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Why is my bill higher than normal?
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There are a few reasons why your bill may include some charges outside of your monthly plan.
Call and text charges
Call and text charges
Call charges:
070, 084, 087, 09 numbers
118 (directory enquiries)
forwarding numbers (unless the number starts with 0207 or 0208)
calls outside the EU, known as roaming
charges from other companies (third-party service providers)
Text charges:
photo messages (including photos, videos and other images)
texts inside or outside the EU (known as roaming)
charges from other companies (third-party service providers)
Photo messages
Photo messages
Photo messages aren’t included in your standard plan – there’s a fixed price for each one you send. Some phones may classify a text message as a photo message simply because it includes an emoji.
These charges will appear on your bill in the photo messages section.
If you send a lot of these types of messages you may want to buy add-ons, which give you an allowance every month to send photo messages at reduced rates. You can check out the prices in our:
When do devices convert text messages to photo messages?
This can happen when:
you’re using iPhone Messages and sending features and effects to a non-iPhone user, or when iMessage is unavailable
your text includes a non-standard smiley or symbol such as an emoticon, emoji, or iPhone X's Animojis
your text is sent to an email address instead of a phone number
you're sending a group text message
your text exceeds the character limit (on some phones this is 160 characters, on others it can be higher)
your message has a subject line
Sending a photo message instead of a text message is down to the phone you’re using, the messaging platform and the person you’re sending to. It’s not because of the EE network.
Here are some common reasons for one-off charges on your bill (these will appear as extra charges in My EE).
add-ons: such as extra data or roaming add-ons when you’re abroad
collections service charge: charge for at least two late payments
bill re-issue charge: for providing a printed copy of your bill
payment failure charge: a charge for a failed represented Direct Debit or an unpaid cheque
insurance excess fee: the charge applied for your insurance claim in line with Terms & Conditions
remaining contract charge: this will be made up of:
early termination charge – if you're within your minimum contract term and have more than 30 days left until it ends. The amount is calculated from the date you contacted us to cancel your contract until the end of your minimum term
if you're within the last 30 days of your minimum term or outside of it, you'll need to pay a notice period charge. This is based on 30 days line rental from the date you contacted us to cancel your contract
Please note: If you started your contract with EE on or after 1 March 2017, you might see a 'Price Rise Discount' on your bill. This is to ensure your bill is at the price you agreed for your contract. It will appear on every bill for the rest of your contract.
Device charges and credits
Device charges and credits
If you’ve upgraded, unlocked your phone or paid towards a new device on your plan, you may see some one-off charges on your bill. Things like:
delivery charge: when you have an amount to pay towards the delivery of your device
equipment charge: usually shown as the device – e.g. 'pay monthly iPhone 6 16GB gold' with any amount you owe
non-voice charge/device unlock charge: when you’ve paid to get your device unlocked
equipment credit: if you’re owed an amount towards your device
You can find the amount you paid when you ordered your device on page one of your bill or by logging in to My EE.
Don't forget:
device charges are always shown without VAT on your bill
the amount you paid when you ordered your device will show on your bill as a payment received
your bill is your receipt, and proof of purchase for your device, so remember to keep it safe
Partial charges
Partial charges
Partial charges will show on your bill if you make a change to your account partway through your billing month.
Your charging periods should be back to normal next month, provided there are no further changes.
Reasons you might see a partial charge on your bill:
you’ve added another line to your account (like another phone, tablet, SIM or dongle)
Charges you may see:
a refund of the old plan or your old number (up to your bill date)
a charge for your new plan, number or line (up to your bill date)
a charge for your new price plan, number or line (equal to one month in advance)
Other EE services
Other EE services
If you’ve bought something from your phone’s app store and it appears on your bill, it’s because the item has been charged to your EE account instead of your debit or credit card.
These might appear on your bill as:
content billing
operator billing
pay-per-event
charge to bill
Is there a purchase limit?
Yes, any amount over £15 will be charged to your credit or debit card, not your EE account.
Have a question about your app purchases?
You’ll need to contact your phone app store or the app developer directly. You can find their contact details by logging into your app store account.
To prevent any unwanted purchases from app charging, we suggest you set a PIN on your app store account.
What happens if I get a refund?
Refunds for apps you’ve bought will be given to you as credit to spend on future apps, not as a credit for your EE bill.
VAT and deposits
VAT and deposits
The breakdown of charges on your bill is always shown without VAT.
The VAT charge is calculated under VAT in My EE or on the first page of your paper bill.
VAT is calculated on most charges, but there are some exceptions. For example:
early termination charges (if you need to end your contract early)
usage outside of the VAT territory of the EU
insurance services
some content and add-on services, such as premium rate numbers or voting on TV shows
Any charges on your account not subject to VAT will show on the first page of your paper bill as VAT charged at zero per cent or VAT-exempt.
VAT invoices
If you need a VAT invoice of your payments, please let us know. There’s a charge per invoice requested – see our non-standard price guide.
Deposits
There are two types of security deposits you could be asked to pay:
1
registration deposit: so we can activate your account and you can use the EE network
2
feature deposit: when you ask us to activate certain services, like roaming or international and premium calls
Both are called Deposit for Service on your bill.
Getting your deposit back
We’ll refund your deposit automatically via your current payment method once you've built up a good payment history with us. Payment of your bills by the due date every month will help this.
