Mobile companies and offshored call centres
 

I am a customer of Plusnet Mobile and have been aware that Plusnet will soon disappear and be subsumed into the EE brand - BT residential I think will follow soon after. Therefore, all customers of Plusnet will become customers of EE.

I called up Plusnet Mobile yesterday and got a message saying that Plusnet Mobile is no longer available to new customers and when I asked for more information I was told that I would soon receive a communication telling me that Plusnet Mobile would be switched off and in order to continue to receive services I would have to become a customer of EE.

EE is much bigger that Plusnet mobile so it is likely to use lots of call centres in different locations so I am wondering if EE uses offshored call centres.

I am also thinking about moving to another provider as I don't really want to be an EE customer, and probably pay more than Plusnet Mobile charges me as I don't use the internet on my mobile handset. Therefore, with EE I am likely to have to pay for data which I would never use.

All of this means that I am considering going to a new provider who will offer me a rolling 30-day contract consisting of just calls and texts but I won't go with a company that offshores its customer service. Among the providers I am considering are Tesco Mobile, Sky and GiffGaff but there may be others who also provide what I need whose entire customer service is based in the UK so any suggestions/thoughts would be much appreciated.

Re: Mobile companies and offshored call centres
 

1p mobile may be a contender. Although they do use EE their customer service is UK based and if you just want to phone and text their Talker Sim gives you unlimited calls and texts with 250mg data at a cost of £36 for a whole year.

https://www.1pmobile.com/1year-calls-texts-data-SIM.taf

Review. https://www.simsherpa.com/networks/1...stomer-service

Re: Mobile companies and offshored call centres
 

It's an old article but it says they're moving call centres back to the UK, I'm sure you could use Google to find out.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/ee-mo...s-back-7830257

Re: Mobile companies and offshored call centres
 

Thank you for your suggestion joglynne. I've never hard of 1p mobile and £3/month is pretty good.

Plusnet Mobile uses the EE network but that's for the signal, as I think is the acse for many mobile providers.

Any other thought/suggestions would be most welcome.

Re: Mobile companies and offshored call centres
 

I’ve spoken to EE customer services a number of times down the years and the only offshore agent I recall speaking to was working from home in Ireland. I’ve always found them helpful, they seem to know their stuff and if you are able to talk technical with them at all (for local signal issues, for example, if you can check a site like Cellmapper and suggest to them to cell ID they should be looking at) then they tend to be quite enthusiastic.

Re: Mobile companies and offshored call centres
 

I would recommend EE all day long, the times I have called its always been North East based call centres, I've had bad experience with other providers, I do how ever have a sim with Smarty, ported my O2 number to them 1 to keep the number but secondly their data deals are great and use it as a backup SIM for my home connection but the process was smooth and no need to have to call them.

EE plus they still have stores in many towns if you do need to go in.

Re: Mobile companies and offshored call centres
 

Thank you for all the thoughts abut EE.

What about other mobile providers? Where are their call centres based? Providers I am considering include Tesco Mobile and Sky Mobile.

Re: Mobile companies and offshored call centres
 

Always worth having a read of the independant reviews...

Tesco mobile running on O2
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/tescomobile.com

Sky mobile running on O2
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/sky-mobile.co.uk

Re: Mobile companies and offshored call centres
 

Thank you for that suggestion.

What are the thoughts of other forum users, as I'd be looking at moving to a company whose call centres are UK-based.

Re: Mobile companies and offshored call centres
 

I have now had to make the change and for now I have gone with EE and I am pleasantly surprised by how good their call centres have been so far, both on Tyneside and Belfast. I'm also paying less than I was with Plusnet Mobile.

Whether I stick with them long term remains to be seen but for now, I've been impressed.

Re: Mobile companies and offshored call centres
 

As for the major companies, I believe that Sky, Virgin Mobile and O2 are offshored with EE being UK-based. Not sure about Vodaphone or 3.

Re: Mobile companies and offshored call centres
 

Plusnet was bought by BT in 2007 but has always been run as a separate company. After BT and EE merged they've slowly been consolidation and bringing everything under the EE brand.

I know EE did have a call centre in Scotland, not sure if it's still there. Vodafone did or does have call centres based in Manchester and Egypt. 3 did have a big call centre in Glasgow but I am sure they moved a few years back.

Re: Mobile companies and offshored call centres
 

Thank you for the post Stephen.

EE still does have a call centre in Scotland.