3 is the cheapest, but is it best

Rosiehns

Hi,

I've recently had a really bad experience with 3. I've purchased a phone that does not work in my area (despite 3's website saying reception is fine in my area and their sales people ensuring me that it would be fine too.) Everytime I make a call from my home address I get cut off a couple of seconds later, this even happened when I phoned 3's call centre to try and resolve the issue!!

I was given some steps to try and resolve the problem. (After spending hours on the phone getting no where - not fun when you've got 2 children under 2) But a couple of days later my phone said 'inactive SIM' and would not work at all.

It was then arranged (after a few more hours of going round in loops on their customer service phone lines...) that my phone would be collected and 'fixed.' My husband received a phone call the next day from the engineer who said I should never have been sold the phone in the first place as my area is unsuitable for 3G phones.

Currently I'm trying to get a refund on this phone, it is not fit for purpose nor of satisfactory quality and this is contrary to the law on mobile phones.

The phone was not returned to me on the day it was promised. I have been promised return phone calls from 3 - this has not happened. All in all I'm very disappointed with the service and quality of products they provide. I would not touch 3 with a barge pole

alletishme

Switched from Orange to three a few months ago and have not looked back! Coverage is good and the prices are good. Have always found customer services (India) to be very helpful and friendly and best of all its free to call them!

alletishme

Be very careful with the cash back offers from third partys on the net, have heard some don't futfill these offers and if you go direct with three the deals are good and you get £100 cash back via Quidco!

gromituk

See lots of other threads about this. For instance, there's one on CoolNewMobile, which does a lot of Three 100% cashbacks (and £35 back with Quidco) and seems to be working for me and others so far.

Sui_Generis

Rosiehns wrote: »

Hi,

I've recently had a really bad experience with 3. I've purchased a phone that does not work in my area (despite 3's website saying reception is fine in my area and their sales people ensuring me that it would be fine too.) Everytime I make a call from my home address I get cut off a couple of seconds later, this even happened when I phoned 3's call centre to try and resolve the issue!!

That was my experience 3-4 years ago. But more relevant is the fact I bought my mother a 3 phone and her experience was similar and 3 accepted the problem. She returned the phone without any hassle - though the company she bought through took months to finally refund all her money.

porrohman

Just looking at these bad experiences with you all on the '3' network. I had the same problem with the damn thing cutting out all the time and the customer service team reporting that when the phone switches from high quality 3G coverage to the lower band you get "call drop". I had three LG handsets in one year and although the entertainment service was second to none i.e. free weather reports, free movie trailers and occasionally free music downloads I could not wait to get away from them when my contract was up.

My friend at work has a new Nokia N90 on '3' and he has the very same problems. In fact there are very precise geographical locations where you get call drop and I can easily tell exacty where he is when he calls me and the phone call is cut, much to his amusement as he cannot work out how I know where he is.

I think that the 3G still has a lot of work to do to get it right so, in the meantime I am quite happy with T-Mobile but I still think Vodafone has the best coverage with very little coverage problems

Hope this helps

Sui_Generis

Every one has a different experience Three is by far the best for me and Vodafone the worst. Orange is good too, haven't tried o2 but T-Mobile was poor not sure if its the same now.

BenefitMaster

Sui_Generis wrote: »

Every one has a different experience Three is by far the best for me and Vodafone the worst. Orange is good too, haven't tried o2 but T-Mobile was poor not sure if its the same now.

over the last 10 years I;ve been trhough all 5 networks.

In order of my preference:

Three, Vodafone, T-mobile/Virgin, orange, O2

In order of customer service:

Virgin (3 years ago), Vodafone, Three, O2, Orange

In order of coverage (including roaming):

Three, Vodafone, T-mobile, O2, Orange.

My only issue with Three is their indian customer service team who seem to treat eveyone as idiots - I'm not, I've used mobiles for years (my first cellphone was an 0836 number, my first digital cell was 0956 158040 which cost me money for the phone and the number!) and have a credit on the TETRA spec.

Apart from that, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a modern phone on Three.

Evrae

Handset: Sony Ericsson K800i

Most commonly used location: Bolton - Lancs

Ease and reliability and connection: Brilliant, not had any problems

Any other problems: Customer services are terrible but if you have no probs, you shouldnt be too bad.

Overall service and rating (out of 10): 8 out of 10 as value for money - usually

mtp_2

Been with three for two years 2 different handsets latest LG 8380.

Coverage has always been good apart from Snowdonia!!! and sadly rural Lincolnshire where I am moving to.

Occasional calls to customer services pleasant staff and helpful.

Been on 12 month cashback deals slightly slow pay out BUT apart from any overspend of inclusive minutes, texts and downloads FREE calls for 23 months.

Phone really good.

Now going to try T-Mobile on same type of deal.