Beware Three Mobile Upgrades!

Rileysdad_2

Hope this is in the right place! Here goes.....

I was contacted by Three with regards to an upgrade (I''m getting close to the end of my contract). I had a rough idea of what I wanted and how much I wanted to pay for it. After lots of wrangling and haggling I was offered the phone I wanted for free and a £7 a month 'loyalty' discount. The phone arrived a couple of days later, happy days!

Not quite! I had a message on my voicemail asking me to ring customer services. When I finally got through they asked me to pay £88 for the new handset!!!

The person I talked to said that the deal I had been given on the 11th of April had been reviewed by a more senior team who had decided that the offer was not in line with their 'business regulations' and I now had to pay for the phone, despite having already had the phone for 9 days.

I said that I would not be prepared to pay for the phone (other companies offer it for free for a similar tariff) and I could not understand how they could change the deal after I had accepted it and received the phone. After I lot of time spent on hold and yet more wrangling the person came back and said that after speaking with her manager they would waive the handset fee as a sign of goodwill, however, they could not let me have the £7 a month 'loyalty' discount as well.

At this point I politely but firmly told them that I would be returning the phone and canceling the contract as I was within 14 days. I was then put on hold (again) to talk to the cancellation department, after 6-7 minutes the same person came back on and said that she had had managed to talk to her manager and her senior manager(!) and had persuaded them to let me have the phone for free as well as a £7 a month discount. In fact exactly the same deal I accepted on the 11th.

In summary 9 days after taking up an upgrade offer and signing up for another 18 months, a special 'A' team of three staff decided that my other was too good and decided to ring me up and charge me for it! It took three phone calls totaling a hour and half foot stamping and outrage to get exactly the same deal back again!!

The only lever I had was the 14 day cancellation period, what happens when this expires? Surely it can't be legal to change my contract and ring me up for the extra money?

I must admit that I am an avid reader of the forums but never post, but this drove me to share it with someone!!

1984ReturnsForReal_2

The only lever I had was the 14 day cancellation period, what happens when this expires? Surely it can't be legal to change my contract and ring me up for the extra money?
--


I have doubts to that being correct.

Surely they cant charge you more for something at a later date whatever the cancellation period is without reasonable notification.

Buzby

Your contract has nothing to do with the agreed price 'the tariff' - which can be changed at any time with the appropriate notice. If a change is seriously detrimental to your use of the service, they can either retain your custom by keeping at the same cost level (called a bill credit) until your minimum term is completed, or they can let you walk by cancelling the contract (but this rarely happens).

You did the right thing by rejecting their attempt at modifying your deal - but as you discovered, Sales cannot offer the same deals a Retention, who have more leeway on pricing.

However, I do need to clarify something - the '14 days' cooling off period you refer to DOES NOT apply to upgrades, only new contracts. As many upgraders found out to their cost. Where you score is that because you purchased online or ny phone, the DSR (Distance Selling Regulations) gave you some additional leeway - if purchased directly in a store, NO DSR and no opportunity to cancel. This applies to ALL networks, it's not a particular ploy by 3UK.

Well done for sticking to your guns!

Money_Grabber13579

14 days does apply to upgrades - well on O2 anyway. I returned one to O2 recently under this.

Radsteral

this is the last year i stay with theree, even if they offer me 5000 free minutes 2 phones and a bowl of cereals free every morning.

had mine and my wife's contract with three and another contract for my employee..
this last one was expiring, so i decided to go to O2.. despite their calls i had made my mind.. then finally the very last day the phone would be switched they call and say
'' 850 minutes 500 texts , a nokia 3210 phone all for 10 quid...12 months contract.
again as above it came as part of loyality deal ,
bill comes and it was nowhere near of what i was told on the phone.
it took me 3 weeks.. endless phones but despite their excuses ''we dont have such a allowance of 850 minutes etc'' despite these i didnt back of and got my contrat as stated from the muppet on the phone and i think i am the only one in the uk with 12 month contract )
i emailed trading standards, and copy paste to three , i for 2 months cancelled my direct debit on all my contract and told them i be willing to go to court- i was really.

they setled it down finally but the misserables all they do is feed you with lots of minutes that you cant use it as no network.. if you get in a house the phone is dead.. if you get on the bus the phone is dead.. on the building you work the phone is dead... s good for my little bussines then
all i could say is fight it .... now i would fight it even knowing its not my right

robt_2

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

14 days does apply to upgrades - well on O2 anyway. I returned one to O2 recently under this.

It does not.

o2 probably just offer a return period instead.

vij1366

bunch of !!!!!! these 3 charachters just upgraded my three as it was expiring 2 months away i was told 500 minutes and 100 texts new phone
and unlimited internet and cover for the phone all for 20 quid
the contracts came thru guess what
it was 300 minutes and the phone cover 7 pounds a month
rang them complained but as i had opened the phone they would not cancel the contract so i gave hell threaten to take them to ofcoma nd wanted the transcripts of the conversation said they would get back to me last week nobody did
rang yesterday and guess what no transcript of call so they had no choice but to cancel
good riddance anyone but htree
they have lost 5 contracts now

Radsteral

i asked for copy of the phone conversation too ... they say they record this and that but record nothing.
vij me and you went full ahead and got what we were initially told but man, i cant guess how many are left with deaf ears from being on the phone listening to their music as you wait

GeoThermal

Buzby wrote: »

Your contract has nothing to do with the agreed price 'the tariff' - which can be changed at any time with the appropriate notice. If a change is seriously detrimental to your use of the service, they can either retain your custom by keeping at the same cost level (called a bill credit) until your minimum term is completed, or they can let you walk by cancelling the contract (but this rarely happens).

I'm not sure how you can separate the tariff and contract. Surely they are linked which is why if they change the tariff to your detriment you can walk away as they have broken the contract.

GeoThermal

Rileysdad wrote: »

The only lever I had was the 14 day cancellation period, what happens when this expires? Surely it can't be legal to change my contract and ring me up for the extra money?

Legally I don't think they would have a leg to stand on demanding more money after a sale and agreement has been made.