3 is the cheapest, but is it best

Felix_the_Foccer

Quite puzzled by my bills from Three Mobile...

I took out a 24 month contract just before New Year.

I opted for a free Samsung Galaxy S II at £35 a month .. as advertised here.

On looking at my first two bills, whilst keeping within all of my usage, and using only an additional 71p extra for picture messages, they are coming in at well over £40.

Can this be right? When it is so clearly advertised at £35 a month?

The breakdown of my bill of 3rd Feb reads as follows:

Monthly charge in advance
The One Plan 03 Feb to 02 Mar £33.33
£5 recurring discount -£4.17
Additional charges
Calls £0.00
Messages £0.71 (picture messages not inc. in my allowance)
Internet £0.00
Total
Total (exc VAT) £36.63
VAT at 20% £7.33
Total (inc. VAT) £43.96
Total Due: £43.96

I haven't contacted Three to ask them about this yet, I will call them after work today, but wondered if anyone had any thoughts here, or if I'm just missing something obvious?

Grateful for any thoughts .... Thanks in advance.

Supatramp

Well my understanding is that 3's prices include VAT, so £35 should be the base price, end of story.

And in this day and age you'd think a company like 3 would do everything by computer, but either everybody with 3 has been getting wrong bills since VAT was increased to 20%, or for some reason a humanoid has been involved in the pricing of your deal and has basically cocked-up over the VAT element.

The £33.33 is wrong, because when you add 20% VAT it comes to £40, so instead of correcting it properly, they've given you a £5 discount to take it back down to £35. Thereafter, I haven't a clue, so I think you need to ask them!!

littlemiss22

i work for customer services in the mobile phone network sector, and i can honestly say after working here i wouldnt be chosing 3!!!!

matrix999

I've been using the Three UK service for a few months now and i can honestly say the service and network quality have been brilliant.

No network busy/congestions issues
Fast 3G internet in more places than my previous networks
Competative prices for 2000+ mins
Tethering included with the One Plan
All you can eat data, no fair usage caps

I can see that some MSE users have reported problems with Three, they do use an offshore call centre in India which i guess must be a bit of a pain sometimes, personally i've not experienced such issues.

However, if you need to speak with Three Customer Services then a good way to get UK help is going via there Twitter page "ThreeUKSupport" Excellent UK Team there!!!

Crabman

Three have recently announced they will axe PAYG tariff benefits by 50% in March.

Most people haven't heard about this because Three have done a good job of keeping it quiet

zaax

Wanted to talk to a human about my mobile phone just a menu system - then it said good bye.
Moved to another provider

marsupial_mama

My contract has just expired and I will not be going back to Three. The signal is non existant in area where I live. We did move last year, but even at the old house the signal was sporradic.
Handset: HTC Hero

Most commonly used location: Perthshire, Scotland

Ease and reliability and connection: bad, keeps dropping, messages sometimes not coming through for hours

Any other problems:

Overall service and rating (out of 10): 5

markdavey

marsupial_mama wrote: »

My contract has just expired and I will not be going back to Three. The signal is non existant in area where I live. We did move last year, but even at the old house the signal was sporradic.

Then TBH you should have done some due diligence and tried the network using a PAYG SIM before you started the contract. No Provider is going to have 100% coverage and some will fair better than others in specific locations.

I have never changed networks without first getting a PAYG SIM and confirming service where I need it. With the majority of contracts now at 24 months, you really don't want to be locked in with no coverage.

[Deleted User]

Crabman wrote: »

Three have recently announced they will axe PAYG tariff benefits by 50% in March.

Most people haven't heard about this because Three have done a good job of keeping it quiet

I work for Three, and I haven't heard this. Sounds intriguing. Have you got some more info?

[Post is mine and not the opinion of Three)

Crabman

This is the link they sent via text but there is no page on their website (I have searched and found nothing).

It says you need to access it via the 3 network:

http://ghp.three.co.uk/comms/3pay/2