3 - charging for text delivery receipts

dulcificum

That's absolutely ridiculous. How could they charge for such a basic service especially when texts on 3 are so expensive already? 1p just for a delivery report! People should leave.

Bricks

Dear 3,
I am writing to give you notice that as of the 6th June I will be charging a £1 administration cost per bill that I pay. This is due to a recent increase in my workload and is to ensure that I can continue to provide an effective bill paying service to other utilities and telecoms providers. Please note that this charge will not be detrimental to you with regard to the terms of the contract, as although I have not been charging for it until now, it is not a core service and you can continue to enjoy my custom even if you do not receive payment from me. If you wish to avoid paying this charge, please go to my account, click "settings" and under the "bill customer" menu select "do not bill customer for services".
Yours
Bricks

....................

dulcificum

What was their actual reason for introducing it? They are saying the cost has increased?

nnnvvv

And here is their Final Position!

Hello Mr XXXXXXX


Thank you for your reply.

I'm afraid the position outlined in Grace's previous email remains the same. We don't consider this to be a detrimental change, so you'll be charged for using this additional service. If you'd like to cancel, then you'll need to pay the early termination fee. This is made up of the line rental charges for the rest of your contract term, minus a 10% discount, as per Ofcom's guidelines.

As previously advised by Grace, I'd suggest you contact the Ombudsman if you're still unhappy with our response. Both this email and the previous email from Grace are sufficient for them to look into matters for you.

I hope I've now clearly explained our final position.


Thank you.



Scott Stubbs
Three Executive Office

I have now opened proceedings with the ombudsman.

Dave2011

Hi All

I had 2 contracts with 3, the one used by my wife (who can send more texts a day than is humanly possible) had reached the end of its term so the number has been ported to giffgaff who use the 02 network

Delivery reports are available free of charge on giffgaff / 02 by prefixing the message with *0#, which may be a pita but I'm sure a sms program that will do it by installing a plugin will appear one day.

As I only send a very low number of sms I'm still pondering as to what action (if any) to take.

dulcificum

Also, ASDA Mobile have always done them free of charge.

nash1977

Is it me or are people making a big fuss over nothing. I am with 3 and the delivery reports are not necessary. If a message is urgent/important...phone.

nnnvvv

nash1977 wrote: »

Is it me or are people making a big fuss over nothing. I am with 3 and the delivery reports are not necessary. If a message is urgent/important...phone.

No it's not just you, there are several people making irrelevant and inflammatory comments on this thread.

Read back through the thread and you'll see various people having solid reasons for being upset by this change.

dulcificum

Delivery reports are incredibly useful and necessary for tons of reasons and also, due to the nature of texts, are a basic necessity that should be included in their functionality.

dulcificum

Can someone post a link where 3 confirm this charge in their tariff for PAYG and contract?