3mobile - what a useless lot they are!

macman

They're not going to try and talk you out of terminating the account, since you have already done that back in February!
I don't understand why you keep saying you have paid off the account, because if you cancelled in Feb and your contract ran until May, you would have to pay a minimum 3 months, maybe 4 months fees-how can that be only £30.50 if your monthly payment is £17+VAT (£19.55).
You keep referring to 'line rental' and 'call charges', but there is no separate charge for these-your monthly fee covers the line rental and your selected call package, whatever that is. So you termination fee would be £19.55 x the no of months left until end of May. That is how they calculate the termination charge. Of course you pay for the call element because that is part of your monthly charge.

hotkee

loobiloo wrote: »

I don't want to talk to them, its true, as, in my experience of talking to them so far, their English is appalling and they don't answer straightforward questions. They have their script which they stick to and it involves trying to talk a customer out of moving their account.

However, I will try and get some clearer idea from phones 4U where I got the new contract.


I dont know why the £30.50 doesnt equate, but thats what I paid for the early closure of the account.

Phones4u? Why should they tell you anything?

I mean try ringing your old number and see if its active - if it is then contract is not terminated.

PS Their English is better than what probably your Hindi is.

loobiloo

Yes, their English is better than my Hindi; that's why I wouldn't get a job in a call centre where I couldnt be understood.

however, back to the point -

I have just been on the phone to 3 for precisely 58 minutes, much of which was listening to dreadful music while they rack up their charges on their high rate number.

It turns out that the problem is that I wrote to them to cancel my account back in February, whereas I should have phoned them as that would have made all the difference and my account would have been cancelled a month later!

Who'd have thought it eh? So despite having written in February and sending my early termination charge, I have to phone them again, on April 24th to cancel the account verbally! Uneffinbelievable!

Apparently, 3mobile are renowned for their appalling customer service and they leave you hanging on the line in the hopes that you get frustrated and give up - and then they can bill you for another month!

loobiloo

oh yes macman, I meant to say that when I referred to call charges and line rental I meant the calls etc made outside of the allowance.

I also wanted to clarify that had they cancelled the account when I wrote to them, the final termination fee of £30.50 would have been correct. Because they didn't cancel, that money went towards the remaining monthly charges.

3mobile, still a useless bunch of idiots in my opinion.

but thanks for your help

macman

If your monthly charge is £19.55 (any excess call charges outside or over your call allowance are not relevant) then a termination fee of £30.50 cannot be correct if there are still 3 or 4 months to run. That fee only represents a month and a half.
The fact that they didn't cancel you in Feb would not make any difference to the total amount paid, as the termination charge will be the same as the sum of the monthly charges to the end of the contract.
3 haven't exactly covered themselves in glory here, but the fact is that you owe them what they are billing and if you don't pay it then eventually they will default you. You would be crazy to let them trash your credit file for £40.

loobiloo

macman wrote: »

If your monthly charge is £19.55 (any excess call charges outside or over your call allowance are not relevant) then a termination fee of £30.50 cannot be correct if there are still 3 or 4 months to run. That fee only represents a month and a half.
The fact that they didn't cancel you in Feb would not make any difference to the total amount paid, as the termination charge will be the same as the sum of the monthly charges to the end of the contract.
3 haven't exactly covered themselves in glory here, but the fact is that you owe them what they are billing and if you don't pay it then eventually they will default you. You would be crazy to let them trash your credit file for £40.

My final bill from them is £15.91 which I have now paid. They have confirmed that there will be no further bills as long as I verbally cancel with them in 9 days time and that I have not paid any money over and above what is correct.

Of course, it could be conceivable that, like contrygirl's experience showed, they might not be altogether being upfront and honest with me.. I shall have to wait and see

hotkee

My final bill from them is £15.91 which I have now paid. They have confirmed that there will be no further bills as long as I verbally cancel with them in 9 days time and that I have not paid any money over and above what is correct.

The phrase "as long as I verbally cancel" tells you that the contract is not cancelled - when you ring up in 9 days, they will tell you what the "termination" amount is.

Its standard process for any network - I have had trouble cancelling one out of three contracts with Three in past. Equally had the same experience with o2 although they told me on the phone what the amount I would have to pay them to get out of the contract.