News - EE angers customers with 50p queue jumping charge

[kalniel]

Fine by me - I price my time at £25/hour when I've got a choice of things -eg when deciding between connecting or more expensive direct flight, same rules apply here.

So you invoice them for the time they put you in the queue? Neat. All of a sudden I might not mind other people jumping the queue

[Biscuit]

good luck getting them to pay...

[NitrousX]

This is the sought of sly tactics companies like EA would impose. Its a shame I'm with EE cos their the only provider at the moment providing a decent data at a good rate for 4g.

[jimborae]

I don't see much issue with it either, and it is good for those who urgently need an issue sorted like a business where no phone for an hour can mean £1000's lost.

And that's why Corporates have them own dedicated Customer Service teams, we are talking consumer customer service not Corporate who already pay higher contract and call fees to have superior customer service

[jimborae]

You often pay for support calls these days anyway, so another charge is taking the pee a bit.

My thoughts exactly, also can we start charging them for time spent waiting on the phone for them to answer it when the fault is with EE???

[Funkstar]

I came across this the other day when I phones them (before the news hit the interwebs) and had a little chuckle to myself. I thought it was the most ridiculous thing I'd heard in a long time. But be the time I had thought that, my call was answered be a very helpful chap who sorted my problem. 50p saved and only about 10 seconds in a queue

[5umenemy]

Didn't pay the 50p and got straight through, just don't call during peak times.

[aidanjt]

I don't see the problem, don't pay the 50p to queue jump......

The problem isn't with the amount required to jump the queue. The problem is people bunking the queue in the first place. Imagine what it would be like if your bank or post office let people jump in front of other customers for £whatever, people would be rightly peeved off. FIFO is the only fair queuing method.

[deejayburnout]

i heard about this when i was on holiday. i had to laugh as well as it preposterous about even considering this. Shouldn't they provide the best customer service by default?

i suppose you don't pay if you don't want to. I would like to wonder who decided this would be a good idea?

i also wonder what type of Evo Stick they were sniffing at the time ( other brands of glue are available for your glue sniffing needs )

[Top_gun]

I'm actually thinking in writing a complaint letter about their two tier customer service. I didn't sign up to a two tier service and I feel Tmobile's behaviour has caused a detriment to my contractual agreement and view it as breach of contract. I believe I can successfully argue my case on the basis of conscience and breach of contract so that I can end my contract early.

[Biscuit]

I'm actually thinking in writing a complaint letter about their two tier customer service. I didn't sign up to a two tier service and I feel Tmobile's behaviour has caused a detriment to my contractual agreement and view it as breach of contract. I believe I can successfully argue my case on the basis of conscience and breach of contract so that I can end my contract early.

Interesting perspective, let me know how that goes. Genuinely might do the same if if it works but it seem s along shot.

[shaithis]

I'm actually thinking in writing a complaint letter about their two tier customer service. I didn't sign up to a two tier service and I feel Tmobile's behaviour has caused a detriment to my contractual agreement and view it as breach of contract. I believe I can successfully argue my case on the basis of conscience and breach of contract so that I can end my contract early.

TMobile and EE have their T&Cs sewed-up tight. Good luck as they pretty much state that terms can change at any time.

[Biscuit]

Offcom seems the obvious place to lodge a complaint.

[aidanjt]

TMobile and EE have their T&Cs sewed-up tight. Good luck as they pretty much state that terms can change at any time.

Terms can change, but when they do you can drop them. You can't be held to arbitrary terms one party makes up whenever they please because they didn't exist when you entered the contract. For example, just because they decide to hike the network access fee to £1,000/m, it doesn't mean it automatically retroactively applies to you. You have to show some sign of acceptance of the new terms (by paying the new bill, for example).

[Top_gun]

TMobile and EE have their T&Cs sewed-up tight. Good luck as they pretty much state that terms can change at any time.

aidanjy is right, there has to be acceptance between both parties if terms and conditions have changed.

I've done a lot of reading on contract law in 2011 as I had to go to court over a contract dispute. So I feel I can identify weaknesses in the Tmobile arguments. Generally, companies tend to take the mickey on terms and conditions knowing full well that many people do not understand contract law or even read their contracts.

Offcom seems the obvious place to lodge a complaint.

No, you can get advice from Ofcom but really the first stage of complaint is the mobile company. Once the complaint is in deadlock then you can take it to a telecoms arbitration.

Terms can change, but when they do you can drop them. You can't be held to arbitrary terms one party makes up whenever they please because they didn't exist when you entered the contract. For example, just because they decide to hike the network access fee to £1,000/m, it doesn't mean it automatically retroactively applies to you. You have to show some sign of acceptance of the new terms (by paying the new bill, for example).

You can also continue to pay for the service under protest so the company can't say you've readily accepted a contract.

[shaithis]

aidanjy is right, there has to be acceptance between both parties if terms and conditions have changed.

If that were the case, then when they put prices up you would be able to get out of your contract.

Also a 50p queue jumping service does not effect your phone service.