Annoying texts from EE/Orange

[jenevers]

Can anyone recommend a network that doesn't pester you with their own texts?

I've told EE not to send any more but they say it's impossible to stop them. Their text even says contact them to arrange for these texts to stop but there is no way you can wade through the "press number x for....." To get to the relevant department.

I eventually managed to email an EE person in customer relations who couldn't even tell me the sequence of "press number......." to stop these texts. She eventually said it can't be done so my argument was why are you telling people to go through this pointless exercise............although there is a lot of advertising in the recorded messages encouraging you to buy extras while you try to get to the non-existent department..........hmm.

A couple of times the texts have come through at 2.30am ........yes half two in the morning. I was so happy to be woken up at that time! I obviously assumed something serious had happened to a family member or friend.

 

And to top it all, after asking for these texts to stop I got a text from them asking, from 0 to 10, how satisfied I was with the service they had provided!!

[Guest]

Can anyone recommend a network that doesn't pester you with their own texts?

I've told EE not to send any more but they say it's impossible to stop them. Their text even says contact them to arrange for these texts to stop but there is no way you can wade through the "press number x for....." To get to the relevant department.

I eventually managed to email an EE person in customer relations who couldn't even tell me the sequence of "press number......." to stop these texts. She eventually said it can't be done so my argument was why are you telling people to go through this pointless exercise............although there is a lot of advertising in the recorded messages encouraging you to buy extras while you try to get to the non-existent department..........hmm.

A couple of times the texts have come through at 2.30am ........yes half two in the morning. I was so happy to be woken up at that time! I obviously assumed something serious had happened to a family member or friend.

 

And to top it all, after asking for these texts to stop I got a text from them asking, from 0 to 10, how satisfied I was with the service they had provided!!

 

Three! Pretty good coverage too. I'm on the One Plan which gives unlimited data. Not sure if this is still available though. I have heard that others have been switched to another contract but it hasn't happened to me yet.

[Richard10002]

Three! Pretty good coverage too. I'm on the One Plan which gives unlimited data. Not sure if this is still available though. I have heard that others have been switched to another contract but it hasn't happened to me yet.

It isn't! I dumped Three for a combination of an Ee data sim, and giffgaff phone sim.

[BargeeSpud]

Just delete the 'effers! I do & its not a biggie as it only happens a few times a month including my bill notification, now if they were phoning me.........

[MisterDave]

It isn't! I dumped Three for a combination of an Ee data sim, and giffgaff phone sim.

 

Hate to disagree but it is! I dumped Orange (EE) and moved onto Three about a year ago after Orange decided that Sunday mornings before 7 was a good time to send me their weekly advertising texts and after a 12 month battle to get them to stop sending that crap.

 

Three (PAYG) doesn't send me any texts apart from "your credit is low", "you've run out of credit" and "thanks for topping up". Just like all the other phone providers were a decade ago.

[GUMPY]

I put my phone on slient when I go to bed, makes for an undisturbed night.

[DaveC]

My kids know that I turn the phone OFF at 9-00pm so they don't bother ringing until next day. If they send a text message that is picked up when I turn the phone on in the morning. On Three PAYG and six months since getting this phone cost for data (not a lot) texts and calls has been all of £8-00. I think Three has the cheapest PAYG.

 

Dave

[Richard10002]

Hate to disagree but it is!

 

 

I think we are talking about different things

 

I was talking about unlimited data tethering, which isn't available anymore to new customers. Those that already had contracts with unlimited tethering are gradually being moved to a limited tethering agreement.

[Phil Ambrose]

Don't know if this would help but I have a Widows phone and I can put any phone number on an ignore list. My list is now about 30 numbers long. When I get a spam call or text I click ignore and it goes on the list automatically, when or if the number calls or texts again it doesn't get through

Phil

[jenevers]

I put my phone on slient when I go to bed, makes for an undisturbed night.

Let's hope you never get an emergency family call then.

My kids know that I turn the phone OFF at 9-00pm so they don't bother ringing until next day. If they send a text message that is picked up when I turn the phone on in the morning. On Three PAYG and six months since getting this phone cost for data (not a lot) texts and calls has been all of £8-00. I think Three has the cheapest PAYG.

 

Dave

Ditto.

[larkshall]

I just add the nos to blocked on my iPhone. It doesn't stop emails though, but those I have on silent, and always delete the entire mailbox daily. Cod I know it's all rubbish

Edited June 28, 2015 by larkshall

[Phil Ambrose]

I just add the nos to blocked on my iPhone. It doesn't stop emails though, but those I have on silent, and always delete the entire mailbox daily. Cod I know it's all rubbish

Wondered why you hadn't replied

Phil

[MisterDave]

Don't know if this would help but I have a Widows phone and I can put any phone number on an ignore list. My list is now about 30 numbers long. When I get a spam call or text I click ignore and it goes on the list automatically, when or if the number calls or texts again it doesn't get through

 

Most operator service messages are sent without an associated number and therefore can't be blocked by number blocking software. I already tried this before I left Orange, I didn't really want to end a phone contract which I'd had continuously since 1994, tried just about every other possible remedy first.

 

 

I think we are talking about different things

 

I was talking about unlimited data tethering, which isn't available anymore to new customers. Those that already had contracts with unlimited tethering are gradually being moved to a limited tethering agreement.

 

Three don't seem to be aware when a user is tethering. Someone I know was recently leaving his phone in hotspot mode in a tupperware box on the roof of his boat every night and inviting all the other people in the boatyard to use it to download films, he managed to use over 100GB one month and 85GB the next month, on the £15 a month PAYG "unlimited internet" package, his phone still works fine and he's had no extra bill for the data. My own data use has been mostly tethered as well but is yet to cause a problem.

 

The only issue I have with Three is that their coverage indoors is occasionally poor, at one friends house my phone will only work in the toilet. I'd be annoyed if I lived there and had to keep my phone on the cistern to get a signal. I have been informed that this is at least partly due to the house being made of very dense "railway bridge" bricks which are a problem for all 3g and 4g signals.

[George94]

EE is awful.

 

But so are all the others.

[Guest]

Let's hope you never get an emergency family call then.

 

Ditto.

A great feature on the iPhone is 'do not disturb'.

 

You can ignore calls, texts and emails between hours you set. When setting it up you can allow calls from certain numbers to come through such as friends and family. Additionally if a caller is not on your 'permitted' list and is ignored but they quickly ring back then the call is allowed through.

 

Some other phones including Android have a similar feature so it's worth checking if your phone has it.

 

HTH.

Edited June 28, 2015 by MJG

[MisterDave]

A great feature on the iPhone is 'do not disturb'.

 

You can ignore calls, texts and emails between hours you set. When setting it up you can allow calls from certain numbers to come through such as friends and family. Additionally if a caller is not on your 'permitted' list and is ignored but they quickly ring back then the call is allowed through.

 

Some other phones including Android have a similar feature so it's worth checking if your phone has it.

 

HTH.

 

You can get these features as an Android app if your phone doesn't already have them. I had all that and more on my Symbian Nokia a decade ago. Unfortunately some telemarketer types already use the "ring twice in quick succession" trick because it persuades people to answer calls they would otherwise ignore, as well as spoofing a "local" number and various other blatant criminal behaviour.

[abraxus]

Can anyone recommend a network that doesn't pester you with their own texts?

 

As far as I'm aware, if you send a reply text with the word "STOP" then they are legally obliged to stop sending you marketing messages. If they continue after that you can report them to the Information Commissioner.

[Guest]

You can get these features as an Android app if your phone doesn't already have them. I had all that and more on my Symbian Nokia a decade ago. Unfortunately some telemarketer types already use the "ring twice in quick succession" trick because it persuades people to answer calls they would otherwise ignore, as well as spoofing a "local" number and various other blatant criminal behaviour.

Personally if someone rang me twice in quick succession and it came up as unknown or someone not named as a contact in my phone book I would just reject the call.

 

Though annoying that you have by then been disturbed agreed.

[MisterDave]

 

As far as I'm aware, if you send a reply text with the word "STOP" then they are legally obliged to stop sending you marketing messages. If they continue after that you can report them to the Information Commissioner.

 

No they're not obliged to, and the ICO won't be interested either, I tried all that already. They're not obliged to stop sending you "network information" texts as long as you're still a current customer.

 

I tried this with Orange so many times I lost count, it had no discernible effect whatsoever and when I sought the help of their store staff they gave me attitude for trying to stop their marketing spam.

 

I tried it with Vodafone and they will remove you from their marketing list but they automatically re-add you the next time you give them any money which makes the whole process pointless. I was removed and re-added over 30 times, was even removed twice by the complaints handler inside the CEO's office but was put straight back on after topping up both times. Eventually the CEO's office even stopped trying and told me to eat my spam, causing my temper to fail and the phone to end up in half.

 

I was in a position where I needed to be contactable 24/7 for health emergencies but my livelihood was at risk if I wasted too much time on frivolous calls, trapped between a rock and a hard place. I was even considering doing without a phone and getting a pager to eliminate the network spam, but as a last resort (and only expecting another failure) I tried Three. Top marks to Three for treating me like I'm a paying customer rather than cattle!

[jenevers]

As far as I'm aware, if you send a reply text with the word "STOP" then they are legally obliged to stop sending you marketing messages. If they continue after that you can report them to the Information Commissioner.

Tried that many times........doesn't work!

[nicknorman]

Combination of iPhone "do not disturb" and Three, who rarely send spam texts, sorts it for me. In fact the iPhone "DND" also saves me from texts from my insomniac sister at 3am!

[kingswood]

I use giff gaff