EE, A True Crime Thriller...

[Tonyenzo]

After being a customer of EE for several years, last year I entered into a contract and since then, I've had nothing but problems.

1. I paid a bill in March and they have continued to chase me for this payment. I've been threatened with debt collectors, threatened with a late payment mark on my credit file and I've been continually harassed by them. Of course, I raised a complaint with a company and the result of this is that they decided to commit CRIME... To prove to EE that the bill was paid I did a Subject Access Request, however rather than provide me with a copy of my information, instead they have conveniently left out all of the information (letters, phone calls, opts outs, payment records etc.) that would prove my case. This is concealment of information, which I believe is an offence under s173 of the Data Protection Act. This of course has been reported to the police. My service has now been suspended and therefore I've terminated my contract with them and moved to another provider. Luckily despite this, I retain all the information necessary to prove my case including the recording of a telephone conversation that EE attempted to conceal.

2. Despite having opted out of marketing multiple times, they refuse to stop sending me marketing messages which is illegal.

3. They failed to provide me with a bill in January and instead threatened me with debt collectors (how kind), finally they provided this bill but of course no apology.
Needless to say, I wouldn't recommend EE...

[Tonyenzo]

Further to my previous review, Sam had asked me to get in touch so that they could find out what has gone wrong. Unfortunately, rather than help, they simply decided to waste my time and in a nutshell, after taking a whole day to authenticate my account, they have in effect, not bothered to look into the matter, simply stating that I have to contact the Executive Team and speak to my complaint handler. They are so inept in the Executive Team that they are unable to read my letters and respond to the questions or use correct punctuation and continue to threaten illegal actions against me. I take it EE will reimburse me for the time spent on this pointless exercise? Of course not, instead it appears they are going to continue their campaign of harassment against me, disparage my credit report, and have debt collectors pursue me for a debt that they know I don't owe (as they have literally telephoned me to confirm that they have received this payment - Conveniently EE refused to provide this telephone recording upon a DSAR request. Unfortunately for them, I do have a copy of this recording which is irrefutable proof of my case). All of this is illegal.

Clearly EE reads these reviews so I am going to explain my next actions should they continue this behaviour:

Here is a list of illegal actions by EE:
- Failure to keep and maintain accurate records
- Failure to provide PAC code on multiple occasions when requested (against Ofcom regulations)
- Breach of contract by failing to provide a bill
- Breach of implied contract by refusing to accept payment on multiple occasions
- Breach of contract when suspending the network service

Offences Committed:
section 2, Protection from Harassment Act 1997 - Harassing me for debt when they are in the full knowledge that there is no debt owed
section 173, Data Protection Act 2018 - Concealing and/or destroying information that should have been disclosed to me in the DSAR request. Namely previous payment records, chat logs, letters and bills.

Here are the illegal actions that have been threatened against me:
- Reporting a late payment on my credit report where there was no late payment against the Data Protection Act
- Passing my personal details to a debt collection agency when no debt is owed against the DPA
- Selling my alleged debt to another company. Once again, this is against the DPA and it is also fraud against whichever poor company would end up buying this debt that doesn't exist.


If you damage my credit report, pass my details to debt collectors, sell my non-existant debt. I will sue for all of the above matters.

I take purposeful breaches of the data protection act very seriously and I may decide to pursue a private criminal prosecution against EE and the relevant employees for the offence listed.

[Tonyenzo]

Here we go for a short part 3!

Further to my last communication, they are still unable to spell-check their letters before sending them out, and now I'm being blackmailed for £460 or have my credit file disparaged. What a [terrible] company.

Hopefully, this will serve as a warning to others before they enter into any form of contract with EE.

[Chris_B]

@Tonyenzo  you say you have a telephone recording of this conversation and I take it you recorded this yourself and I take it that you inform the person you were speaking with that you was going to record that conversation ?   It you didn’t inform that person you cannot use that recording in any legal case whatsoever to back up your claim it is an illegal recording and you can only use that for private use.   I hope for your sake that you did inform that EE agent and you do have their acknowledgement recorded and that they were okay with you recording it.    

 You can not legally use a recorded conversation of a phone call without the consent of the person you’re recording.    Why did you think you hear  “ this phone call may be recorded for training purposes”   that means it might be recorded not that it will be recorded and you have the chance to hang up or carry on with the phone call.     Unless you are given permission by the government to record a conversation via a phone call for national security you have to have permission of the recipient of that call to use that recording in any legal matter, no permission just means you can use it for private use.   You can not even reference any part of that call in a legal matter without consent to the recording.   

[Tonyenzo]

Hi Chris,

The conversation in reference was a voicemail, and it's not illegal to record conversation in the UK as a private individual. It is also admissable as evidence in court even without the persons consent so I am covered on that basis. In the USA depending upon state, the rules are different

James

[Schockwave]

@Tonyenzo , I would hate to find that someone recorded a conversation without first informing me of doing so, that is why companies inform you first, I just wonder where you got that information from, that it is admissible. It is different when on CCTV or dashcam, then that is admissible. 

You can also launch a complaint, there is a complaints form you can fill in, this is just a public forum.

[Chris_B]

@Tonyenzo  Perhaps you should read THIS  then.    

[Chris_B]

@Tonyenzo  Sorry I should have put what has the USA got to do with it.  This is the UK and US law has no bearing on this what’s so ever. 

[Tonyenzo]

I appreciate that people might not like me recording conversation but here's the thing, it was from an EE employee to myself. That means it is my personal data as it references me and I can obtain it under the DPA. I don't really care if it's not nice to record a conversation, it's not nice being a victim of crime and being harassed.

I've read the link that you posted and it does say that recordings are admissable as evidence, confirming my position. I was nearly referencing the USA to show the differences in the law across the pond that's all.

[Chris_B]

@Tonyenzo   Your not mentioned it’s only admissible if the other party agrees that it can be admissible.     Read all of it and understand that it’s not just what you think it is.    Seems like you only want to law to be on your side and are actually ignoring what actually is law.    

You can not even allow someone to hear a recording without consent of the recorded party. 

“ Things change if the matter is addressed with a claim for damages or if the recordings have been shared without the consent of the participants. Even worse, if the recording is sold to third parties or released in public without the consent of the participants then this could be considered a criminal offence.“

best of luck to you if you haven’t requested permission to share a recording without consent of the 3rd party that was recorded.