Ofcom Open UK Investigation into EE’s Handling of Consumer Complaints

Ofcom has launched an own-initiative investigation into EE (also trading as Orange UK and T-Mobile), which will look at whether or not the mobile and Internet provider has “failed to comply” with the regulators code for consumer complaints handling (General Condition 14.4).

The GC14.4 rule requires ISPs and mobile operator to offer consumers and small business customers an effective, transparent and accessible means for tackling complaints about their service. But evidence gathered under their on-going Monitoring and Enforcement Programme, which was submitted by EE, appears to give Ofcom a cause for concern.

Ofcoms Statement

Under General Condition 14.4 Communications Providers (CPs) must have and comply with procedures that conform to the Ofcom Approved Code of Practice for Complaints Handling (the ‘Ofcom Code’ which is Annex 4 to GC14) when handling complaints made by domestic and small business customers about its Public Electronic Communications Services.

Ofcom’s investigation will examine whether there are reasonable grounds for believing that EE has failed to comply with this obligation.

The main objectives for Ofcom’s Monitoring and Enforcement Programme are to ensure that providers comply with their complaints handling code, identify any problems with implementation of the code and to check that providers are also making consumers aware of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process (i.e. used to tackle complaints that have not been resolved for 8 weeks).

Unfortunately the regulator does not elaborate on what particular issue their investigation is focused upon.

1. DTMark

   February 28, 2014 at 3:12 pm

   Have one of their 4G dongles. It works fine, around 20Meg symmetric speeds. The online portal leaves a bit to be desired. On two occasions I’ve paid for a top-up of £30, got confirmation, got receipt, and balance remains at nil.

   It’s at this point you discover that the only method of contact is a mobile phone number presumably at 50ppm (from a mobile, and I don’t have an EE mobile), or, a letter by post. There are other methods for other services, but not for this.

   Although the service works well technically *here*, you then stumble across their online forum which appears to be riddled with people moaning, from “my iPhone was meant to be pink and it’s blue” or whatever (alright, I’m giggling) and to more serious complaints (“the cell round here stopped working 3 weeks ago”).

   And you wonder why all of these have ended up being posted in public rather then being resolved privately. There does seem to be a fair amount going on behind the scenes and the balance of comment I read about their mobile services does seem overwhelmingly negative. Is this related to the “tie in” with Orange/T-Mobile and lots of engineering work?
   • !!!!!! EE COMPLAINTS DEPARTMENT !!!!!!

     June 20, 2014 at 9:12 pm

     EE COMPLAINTS DEPARTMENT !!!! SHARE , SHARE SHARE, This is never given out or advertised. Copy and share on Facebook, Twitter.

     customer-relations@ee.co.uk
2. Jason

   April 20, 2014 at 3:05 pm

   I was perfectly happy with Orange until Everything ghastly Everywhere came on the scene. It’s disgraceful that EE doesn’t offer email support or even live chat, yet perversely a customer can contact EE through a private Facebook message. The only other non-call option is to post in the EE ‘community’ which is populated by clueless and uninformed members of the public.

   Presently, logging in to My Account (Orange) via EE website results in 404 error… search Help and you get 504 error. “We are seeking to rectify the problem”… yet it’s been unrectified for weeks. Such appalling customer service deserves censure.

   I’ve been with 3, T-mobile, Vodafone, O2 – all had email support (including Orange until EE removed it). This lack of support reveals the arrogance of this corporation… and I’ll be damned if I’m going to submit to the Kafkaesque nightmare of calling EE for a PAC code.
   • !!!!!! EE COMPLAINTS DEPARTMENT !!!!!!

     June 20, 2014 at 9:12 pm

     EE COMPLAINTS DEPARTMENT !!!! SHARE , SHARE SHARE, This is never given out or advertised. Copy and share on Facebook, Twitter.

     customer-relations@ee.co.uk
3. richard

   June 2, 2014 at 8:24 pm

   i was with orange for over 9 years and was happy some places i had low signal but never had none then i got switched to ee with the same phone etc and been having problems with billing over charging me and losing my details on the computer and leaving me on hold when i phoned up for over 10 minutes then get passed to someone else who havent a clue what you was ringing about and have to explain to them and as for the signal now since ee took over is really bad with signal drops in calls and places where the signal was low to medium is now non exsistant good job i have ended with them and gone with three network
   • !!!!!! EE COMPLAINTS DEPARTMENT !!!!!!

     June 20, 2014 at 9:11 pm

     EE COMPLAINTS DEPARTMENT !!!! SHARE , SHARE SHARE, This is never given out or advertised. Copy and share on Facebook, Twitter.

     customer-relations@ee.co.uk
4. !!!!!! EE COMPLAINTS DEPARTMENT !!!!!!

   June 20, 2014 at 9:10 pm

   EE COMPLAINTS DEPARTMENT !!!! SHARE , SHARE SHARE, This is never given out or advertised. Copy and share on Facebook, Twitter.

   customer-relations@ee.co.uk

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