If you use "3 like home" read this- possible reason to cancel??

sporedude

To be honest your wasting your time, Wasnt 3 at home a promotional service? So I woudnt be supprised if they sued you for being a waste of time.

hotkee

sporedude - you iz cruel but I like your thinking!

sporedude

Oh yah I iz cruel, Im a cold, heartless, stubborn b*stard....*Grin*

drbob

sporedude wrote: »

To be honest your wasting your time, Wasnt 3 at home a promotional service? So I woudnt be supprised if they sued you for being a waste of time.

Nope. As far as I know they only started calling it promotional when they announced the end of the service. It definitely wasn't advertised as promotional in June 08 when I signed up. I have a copy the three price guide from June 08 showing this.

3 have at no point said I can't cancel because it was a promotion. They've said I can't cancel for the reasons I give above. The contract defines 3 services as:

3 Services (or Services): the services offered by 3, including call services, Messaging Services, Storage Services, Age Restricted Services and Premium Services, which we have agreed to provide for you.

Premium Services: any 3 Services in the List of Services which are charged at premium rates. You can only access these 3 ervices - such as international calling and international roaming - with our approval.

3 like home is a roaming service, so it's part of the core "3 services". If three make a change to the charges for those services that are detrimental to the customer, he or she can cancel under section 10.1 of the contract.

hotkee

But they havent told you of a change to "3 at home" directly?
Have you received a letter?
What you see on their web site may not apply to existing customers etc like the customer rep said. Are they meant to give you 30 days notice? If so that means that if you are affected, then they must tell you 30 days prior?

From the Three web site

If you're travelling to a destination with a 3 sister network before 30th June, why not take advantage of our 3 Like Home promotional offer? Please note that 3 Like Home won’t be available after 30th June, but new EU text and data roaming prices will be available from this date. These will include great rates for some of the most popular destinations for UK travellers. More information coming soon.

Assuming its 30th june of this year (year is not supplied on there) - it doesnt say what the new prices will be after 30th june - they may be of benefit to you rather than deterimental.

robt_2

A couple of points:

1) You have at no point said you actually use the service, you can't prove it is to your detriment unless you use it.

2) It has never been a core part of any contract as far as I am aware, roaming is roaming, 3 at home is a promotion.

3) You have no idea what it will be replaced with (if anything), so even if you do use it, you don't know it will be to your detriment.

This is a general question to everyone, purely out of curiosity: Are you entitled to your PAC if you disconnect on these grounds ie contract changing to yuor detriment? Are you ONLY entitled to be disconnected?

drbob

hotkee wrote: »

But they havent told you of a change to "3 at home" directly?
Have you received a letter?

They don't have to tell me directly, though they can if they want to. Section 4 (below) and 14 (see first post) of the contract say they can post changes to the website.

4. Variations to your agreement or prices
Pay Monthly Customers
4.1 We may vary any of the terms of your agreement, including our Price Plans, on the following basis:

1. any updated Price Plans and new terms will be available on our website and on request to 3 Customer Services;
2. if you are a Pay Monthly Customer, we will let you know at least one month in advance if we decide to:
   1. discontinue your Price Plan; or
   2. make any variations to your agreement which are likely to be of detriment to you; or
   3. increase the fixed periodic charges for your Price Plan (if applicable) by an amount which is more than the percentage increase in the Retail Prices Index Figure (or any future equivalent) in any twelve month period.

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
2. relates solely to Additional Services; or
3. relates solely to Add-on(s) (if applicable to you).

hotkee wrote: »

What you see on their web site may not apply to existing customers etc like the customer rep said.

The notice on the website is clearly for current customers. You can't use 3 like home unless you're already a customer. It's also in the help and support section, for current customers, not in the sales section of the site.

hotkee wrote: »

Are they meant to give you 30 days notice? If so that means that if you are affected, then they must tell you 30 days prior?

Assuming its 30th june of this year (year is not supplied on there) - it doesnt say what the new prices will be after 30th june - they may be of benefit to you rather than deterimental.

Start of May is more than 30 days notice before 30th June. Currently calls are free (for incoming) on the 3 network in 3 like home countries or included in inclusive minutes. The notice talks only of new "rates" (i.e charges). I don't think any reasonable person could interpret it as suggesting that they plan to continue to offer free calls.

I also think that technically the only relevant thing is that they've announced 3 like home will end. That is detrimental to the customer. As only a detrimental change has been announced with no positive change to balance it, we have the right to cancel. The the new price plans are unannounced (i.e hypothetical), so they are a completely separate issue.

I believe it's a deliberate tactic to prevent people from cancelling. I think they'll announce the new rates closer to the time but then tell people they can't cancel because 3 announced that things would change back at the end of April/start of May so they're outside the 1 month time limit.

hotkee

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:
is due to changes to the law, government regulation or licence which affect us

Thats the important bit - the change is due to a law change by the EU for data and roaming charges.

drbob

hotkee wrote: »

Thats the important bit - the change is due to a law change by the EU for data and roaming charges.

Wouldn't they have told me that rather than attempting the feeble excuses I detailed in the first post?

Some of the 3 like home countries aren't in the EU. The relevant law only sets a cap for maximum charges within the EU, no lower limit. The new law does not require them to change the 3 like home rates - they were already cheaper than the cap, so I believe it's completely irrelevant to the ending of the 3 like home service.

drbob

robt wrote: »

1) You have at no point said you actually use the service, you can't prove it is to your detriment unless you use it.

See my first post (second paragraph), I have lots of bills showing free roaming calls because of 3 like home.

robt wrote: »

2) It has never been a core part of any contract as far as I am aware, roaming is roaming, 3 at home is a promotion.

3 like home was not described as a promotion until they announced its withdrawal. What counts is how they described it when I signed up. The contract is for "3 services" roaming is part of the "3 services" (see previous post) not an add-on, so all the terms about variation to the agreement apply.

robt wrote: »

3) You have no idea what it will be replaced with (if anything), so even if you do use it, you don't know it will be to your detriment.

See my previous post. They've only announced a detrimental change. Any replacement is hypothetical until they announce it, so completely irrelevant until they do actually announce it.

If anyone can see a problem with my logic, please explain where I've gone wrong.