3 is the cheapest, but is it best

asj968

Well here is my story for what it is worth.

I was in France - 8th august and found my lcd screen had smashed on my Nokia N95. I called the insurance and customer services and after 4 phone calls they eventually told me that they could not do anything until i returned to the UK. Fair Enough.

I returned on the 25th August and called customer services who told me i needed to speak with the insurers CPP. I spoke with CPP and paid £25 excess for the handset to be replaced. I was told the phone would be with me on the 28th. It did not arrive. Nor did it arrive on the 29th.

I called 3 customer services. They told me that in order to get a replacement handset I would need to speak to CPP and i may need to pay some money. I explained I had. They said it wasn't on the system so I would have to go back to CPP. I did.

CPP said they had received the payment and 3 should issue a new phone. They spoke with 3 whilst i was on the phone and transferred me back to them. 3 said that they didn't dispatch the phones but it was up to CPP to send it to me and tyransferred me back to CPP. CPP explained that they do not dispatch phones as they are an insurance company for 3 and not responsible for the handsets. After being bounced back and forth several more times, 3 agreed that they would send me a handset.

The replacement handset arrived on Tuesday 2nd September. I put it on charge for a day and used it on Thursday 4th. The handset kept switching off, rebooting, locking, displaying a balck screen.

After speaking with 3 technical support reps (that is 3 people) I tried to demand a new handset from them on the basis that this one had arrived faulty. they said that you only get one swap then it is repairs thereon in. I fail to see why as it had been replaced under insurance. they advised me to take the handset to carphone warehouse. ???? CW laughed me out of the shop - they only have one shop in the country (southampton) that can dignose faults.

I took it to a Nokia Service centre who told me that they unit was beyond repair and 3 should replace it. I called 3. After 2 hours on the phonme arguing with them, and them phoning the Nokia Service centre to check my story, they agreed to send it to their repair centre in Glasgow.

2 days later a replacement handset came back with a letter saying sorry we couldn't repair your hanset so here is a replacement.

To my dismay, the replacement handset is displaying the same characteristics as the one i sent them (it is a different imei number).

I reported the fault - this time only 45 mins on the phone with them. They agreed to collect the handset this morning between 8.30 and 12.30. I waited in.

At 14.00 i called 3 to ask why the handset had not been collected - they said an error in their system had meant that the collection system did not have the information. I explained that i couldn't wait in indefinately as i did actually have work to do.

They said they would send a Jiffy bag so i could post it to them.

I went out. When i returned there was a card through the door from Parceline at 2.40 saying....... sorry we missed you - we came to collect a package for 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want out of the whole 3 deal - i pay them £40 per month and do not feel i have any service from them. It is 6 weeks since i last used my mobile properly. I am only half way through my 18mth contract.

I would give them about a 2/10.

Sorry if that's a bit long.

john-306

I haven't had a bad word to say about 3 over the last 15 months of my contract, but....
Over the past 3 to 4 weeks I've been getting a terrible signal on my K800i, one minute it's full bars, next minute it's no bars and get cut off:mad:, has happened loads of times even in areas where I used to have no problems, CS have just said try different 3 mobile network settings..... didn't work.
Had a call yesterday from the upgrade team asking if I'm satisfied and wanted an upgrade, told them of problems and they said over the last month they are upgrading the network and older phones might struggle to keep up
Whether this was to get me to upgrade or not I don't know, but it's a pain keep getting cut off constantly.
Anyone else had the disconnections over the last month?

Sui_Generis

john-306 wrote: »

Anyone else had the disconnections over the last month?

Yes, though my 3yo Nokia still performs better than the new Skypephone.

john-306

Sui_Generis wrote: »

Yes, though my 3yo Nokia still performs better than the new Skypephone.

So they might be somewhat telling the truth when it comes to different phones giving varying signal strength, just funny how it's been fine for 15 months then just gone to pot. If it's really down to upgrading the network causing these problems then I'm not impressed:mad:

Chipmunk27

John-306 - both me and my OH have been with 3 18 months, signal was fine until mid August. After weeks of tearing hair out, I finally spoke to CS (sho at the best of time are rubbish) and they said that up to the 16th August 3 partnered with o2, hence the good signal, then the partnership ended hence rubbish or no signal. Gets better though, we are at the end of our contracts - hooray - and have given notice, quoting poor coverage as the main reason (believe me, there are many more). But CS either don't note this on the screen, or don't read it, and rang me 4 times yesterday trying to offer me a wonderful deal. Now the deal would be great - if I could use the wretched phone! Told them it was useless and he carried on telling me how cheap the deal was, they just don't listen. I hung up in the end. Expecting more calls before the 30 day notice is up!!!!!

Sui_Generis

john-306 wrote: »

So they might be somewhat telling the truth when it comes to different phones giving varying signal strength, just funny how it's been fine for 15 months then just gone to pot. If it's really down to upgrading the network causing these problems then I'm not impressed:mad:

I wonder to some extent if older phones get better signals because they're larger generally. I wonder if they have a larger antenna etc.

rich2011

I just noticed this thread, my own story of 3 terrible customer service :

Recently my current contract on 3 was up for renewal and I was thinking of leaving, so I contacted their customer services for my PAC code to transfer to O2.

After an hour long battle on the phone talking to a guy called Kailash in India, I agreed to stay with 3 for an N95 8GB, 12 month contract, discount on my previous tariff and X-series silver internet (usually £5 p/m) for *free*.

I received my new phone some days later and phoned up customer services again to check that what we had agreed above was still correct before using the phone. I originally spoke to a girl in the accounts department who said yes everything was the same EXCEPT the X-series internet access was actually £5 extra, so I asked to be transferred to cancellations department again as this wasn't what we had agreed. She transferred me to another guy in India called John who looked at it, and said - actually it IS included for free - "she was mistaken".

On this information, I started using the phone (big mistake)

I received a letter through some days later with my contract details, no mention of the X-series silver. Again, phoned up 3 and was told - "it's actually extra" - was a little bit angry and told the customer service guy I want to cancel the contract because of this. He obviously knew that I'd started using the phone and immediately said "sorry you can't cancel this contract now" . I was understandably p***** off and asked to be put through to Kailash's supervisor (called Alastair) - and promptly got cut off waiting. Had to phone back and explain my story to another girl who said the same thing "you can't return your phone now, I will get Alastair to call you"

So it seems that 3 sell contracts and agree to a deal over the phone, send it out and can go back on what they say at a later date after which time you are powerless to do anything about it.

What's the best way to take this further ? - I would imagine it's best to write in letter as phone calls are pointless to 3. Has anyone had any experience of who to write to ?. Is there an ombudsman to write to after 3 probably being no further help ?

nikkip0601

3 are the most useless company i have ever had the displeasure of using.
i would advise anybody to go nowhere near them!!! network coverage is the worst i have experienced, the shop staff are rude and no help whatso ever once you are signed up, the call centers are all in india or pakistan and neighther side can understand each other and i am counting the months, days, munites and seconds till my contract is ended!!
be very weary!!!!

aroma_2

Am I doing something wrong - looking in this forum to check mobiles and the latest post is 2004??

SammySue

I have just been talking to 3 because I wanted to ask a lot of questions before I signed up for their USB stick.

I mentioned to the guy I was speaking with that my 3 mobile phone was burning my ear, as I had been talking to him for about 5 minutes (apparently this is a known problem with my make of Nokia) and he said to call customer services, as it was still under guarantee and they would take it in and look at it.

This I duly did, only to be read out the same spiel, by some chap in an Indian call centre, over and over again, that the phone does not overheat, just the battery gets very warm. Tell that to my ear!

Eventually, he went away for a discussion with some hierarchy person, and they offered my a choice of 2 refurbished phones as a replacement. I must point out that they did at first, try to get me to change and extend my contract.

When I asked if either of these phones had skpe, as my existing one does and as my daughter is off to Uni tomorrow, I'm going to really need it. He said no but maybe sometime in the future.

I pointed out that this was no good to me. He refused to budge and I asked to speak to his manager. By now, my ear is hot! hot! hot! Apparently, his manager will phone me back in 2 hours time, to say exactly the same thing.

It is so frustrating. Myself and my family have been very good customers of 3 this last year and I am shocked at how they are treating me.

I am so sad to hear that other people on this board have had similar experiences with them.