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EE announces 3.3% price rise – everything you never wanted

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Profile photo of Patrick Steen Patrick Steen Conversation Editor
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EE, ā€˜the new network for your digital lifeā€™, has announced a price rise for Orange and T-Mobile customers locked into fixed monthly plans. It might be a new network, but it’s the same old story.

Citing ā€˜rising business costsā€™ EE is increasing prices by 3.3% for its Orange and T-Mobile customers. We estimate this will add 79p a month to a typical fixed mobile contract, meaning customers will collectively pay almost Ā£52m extra per year due to the price rise. Interestingly, EE customers won’t be affected.

The timing is somewhat apt, considering we were last night on Britainā€™s Secret Shoppers talking about price rises on fixed contracts from Vodafone, O2, Three Mobile, Orange and T-Mobile.

EE’s price rise for Orange and T-Mobile customers

And the wait for the latest price rise is almost over ā€“ Orange customers will be hit on 10 April and T-Mobile customers will be affected from 9 May. Both Orange and T-Mobile customersĀ on fixed contracts were hit by similar price increases last year. This is because thereā€™s a term hidden away in their contracts that allow for price rises every 12 months as long as the increase is below the current RPI rate of inflation.

Not all Orange and T-Mobile customers will be affected. At least, not straight away. Thereā€™s a six month price freeze for certain Orange and T-Mobile customers.

EE will be contacting affected customers by letter from today, giving them the required 30 days notice of the changes. EE will also be amending its marketing materials to reflect the possibility of price rises, although thatā€™s not much help for existing customers.

Paying extra to fix your monthly plan

So, what can you do about it? As with all other price rises from the major mobile providers, you wonā€™t be able to cancel without paying a hefty penalty, usually the remaining monthly payments on your contract.

For customers who want to avoid the price rise, from 10 April EE will be offering customers a new bolt on called ā€˜Fix Your Monthly Planā€™.

The Fix Your Monthly Plan bolt on (ā€˜the first of its kind in the industryā€™) will cost between 50p and Ā£2 per month depending on your current line rental. Iā€™d imagine youā€™ll agree that forcing customers to pay extra to enjoy a fixed price contract when they thought it was fixed in the first place, is outrageous.

And it all sounds incredibly complex. So complicated that EE will have a calculator on its website for customers to work out how much extra they’ll have to pay. All in all, this latest price rise is just further evidence that Ofcom has to step in and change the rules.

Fixed should mean fixed and if it doesnā€™t, you should be able to leave your contract without penalty. Full stop.

[UPDATE 7 March 2013] – There’s just one week to go before Ofcom closes its consultation into price rises during fixed contracts. Have your say by voting in our poll and watch our new Fixed Means Fixed video:

Comments
100
Emma says:
15 April 2013

EE pushed my mobile bill up by 51p (which, for me, is a lot of money). My bill has gone from Ā£21.50 a month, to Ā£22.01. I wish I could cancel it, but I’m on a 12 month plan and can’t cancel until July. I won’t be taking out another contract with them in the near future.

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Chris says:
17 April 2013

i’ve been with Orange since it was a pip, but no reward for loyalty. The signal is so poor at home in Axminster that half the time the calls don’t get through or there is no service to call out. Orange’s solution is to tell me to switch the phone to 2G and then they have the cheek to put the price up on this pathetic service. In a rare moment of weakness I signed up a 2 year contract and am locked in till November, paying 28 pounds a month for a phone I rarely use – and I never use data. The best solution would be for Ofcom to ban contracts all together in favour of rolling month by month payments. If Plusnet can offer this for home phone and broadband why cant mobile providers? If any do they will get my business once in December.

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Fishy says:
17 April 2013

Chris
Phone Orange tell them that the signal strength at home is unacceptable (as it is all around that area I know this from staying at Broadwindsor), and demand they send you a “Signalbox”.
This is a little box you plug into your broadband router that turns it into a mini mobile phone transmitter, you will then get full signal around your home.

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jimbo says:
19 April 2013

you sumed it all pr ORANGE bullying people again

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Peter says:
22 April 2013

As well as being unimpressed by orange/EE’s price hike only weeks in to my new contract, I was surprised to find that the 10.50 a month deal I had taken out would be 15.50 a month after a year. That was certain something that wasn’t made clear until after I’d taken out the contract. I’ve been with Orange for many years but these dodgey deals are making me look at other options.

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Steve says:
30 May 2013

To the best of my knowledge (but sadly not provable) I hadn’t even been notified of the increase so only saw it while trying to work out why my direct debit had gone up.

But never mind the 3.3% rise on the tariff – I also saw that the Orange Care (really don’t know why I still have it to be honest, not now the phone is 22 months old anyway, cancelling it will be on my list for tomorrow!) had gone from Ā£6 to Ā£7.99 – that’s a whopping 33% increase, certainly way above RPI!

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Anthony Nelson says:
2 August 2013

Ive had 2 price rises from t-mobile during the life of my latest contract .The first was less than 6 weeks into my contract . When I complained to customer service they said if I paid them Ā£600 I could cancel my contract. Suffice to say I am nearly out of contract and will take the greatest of pleasure in telling them to shove their upgrade were the sun doesnt shine. I complained to OFCOM they sympathised but its my fault for not reading the fine print. I think OFCOM should be disbanded .If this isnt a case of mis-selling I dont know what is . Ofcom is a waste of taxpayers money

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Elbert says:
5 August 2013

OFCOM may not do anything, but I suggest you go to CISAS instead if you made a complaint to T-Mobile before the price rise came into effect. Like I posted before, T-Mobile got their price rise wrong and the increase were more than the RPI allowed. T-Mobile may not agree with it, but CISAS did agree with me and ruled in my favour. This mean that T-Mobile has been told to refund all my line rental back to the original complaint date and immediatly give me my PAC code without any cancellation or other charges. And I’m not the only one who has won their case .. there are hundreds of people.

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bobpenarth says:
4 September 2013

Took out a simm only contract for myself and wife at Ā£8 each pcm (special offer should have been Ā£15.50pcm). Now in month 6 and despite phoning each month to query charges Orange still cannot explain the monthly bill. For the first 3 months they tried charging me the full amount and each time I phoned (a phillipines call centre) they ‘adjusted’ the charges but the amounts although only slightly more than the agreed Ā£15.50 could never be explained. I am pretty sure that I have been charged for listening to voicemail calls that I never made. How can they get away with not being able to explain the bill? Vodaphone not much better. They rely on you wearying of phoning and complaining, the Regulator is about as much use as a chocolate teapot in the midday sun in the middle of Daarjeeling!!!

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Graham Hookham says:
11 September 2013

I’ve had to endure price increases mid contract on 3 different occasions now. I took my case to Offcom and they advised that I would have to prove that the increase would cause material deprivation to me and my household (Ie. we would no longer be able to afford to eat). If I successfully proved this I would have grounds to be released from my contract.

This is ridiculous, if half way through my contract I decided that due to economic conditions I could only pay 80% of my bill they would come down on my like a tonne of bricks. Why then can they claim the economic climate has forced them to increase prices and we HAVE to pay up with no scope of being let out of our contracts.

I’m 100% for fixed should mean fixed!

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Dkeog says:
11 April 2014

Iā€™m with Three and they state they donā€™t put prices up mid contract Iā€™ve been with the 15 months and not seen one, wife on tmobile and this is her 2nd in 16 month I will be moving wife to Three when she can,

And still they will sell the some deal with out the price increase

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Richard says:
24 April 2014

Utterly disgraceful behaviour from these people, am currently trying to cancel an account and having to use a landline due to zero reception as usual, follow the electronic voice trail only to be cut off with a ‘Sorry we can’t connect you to a customer service representative at this time, please call later goodbye…’ Click. On pay monthly so just chucking the SIM card into the stove. Been with them for ages and all I get is poor service and huge bills. Waste of space, feel sorry for the poor sods stuck on lengthy contracts.

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