3 is the cheapest, but is it best

System

My hubby & I had 3 phones for 14 days before we returned them to the shop (within cooling of period). The connection and customer services are diabolical![/b]

It took at least 5 calls for a short conversation between bolton & warrington. we rang customer services (in India) 16 times one day, each time the line was cut off and each time we phoned back and had to explain our details and problems again to a different person.

That was 3 months ago yet this week I received a bill for £114.38!!! When I phoned them they would not discuss the problem with me as they said that I was not authourised on the account(?), told me that the conversation was going nowhere and disconnected the line!

Back in the shop where we purchased the phones from the salesman told us that 3 was a 'novelty network' and that coverage wasn't expcted to be good.

tommo_5

I currenly have a Motorola A835 on 3, had a few problems in the begining when i took it out in december. Though now i only have the odd dropped call.

The customer service @ 3 has been overall very good, even though the calls are answered in India, the operatives are polite and efficient.

Bonus points also to 3 insurance, I dropped my phone in a river last sunday, i had a shiny new handset first thing on wednesday morning.

Network coverage - 6/10
Handsets - 8/10
Customer Service - 8/10
Value for money - 10/10
Overall - 8/10

If you want a cheap phone with good customer service and loads of freebies buy 3.

LyndaG_2

Handset: 2nd 3 phone LG8110, 1st NEC 606

Most commonly used location: London, Swindon, Essex

Ease and reliability and connection: Excellent often get a signal when colleagues/friends/family can't on other networks eg orange, tmobile and Vodaphone. First phone had faults, I have posted them before but once they gave in an upgraded my phone at 10months to new phone best thing since sliced bread, new phone is smaller, lighter very long battery life and reliable love my new phone. I only use my phoen for voicecalls and 0870, 0845 & 0800 numbers are free which is an extra bonus as my bill is fixed every month

Any other problems: as above posted previously, if a 3 customer and having issues be insistant and go through the number on the website for head office and ask for customer retention exgerate the problem and get an early upgrade!

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

LyndaG_2

Update on this.....

Its was ready for collection on the 29 April !!

It was replaced with another 606 :-(  So I'm, in no rush to go and collect the piece of trash!

When is your contract up for renewal?  I had to exgerate the problems with mine told them I ahd the same problem again within 30mins, and went back to shop called customer services from their phone as it is an 0845/0870 number and talked to customer retention upgraded at 10months, exgerate say you are on call, play stoppy upset customer you need to speka to customer retention in Uk, as India cust services can't do anything.  I had problems with my nec606 phone but since upgrading it is brill!
Also ensure you go back through to billing whilst my phone wasn't working and in for repair I got my bill credited for the time I was unable to use it even though I had a loan phone for some of that time!

AndieJ_2

Handset: NEC 606 & now LG flip top thingy, new, doesn't have it's model no on it & I cant find the box (not without getting up off me idle but anyway!

Most commonly used location: Leeds / York

Ease and reliability and connection: as a coice call handset, no problems with network either located as above, or anywhere else I've been (Manchester, Hartlepool, lonodn, sheffield, doncaster, wakefield, barnsley....)
occasional probs with 3g content & downloads even when in 3g region (clearly, when in 2g only, no 'content' vailable) particularly sat evening during football season (network traffic no doubt), small gripe on sport, not all highlights are on after the game, too many sat game highlights where not available until tuesday last season (so i couldn't wind my Leeds fan mates up!), curiously, Man U games are generally up for DL within an hour of final whistle!.

Any other problems:

NEC phone went dodgy after 10 month, but was repaired (at second attempt)

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

pingu

hi
for people who use 3
are they still the same regarding coverage and customer service?

thanks

mystic_trev

Bloody useless - well that's my opinion. I wanted to buy the cheapest PAYG service, so bought a 3 phone NEC 313. Oh yes it's great for sending emails, surfing the net and taking pictures and videos......all the things I don't need! Try making a phone call on this "piece of crap" Coverage (here) in Kent is bad, and not much better in London!!! I've gone on to a cheap vodaphone tariff with a free (excellent) Motorola phone that makes good calls and  can also receive them as well!!!!

With the remaining credit on my 3 phone - I'm thinking of taking a photo of my !!!!!! and sending it to the 3 Managing Director! Do you think he'll get the message?

BaritoneUK

I've been with Orange now for 16 months. I am really happy with service and the phone (SE P800!). However it is a pain that I now seem to be on not so good a tariff as I would be if I joined them again. I have been looking at three, but the phones look pants- I really am not interested in video messaging. Is it true that I HAVE to use Three phones? Also the customer service looks really PANTS- and pants customer service really gets me mad, so perhaps I should phone Orange Retentions and get on a better deal with them? Any ideas? (by the way I am on 200Xnet with 30texts, 8Mb GPRS in which I pay £30+2+8- I tend to use 180minutes a month, 30 texts and 6-8Mb GPRS)

astra46

Just had an NEC E313 on 3 pay.

I live in Neath South Wales.

The reception is superb, better than Orange.

Nec phones seem to have had a bad press, but this is due to the other phones not the E313.

Im impressed with the network so far.

lellie

I've been looking for a new phone and quite want a nokia 7600.. but everyone moans about 3.. surely it's not that bad??

I'm on o2 at the moment and it's pretty good except my broken phone..

but I want something with lots of cross network anytime minutes.. + some texts.. so the call+text 600 or whatever it's called sounds perfect.. hmmm