Ridiculous EE data costs

Ridiculous EE data costs

Author
Discussion

carreauchompeur

Original Poster:

17,846 posts

204 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
I'm with EE.

Since I'm out of the country for a good few months I decided to cancel my current contract and change to PAYG, since I won't receive any benefit from the free minutes, etc. I'm off next week.

Rang up today and it all changed over fine. Topped up £20 via the website around 1100.

Got to work about 1pm and received a "no credit" text message. Rang up customer services to be told that I had used £20 of data in 2hrs- About three quarters of which, the phone was on Wifi anyway! Their rate is apparently a bonkers 65p/MB.

I obviously did not know this when I signed up and the costs are not outlined very well... But this is ridiculous, even an iPhone would struggle to use so much data in the background. When I visited Spain recently I used about a fiver of data (on contract!)

Are all of the networks quite such robbers on PAYG? EE tell me that there is nothing that they can do, but I am considering a chargeback on the transaction as it simply can't be correct. A "manager" is calling back...

Edited by carreauchompeur on Monday 27th July 15:23

carreauchompeur

Original Poster:

17,846 posts

204 months

Monday 27th July 2015
quotequote all
Sorry, to clarify I am currently in the UK and they reckon I have used £20 worth of data in 2 hours. During which time the phone was in WiFi for 90 mins and otherwise unused. This is bonkers.

I was not told of the data costs and they are virtually impossible to find.

carreauchompeur

Original Poster:

17,846 posts

204 months

Tuesday 28th July 2015
quotequote all
This is the annoying thing:

I KNOW about background updating on iPhones, and I managed to spend a fortnight in Spain with some data usage on maps, etc without using much data at all.

I've got two beefs:

The data costs are astronomical. They didn't advise me on this and, as you've found, it's impossible to find. They knew I was using the SIM in an iPhone and did not advise me about data costs. I naively believed they would be fairly reasonable.

However, the second beef is that I simply HAVE NOT used that much data in 2 hours. I made the phone call to EE at home, received the relevant text messages etc and put my phone in my pocket to go to work. I was out of the house for about 30 mins-1hour tops and in that time the only use of my phone was to receive a small e-mail. There's simply no way their data is correct. There are many stories on the web about EE mis-charging data.

It's lucky that I have no auto-top up on this account. It would have drained £100 a day without me ever noticing.

The only answer from customer services yesterday was that I couldn't make a complaint, it was my fault and I should buy a data bundle. Meanwhile, I now can't use my phone as a further topup will probably just drain in the same way. I'm going to see if a chargeback focuses their minds.

carreauchompeur

Original Poster:

17,846 posts

204 months

Tuesday 28th July 2015
quotequote all
Far Cough said:
Three do unlimited data abroad plus a call and txt allowance for £15 payg. Just made the most of it in the us. Worth a look if your away for some time.
Had I not used it O2 charge £4 per mb .....eek
Thanks, I think the countries I will be in may not be included however (Russia, China, S America etc). I don't intend to use data abroad, just need a method that I can keep my number with minimal outlay and can be contactable. Will probably buy an in-country SIM at some point for actual usage.

carreauchompeur

Original Poster:

17,846 posts

204 months

Tuesday 28th July 2015
quotequote all
Thanks all, i am trying to avoid a contract if possible as i won't use the minutes or texts abroad. May just have to buy a data bundle for this week in the UK but the whole thing has left a bad taste in my mouth so looking to move from EE.

carreauchompeur

Original Poster:

17,846 posts

204 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
Result.

Rang back this afternoon and asked to speak to a manager, put straight through. Spoke to Bob from Bangalore (Or similar) and outlined my issue.

Without any prompting whatsoever he stated that there had been an error, and refunded £17 to my account.

What a palaver. Quick data bundle for the few days until I leave the country and then data will be firmly switched OFF!

carreauchompeur

Original Poster:

17,846 posts

204 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
quotequote all
Thanks all, I've bought a 100mb bundle which will keep me going until Tues smile

Simplest way around...