EE: by no means excellent customer service

It's not like I lie awake at night grinding my teeth about it or anything but one phenomenon that really annoys me is when a company's marketing department is completely at odds with the company's actual values. So, for example, EE will tell you - on their 'phone system's recorded message - that they are committed to excellent customer service.

They're not.

The people who work for EE seem nice enough, at least the sample of them who've dealt with me over the last 18 months as I have struggled to obtain a Signal Box. Let me explain. (And I will keep this to about a tenth of the length it could be.)

When I lived at the old cottage I was with Vodafone. Because the signal in the cottage was pants I had a little unit - which cost about £50, I think - which plugged into my wifi and which granted my a full signal all around the house. Around the same time I switched to Orange, I moved to the new cottage. Once again, the signal was rubbish, so I rang Orange about getting the equivalent of a Sure Signal unit.

At first I was told they didn't exist. On another call I was told they did exist and were called Signal Boxes but they were out of stock. Another time I was told I wasn't eligible to buy one and then I was told I was. Finally, I was told they weren't being made anymore.

And then I saw (on Instagram) that someone had had one delivered the day after going into an EE store to complain about their signal. (EE had, by now, taken over Orange). Re-invigorated - or, perhaps, re-incensed - I rang EE. After a wide ranging discussion about eligibility, availability and so forth, I was told I would *never* get one. I gave up.

And then, last week, someone else posted a picture of their Signal Box on Instagram. I rang EE. I listened to their message about excellent customer service, and then I spoke to Sean. He was helpful, keen to help in fact, but there was nothing he could do. Indeed, after a while, Sean's enthusiasm waned. I asked to speak to his manager and I was put through to the escalation team. The lady was very helpful, listening patiently, and said she'd call back within the hour. She didn't.

The next day, yesterday, I took EE (gently) to task on Twitter. Their Twitter bods couldn't help and said I'd need to start over again, at the beginning. But then the lady from the escalation team *did* call me. And today, this. 

*relaxes*