3 - charging for text delivery receipts

Tony5101

Hi All,

A friend of mine has just informed me that 3 are going to start charging for text delivery receipts from the 6th of June. (1p I believe)
As this is something that she has switched on and is a current user of this facility - could this be used as a potential contract 'get-out'?

Sorry - don't have a current copy of their contract, as I left them quite a few years ago now...just thought I would put the info out there though.

Cheers,

Tony

chattyuk

Hey
I received a message today about three charging for text message reports (1p) from the 6th June.
I use these with all my texts I send and it's a handy feature!
As I send a lot of texts, this charge with cost me a large amount and so is detrimental to me. Three have also not gave me 30 days notice which breaks a term of the contract.


Surely because of this I should be able to cancel my contract?

After a long call with 3 I got no where. They kept saying that delivery reports are not part of my "core services" despite me stating what an additional service was per their terms and conditions they wouldn't side with me. They also think because they are telling customers how to turn off their message reports it means they do not have to give customers 30 days notice?
Any help would be greatly appreciated:D:j

rkc000

Hi All

Could really do with some advice. Three are charging for sms reports and I want to know can I cancel my contract with them because of this without incurring the termination fee?

I spoke with a customer service rep on the phone and she was terrible. I told her about it and that I never got 30 days notice and she replied with 'its only 1p ... well you have 2-3 weeks notice'. Also, she said that its an additional service. She wasn't budging, but I got her to get her supervisor to call me in a couple of hours.

I wasn't sure if I really wanted to leave Three before as just wanted to see if they offered me some deal but now after that service ...

Any help would be appreciated.

chattyuk

Thanks for the merge!

sijarvis

I phoned customer services and quoted from my T&Cs which state they have to give one month warning of any changes to the package likely to prove detrimental to me (Section 4.1 (b) (ii)). This also states (Section 10.1 (d)) that if any changes are made which are detrimental to me I'm entitled to end the agreement with no charge. They asked me to send in scanned copies of their own T&C document. I've done this and am now waiting on a response. I don't really want to cancel my contract, just don't want to pay for reports. I'm quite happy to move to a rolling one month contract with Tesco if Three won't let me have reports for free though. I'll update if I get any progress.

Rusty!

Tesco don't support proper delivery reports at all. No-one using O2's network does.

bantoi

Hello all,

great thread, please update it with your progress.

I'm also 3's customer and would gladly terminate my contract if possible, as I got this SMS about the report charges of 1p.

I'll be looking for my contract tonight as soon as I get home.

Thank you

bxm

Sorry for the long post, tried to trim it down.

Just spent a good deal of time on the phone to Three regarding this.
I asked about the SMS I had received.
First guy:
"when you get a new handset delivered we send you a text message about that; for this message we charge you 1p"
"Er no, you will charge me for delivery reports for every SMS I send (if the option is enabled, which it is)."
<5 mins On Hold>
"oh yeah, you're right that is what the message meant"
"You haven't given me 30 days notice. Would you like me to quote the terms and conditions?"
<some more back and forth followed by 5 mins on hold while he reads them>
"Oh yes, you are correct we should give 30 days notice. Here's my manager."

---

The conversation picks up where the previous left off -- a decent level of handover had actually occurred!
<brief rehash of the main points>
"We've given you 3 weeks notice, what's the problem?"
"You have contravened our agreement based on your Ts+Cs by giving less than 30 days notice."
"How is this to your detriment?"
"If I continue to use the service after 6th June, as I do today, I will incur charges. This is detrimental."
"You can turn of delivery reports and then you won't pay for it"
"I know this, that's not remotely the point -- a service that I receive today for free will, from the 6th of June, cost me up to £30, based on my inclusive text allowance." (That's double my monthly charge, readers.)
"Nobody else has complained"
"Just because I'm the first, doesn't make me WRONG."
"OK so what do you want ME to do about it?"
"I want YOU to address the issue!"
"How?"
"Well I'm tempted to ask for my Porting Authority Code but that requires 30 days notice, which means the waiting time will fall under the period for which you are breaking my terms and conditions so I'd like some compensation for that"
"How would you like to be compensated?"
"How about you waive some line rental to make up for the extra charges I will incur; this will give me time to serve notice for my PAC and consider my options"
"This is not possible" (they LOVE that phrase at Three)
<some debate ensues about the possibilities of such a good will gesture, and the fact that every single contract subscriber may have grounds for cancellation on the back of this>
"If you can't authorise this concession, I need to speak to your manager. If they can't, I need to speak to their manager. And so on, until I speak to someone who can/will address this issue in a satisfactory fashion"
"I'll get my manager to call you back in the next 1-2 hours"

---

So now I wait...

Here are the relevant T+C items for those who want to pursue this as well:

4. Variations to your agreement or prices
Pay Monthly Customers
4.1 We may vary any of the terms of your agreement, including our Price Plans, on the following basis:
(b) if you are a Pay Monthly Customer, we will let you know at least one month in advance if we decide to:
(ii) make any variations to your agreement which are likely to be of detriment to you

rkc000

This is interesting stuff, thanks. Their service is awful.

chattyuk

That's interesting!
I'll be giving them a call back tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully I can get somewhere!

Jon_01

I can see this running like the Orange cockup of a couple of years back (anyone remember?).
They'll either backdown and cancel the change if they get a mountain of complaints Or, try to say that's its not changing anything in the plan and that you can avoid the charge by switching reported off.

Could be an interesting few weeks!!