I have no idea if EE are still working with Likewize for their trade-in deals, I hope not for the sake of EE and EE's customers. Back in August when the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 was released, I did a deal with EE trading in my Z Fold 3. The process did not go according to plan. More on that later.
Because the process above did not go to plan, when it was time to trade in the S22 Ultra for an S23 Ultra, I went direct to Samsung having lost all faith in EE's system. I pre-ordered my S23 Ultra, received it on 8th February, sent the S22 Ultra off on 16/2 and received an e-mail today (20/2) confirming that MTR Group had received it and that the trade-in process was approved and complete.
From posting the device off to MTR Group to getting the confirmation that the trade-in was acknowledged and finalised, there was a 4-day wait. 4 days, no more, and that included a weekend.
This is how it went with the trade-in through EE and Likewize. The phone was posted on the 6th September 2022. It was delivered and signed for on the next day.
Over the next couple of weeks, I started receiving a steady stream of text message reminders warning me that the trade-in discount was going to be removed from my account because the phone I was trading in hadn't been received. Naturally, I contacted customer service to get the situation ironed out and provided proof that the phone had indeed been delivered. The discount was reinstated.
This happened a further two times. Text message saying the phone wasn't received, the trade-in discount removed, call customer services, give proof that it was received, get the discount reinstated. Third time lucky, the customer service agent added a note to my account telling future operatives not to remove the discount and it's still there to this day.
During the course of the numerous calls to customer service, I learned that the reminder/threat text messages actually come from Likewize but claim to be from EE. EE simply remove the trade-in discount because they've not yet been informed by Likewize that the phone has been received and meets the conditions for the deal.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. I got an interesting text message that was dressed up as if it came from EE but I'm pretty certain it came from Likewize. It confirmed that my Fold 3 had been received.
OVER 4 MONTHS AFTER I SENT IT IN!!!
What kind of company, whose actual JOB is to receive devices being traded in, takes 4 months, not days, to confirm that all is well? Do they not realise that this has implications for customers losing not only the benefit they were expecting but also the goods that entitled them to said benefit? Until I was able to confirm that my trade-in discount was reinstated and there to stay, I felt like I had been scammed out of a perfectly serviceable and certainly not inexpensive phone. It's the kind of experience that I could have done without. I was informed that I was not alone in this situation.
EE should work with MTR Group or with someone who has taken a leaf out of MTR Group's book. This is the kind of operation that needs a quick turn-around to keep customers reassured and to keep customer services from having to waste time dealing with nonsense like this. A 4-month turn-around is simply unacceptable.
Needless to say, I will never be doing a trade-in deal with EE again even if this particular one has been sorted out. Eventually.
