EE Refunds Customers After Data Roaming VAT Error

EE is refunding customers who were overcharged for data roaming packages while travelling outside Europe over a two year period.

The operator says it miscalculated the amount of VAT and has sent out texts to affected users, apologising for the error and informing them that they will receive a credit on their next bill rather than a cash sum.

EE VAT error

“Due to a configuration error in our billing system, made following a system change, a small number of customers were wrongly charged VAT on the Data Roaming bundle outside of Europe,” a company spokesperson told TechWeekEurope. “This was a mistake, and we are now refunding these charges and contacting affected customers to apologise for the error.”

TechWeekEurope has received a text explaining the error, but it does not mention what types of services were overcharged, only that a certain amount has been credited to the account affected. The miscalculation occurred between October 2012 and October 2014.

The BBC says the mistake was spotted after a customer complained to the operator, which then worked to get the money back from HMRC. The broadcaster says 0.5 percent of EE users were impacted, as many as 140,000, and received refunds of between £2 and £80.

BT is currently in talks with EE’s parent companies Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom over a possible £12.5 billion takeover of the operator, which was formed in 2012 through the merger of Orange and T-Mobile.

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