Three Itemised Billing Charges (merged threads)

loup67

rev_henry wrote: »

I'm going to see if they'll give me some kind of deadlock ref, but I don't hold out much hope. I'll try OTELO and maybe consumer direct (trading standards) on the phone tomorrow. No one has mentioned trading standards yet. Might be worth a try.

I was refered to consumer direct today by otelo.I asked about the legality of what 3 are doing and the lady at otelo said they couldn't give legal advice so passed me to consumer direct.Spoke to a lovely guy who shocked me by saying this was the first he'd heard of this!(get on the phone everyone!)He gave me a ref no and advised me to write again to 3 by recorded delivery,they require 2 letters before they can act.
He believes that 3 should have informed us in writing of any changes to t&c's and I should reiterate the fact I wasn't informed prior to this letter 5th Aug.
If no joy with 3 to contact them again and then otelo as he doesn't think they can do this.
Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel!!!

jasonwatkins

what kind of puts the underscore on this is how much better this orange contract is than 3 - 500 minutes, 100 texts, unlimited landline calls for £9 a month cheaper than i've been paying with 3.

i'm wondering if one possible solution is to try and downgrade my 3 contract to the lowest possible and see if i can afford to cover it for the next 12 months.

although when i upgraded, i agreed to a £9 a month video calling fee just to get the handset i wanted, which I absolutely hated after 24 hours .... and it's for the full contract term with NO negotiation.

there is a fairly extreme solution to this dilemma though.

i do have a lot of debt that i've had for a number of years, and i'm currently looking to next april for this new debt relief order that's going to come in. It's essentially bankruptcy for those people who can't afford the £500 fee.

Now the extreme solution - cancel the direct debit to 3 and just give up on it, and next april, include them in the debt relief petition, which would mean any debt - including the termination fee - would be written off.

The bankruptcy, for me personally, has to happen whatever I do. So do I go down that road and just include 3 in the deal ??.

Bearing in mind I have a 2 year deal with orange, and as long as I pay the bill on time, which I can do, I can't see any issue to them extending the deal.

But then I do know that any bankruptcy petition does usually take away contract phones, but this debt relief order may well be different.

loup67 wrote: »

Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel!!!

What priceplan are you on?

loup67

talk & text 600,still billed per sec

rev_henry

jasonwatkins wrote: »

what kind of puts the underscore on this is how much better this orange contract is than 3 - 500 minutes, 100 texts, unlimited landline calls for £9 a month cheaper than i've been paying with 3.

i'm wondering if one possible solution is to try and downgrade my 3 contract to the lowest possible and see if i can afford to cover it for the next 12 months.

although when i upgraded, i agreed to a £9 a month video calling fee just to get the handset i wanted, which I absolutely hated after 24 hours .... and it's for the full contract term with NO negotiation.

there is a fairly extreme solution to this dilemma though.

i do have a lot of debt that i've had for a number of years, and i'm currently looking to next april for this new debt relief order that's going to come in. It's essentially bankruptcy for those people who can't afford the £500 fee.

Now the extreme solution - cancel the direct debit to 3 and just give up on it, and next april, include them in the debt relief petition, which would mean any debt - including the termination fee - would be written off.

The bankruptcy, for me personally, has to happen whatever I do. So do I go down that road and just include 3 in the deal ??.

Bearing in mind I have a 2 year deal with orange, and as long as I pay the bill on time, which I can do, I can't see any issue to them extending the deal.

But then I do know that any bankruptcy petition does usually take away contract phones, but this debt relief order may well be different.



What priceplan are you on?

If you need bankrupcy, or a dept relief order, then how can you possibly afford to pay orange each month? Surely you should use that money to pay back some of your debt instead?

jasonwatkins

rev_henry wrote: »

If you need bankrupcy, or a dept relief order, then how can you possibly afford to pay orange each month? Surely you should use that money to pay back some of your debt instead?

It's a long story which I don't really want to go into on here. the short version is that the debt was there when I was working, and since i've stopped work nearly 10 years ago due to ill health, i've tried to pay some of it back but it's just too much for me to afford - at the rate I can afford, i'll finish paying it back in 22 years, when i turn 60.

a mobile is a necessity unfortunately and £20 a month is within my price range.

davieg11

I have e-mailed and sent 2 letters to 3. I have also contacted otelo and still no cancellation yet. This is my latest reply from 3.

Thank you for your further email, regarding the information provided in the April 2008 3 Price Guide, which I have issued to you.

The “per second” billing promotional period had been extended and therefore you have received the benefit of not being charged for First Minute billing for several months now.

This does not alter the fact that this charge is now being implemented. Nor does it alter the fact that the Price Guide at the time of your upgrade informed you of the changes to Billing charges and as this forms part of your Terms for 3 Services, you will be billed as such.

Whilst I understand your frustration with the First Minute billing charges now coming into effect, you agreed a contract with us in April 2008 and by doing so you agreed to the Terms for 3 Services at that time.

As previously stated, the Price Guide forms part of your contractual agreement and therefore your 3 contract will not be cancelled at this time, without the applicable Early Termination Fee.

Any correspondence received from Trading Standards will be responded to accordingly, upon receipt.

Thank you once again for your enquiry and I trust I have reaffirmed 3’s final position.

rev_henry

jasonwatkins wrote: »

It's a long story which I don't really want to go into on here. the short version is that the debt was there when I was working, and since i've stopped work nearly 10 years ago due to ill health, i've tried to pay some of it back but it's just too much for me to afford - at the rate I can afford, i'll finish paying it back in 22 years, when i turn 60.

a mobile is a necessity unfortunately and £20 a month is within my price range.

I didn't mean to try and pry into your private affairs so sorry if it seemed that way. I do see what you mean though.
Raises another question of how you passed the credit check for 3 and orange, but that's neither here nor there as the fact is you did.
On another note, if its easy to do, I'd say to just add the 3 payments to your other debt, if you see what I mean. I guess its not really the right thing to do from a moral perspective, but they deserve it after the way they're treating us all.

rev_henry

davieg11 wrote: »

I have e-mailed and sent 2 letters to 3. I have also contacted otelo and still no cancellation yet. This is my latest reply from 3.

Thank you for your further email, regarding the information provided in the April 2008 3 Price Guide, which I have issued to you.

The “per second” billing promotional period had been extended and therefore you have received the benefit of not being charged for First Minute billing for several months now.

This does not alter the fact that this charge is now being implemented. Nor does it alter the fact that the Price Guide at the time of your upgrade informed you of the changes to Billing charges and as this forms part of your Terms for 3 Services, you will be billed as such.

Whilst I understand your frustration with the First Minute billing charges now coming into effect, you agreed a contract with us in April 2008 and by doing so you agreed to the Terms for 3 Services at that time.

As previously stated, the Price Guide forms part of your contractual agreement and therefore your 3 contract will not be cancelled at this time, without the applicable Early Termination Fee.

Any correspondence received from Trading Standards will be responded to accordingly, upon receipt.

Thank you once again for your enquiry and I trust I have reaffirmed 3’s final position.

In a way it is good to get an email like this as it clearly states their final position, which means OTELO can now get involved.
Looks like they're not budging, which is a joke, they're clearly in the wrong.

Bno

Hey there, have read quite a few of the posts, some very helpful. Am trying to get out of my contract I took out Oct 2007 £20 Texter (previous Student Promotion).


Anyway, got a call back from the centre, had to speak to a guy in India, bit hard to understand, but never mind that, I think that was mostly down to my reception haha. Anyway, they said that I cannot get out of the contract without paying the cancellation fee as section 10 does not apply due to 4.1:


You can end the agreement for such variations as explained in Section 10. Subject to the above, you will not be able to end the agreement if such variation or increase:

1. is due to changes to the law, government regulation or licence which affect us; or

The guy said that the government have inforced this, so there is nothing they can do. I got him to confirm this.


Any suggestions on what to do next?

zoe_b

Well, I missed a call from the executive office today and they left a voicemail asking me to call them back.

I'm on M&M 1100 so I know what they're going to say lol :rolleyes: