Thousands of phone customers issued refunds after being double charged

EE customers are being issued refunds after they were accidently double charged roaming fees while on holiday.

The mobile network provider charges £2.59 a day for customers to use their phone while in Europe - but the error meant some people were charged £5.18 a day.

EE said the billing error occurred at the beginning of June, but The Sun reported that some customer complained about being double charged in May too.

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All customers are expected to be issued refunds automatically by the end of this week. You should be contacted by text or phone call.

One customer said: "Just returned home from holiday abroad to find that on five occasions I had been charged £5.18 daily roaming charges by EE. Spent nearly two hours in their chat, they are aware of the problem, but they still charge. Check your bills!"

An EE spokesperson told The Sun: "We identified an isolated roaming charge issue which impacted a small cohort of customers using their devices in the EU zone.

“This issue has been resolved, and all affected customers will be refunded automatically. We apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank our customers for their patience while we put things right."

Most of the major mobile networks have reintroduced roaming fees following Brexit. Roaming allows you to use your existing call, text and data allowances outside of your home country.

New rules that were introduced last October mean that mobile providers must now notify customers when they start roaming while abroad. They will also have to notify customers of any "fair use" limits that apply to their phone package.

"Fair use" caps the amount of your UK data allowance you can use while roaming in Europe. Ofcom said people should also be told how to set a spending cap and where to get help if they are confused about roaming costs.

How to cut your mobile bill

The first thing you should do, is use a comparison website to see what other deals are available elsewhere. Take a look at how many minutes, texts and how much data you currently use, so you can find similar plans that suit your needs.

You may find you're actually paying too much right now for allowances you're not using. If you've found a cheaper deal, you can switch to this if you're out of contract. Alternatively, you may want to haggle down your current provider.

When haggling, explain the better deals you've seen elsewhere then ask if the company can match or beat that price. The best time to do this is normally when you're near the end of your existing contract, or when a price rise has been announced.