3 is the cheapest, but is it best

senorsombrero

I'm with three as well, thus my scepticism as I've had problem with their customer service from the start of the contract until now. Don't get me wrong, three's deals are good if you have no further issues......

Going4TheDream

UKViking wrote: »

To be honest the Three deals are pretty amazing. Just look up their "One Plan". It's one of the only networks to offer tethering (using your phone as a modem) without a cap (most networks cap it at 500mb).

SIM only is about 16 per month, for thousands of mins, texts and all you can eat data.

I've been on Three for years and never had problems. I pay 8 per month for 700 mins, 150 texts and all-you-can-eat data. It was a retention deal and I'll never move off it unless I'm forced to.

3 are good for cheap, providing and I say again PROVIDING you have no problems or issues as that is when the problems and headaches really start.

I have had a contract with them for years and only time I have had reason to complain about them is when I have a problem.

1st problem in June when phone was stolen, I needed proof of purchase and it took a week to get a pdf email after several lenthgy calls.

2nd problem today when I wanted to cancel the contract. Two hours on the phone, 6 times to 6 different people passing me from pillar to post, and I was cut off each time and they all gave me different conflicting advice,information and costs on cancelling. I gave up in the end and have now officially complaned to the UK office in Glasgow

I understand they are under pressure to retain business but being lied to and hung up on and almost brow beaten into accepting a solution I didnt want or ask for when all I wanted to do was give my debit card details and pay up the remainder of the contract was not good.

I would never go back to them after this episode. Its how you deal with customer when they have problems that leaves the lasting impression and for me I feel that is true, however cheap your product or service the hassle or stress of getting issues resolved is not worth the cheap price

bigdaddy81

Hi Guys,

Looking for a little help here, I have a 24mth contract with three and I noticed there was an extra 89p + vat added to my account last month, and again the same this month, when I phoned them to
find out what the charge was (I suspected it was an app) I was told it was inflation and they had to put up my monthly charge.

So instead of £25 + vat + out of allowance calls = £30 per month

Now its £25.89 + vat + out of allowance calls = £31.07

I am on a fixed monthly contract and I believe they are in breach of that contract, but they say NO has its in the t&c's, that they can put up the monthly charge
within the first 12 months, I don't have a copy of the T&C's, so I cannot check.

Do you guys have any idea, as I honestly want to tell the to F*** O**.



They said they sent an email, telling me about this but I don't have it, I believe on my email account, unread mail is deleted after 28 days, so I can't even check the email.

ooppss, I have double posted this in the mobile forum as well, sorry.

Cheers for all of your help

James

buscape

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3973463

bigdaddy81

Thank you, a great read.

lukephilip

3 are definitely the worst company I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with. Aggressive, ignorant customer service which is more trouble than any money saved in the initial contract. Pay a couple of quid extra with Vodafone, Orange etc and save yourself a huge amount of frustration and hassle in the future

Senium

When the iPhone 4 came out, 3 had a great deal on it. So I decided to go with it. When I got home, I found that the store had forgot to give me my simcard, so I called Customer Services. I was great with a man who barely spoke a word of English. In the background there was noise of people shouting and music, almost like they were having a party. The man on the phone then told me to wait a minute, he then began shouting to his friends/colleagues.

I took my phone back the next day and got a refund. I've had problems in the past with bad customer services that led me to spending a bucket load of money, so I wasn't willing to risk it again.

chopper2540

Handset-Samsung galaxy tablet(Yes I use it as my phone!)
400 mins
300 text
50 video calls
150 pic text
2 GB

Price £0! yep 0!.
Originally it was £35 with cashback system advertised by MSE. Over the years Iv battered them down. To finally it was £10 if i kept my old phone. yes i said. The following year I got them down to £5 and they offered me 2GB!. Then I realised I had a bolt on of 75 texts at £5. I took this off and boom £0!. I darent phone them now. I use skype to call abroad and whatsapp for free texts. I do have signal problems at home but hey ho, if it important someone will get hold of me! so in a nutshell, great for me

iritchie

I haven't mentioned my experiences with 3 before, so thought I'd share.
It seems they may be getting better and I will admit my experiences go back to the period between 2003 and 2006, but since then I wholeheartedly refuse to take out a contract with them again, despite being the cheapest on the market for most tarriffs.

Firstly, like a lot of people mentioned, when you have no problems, they seem to be a great company.
I was with them for 18 months, and never experienced any of the problems of network dropouts or the like.
...and then the problems started.
I called up and advised that my handset was broken (still under warranty at the time) and they instead coerced me towards taking out a replacement plan with a new handset instead (which lets be fair wasnt difficult to persuade me into - pretty much a no-brainer).

The new handset arrived, and was fine for a few weeks before it too packed in and stopped charging.
Sent it back, it was "repaired" and lasted about 15mins before the same fault appeared. Sent it back again, it was "repaired" again and next time I got it back, it lasted about 3 days before the same fault occurred.
This had gone on for around 4 months in the end, when I realised they were also still charging me for my previous contract (which this one was supposed to have taken the place of).
I called them up to complain and they promised to stop taking payments and to sort out an immediate refund.

After waiting a couple of weeks with no cheque or money materialising, I called to complain again and was given the same promise.
I was infact continued to be billed for 10 months for a contract which should not exist. I was sent several replacement handsets, all of which developed faults within weeks.
My calls to their customer services increased in frequency massively and my frustration turned to anger and my anger turned to disbelief that anyone could be SO inept.
In the end, I was given a "partial" refund for the overcharge and was left with a faulty handset, so I just decided "f**k it" and decided to stop paying for my current contract (which had 3 months left to run and was less than half of the amount they still owed me).

I was young and naive and had no appreciation for credit ratings and all at the time, and ultimately, they put a default on my credit record (despite the fact they owed me more money and had failed massively with almost everything).
I tallied up my phonecalls to 3 across those few months and realised I had spent 65 (Yes, SIXTY FIVE) hours on the phone to them to try and resolve what should have been the most simple issue in the world to fix.

Their customer service was absolutely shocking; I was promised callbacks on at least a dozen occasions and yet still found myself calling them back hours or days later when it failed to happen.
I eventually got my cheque for the full amount outstanding - a couple of years later, AFTER I paid for the 3 months of service remaining on my contract which I never got, simply to settle the default on my credit record.

At this stage, I would have done several things very differently and I would not have put up with anywhere near the amount of hassle or stress they caused.
But I would still NEVER ever EVER go back to 3.

Ever.

otester

Handset: Galaxy S3 (not bought from Three)

Most commonly used location: South coast

Ease and reliability and connection:

I think this speaks for itself:



If you want a decent service, go PAYG (AYCE package) and buy your own phone, otherwise you're asking for trouble. Also use a VPN during peak times to avoid P2P throttling.

Last month I did ~500GB via tethering and Androids native torrent client.

Any other problems: Still some areas with no H+, only H.

Overall service and rating (out of 10): 10