Ofcom fines EE £2.7m for overcharging customers

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Ofcom said that EE customers who called one of the company’s customer services numbers while roaming within the EU were incorrectly charged as if they had called the United States. The regulator said that EE’s “carelessness or negligence contributed to these billing errors.” Although Ofcom said that EE “did not set out to make money from its billing mistake, EE had decided not to reimburse the majority of affected customers until Ofcom intervened.” Ofcom said that in addition, even though EE made it free to call or text the customer services number from within the EU from 18 November 2015, the group continued to bill more than 7,000 customers until January 2016. Ofcom said that the size of the fine “incorporates a 10 per cent reduction to reflect EE’s agreement to enter into a formal settlement, which will save public money and resources. “Following Ofcom’s findings, we have made a number of additional improvements to our systems and policies to allow us to better support our customers in the rare occasion that billing issues do occur,” they added.