EE apologises over 'spam' text messages

EE customers on Orange complained of receiving repeated marketing messages all weekend

EE has apologised after it "bombarded" customers with texts over the weekend.

One user complained of receiving more than 90 marketing messages from Orange, one of EE's brands, in a four-day period.

The text messages were reminders that the customers were eligible to add to their plans numbers that they can call for free.

EE said it was the result of a technical error that it was still working to fix.

Customers complained on social media and on the firm's own website.

"What is going on here? Both my wife and myself have been bombarded with texts about adding a new magic number for several days now and I'm getting mighty sick of it," wrote one customer on EE's website on Saturday.

"Orange have now texted me 40 times in three days telling me I can add a magic number. Yeh, that's not annoying at all," wrote Laura Brannan on Twitter.

And another Twitter user Siobhan Ring wrote: "If I get one more text from @orange saying I can add a new magic number I may scream!! Receiving around 50 a day!"

'Having an issue'

The messages read: "Hi from Orange. Congratulations: you can now add another Magic Number." It included a link customers could follow to do so.

In response to the complaints on the website, a member of EE's community team named as Miles wrote on Sunday that the firm was "having an issue" with the text message service.

He wrote: "This reminder should only be sent once, but some customers are getting multiple reminders.

"If you've received any of these duplicate messages, please accept our apologies for any inconvenience. Remember: you're not charged to receive magic number reminders."

He added that he expected to be able to give customers an update on Monday, but none has been issued so far.

An EE spokesman confirmed the details of Miles' post, but could not give any information on the number of people affected.