Apology order for mobile phone network in row over poor Shropshire signal
Mobile phone network EE has been told to apologise to Shropshire customers for poor service after complaints about its lack of coverage in rural parts of the county.
Users bemoaning "diabolical" mobile coverage in south Shropshire were vindicated after an probe by Ofcom found EE, one of Britain's largest providers, in breach of its "duty of customer care".
The ruling comes after mobile users around Bishop's Castle, Clun, Chirbury and Worthen went to the industry regulator, following anger that their complaints about an apparent decline in mobile coverage had been ignored.
An e-mail from Victoria Bedford on behalf of EE confirmed to local councillors that "unfortunately you will probably receive poor or no coverage at all", but other customers' complaints had received little or no reply, Shropshire councillor Heather Kidd, said.
Now CISAS, an arbitrator appointed by Ofcom, has found that EE has been "in breach of its duty of customer care" and called on the firm to apologise.
Councillor Kidd said: "We have had a mammoth struggle even getting EE to talk about the poor quality of their service in Shropshire. They either give customers lame excuses or simply don't reply to their letters. Regrettably the arbitrator can't comment on the technical aspect of the complaint – poor coverage – and it will be interesting, given this company's record up to date, to see if we ever get an apology."
A spokesperson for EE said: "We're investigating reports that a small number of people in Bishop's Castle are experiencing signal issues, and apologise for the inconvenience caused."
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