While it might almost be common place to find mobile network operators getting away with a few cost-intensive errors with customers, especially in African countries (I mean who knows or cares about the existence of some public utility watchdog in Kumasi, Monrovia or Mombasa?), the same cannot be said elsewhere.
The latest victim of the somewhat ‘unseen eye’ famously referred to in the US and UK as ‘watchdog’ is Britain’s largest mobile network operator, EE who have got themselves fined a whooping £2.7m by the country’s telecoms regulator, Ofcom, for overcharging customers.
The watchdog discovered that EE had twice broken the billing rule as a result, overcharging tens of thousands of its customers.
It is reported that its network users who called the company’s 150-customer services number while roaming within Europe were wrongly charged as though they were calling US in effect, a £1.20 per minute instead of 19p and a total of 32,145 customers overcharged an aggregate of £245,000.
Although calls or texts to the 150 number from within the EU were from the 18th November 2015 meant to be free, EE had continued to bill about 7,600 customers till 11th January 2016 a total of £2,203.
Speaking to a journalist, Ofcom's consumer group director, Lindsey Fussell, said "We all rely on big companies to get the most basic things right, and that includes charging the right bills... we uncovered a catalogue of errors."
The fine which will go to UK’s Treasury, is expected to serve as a deterrent to other mobile network operators who might engage in such practices.
Reacting to the watch dog’s decision, EE said it accepted the findings and apologized unreservedly to the affected customers.
Already most of the customers have been refunded, except about 6,900 who were charged £60,000 but are yet to be identified by the company.
Despite the fact that EE has donated £62,000 to charity to compensate for the unidentified customers, the telecom giant has been instructed by Ofcom to make further attempts to trace every customer affected by the overcharging scandal.
Furthermore, existing and former users who believe they have been overcharged can contact EE on 0800 956 6000.