3 is the cheapest, but is it best

Makeandsave

CoopermanUK wrote: »

Hi all
I'm looking at moving to 3 on the sim 300 12 month contract and have a question regarding voicemail that I can't find an answer for.
Does voicemail calls come out of you plan allowance or are the charged per minute?

It comes out of your 3-3 mins if i remember right.

Roland_Sausage

I bought an iPhone 4S on Three's One Plan a few months ago. The all you can eat data was very attractive to me, and the £110 that was offered through Topcashback sealed the deal (this tool around 3 months to go through).

I know that their CS has a bad reputation but I have been fortunate so far that I have only had to call them once and that was to transfer in my number. It all went smoothly so no complaints there.

The unlimited data with the ability to tether a laptop has been fantastic when travelling on business, and as for signal, I can honestly say I have experienced no problems with dropping calls or loss of data.

The only time I have ever lost signal was out in the Scottish wilderness, and I would expect that of most providers. I did actually manage to get a signal halfway up Ben Nevis which I found impressive.

I am more than happy with the service I have had from 3 so far. Fingers crossed that nothing arises that requires me to call CS.

Overall rating 9/10. No complaints with the service so far but I acknowledge they have a poor rep for CS.

DKWOH

I've just joined Three's one plan and was impressed with ease of porting my old number. All you can eat data was a big attraction, and my shiny new iPhone 4S wasn't offered by my previous provider.

Only problem has been with Customer Services. I rang yesterday to ask if they could set a limit of £50 on top of my monthly one plan. The answer: no. I could set limit to just the one plan, barring all other calls... But this doesn't work for me as I occasionally need to phone abroad.

My previous mobile provider, Virgin, set up a £50 extra call limit (above my usual monthly plan) for me. I found this very comforting as ages ago I had a handset stolen (not reported for some 12hrs as I hadn't noticed it gone), only to find over £150 of calls had been made to Africa. I was liable for the calls.

Seems that Three are not able to offer the same account pre-authorised limit. It makes me wonder if they are fleecing customers whose handsets are stolen!

Has anyone had a pre-authorised limit set on their Three account? Just want to check, in case the customer service rep didn't get what I was on about. Thanks.

girlieabbs1975

Handset: Nokie E6

Most commonly used location: Stourbridge, Midlands

Ease and reliability and connection: Had no probs with 3, service provider for 4 years.

Any other problems: Phone calls about upgrading, cancelled contract as virgin offered better deal. Had pac code off 3, had call today, stating they can offer same deal as virigin for less money. why did it take for me to cancel so they can offer better deal.

Overall service and rating (out of 10): 8

POPPYOSCAR

Hate them with a passion.

Worst customer services I have ever encountered in my life.

Also why do you have to "contact them to arrange having the credit paid back" and then when you do it takes you contacting them several times before they then pay the money back into your bank account?

Would never use them again.

TheMist

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

Hate them with a passion.

Worst customer services I have ever encountered in my life.

Also why do you have to "contact them to arrange having the credit paid back" and then when you do it takes you contacting them several times before they then pay the money back into your bank account?

Would never use them again.

I can only echo this sentiment. I have never encountered anything so unbelievably poor as the customer service levels at Three.

I always look for the best value for money option (the key difference here being between cheapest and value for money) and whilst I looked for feedback and saw mainly negative, I still believed the cheaper price that Three offered would pay off in the end. Surely it couldn't be that bad.

Boy was I wrong. I would gladly hand more money over to another provider just to ensure I never have to speak to Three again. To summarise in three words:

- Difficult: it is nearly impossible to get the result you are after
- Rude: I've never been spoken to like that by a company
- Poor: from the outset I had problems with Three's reception, but it really only made it worse when trying to get it resolved.

The extra pennies saved is just not worth the hassle. I have now terminated the contract and am unable to get an estimate for the final bill value (even based on the monthly contract price). They have actually threatened me by saying there will be a cancellation charge of an unspecified amount (because I failed to cancel the contract 1 month before the 12 months were up) - so I am at the moment just worried about what is going to be taken out of my bank account next month. It is just amazing that they can't even tell me if it is 1, 2 or 12 months they are going to try and charge.... simply "a cancellation charge"!

Like the above user... will never use again.

I have by the way found an equally good deal (value) with Tesco Mobile, so hopefully that will be a better option.

buscape

Handset: Nokia N8

Most commonly used location: Nottingham

Ease and reliability and connection: Hugely reliable, always have a signal indoors as well as outdoors, no connection issues very fast internet everywhere I go (seen as high as 4.2 mbps)

Any other problems: Mast problem in my area which was fixed in a week. I was kept informed and they rang me they said they were going to.

Overall service and rating (out of 10):8/10

BobEdwards

Handset; Iphone

I've been on 3 for 18 months now. The service was perfect at first but since the new year I've had problems with my postcode area.
The issue is still ongoing but I have to say the customer services has been great. They've given me many updates and I now currently get credit for every week the service is still not up to scratch

babushkava

Handset: HTC Wildfire S

Most commonly used location: PO12 3BD

Ease and reliability and connection: Excellent from 2004 until 20 April 2012, since that date, no network service

Any other problems: Not having a phone connection and being the complete runaround by CS at 3, by Canx dept at 3, by Engineers at 3 - I just want the jiffy bag and to send the phone back. No service means the phone is just a bit of plastic and metal.

Overall service and rating (out of 10): used to be 9/10, since 20th April 2012, 0 out of 10.

I am stuck with a useless phone (new contract) from a company that is not interested in sorting out the problem to keep this longterm customer. My work is based at home, so the phone is useless all of the time.

What can I do to cancel and send the phone back if they will not send me the jiffy bag and may deny that they have received the phone back if I post it in my own padded bag?

buscape

Read the contract's terms and conditions, I'm sure there's a clause in there that allows you to terminate the contract without penalty. Post your issues on threes blog, that usually helps them to sort things out.