£5 free credit offer

[44RT]

I received a Text from ee offering me £5 free credit if I accepted, which I did and received a further Text saying that the offer had been added to my account and that I had 7 days to top-up with a minimum of £5 which I did and subsequently received a Text acknowledgement. However, my account does not show this free credit, only my top-up payments. Please advise. Thank you.

[HYT001]

No answer for you, sorry,  but the same thing happening to me now. No extra credit added on to my balance apart from the amount I paid for myself. Still getting texts about the special top-up offer, about 5 of these texts since I accepted and topped up! It worked last year when I had the same offer, but this time round, I suspect it won’t work. Frustrating and will see if I can get through to a human on 150

[44RT]

Thanks for your reply.

It's not just me then! I got absolutely nowhere using the 150 route. There was no way that I could see how to speak to a human being; I don't  think they exist at 'ee'! In the end I gave up after deciding that it was all a trick to get me to put £5 into my account. One thing is for sure and that is, should I ever buy a smartphone then I certainly will not be using 'ee' as the service provider. When you get to my age, good customer service is a top priority.

[bristolian]

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@44RT wrote:

should I ever buy a smartphone then I certainly will not be using 'ee' as the service provider. When you get to my age, good customer service is a top priority.

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There's some other angles here. There's plenty of providers who have worse customer-service ratings than EE and the grass may not always be greener.

A smartphone without a good underlying network is a far worse prospect.

[44RT]

Don't worry. I would be doing serious research before taking the plunge! But anyway, thanks for pointing out that I also have to take into account the quality/reliability/coverage of the network.

[HYT001]

Update! I got a reminder to top up for the offer to be activated, so since I needed a bigger balance anyway as I have a busy week ahead. I again topped up £5, thinking that I may have topped up too soon the first time. No, the system is just rubbish! I have since sent texts but my own paid for balance was deducted. I have made a complaint to ee, but it will typically take them 7 days to reply. I’m not holding my breath.

Apart from this, I have found ee has good network coverage and they are one of the companies that allow £5 top ups and do not remove your account if there’s only light usuage. Newer phone companies will re-allocate my number if there is no activity for a while, even if I have a credit balance! Lost £9 this way via giff gaff! I prefer the convenience of payg rather than contract. I’m old so do not need to be on my phone or online, all day for everything.

[XRaySpeX]

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@HYT001 wrote:

Newer phone companies will re-allocate my number if there is no activity for a while, even if I have a credit balance! 

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So will EE! If you have no chargeable activity for 6 months your PAYG SIM will go into hibernation. You then have 3 month's grace to get it back before you lose it completely.

[tachbrook]

The exact same thing has happened to me. I have topped up and not received my £5 credit.

However, I have now received a text from EE saying 'as you have not made a chargeable call/text for 6 months, you will now lose any remaining credit . Your number will also be disconnected in the next 3 months.

This is an untrue statement.

Can anybody advise how I can try and get this sorted. You ring the number and there is not an option to speak to anybodtdy to try to resolve matter

[Katie_B]

Hello @tachbrook. 

Thanks for coming here. 

When did you Top Up?

Did you call our customer care team on 07953 966 150?

Speak soon, 

Katie

[HYT001]

Call 150, or in my case, make a formal written complaint.

https://ee.co.uk/contact-ee/complaint

I filled in the online Complaint form yesterday and they texted today to say they were going to call me soon. Then they called after a few minutes and asked me a couple of security questions and then passed me to the PAYG team. I have now got the £5 offer added. They were helpful and friendly. As for the bit about disconnection, you (and they) can view online what chargeable calls/texts you have made recently and therefore they should also be able to resolve this for you. Good luck!

[HYT001]

Yes, thanks for clarifying that.

I think EE’s 9 months is much better than the 3 months that giff gaff provided. They did send one email reminder and I should have acted upon it, so I accept that it was my fault.