mis-sold TV package

[Sdgowland]

I decided to upgrade to fibre when it arrived in around March this year. 

Was clearly told on the call that my package would be the same for TV if I moved this to EE too at the same time.

It then turns out that I was mis-sold the TV package as I have lost Now TV movies and now have netflix with adverts, whereas before I had no adverts.

The sales person also mis-sold me an extra sim card which I have had compensation for.

It has now been 5 weeks and I have had to chase up again.

Does anyone know which of the two ombudsman services I need to go to on a TV complaint?

[Nikkid197405]

Yes i did and despite the phone records clearly stating what was offered for the price i have been told that you will not honour what you quoted originally and i should cancel if i dont like the new offer!!!!! Also, asking people to sign their contracts on the phone whilst the advisor holds on is pressured sales.

I have reported all of this to the Ombudsman and the fact that all you have done is text me to say case is closed and offered no deadlock letter.

Absolute shambles and this needs highlighting to as many potential customers as possible to steer clear of EE so the more people that report you to the Ombudsman the better

[Katie_B]

Hi @Nikkid197405. 

Thanks for getting back to me. 

Could you please confirm if the complaint was closed from our front line team or our Executive Care team?

Katie

[Nikkid197405]

No idea as i can’t get past the first advisor I speak to. Was told yesterday i would be put through to a manager and then told i couldnt and to accept revised offer or would have to leave!!!

I asked to be put through to complaints team and was told i could only speak to a manager but after being on hold for ages the advisor came back to say no and that they would not be changing their stance. I havent gone into the full details here of what has taken place but many regulations have been broken, including failure to issue a deadlock letter and only close the case by text  so the Comms Ombudsman can now take this matter up. 

Once they have dealt with this, i cant wait to get away from EE, huge mistake moving over from my other provider, but when you’re lied to over the phone, believing you’re getting a great package, only to find you haven’t upon installation and nothing is as promised, I can see why so many consumers are now in this awful predicament. Truly disgraceful 

[Katie_B]

Hi @Nikkid197405. 

Thanks for confirming. 

I am going to send you a private message for more information. 

Speak soon, 

Katie

[JorinC]

I've just been reading this post and the comments and see that my experience is not a one-off.  I have now issued a complaint to EE and am awaiting a response.  We renewed our contract with EE in November, having been happy customers for many years but my recent experience has been very disappointing. 

The 6-month offer for the Entertainment package wasn’t made clear during the call. Both myself and my son, who was listening to the call, thought the deal was for the whole contract.  It was £1 a month initially and is now £22 a month, which we weren’t expecting. 

Documents were reviewed during the call, which was extremely long, so we didn’t pick up on the small print. 

The call was 1 hour 20 mins long due to EE’s requirement to create a new account, including credit checks, even though we’ve been with them for years. 

I couldn’t use my usual email address because it was already in use for our existing account. Fortunately I had an alternative, which I didn’t really want to use. I then had to phone again later on to change this, as it wasn’t possible to change online. 

I have also been shocked by the 30p/minute call for landline calls, which means a few fairly brief calls on the landline can quickly add up to a substantial amount. 

We also had £6.25 increase earlier this year, which I was not expecting. The sales call had mentioned an annual increase of a ‘few’ pounds or a small increase - I can’t remember the exact words but I wasn’t expecting this much, which I believe is the maximum increase allowed.

Lessons to be learned here are - don't read the documents while you're on the phone (have them emailed); don't accept vague figures (ask for specifics); don't expect customer loyalty (shop around); I've recently seen £300 cash offers for new customers to join to help pay exit fees from other suppliers. EE's exit fee is over £400 for our contract ...  I've also seen special offers for new customers which are less than our basic contract price.  I am very much hoping EE will come back to us with an offer which makes this contact feel more worthwhile.  They are allegedly going to listen to the original call and I'm sure they'll be as bored and frustrated with it as I was at the time!

Tried to post and got this message 'Your post has been changed because invalid HTML was found in the message body. The invalid HTML has been removed. Please review the message and submit the message when you are satisfied.' No idea what this what and cannot see that anything has been removed. 

[Weerab2024]

It's always best to do your own homework. 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but check the website first as it will show you the extent of the deal. You will also have an email after signing up with your agreed package broken down by cost. 

I highly doubt you will see a TV package for £1 a month for the entirety of the contract these days and in line with most other TV, broadband or mobile contracts the bills do go up very April in line with indexation.

EE do offer special promotions from time to time for reduced costs for part or whole of the contact (usually by about £5 for whole contracts) but if you sign up outside those there's nothing that can usually be done. 

[JorinC]

Thank you for your reply. I was always under the impression that better deals were offered when you phoned and that these aren't always visible on the website but maybe I'm mistaken about that. I've never felt the need to check every minute detail because I've always felt the contracts we've had were good value and the renewal process has always been straightforward. This recent experience was just a catalogue of disappointments! I should have complained initially about the renewal process and the ridiculously long phone call but I was too worn down by it all to be bothered.  We didn't ask about the Entertainment package - it was offered to us. I would argue, therefore, that it should have been spelt out extremely clearly during the call that it was for 6 months only. Yes, hindsight is a wonderful thing and I will be so much more careful next time and look elsewhere too, something I've never done very seriously because I was happy with EE. Sadly, I am no longer a happy customer. I've looked back over my first 6 invoices and nowhere does it mention that the Entertainment deal is for 6 months only. Of course it is mentioned on the contract documents but certainly isn't highlighted - it is literally in the 'small print'.  I'm sure this is all done very carefully to catch people out. 'Buyer beware!'

[garybs29]

It's not in the small print, it's laid out in big lettering in the middle of discounts etc in what's sent & order confirmation. Yes there sounds like issues with your order but it absolutely was not buried away in the small print

[JorinC]

I looked at the documents yesterday -  I wouldn't say it was 'big lettering' but my main point is that this was not made explicitly clear during the sales process.  I know it was up to me to go through the documents carefully, which I obviously didn't do properly because I felt stressed and under pressure during the absolute farce of the 1 hour 20 minute call to renew our contract. Perhaps I shall have to admit defeat if EE can prove that it was clearly explained after they've reviewed the recording of the call, which is what they said they will do.  If they want to keep me as a reasonably happy customer then I'm hoping they'll agree to remove the entertainment package, which does not represent good value for us. We rarely use NOW TV but are now paying full whack for it, when there are cheaper deals on offer when bought direct. This wasn't something we asked for - it was something which was added on as an extra and sold to us as a good deal.

[SMR66]

The various package adverts are quite misleading as well, worded in a way to make you think you’re getting something that you’re not. No surprise then that the cs operatives use the same tactics.