3 itemised billing - change in terms of business

digp

I've set up a new separate thread as the earlier older thread is too long and other issues are also discussed in it.

From the 3 site:

"From 20th October there will be a £1 charge for receiving itemised paper bills by post… "

I have spoken to three. I am being told there will be a cancellation fee etc .

I'm off to find my contract.

How are others faring?

digp

Okay, relevant parts of the contract will be:

4.1 We may vary any of the terms of your agreement,
including our Price Plans, on the following basis:

(b) if you are a Pay Monthly Customer, we will let
you know at least one month in advance if we
decide to:

(ii) make any variations to your agreement
which are likely to be of detriment to you;

You can end the agreement for such variations
as explained in Section 10.

(c) if you carry on using 3 Services after the
variation commences, you will be deemed to
have accepted the variation.

10. Ending this agreement of 3 Services

Pay Monthly Customers
10.1 You may end this agreement in the
following ways:

(d) within one month of a detrimental variation
to your agreement.
You can end the agreement within one
month of us telling you about a variation to your
agreement (which includes your Price Plan) which
is likely to be of detriment to you. You must give
written notice to 3 Customer Services within that
month and your agreement will finish at the end
of that month once we receive your notice. (A
Cancellation Fee will not be charged.)

dreamypuma

I successfully ended my 18month contract on 19th of September due to these changes.

They were very persistent and used all sorts of excuses and the call centre quite obviously didn't have clue what was in there T&C's.

In order to cancel I sent a letter to the Glasgow address, serving 30days notice. This resulted in a call from Three a few days later. After a 45minute conversation and being passed from one department to another (one of them being Retentions) my notice was accepted. I was offered a better deal during this conversation which I declined.

Three implemented the 30days from the date of our conversation.

Two days after my conversation with Three and there acceptance of my notice, I was contacted by another representative. They claimed to be ringing for feedback on the service, but the conversation the escalated to a begging call offering a better deal. I stuck to my guns and declined the offers, and clarified with the caller that the 30days notice still stood and termination was on 19th of September.

All in all I got out of my contact four months early.

Stick to your guns and don't be swayed by them. Remember that they have not only implemented the billing charge, but also the first minute billing.

shobba

if you cancel as a result of this, do you then need to return the handset too?

markhunter

I phoned 3 about this earlier as I want out of my contract.

They said I had 30 days from the date of a letter they sent to me in August however they didnt know the date of the letter. I have never recieved a letter as the first I have heard about this £1 charge was today on this forum.

Gonna have to write in and maybe call consumer direct for advice

vigilaire

I have just received a txt message from 3 informing me of the £1 charge for paper bills. This is the first I've heard of it - what is the best way for me to proceed to get out of my contract. Is it too late to follow the above recomendations, do the changes to t and c apply to me here? Thanks in advance for any advice.

digp

1. You can keep the handset.

2. They (3) are trying to pull a fast one over people.

3. May be consideration should be given to a class action lawsuit against them?

4. If anyone has any difficulties cancelling the contract then follow what it says in the contract, i.e. write in to cancel. Do so by recorded delivery (so you have proof). If they call up, tell them to do one, and whatever you do do not agree to anything (e.g. better deal) as you will be agreeing the variation.

5. Do NOT use the 3 phone line on or after the date that you have been given for implementation of the £1 charge. If you do so, you will be agreeing the variation.

6. No point in ringing up as the tubbies are muppets being made to read from scripts (not their fault - it's the people who run 3 who are to blame).

Pdog

I have received the same text message. I would like to terminate my contract because of this.

I didn't receive a letter either, I am hoping I can still cancel it.

I believe someone posted their cancellation letter in the thread regarding the rollover minutes.

xplora

digp wrote: »

1. You can keep the handset.

2. They (3) are trying to pull a fast one over people.

3. May be consideration should be given to a class action lawsuit against them?

4. If anyone has any difficulties cancelling the contract then follow what it says in the contract, i.e. write in to cancel. Do so by recorded delivery (so you have proof). If they call up, tell them to do one, and whatever you do do not agree to anything (e.g. better deal) as you will be agreeing the variation.

5. Do NOT use the 3 phone line on or after the date that you have been given for implementation of the £1 charge. If you do so, you will be agreeing the variation.

6. No point in ringing up as the tubbies are muppets being made to read from scripts (not their fault - it's the people who run 3 who are to blame).

Hi mate, if you can share your letter template to me. I would be appreciated. :beer: thx

Pdog

xplora wrote: »

Hi mate, if you can share your letter template to me. I would be appreciated. :beer: thx

That would be really handy!

digp

Here is a template letter to use (obviously check your terms and conditions to make sure they are the same or broadly the same):

Dear Sirs,

re: phone number

On the [date], I entered into a contract with your network.

I now have been notified by [state how notified] that you will be levying a fee of £1 per month to provide me with itemised billing. At the moment, there is no such fee and no such fee was agreed when I entered into the contract.

I rely on terms 4.1(b)(ii) and 10.1(d) (taken from the July 2008 Terms) which enable me to terminate the contract without penalty forthwith. I hereby give notice to that effect and confirm that I require a PAC code.

I do not wish to receive any calls from your customer services staff. Please correspond with me in writing.

I expect a written confirmation within the next [state number of days in which you want a reply].

Yours ....