3 to start paying people to recieve calls (merged)

redux

Steve_xx wrote:

Also, the cash credits are only valid for 30 days. No doubt that the topups are only valid for 30 days too?

redux wrote:

This is no longer true (since Nov or Dec). The call bundles are valid for 30 days, but cash top-ups have no life limit

apologies, Steve ..........

now I've looked a bit more into it, I can see it's rather more complicated, and in fact you are right to ask the question

the terms are not clear, and having spent 30 minutes on the phone to them I am not enlightened very much

however ...........

- cash top-ups applied are not time-limited

but ..........

- WePay credits have a 30 day expiry

and ........

- WePay credits are only earned for a 30 day period
- WePay credits are only applied when a cash top-up is made

I was asking about the situation if I don't top-up for 3 months - it appears the first 30 days is the qualifying period for the next WePay credit


I was about to ask whether cash credit or WePay credit is used first by default, but my battery went flat, and frankly I can hardly be arsed to find out, as I think I can guess that it will be the worse option - cash used first, then WePay - meaning that some people will not ever get to use the WePay credit

I could be rampantly unfair in this assumption, so I will find out later, as it may make the difference between this scheme being unattractive and simply appalling

However, as we have all made a number of poor assumptions so far, anyone doubting what I say might read

http://www.three.co.uk/news/h3gnews/searchresultsnewsview.omp?cid=1137675159353

A customer on WePay who receives 100 minutes of calls and 50 texts a month will earn £6.00 credit. He or she can claim their cash credit when they purchase a new WePay Top-up, and the credit can then be used to purchase any 3 services.

WePay cash credits are valid for 30 days.

As soon as a Top-up is purchased the 3 customer has 30 days to generate as many calls and texts as possible in order to earn maximum cash credits again.

As I said, the WePay credit is only earned for a limited period, and can only be used for a limited period. If the WePay credit is consumed after the cashcredit, then modest users will never get it.

The person in the example must spend £10 to get £16 worth of calls and texts.

If they make the same x-net 100 minutes of calls and 50 texts as they received, this will cost them £35, or £29 net of the WePay credit

Most other networks have better payg deals than this. X-net mobiles have gone from 20p to 30p, so 5p back for receiving calls isn't compensation.

It may be attractive for groups of people that are all on 3, but even so will depend on the level of usage.

Apologies to anyone that thinks this is complicated - I worked to simplify it. The press release points out that many deals are too difficult to understand - pot calls the kettle black I think.



It seems that all new customers will be on this. Well, that is one version. Another is that this is totally separate from the ThreePay scheme.

If I find out any more, particularly the point about the default precedence of WePay and cash credits, and whether people who buy top-up bundles even qualify or are left out, I'll let you know.

It seems to me that a 3 contract with cashback is cheaper for a year than this scheme for a month.

Steve_xx

That's the problem with these odd schemes. Nobody, but the developer understands exactly how they are to function. And then you have to wonder if the developer has thought things through properly.

It's too much hassle to be bothered with. If you call anyone at 3 about it, the chances are that they will not be able to tell you reliably how it operates. That leaves you feeling less than confident about the advice that these customer services agents offer.

I don't like these PAYG schemes particularly, but I can see their appeal for some. I especially don't care for the timers they put on the credits, ie have to use them within 30 days or whatever, minimum call charges etc. Far too many clauses.

Jonni2bad

redux wrote:

I don't understand what you mean the terms for by unlimited credit - it runs out in 30 days

I'm just guessing that 3 might include a maximum amount of credit that you can earn in any given period

redux wrote:

... and I think you are mixing up 2 offers on Orange tariffs and the O2 one.... the O2 deal is only to O2 mobiles and landlines, so you will be charged maybe 30 or 40p per minute to call 3

Clearly my error - I wrongly presumed that the O2 off-peak deal was x-net, rather than as you describe above - in which case there is certainly nothing to be gained from doing that deal.

kai666 wrote:

So you mean you would sit there for 2000 mins a month and phone yourself?????
or am I misreading what you mean?

If all of the above had been correct, then yes, I was suggesting you phone yourself - however, I wouldn't imagine sitting with the phones, one in each hand, staring at them until the time was up.... If you called the PAYG before you went to bed and left if on the call over night, then in 2 nights you would have used your 1000 mins.

It makes no odds now since my initial assumption about the O2 deal was wrong.


Plus - I don't think it would even be worthwhile if I was right, since it now seems obvious you have to top up with cash in order to obtain the "free" credit.

iceburn

You can use those minutes to call three using a call through service like 0844 cause those minutes include 0844, 0845, and 0870. So what you said still stand but adds other layer of complexation. Which might make it not worth the hassle!

KevinRichesUK

I've been looking through this thread - I'm new to this site. I've just had my latest landline phone bill and it turns out my son has been topping up his 3 phone by calling it from our landline - he's on this WePay thing. The bill is not pretty and I'm not happy. How can 3 be allowed to offer such a service?

It's good news for the one with the 3 mobile but what about those calling them? I can just imagne people at work just calling their 3 mobiles from their desks and leaving them to top up whilst they wander off. Fine if you're a big company, what if you're not? What if you're a charity or health authority? You can't have people wasting money like that and it's difficult to control. If there are more of my sons out there it could be costing a fortune - thousands and thousands!

The service just doesn't seem right or fair.

Do you think it will stay around for long?

redux

Welcome to the site Kevin

It does seem pretty divisive, especially as they are unlikely to have made clear enough to people that calling 3 from a landline is more expensive than other mobiles, so you'd have been 3 or 4 times better off just giving him the money to top up directly (if you wanted to).

I don't know if it will stay around. What it really should do is make Ofcom realise that the time that 3 has higher termination charges than other networks should now be ended. The disparity in charges has effectively subsidised 3's start-up costs, and if they reckon thay can now afford to give part of that away, then why should it continue?

I don't know if you could contact 3 and angrily ask them why they are promoting this without making clear to their customers that some caution should be used in acting as your son has.