Complaints code of practice

When you first enter into agreement with us you’ll receive a set of terms and conditions, which means that we’re agreeing to provide you with telephone, home broadband, billing and customer services. A copy of the terms and conditions that apply to you can be downloaded from our website or by contacting us. Please be aware that call charges may be incurred depending on your talk plan or service provider and an administration charge may be applied.

We hope that you’ll never have reason to complain about any aspect of our services. However, if there is something that you’re not happy with, you should contact customer services first. We’ll try and solve your issue quickly where we can, but there may be times when it may take a while to sort out.

We will consider your complaint resolved if we do not hear from you within 28 days of the complaint resolution being agreed. Any complaint made after this time will be considered a new complaint.

If your landline or broadband service has been delivered late, or you’ve had a total loss of service that has taken more than two working days to fix, or our engineer has missed an appointment we made with you, your account will be credited automatically in accordance with our Automatic Compensation scheme.  You can see the details at ee.co.uk/autocomp

There are two ways you can complain:

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can ask for us to reconsider the issue. You have the option to discuss the issue with a Team Leader/Manager. If your complaint still isn’t resolved after speaking to a Team Leader/Manager then you can escalate to our specialist technical team or complaints team depending on your complaint type.

The Customer Services Team will be working towards contacting you as soon as possible after receiving your complaint. If we can’t get hold of you by phone we will email you, if you have provided us with your email address, or we will write to you.

If you need to update your account details, including payment information, please visit My EE or call Customer Services. Call charges are free from your EE mobile phone, however charges from another mobile network or landline may vary.

If you’ve set up a Customer Services password, remember EE will never ask you to reveal it in full.

Stage 1

You can get independent advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau, Consumer Advice Centre and Trading Standards. Whilst we’re happy to work together with the above independent organisations, if you decide you need their help to resolve your complaint, we would always want you to come to us first, as most problems can be resolved quickly this way. For broadband customers, after asking us to refer your complaint to the organisations mentioned above, you may also find it useful to speak to the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) at www.ispa.org.uk.

Stage 2: contact Ombudsman Services

If, after contacting us, we have not resolved your complaint within eight weeks or if there is a deadlock situation, you may refer your complaint to Ombudsman Services, free of charge. Deadlock arises when we believe we have done everything we can to resolve your complaint but can’t reach an agreement with you. You must have followed our escalation process before deadlock will be considered and we will be unable to send a deadlock letter if we are still working to resolve your complaint or if your complaint falls outside the remit of Ombudsman Services.

Ombudsman Services is an independent dispute resolution scheme, approved by Ofcom. Please ensure that you read Ombudsman Services guidelines to ensure that your complaint satisfies the conditions for referral. If your complaint satisfies these conditions, then you must contact Ombudsman Services within six years of first complaining to us. In a case of deadlock, then you must contact Ombudsman Services within 12 months of deadlock being issued.

When your complaint goes through Ombudsman Services, an independent assessor will review your complaint and make a decision about how to settle it.

From 15 February 2016, customers who purchase their device or contract online can use the Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Platform to signpost their complaint to EE. You are not required to use the ODR Portal. You can approach Ombudsman Services directly. To apply to the ODR platform an online form needs to be completed and submitted. Further information on ODR and the form can be found here.

As the communications regulator – Ofcom are there to ensure, among other things, that all Communication Providers have a Complaints Process in place which meets certain criteria. Ofcom don’t investigate individual complaints on behalf of the consumer or adjudicate, but they can provide guidance on the complaints process as stipulated in Steps 1-2 of this Code of Practice.