Ofcom fines EE £2.7m for overcharging customers

Ofcom has fined EE £2.7m for overcharging tens of thousands of its customers.

Following an investigation into the mobile phone provider, the telecoms regulator found it had broken a fundamental billing rule on two separate occasions.

EE customers who called the company’s ‘150’ customer services number while roaming in the in EU were incorrectly charged as if they had called the US, costing customers £1.20 per minute instead of 19p per minute. As a result, 32,145 customers were overcharged around £245,700 in total.

Ocfom found that EE’s “carelessness or negligence” contributed to these billing errors.

The second error was that despite making it free to call or text the ‘150’ number from within the US from 18 November 2015, EE continued to bill 7,674 customers up until 11 January 2016. These customers were overcharged £2,203.33, although on this occasion the company did take prompt action and issue full refunds.

Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom’s consumer group director, said: “EE didn’t take enough care to ensure that its customers were billed accurately. This ended up costing customers thousands of pounds, which is completely unacceptable.

“We monitor how phone companies bill their customers, and will not tolerate careless mistakes. Any company that breaks Ofcom’s rules should expect similar consequences.”