Ok thank you.

I want out of the contract now, because of this breach I want that now more than the goods, so if I start a small claims shortly, Do I sue them for the amount remaining on the contract?

What are your plans in respect of your mobile phone contract if you manage to leave EE?

Maybe take one out elsewhere, if not, I’ll buy another phone second hand or new and get a pay monthly SIM card, I’m not overly worried about another contract with a phone, I may or may not do.

But what steps do I need to take now due to the breach of contract?

What do I need to do via small claims? As I will start that this week.

Thanks.

It should be reasonably straightforward but you need to consider things carefully and not rush into it so that you plan a strategy which has the best outcomes for you.

Let's try and discuss it a bit tomorrow

Can someone please advise me how to start with the proceedings and using what grounds etc?

before considering proceedings, you need to consider a variety of possible outcomes and then decide which one is most suitable for you.

number one could be to hang onto your existing telephone and your contract and to see it through but at the same time to sue for the value of the missing free gifts

Number two could be to sue for the value of the missing free gifts but be prepared in the alternative to accept rescission of the contract which means that you have to be returned to essentially zero including the return of your telephone number. However I sort of gather that you aren't too bothered about losing your existing telephone number. Is that right?

You would also have to give up your existing telephone.

You must factor in a replacement.

If you break off your contract with EE abruptly then you can be sure that they will trash your credit file and also put you on to a debt collection procedure. it will be very difficult to recover from this. Are you prepared to accept that as a possibility?

Have you decided what to do if you crash out now? are you prepared to get a SIM only contract on a monthly basis for instance with Giffgaff. You will need to get a new phone.

if you sue for the value of the free gifts, then you stand to win about £250 plus you keep your telephone plus you continue with your telephone contract and your existing telephone number and you don't endanger your credit file.

As my credit file is already not good I'm not too worried given what EE are doing and how much they have fobbed me off.

Also given they have breached the contract why would I be liable for the remaining payments on the contract? The contract has 21 months to run and I'm not paying for another 21 months considering what they've done and how bad their service and responses have been.

you are quite right that you shouldn't be liable for the remaining payments. However, if you simply crashed out of it then you will have a mess over you to clear up. I'm afraid that companies like EE, the other mobile phone companies, the utilities companies etc do not respect the fact that an account is in dispute or that they may have broken the contract. They only understand moving into debt collection mode and then smashing up your life.

The way to deal with this is sophisticatedly to keep on paying them but to do it under protest and at the same time to sue them. Because you have taken no direct action against them they are helpless to do anything but when you issue the court papers were then obliged to respond and to treat you as an equal.

an additional advantage is that in the very unlikely event that you lose your case, then you have suffered no damage at all except for the loss of your claim fee.

A good approach would be to get your monthly giffgaff card and to stop using the EE account. Serving notice as part of your letter before claim that you want confirmation from them that they agree to you ceasing all payments and that in the absence of this confirmation you will continuing payments but without using the account and you will be reclaiming it in the forthcoming legal action.

of course they will not agree to you stopping payments but that's fine as long as you have a paper trail and then later on you will be able to recover all your money. It will be much more satisfying

I contacted the CEO of EE who said he’d pass it to the Executive Care Team.

The Executive Care team then said this:

Thank you for taking the time to write to Marc Allera, he has read your email and has asked me to reply on his behalf.

“I am very sorry you remain unhappy with the situation however the letter we sent you dated 30 December 2018 was our final response. I can only advise you to refer to this letter or seek independent third party advice.

Any future correspondence in relation to this issue will be noted but may not be responded to.“

I’ve told them now that payments will cease due to breach of contract and if they try charging me for the remainder of the contract then I will sue them.

I agree that you should sue them but I think that you are wrong in the way you are considering doing it.

You will bring maximum pressure if you sue them for the value of the gifts

But after the breach of contract and them not trying or looking to resolve the issue and fobbing me off all the time and being disinterested, I don’t want to continue with them, and with it being a breach of contract it’s my right.

Of course it's your right, you are quite correct. However, it's one thing to have a Right. It's a completely different thing to have others recognise it. It's not only EE. It's all of the mobile phone providers, the utility companies, retailers, the banks, – the whole lot.

If you don't cause trouble then you are just a customer and your entire function is to help them make a bit of money. As soon as something goes wrong and you start to kick out then you are just troublesome ****. Rather than simply settle the matter and put up with the loss of a hundred or a couple of hundred quid, they will launch into debt collection mode and eventually spend money on harassing you, getting debt collectors or getting lawyers and eventually the entire bill for crushing you will be many times more than they would have spent if they had simply treated you as another human being who they have failed.

If you expected anything else then you are probably born yesterday. Happy birthday.

If you want to sue someone in contract then I'm afraid that you can't just sue them for a breach. It is quite exceptional to sue somebody in contract and simply ask for rescission of the contract. You really will need to assess some kind of loss and sue them for that money and then during the claim also asked for rescission on the basis that their breach is so serious that it has undermined the purpose of the contract and therefore voided it.

The problem here is that they will say that the main purpose of the contract was to provide you with mobile phone services and mobile phone. From what you have said, I don't see that there has been any problem with this aspect of the contract. As an ancillary to the contract they offered sweeteners – the free gifts. They failed to provide these. The free gifts were really sweeteners to persuade you to engage with them on the main purpose of the contract which was to provide you with certain services.

Of course you will say that the contract should be taken as a whole and that had you not been offered the sweeteners, you would have made other arrangements.

I have to say that I like your argument more – but there is scarcely a hope in hell that EE will accept it. You will have to put it before a court and if you are lucky once EE gets the papers and they then start to treat you as an equal and start to look at what has happened, they may decide to back down before there is a hearing and let you have what you want. However, you will have to go this far.

My suggestion would be to sue them for the value of the missing free gifts and in the alternative say that the contract is terminated by their breach because the purpose of the contract for you was more than just obtaining certain services.

Have you done your calculations? You will have to return your telephone to them. How much will it cost to replace that? You will lose your £250 worth of free gifts.

It seems to me that if the contract is treated as terminated then although you will be able to walk away a free man, your pocket will be about £600 lighter and that's is assuming that the telephone that you got out of it is a very cheap model.

In a way the whole thing is crazy because if EE gave into you, they would save £600 or more and continue with the contract which would allow them to reap some profit. But they will fight you.

On the other hand, if you stand up for yourself then you can hold your head up high but that is by and large all you will be able to do.

If this is a matter of principle then I think that there are better things to fight for. Sue them by all means – but sue them for the 250 quid and settle for that – but of course it's up to you. We will help you.

Thank you for your help bank fodder, much appreciated.

Has anyone else got an opinion on this?

Do you want to keep the phone contract as it stands? If so sue them for the value of the promised items. It is like ordering 2 items from a shop and only 1 turning up. You cnat sue for both but you can return the 1 thast arrived and tell them to stuff their goods or sue for the lost value. As the goodies are tangible it is easier to do that and win, there is plenty of case law on this being a standard GCSE type question about buy x and get y free and how consumer contract law dictates that the freebies have to be up to scratch under "offer and consideration".

They just cant comprehend what you are on about, that is the problem as they dotn care about the goodies just the airtime contract so hit them with the simple bit they arent knowledgeable about.