Okay, I'll continue to document my absurd adventure of terrible customer experience. This time EE literally tried to "trick" me into sending my router for repairs without a replacement/loaned device. If I wasn't suspicious, we would be without internet for 14 days and since both me and my wife are working from home, this would be a nightmare. (We're not just "occasionally" using internet. We both stream desktops of remote computers so both bandwidth and unlimited data is crucial for us)
I've been contacted by someone called Malcolm from the EE Community team. He said he will setup a "Mend and Lend" for me. So even though I've been told they can't send a "loan unit" for the duration of the repair because it's a router (and not a phone) I thought they were making an "exception" this time. Eventually I've been "forwarded" to a Tech Support member and she set the "shipping" for the "Mend and Lend" up.
A day later there was the DPD courier in front of my door. He said he came to "collect" a parcel for EE. I said "Okay but it was a Mend and Lend case so you should have brought me another device". The courier replied "No this is just a pickup, I didn't bring anything. If you want you can decline the collection". And naturally I declined.
I've used "mend and lend" and "replacement" services from other companies before (like Andertons, which has the best customer service, ever) and I know that the same courier (DPD, UPS doesn't matter) brings you another device, hands it to you, then pick up your device.
After this, I called EE again and spoke to another Tech Support member. She checked my records and confirmed a "Mend and Lend" was booked. I said "The DPD courier said he just came to pickup the device with no loaned device" and she replied "Oh if the DPD courier didn't come with a device, it's just the Mend service". As if we just rolled a dice and only DPD courier knew the result... I said "But you claimed it says Mend and Lend in my records, how can it Mend and Lend if I'm not lent a device" and she replied "I know it doesn't make sense, but actually you can only get loan devices only from EE stores if they have one in stock".
At this point I already gave up, because in the past couple of days I spoke to 3 different EE shops (Putney, Wandsworth and Fulham) and I know that they don't have a 5GEE router in stock. In fact, I'm pretty sure no EE shop has them. The cherry of top was she saying, you guessed it right, "I'm sorry you've been misinformed by the other agent".
She continued "I see the community team will give you a call on Monday, let's see what they have to say". And I replied "Okay looks like you won't be able to solve my problem, and I feel like EE just tried to trick me into sending my device to you without a loaned device, so I'll be waiting for the call". We exchanged "thanks" and that was it.
About 2 minutes later I've received an SMS stating my case has been "closed"! Looks like EE just wanted to see if I'd take the bait, and when I didn't, they chose to dismiss the whole situation by "closing the case". Quite astonishing.
It was initially a "poor customer experience". But EE trying to "trick" me easily made this the "most terrible customer experience" I've been through, ever.
As mentioned, we'll be cancelling both mine and my wife's EE phone contracts, and unfortunately we'll continue to suffer with the broken router they gave us until our contract ends because I don't want to pay a 570+ GBP termination fee.
I'll advise anyone against using EE Services because they're not just incapable of solving such a simple problem, but also not shy to try some "trickery" on their customers hoping they take the bait and be done with it.
