just end, they continue once the minimum term has been reached and then after the minimum term, continue once a 30 day rolling contract until you decide to upgrade/downgrade or move to another network.

[XRaySpeX]

The End date is the date that the min. commitment term expires. Until x-1 Mar 2028 you are still committed to the contract. 

[lost_soul]

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@XRaySpeX wrote:

The End date is the date that the min. commitment term expires. Until x-1 Mar 2028 you are still committed to the contract. 

There is some ambiguity on my part about your statement of "The End date is the date that the min. commitment term expires" - the key point here is whether you believe the contract is valid on the end date.

If you believe the contract date is NOT valid on the end date, then you should also advocate that the start date of the contract should read (xx-1)-MAR-26, as otherwise the start date would be inclusive and the end date not.

If you log into the EE website and go to manage, where it shows your contract, it should show start date as xx-MAR-26 and end date as (xx-1)-MAR-28 as my understanding is that dates are inclusive.

On xx-MAR-28 I am a free man - this is not the end date of the contract - on this date the contract has endED - it actually ENDS on (xx-1)-MAR-28

[lost_soul]

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@Schockwave wrote:

@lost_soul , contracts do not just end, they continue once the minimum term has been reached and then after the minimum term, continue once a 30 day rolling contract until you decide to upgrade/downgrade or move to another network.

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I take your point and agree with everything you've said, but this is somewhat of a strawman argument - as the point I'm trying to raise is related to the dates of the original 24 month contract.

If you log into the EE website and go to manage, where it shows your contract, it should show a start date in the form of xx-MAR-26 and end date as (xx-1)-MAR-28.  

If I do nothing, then on xx-MAR-28 I should then go onto a monthly contract (which if I do nothing), will then end on (xx-1)-APR-28, and on xx-APR-28 a new rolling monthly contract will then start etc.

The key point here is that the end date of the original 24 month contract should read (xx-1)-MAR-28

To put this another way, if you think the dates that EE have stated are correct, try asking your local transit authority that their weekly pass should start on xx-mmm-yyyy and end on (xx+7)-mmm-yyyy instead of (xx+6)-mmm-yyyy as it currently does.

[XRaySpeX]

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@lost_soul wrote:If you log into the EE website and go to manage, where it shows your contract, it should show a start date in the form of xx-MAR-26 and end date as (xx-1)-MAR-28.  

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But it doesn't! It shows end date as xx-MAR-28 cuz as I said this is the expiration of the min. term. When something's expired it no longer is! It would be clearer called Expiry Date!

After the min. term the same contract doesn't reoccur in chunks of 1 month as you seem to think, but it rolls smoothly from day to day on any of which you can give your 30-days notice.

It's all 1 contract with no fixed end date but having a min. commitment term.

[lost_soul]

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@XRaySpeX wrote:

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@lost_soul wrote:If you log into the EE website and go to manage, where it shows your contract, it should show a start date in the form of xx-MAR-26 and end date as (xx-1)-MAR-28.  

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But it doesn't! It shows end date as xx-MAR-28 cuz as I said this is the expiration of the min. term. When something's expired it no longer is!

After the min. term the same contract doesn't reoccur in chunks of 1 month as you seem to think, but it rolls smoothly from day to day on any of which you can give your 30-days notice.

It's all 1 contract with no fixed end date but having a min. commitment term.

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When you refer to "... the expiration of the min. term", are you referring to the last day of the min term (i.e. the last day it is still valid) or the day after the validity has expired? (and hence the first date of the rolling month segment)?

I believe a worked example may help (below assumes a 12 month contract for brevity - you can extend easily to 24 months):

start date of contract - 21-MAR-26
Month 1 - 21-MAR-26 to 20-APR-26
Month 2 - 21-APR-26 to 20-MAY-26
Month 3 - 21-MAY-26 to 20-JUN-26
Month 4 - 21-JUN-26 to 20-JUL-26
Month 5 - 21-JUL-26 to 20-AUG-26
Month 6 - 21-AUG-26 to 20-SEP-26
Month 7 - 21-SEP-26 to 20-OCT-26
Month 8 - 21-OCT-26 to 20-NOV-26
Month 9 - 21-NOV-26 to 20-DEC-26
Month 10 - 21-DEC-26 to 20-JAN-27
Month 11 - 21-JAN-27 to 20-FEB-27
Month 12 - 21-FEB-27 to 20-MAR-27

So I believe the dates DURING WHICH THE MINIMUM CONTRACT PERIOD ARE VALID ARE:

21-MAR-26 to 20-MAR-27

Also with regard to the rolling 1 month contract I referred to - for the purposes of the point I am trying to make, I'm not concerned with what happens after the minimum contracted period ends - the point of a 1 month rolling contract was made by @Schockwave 

[XRaySpeX]

Your timetable is correct for a 1 year contract (you started this thread with a 2 year contract). The day after the last day of the min. term contract is the expiry of the min term. 

However, all this is hair-splitting!

[lost_soul]

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@XRaySpeX wrote:

Your timetable is correct for a 1 year contract (you started this thread with a 2 year contract). The day after the last day of the min. term contract is the expiry of the min term. 

However, all this is hair-splitting!

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I modified my post a couple of times since I posted the original, so I think you responded to one of the earlier edits.

I don't view this as hair splitting - the concept is important as (for example) when you hand in your notice for a job, you would essentially be working 1 day for free if your employer expected your last working date to be xx-mmm+1-yyyy from the date you submitted your notice if it were xx-mmm-yyyy (unless they said your notice only starts taking effect from the next full working day AFTER you submit your resignation).  Previous situation assumes you had to give 1 month's notice.

If what you say is indeed the case and confirmed by an EE representative, then I believe the information presented on the manage webpage is very badly presented, as one date is inclusive and the other is not.

[XRaySpeX]

My reply still applies!