I was not looking forward to visiting the EE shop in the Merry Hill shopping centre, Dudley, with my elderly Mum.
My Mum is similar to so many other elderly people, where technology baffles her and therefore she relies heavily on the support and guidance of EE employees on the shop floor, having to put her trust wholly in their hands.
I received a phone call from my Mum telling me she'd signed up to a 24 month contract for double the amount she was currently paying. She was stressed, as she couldn't access her new phone because she'd entered her old pin into the new phone too many times and it had locked her out. I reassured her that we could sort it out, as EE have this fantastic 14 day grace period, and that we could pay for the new phone and get a more reasonable monthly payment and sort out getting her phone unlocked.
I had a very frustrating phone call with EE explaining to me that the 14 day grace period didn't apply in store and that my Mum had been told that once she'd left the shop, there was no turning back and she was then committed to the contract. This baffled me, as there must be so many, who commit to phone contracts, not fully understanding what is entailed until family members or friends explain it to them. The advice was for my Mum to pop to one of the phone shops at the centre and pay for them to factory reset her phone. How was this going to help? She'd be back in the same situation not knowing how to use her new phone.
Now, to the positive. I popped in to EE with Mum yesterday and initially spoke to Liam, the manager. I didn't think that I was going to achieve anything that day, but just wanted Mum's phone unlocked. As I explained what had happened, Liam immediately made me feel at ease and looked into the contract that Mum had signed up for. He sorted her out with a much more appropriate monthly payment for Mum's needs and then introduced me to Priti. With Liam's direction, Priti accompanied us to get Mum's phone unlocked at no extra cost. She was absolutely delightful and understanding. We walked out of the EE shop with an unlocked phone, Mum's old pin set up for her, so she wouldn't get confused how to access the phone and a note added to her account explaining that Mum needed extra direction and things written down for her in future to make things easier for her. What an absolute breath of fresh air! I really can't thank Liam and Priti enough.
