Before I start this blog post in full, I would like to mention that I don’t usually feel the need to resort to a proper rant in public, like this, naming and shaming a company but I am FED up and utterly convinced that this company, like many of the other mobile companies are out to get as much money off customers as possible, getting away with rubbish service provision and fobbing off complaints and I have tried for over a year to get some sort of sensible response, with little joy.
Dear EE,
I will admit, I am not your favourite type of customer. We bought our iPhones direct from source, and we have a SIM only contract with you, which means we pay you a very small amount on a monthly basis, compared to other price plans, for phones and service.
We are stuck with you as a service provider, because where we live has limited mobile network, out of the major mobile providers yours and one other are the only ones that actually work in our house (not brilliantly, but well enough) and I won’t use the other provider, because of their shocking customer service, either, so we are lucked out and have no choice but to stick with you. We were with T-Mobile, until you swallowed them up, and we became part of your network.
I noticed a year ago, that my phone does not work, in that I get virtually no mobile/3G reception, am unable to make calls or receive data, or sms’s from when I leave where my child minder is, all the way into where I work, and all around my work, and the surrounding area of the town, where I work and often spend time. Most of the time, I cannot make or take calls, and it’s only when I leave the area and get almost home, that my phone starts working.
I have contacted both your customer services departments, on-line, by phone, via social media and have gone into shops where I work, and in Richmond. I have phone your tech help three times, and been into the shops more times than I remember.
I get told
- Reboot your phone. I have done that, so many times, I have RSI in my finger from pressing the buttons together.
- Take the SIM card out and make sure it is clean and in contact with the element – um, I have an iPhone, it’s hard to get the card out, and it’s going to damage the phone and the card if I have to do this more than a few times, and besides it doesn’t work
- Try your SIM card in another phone – again, it’s a Micro USB for an iPhone, I am not going round trying it in friends phones, just to see if it will work, and it has been checked by Apple, who are happy it works perfectly.
- It could be the case you have protecting your phone… Nope, I have tried it without the case, it makes no difference
When I originally went into an EE shop near where I work, and asked them why my phone wasn’t working, after the usual spiel of “have you rebooted it, blah blah” I was told, “we are doing some maintenance and upgrades locally, it may be affecting your 3G service, it should be sorted in a few weeks”. Two months later, I was told EXACTLY THE SAME THING, and last time I went into the shop, the man who dealt with me basically tried to push me towards buying a 4G contract, with full on hard sell, despite the fact that my problem was the 3G I am paying for isn’t working, why would I want to fork out a lot of money a month for 4G? When I have, on several occasions, phoned EE’s customer service line, and waited for a fairly long time, to speak to someone, again we go through the “have you rebooted your phone?” business, and twice, I have been pushed to upgrade to 4G as a better option.
Yesterday, I tweeted EE after not being able to use my phone, whilst at work, to call someone, and again, was fobbed off with the usual “reboot your phone”, “contact our tech support”, message again.
My phone works PERFECTLY FINE elsewhere, it worked beautifully in France, it works all over London, it even worked in parts of Scotland, with limited phone reception, yet in the square mile, where I work and spend the vast percentage of my week, it won’t take or make calls or let me use data. It means that I am not contactable for my children’s school should they need me, and if I needed to make an urgent call I would have to find a phone box, or prevail upon a kind passer by to help me. I cannot make calls at work, and unless I am hooked into WiFi I cannot send mail or use the internet or other data services. I have taken my phone to Apple and they have confirmed that it is working perfectly. Interestingly, they said they had other customers who had complained that EE did not work well for them in the same area and I have spoken to many other people who say the same, so it is not just me. I may not pay you a lot a month, but my contract with you is that I pay my monthly fee, and I should get the amount of data and call times that I am actually paying for.
So, EE what is your excuse? Are you just a rubbish service provider or are you trying to slowly manipulate people into getting so fed up with a crappy 3G service that they will accept an upgrade to 4G and of course, pay more? Is there genuinely something wrong with the 3G reception where I work? I have never been able to get a direct answer to that one, I would love to know. Why is it that other service providers can ensure their customers have network yet you can’t?
I would love some sensible, and helpful answers. Like I said, I am stuck with you guys. I am glad I don’t pay you a vast amount a month, for the inefficient service you provide. Perhaps one day another network will be able to provide better service where I live and I can leave you. At the moment I have to lump it. I don’t like it though, and I will not be going away. I await your response with bated breath. I warn you though, if you ask me “have you rebooted your phone?” you may not get a very polite reply….
Yours, a generally annoyed user of your awful service….
When I check the network coverage for my area, it alleges that there is good coverage for where I am, or at least there should be, but oh look, what a surprise, more 4G being pushed as a hard sell. I have nothing against 4G, at some point, I have no doubt, we will all move across to it, but right now, I am not paying the charges that are being asked for, when 3G works perfectly well the rest of the time on my phone, elsewhere. I am starting to smell a rat….
