3 is the cheapest, but is it best

northernken

I have to say reading most of these other posts it does seem like the rubbish handsets are to blame. I would never use anything other than a Nokia after past experiences with most other companies.

I used a Nokia 6680 throughout London and never had any problems at all, never dropped a call and I always got great 3g access. I also travel up North regularly and get 3g coverage all the way from Leeds to London etc. Never had any problems with the phone in any other city either.

Yes the call centre is in India but so are most companies now and its not that difficult to communicate if you speak slowly and clearly.

PINUK_2

pmdonovan wrote: »

Looking at coming across to 3, mainly for mobile internet and email. Does anyone know whether you can get Quidco when porting a number across to 3?

Yes you can. Just use Quidco when purchasing your phone then call and inform customer services of your PAC code by dialling 333 from your three phone. I had no problems with Quidco when I did this.

Perrygarl

Ever since 3 came out, with a deal for a £20 Video/Camera mobile, I have always used them, recently last year I decided to buy a contract as £15 for any phone credit was little. However, looking around I noticed that it wasn't cheap to get a lot of texts and minutes, until I went into three.


Original Deal - £30 per month = 300 minutes - 1000 texts, I am a heavy text user.

But:
Double minutes and texts for first six months

Half price for six months UNLESS you buy a refurbished phone with the deal, which meant it was half price for the whole contract [if the phone broke, I had my spare 3 mobile to use as backup.]

So I was generally paying £15 a month for a very good.

There was one minor problem, but was sorted very quickly, and to a better standard than I expected.

On the 11th and 12th month I was charged double [£30 per month] so I went to the store and told them that I had misplaced the contract during the third month [cleaning out unneeded bills, and accidentally the contract too] and they said that they could not acquire the contract from their system. The employee seemed quite dodgy, so I sent an e-mail to 3 customer support, complaining that I couldn't be the only one who had a copy of the contract. Within the next day, an operator told me that she had looked at an overview, and said the half price deal was for 12 months but noticed that the deal was with a refurbished phone, and the time period suggested that my deal was correct, all she needed to do was get the billings department to investigate it, the day after, she phoned up again stating that I will get the £60 credit.....and another £60 on top of that, while getting the half price line rental back.

Now this will finalize [hopefully] on the next bill, so I will post again to see what really happens, but if all goes well, I am happy with the service 3 is offering, I can only dream though, of the deal I could get which I could get if I tried to hassle on the end of the contract and "decided" to move.

unsure

My trustry old payg Virgin Seimens A50 recently began to expire so I decided to go for a contract via Phones 4 U who had provided a decent phone and deal for my daughter. I don't use the phone much, occasional texts and calls, no need for bells or whistles.

After I turned downa Vodaphone chequeback offer, they suggested a Three deal with Nokia 6288, 250 mins + 50 texts. Sounded fine for my needs. I asked what the coverage was like (coverage map on Three website seems permanently unavailable) salesman said excellent in the city (Norwich) but less good out on coast and in remote villages. Not a prob as I live in the city and would be making most of my cals there or thereabouts. So I did the deal.


That was three days ago. Since then I have not made or received a successful call. I can receive texts but the ones I send say "failed". The calls I make to other people in the city are incomprehensible to the receiver. If people call me I don't get the call until I receive a voice message some time later ( presumably when I'm in an area of strong enough signal).

The final straws came this morning. First, I missed an appointment because the call I made was received as garbled unintelligible voicemail at the far end and the attmept to return it did not reach me until I got a voicemail later. I then tried to call Three's helpline...and the call dropped out after about five seconds!!!

I am frankly furious and intending to take the phone back tomorrow as I don't believe I am receiving the service I am paying for and was told I would receive...also the failed calls, voicemails and texts are being charged to my account, even though I can't communicate with anyone!

I note from Threes t&c s that phone can only be returned if it has not had the sim inserted or been used...but how would you know it was functioning okay without doing so to make calls?

I'm wondering if I've jsut been unlucky or whether others have simialr experience (did search forum but found nothing) and also what rights/recourse I may have in the matter, ( I think Phones 4 U have not played straight with the info they gave for starters).

Phone: Nokia 6288
Location: Norwich
coverage: Apparently non-existent!
Marks: 0/10
++++ Update++++
Tried various suggestions (which all proved no better) and finally returned phone within 14 day limit. Staff finally admitted several other customers had found themselves in the same position. Now more happily on 02 simplicity tarriff with cheap unlocked phone and life much simpler and commuications better.

JaneEliz

Handset: Sony Ericsson k800i

Most commonly used location: Mid Sussex

Ease and reliability and connection: Perfect

Any other problems: None

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

I moved from Virgin when I realised just how much better the 3 tariff would be for me. I offered Virgin the opportunity to match 3's tariff, but they declined. I've had no problems with 3 at all - in fact, my son is thinking of moving from Virgin to 3 now: he particularly likes the free MSN messenger option, and the amount of stuff that's included in Planet 3!

fotoco

Been reading through all these posts (well not all) and just thought I would add a comment. I am using the Nokia 6680 which was handed down to me from my daughter, (I get all her older phones). She was on 3 but I got it transferred to PAYG with We Pay. I am not a heavy user and this works great.
I live in Northern Ireland and have had absolutely no connection problems locally or in various locations in UK mainland or even in Spain. Don't get all the services through Movistar (Spain) but I don't use them all anyway. Would be nice to be able to get my Google mail in Spain but I am told it is not possible. My only gripe would be with the lovely Indian girls in India, accents can be difficult, (although I wish I could speak Spanish as well as they speak English) and they try to help but I get the feeling they are not always sure what the problem is, (maybe my Northern Ireland accent) Anyway I give 10/10 for connection and 6/10 for problem solving.
Regards
Gerry

s100_2

so, thinking of moving to 3. But does anyone know if their offers change significantly from month to month. quite like the £20 deal with sony at the moment - includes free 512mb card. But want to hold out for a sony k850i which isn't released till october. But will the tariffs have changed a lot by then? or should i just go for the deals now and get the k850i sim free when it comes out?

seanmcateer

Hi all,

I have bene with three for 6/7 years and really didn't like too much about them especially their call centres.

My contract is up and i asked for a PAC code. I got a call from their retention centre offerign me 750 mins per month x network for £20 and a free handset. I wnated the N95 but they put me around in circles and told me they had not got any. I was passed a Three shop and they could give it to me there and then.

I haggled for the phone and eventually after spekaign to managers galaore got this final offer and wouldn't re-instate the initial offer.


N95 - £381 (yes !) and would keep me on my £60 per month for 1000 minutes. I asked for no phone just contact as advertised 'for life' and no wouldn't give it to me.

My average monthly bill is £70 - and they have just lost that.

I joined 02 simplicity month by month contract for £30 pm 800 x network minutes , 1000 texts and free unlimited text or talk on saturdays/sundays and mondays. I will reassess situation on a month by month basis.

Needless to say I will never go near Three again.

Hope this helps others with my terrible dealings.

grimble_2

Hey all,

I have been with three almost a year now (on an 18 month contract) and I thought I'd let you know how it's been

I took advantage of one of their bargain contracts last october from their Coventry branch with 300 minutes, 1000 texts, whole bunch of other service perks and a free refurbished nokia 6280 for £30 a month, but the contract came with 6 months double allowances and 18 months half price line rental (making it £15 a month) - all seemed like a pretty sweet deal!

first came the honeymoon period - phone, although slightly temperamental to downright crap at times, was better than my existing one, and with the generous allowance I could pretty much yak and text my heart out.

In may I cycled from Cardiff to Holyhead to raise money for charity, and, being Wales, it typically jumped from glorious sunshine to open heavens at a moment's notice - as a result, my phone got wet on several occasions. It kept going for the next couple of months but gradually started to act weirdly, turning off sporadically and eventually becoming unusable. I sent it off in the original box in July, to be informed they weren't gonna be able to fix it, and I'd have to buy a new handset. They returned it in a different box and, slightly pertubed, I bought a second hand unlocked n70.

Upon receiving the bill for last month, I was gutted to see that they had not applied the half price line rental. I phoned up to get this amended, and they informed me that I was on record as having received a new, not a refurbished phone, and I was only entitled to 10 months half price line rental, so basically I was stuck into a contract paying £30 a month till it expires - may not sound a lot to some of you, but I certainly wouldn't have taken out a contract if I'd known this was the case.

after a few letters and phone calls to "customer care", all they have suggested is that I go into the store I purchased the contract from, but as I have now moved away from Coventry this is going to be difficult, and the coventry store haven't been particularly helpful over the phone, suggesting I come and pay them a visit. The real kicker is that in moving from Coventry, I am completely unable to locate the original paperwork from the phone/contract, and 3 did not return the original box, which I am fairly sure stated it was a refurbished phone. I feel regardless of the apparent fact that I was given a new instead of refurbished phone (the imei suggests so apparently), I still should not have to pay the last 8 months full price line rental, as it is an administrative error on their part and not mine, but they have been incredibly hard to persuade so!

so yeah, I guess my experience with 3 is when it's working it's all hunky dory, just hope you never have to use their customer service department!

just ranting really

Nostromo

Have Three ditched the 12 month deals ?