Renewing Contract - EU Roaming Included

[viperdudeuk]

Hi

I usually renew the contracts for my wife and I once a year in November. Last November I spoke to someone on the phone at EE who said they would include EU roaming for free if I renewed for another year. This was after I said I would request PAC to move to another network if EU roaming was not included. Low and behold we discovered on a trip to Spain a few months later that the agent I spoke didn't enable EU roaming for free and when I complained to EE they didn't want to know. 

Now I have in the last week spoke to EE about again renewing in November. I explained to the polite women on the phone what happened last year and she assured me that when the time came to renew she would call me and give me EU roaming for free. She said she would prove I would be getting it by a "screen share" what ever she meant by that. 

So should I give them the benefit of the doubt this year or will these people tasked with getting you to renewal your contract say anything to get you to agree?

[MBEE]

This is now making me decidedly nervous of the call-back I'm expecting from retentions team tomorrow and I may just think twice.

I have 4 numbers on my account, all of which are still on an out-of-contract plan started pre-brexit and not one of them got charged in trips to Europe very recently; existing plan mins, sms and data all included. I was under the impression that nothing could be done for any upgrade / plan started after 07.07.23 either but I've just been offered a new 12 month deal (again, thought min was now 24) with EU roaming thrown in also. Sounds like the same situation as viperdudeuk, to me.

On a related note, I definitely wasn't charged in Australia a couple of years ago either! I'm sure the US, Canada, Mexico, Oz and NZ also (randomly!) used to be included with EU roaming. Has that changed? See here:

https://community.ee.co.uk/t5/Mobile-Services/Roaming-in-USA-was-it-not-included/m-p/1239933 

[Katie_B]

Hello @MBEE. 

Depending on what plan you had in past some plans included roaming in USA, Australia, Mexico and New Zealand etc. It could well be the plan you had included these countries which is why you have been able to roam at no additional charge. 

Are you aware of what 12 monthly SIM the team were discussing with you?

Katie

[MBEE]

Hi Katie

I've not had the call-back still but in any case, I don't think I'll be switching; I'm still on the same plan I had when I went to Oz, so presume this 'additional roaming' over and above EU roaming should still be included and would be quite a thing to relinquish. My bill shows my plan is a heavily discounted 'EE SIM 1GB £14R' but there's a broadband account data boost on there, plus additional data boosts for the other numbers on my account. It is 4G only, though.

I'm not aware of the name of the new plan being offered, no, but the details I was given were 12 month 5G contract with unlimited minutes and texts, 6GB data and EU roaming. The rep was looking into whether I'd be able to keep my existing broadband boosts as they too are more generous than the current offerings.

Going back to @viperdudeuk's original query, there's an earlier post on this thread claiming the EU roaming add-on is "free but to use your allowances within the EU you’ll be charged"; not sure I follow this, doesn't it imply the add-on is now effectively worthless and a contradiction in terms? A bit like giving someone a free train ticket, then telling them they have to pay for the journey anyway once they've boarded?! 😄

[XRaySpeX]

@MBEE : The add-on itself is free to have & it gives you the ability to use any of your UK allowances in the EU at a charge of £2.29 for each day that you do so, instead of not being able to use any of your UK allowances in the EU at all.

Taking your train analogy it's a bit like buying a £30 Rail Card entitling you to cheaper train fares when you do travel.

[MBEE]

Ah, gotcha, thanks. In that case, it really doesn't look like I'll be switching for now.

The existence of this thread and some of the earlier posts maybe suggests a need for more clarity from EE CS teams when offering "EU roaming for free" to customers.