3 is the cheapest, but is it best

charlotte3

I live on the 'sunny' Isle of Wight, and the service around here has been fine. My 3 mobile is not my main mobile, I also have an Orange contract, but the 3 phone has worked well eveywhere I've taken it, even on the ferry crossing. It even works where my parents live (in Buckinghamshire) and they live in a very poor signal area. Even my orange phone drops out more than the 3 phone there. But these are just my experiences of 3.

I've got two 3 contracts, I took them out as they were such fab deals, It worked out that I would end up in pocket over the year with the cashback deals and I use them as a substitute for my home phone so that bill has also been drastically reduced.

Will be about to cancel one of my 3 contracts in April, will see how 'easy' that will be. Interesting reading others reports of trying to cancel.

abai

Joined 3g last october as offer from Clubmoblile seemed to good to be true. Yes you guessed it was to good to be true. Two months on & still waiting to receive over £100 in cashback. Sent the 3rd bill in as requested to receive cashback by recorded delivery. Spent 6 hours on hold over the past two days which thought would be covered by my 3 contract minutes found out that 0871 number is not covered. Finally when I got through told to send a fax as proof of recorded delivery even though they already have proof of delivery and promised faithfully they would contact me as soon as fax arrived. This was 3 days ago and still no reply from clubmobile the only way to get in touch is to spend hours & I Mean hours so far I have spent last 2 hours on hold & still no joy. How can I get the cashback if I cant get in touch? Warning the 0871 is not a free number so being charged by the minute!!! So If you are having this problem with cashback DONT be fobbed off get answers whilst speaking to advisor (that's if you are lucky enough to get through)even if they promise really nicely to phone you back they WONT!!! If you want to receive expensive phone bills for chasing up your cashback & still receive NO cashback then shop with clubmobile. If anyone knows of a free phone number let me know or advise what are my rights? As for the 3g network I live in a big town & the signal constantly drops so have to carry my old mobile around with me as I cant trust 3g network. I really want to cancel my 3g contract but need cashback in month 4,7,12 so far nothing.

Abai

lynzpower

Ive got a fab tarriff with them, and got a Nokia ( not sure of the number- general looking but with a circular kinda shape at the bottom)

No problems whatsoever with the coverage, Ive been all over the Uk, and its worked everywhere ( even worked in belize!). However, it did get a virus ( its called "caribe" for heavens sake, on a phone :eek: and has never been the same since. I *could* get it fixed through my rubbish insurance but it would cost my £25 excess, which im simply not willing to pay for a £50 repair! IM just riding it out till june, when I can get a new phone, and when that happens. bluetooth is going off straight away.

Customer services arnt great, but Ive never had to use them. Unfortunately only 2 networks get good reception in my flat and 3's one of them.

Overall experience 7/10

claz

okay after numerous problems with 3 (unable to contact parents and grandparents living abroad, phone battery discharging everyday etc) i have decided to give them the boot

however, as i work at a solicitors i got my boss to look at the terms and conditions and guesss what it looks like 3 have beoken their contract with me from the beginning!!! my boss says realistically i can claim all money back for services i haven't used eg. £22.50 line rental per month if i've only used £10 worth of calls thats all i should have to pay

anyway i would just be happy if they would have the phone back and charge nothing for cancelling etc so sent a nice 3 page letter to 3, otelo and other various places along with approx 60 pages of terms and conditions highlighting where they have broken the contract

i await a response

moneyandmountains

abai wrote:

If anyone knows of a free phone number let me know or advise what are my rights?
Abai

Just play them at there own game. Send them a warning letter saying that they have breached their terms and conditions and that if you do not receive a response within 14 days then you will take legal action to recover the losses incurred. There should be advice elsewhere on MSE on how to carry this out. You can even enter small claims
online at https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk

If the firm offers credit/sells insurance, then a contact name/address should be listed in the FSA register, visible at https://www.fsa.gov.uk

Alternatively, I notice that the firm is actually Cell talk plc trading as clubmobile.

If in doubt, pop down you local CAB. They should be able to help.

flyer

can someone please remind me of the e mail address for Bob Fuller, CEO of 3? I've seen it here before somewhere but can't find it now.

Going straight to the top!

flyer

I've found it, but just in case anyone else needs it, it's bob.fuller@three.co.uk

EthelBloggs

Handset: Sony Ericsson k608i

Most commonly used location: London

Ease and reliability and connection: What Connection????

Any other problems: Customer services are about as helpful as a chocolate teapot!!!!!!! :mad:

Overall service and rating (out of 10): 0/10


I used to have an LG handset with 3 and all my connectivity problems were blamed on that, they assured me that I would have a perfect service with the new Sony Ericsson upgrade. Surprise Surprise it's even worse!!!!!!!!!

I've just spoken to them about cancelling my contract and asking for the 'pak' number so I can take my phone number with me, they are refusing to give it to me unless I pay for the remainder of the contract (May 2007) I told them that I am tired of paying for something that doesn't work and of people not being able to contact me and vice versa, they refuse to even look at whether I have a problem until I pay the amount outstanding for Feb and March. I stopped paying because I got sick of their lack of effectiveness etc. They've checked my usage, they can see all the calls that drop etc so they know it's a network problem and they are just backing me into a corner unfairly. Soo.......... it seems that I wont be able to have a good service with 3 and I can't keep the number I've had for years which means lots and lots of inconvenience both personally and professionally. I am sooo sick of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!

noumenal

Hi guys,

I wanted to post my experience and general thinking on 3 mobiles. Its a bit different from a lot of the stuff on here - anyway, i leave you to make up your own mind.

First of all, I have a 3 phone. Its an old L&G handset and I got it off the net on a money back deal. The cost works out at £15 a month for 500 x-network minutes and 100 text messages. Now we all know and agree that those prices are vastly superior to anything else out there. But do you lose on 3 in terms of coverage and service?? I THINK NO - on two fronts. Firstly, my own experience. I live in Southampton and have used my phone a lot in London. I have had no dropped calls, and only trivial signal problems (certainly no worse than any other network). Also I have had to contact 3 customer services a few times. Not for problems they are responsible for but because e.g. I dropped my phone in water and needed to get it repaired, and to change my billing address. Each time I have spoken to operators in India. They have been extremely good - politely and efficiently dealing with me. So on my experience there is no question that your mobile should be on 3. (I also know several other satisfied customers with three.)

But what about the general belief about the various problems 3 has and all the horror stories listed above. I think a few points should be born in mind when assessing them. Firstly, any company makes mistakes and seriously pisses off some of its customers. If you gather them together it makes that company look terrible. I now work in British gas customer relations. I think it is fair to say that 3 and BG are in important respects very different companies. It seems to me that some of the worry about 3 stems from its being a relatively new player in the mobile market, offering super cheap deals, and thus it seems that it must cut costs somewhere e.g. customer service. But you could easily get a thread this long of different people listing there awful experience with BG. That some people have very bad experiences with a company is something that generally applies to big buisnesses. And mobile phone companies are just the same. I used to work in a call centre selling mobile phones and have spoken to lots of people about their mobiles. And in my experience there are just as many people who think that orange, o2 etc... have awful coverage and customer service as three.

So, to conclude in my opinion for whatever reason the image of 3 has been negatively distorted by the gathering together of bad stories. In fact I suspect that there is very little difference between 3, orange, o2 etc... Similar levels of service, similar rates of people who have terrible experiences of one sort or another. It is just that three's are gathered together and create a skewed perspective.

I dont want to trivialise the bad experiences listed above. I feel sorry for those people - and they definitely deserve better treatment. But i think you are as likely to suffer such an experience (which is still very UNlikely) no matter what network you choose.

Daniel

sandra_3086

i totally agree noumenal!!!! I have had a three phone for 6 months now, contacted customer services - no problems.

I have had mobile phones on all of the other major networks, and to me three is the best for value. Its been the only network I have been able to get my phone usage instantly and with the most up to date information without the hassle of dialling the network or looking online, and then the information is usually a couple of days out of date.

Cheers for three, Things can only get better!!!!!!!!!!