3 - charging for text delivery receipts

credit-card-tart

Snakeeyes21 wrote: »

This is what im thinking, three wont issue me with a deadlock letter, seems it wouold be a lot less hassle to just get a PAC, cancel the contract, wait for the final bill then dispute it with otelo or issue a claim to get it wiped off, along with costs awarded..

I don't think they will issue the PAC until the early cancellation charge has been paid, otherwise everyone will then not pay the final invoice. But I could be wrong.

gjchester

credit-card-tart wrote: »

I don't think they will issue the PAC until the early cancellation charge has been paid, otherwise everyone will then not pay the final invoice. But I could be wrong.

IIRC an account in debt is not a reason to refuse a PAC code.

However the bill still has to be paid, and if it's not it goes to the courts or debt collectors

JudasPriest

I believe the above two posts to be correct. If this is the route people are wanting to take, I'd do this:-

1. Request PAC, port to new network.
2. Calculate money owed on line rental/package/whatever you'd like to call it into per-day fees.
3. Send a cheque for that amount as full and final settlement of monies owed on account.

Pursuing the matter legally, all other charges(including those applied to the account to generate the PAC) are in dispute. And based on what's happened in this thread, they're invalid anyway as customers should've been allowed to exit the contract. Take it to the small claims court and request 1p as compensation in addition to costs. The irony may not be lost...

Messy

Considering the deals that Three offer, would anyone actually end up financially quids in by porting to an alternative network?

I'm with Three, and I agree with all the sentiment that's been posted, but if they refuse to backtrack will anyone really be better off from leaving?

simax

credit-card-tart wrote: »

Agree - Will try O2 or possibly Giffgaff which has similar price plans to what I need.

... and who don't support (proper) delivery reports...

Noritsuman

simax wrote: »

... and who don't support (proper) delivery reports...

It may not be a fully automated delivery report with O2, but at least it's free.

Messy wrote: »

Considering the deals that Three offer, would anyone actually end up financially quids in by porting to an alternative network?

Even if I have to pay a little more for my contract elsewhere it will be worth it, just so Three never sees another penny from me.

To have a free service then start charging for it is far worse than never having that service at all.
Why not deduct each delivery report message from my impossible to send 3000 a month text allowance?

I wonder how many customers they will loose as a result of this stupid decision of theirs?

I'm doing the only thing I can and voting with my feet!

chambta

I'm a Thee customer and wasn't aware of this change. Any opportunity to escape them though will be monitored!

shedmoney

i have asked otello to deal with my complaint but also sent details of my complaint to ofcom (as per a poster on here's advice) just so they are aware of the situation and maybe put a small dent in 3's customer service record and got this reply from ofcom today....


Dear Mr XXXXXXXXXXXX

Thank you for contacting Ofcom about the problems you are having with 3.

From reading your complaint, I understand you are unhappy that 3 has changed its terms and conditions with regards to charging for delivery reports.

As you are aware, 3 is free to make changes to contracts. Under our general conditions, if providers intend to make changes to a consumer’s contract, they should give at least one months notice.

As 3 did not give you the required notice, we would usually suggest taking your complaint through their complaints procedure before following their ADR scheme (Ombudsman Services: Communications (previously Otelo)). Details of this can be found at: (not allowed to post links as newbie)

If you have exhausted this, or your complaint has been ongoing for over 8 weeks, you have done the right thing in contacting Ombudsman Services: Communications about this. Hopefully they will be able to help you resolve this issue.

Please rest assured I have made a formal record of your complaint; this will be used for monitoring purposes. If we see an increase in complaints like this, we may raise this with 3 directly.

I hope this information proves useful.

Yours sincerely

XXXXX XXXXXXXX
Consumer Contact Team


so i would advise any who have not done so to make ofcom aware of thier complaint.

dulcificum

Please let us know how the Small Claims Court process goes - I think this would be a great method.

RichA

I've been watching this keenly, and I think I'll also be ending up going to the small claims court and ombudsman. Just waiting for a letter of deadlock from them.

You’ve emailed us about our decision to start charging for text message delivery reports.

Our position on this won't change, since we don't believe the introduction of the 1p charge is a detrimental change to that packages we provide to our customers.

In the interests of customer service however, I’ve a few ideas on how to bring this matter to a close. Because your account was opened about four months ago, I can arrange for this to be closed without penalty, but I'd ask that you return your Samsung i9000 to us.

Alternatively and based on the amount of text messages you send each month, I can activate a monthly discount of £10. This will cover any delivery reports you receive each month.

Please let me know how you’d like to proceed.


Thank you

Without prejudice, I am struggling with your suggested offers.


"In the interests of customer service however, I’ve a few ideas on how to bring this matter to a close. Because your account was opened about four months ago, I can arrange for this to be closed without penalty, but I'd ask that you return your Samsung i9000 to us. "

I'm not entirely sure how to read this offer. Three are now offering for my account to be closed without penalty, yet requesting I return my handset? How does "without penalty" actually apply there?


"Alternatively and based on the amount of text messages you send each month, I can activate a monthly discount of £10. This will cover any delivery reports you receive each month."

Based on my usage last month, the discount offered would still leave me out of pocket. Based on current usage this month, it would also fail to cover the newly introduced charges, but by a greater degree.


"Our position on this won't change, since we don't believe the introduction of the 1p charge is a detrimental change to that packages we provide to our customers."

Without requesting Three change their position on the matter, allow me to highlight where I presently feel my position lies. Three agreed to provide me with their Services for the duration of my contract term in exchange for £30 per month from me. Three have changed the use of their Services by charging 1p for items originally included for free, and using my phone as I would in earlier months, I'd be spending around 33% or more in addition to the agreed monthly sum, which represents a very real increase in cost to me for the services I agreed to take under contract. Section 5.8(a), referring specifically to "Services"(defined under the glossary of our agreement) allows customers to 'end the agreement if this variation is likely to be of material detriment to you as explained in Section 10.', as quoted. Section 10.1(d) allows me to end the agreement made between us for such changes - these changes have been announced, and introduced, and I have had to adjust my use of your Services as a result. I have followed my obligations under the agreement, and sadly endured 55 minutes of unhelpful telephone conversation with your Customer Services department prior to finding my call terminated, despite kindly requesting the matter be resolved in writing. The result of me acting in good faith? A consistant denial by Three to let me exercise my rights under our agreed contract, but many reminders during the telephone conversation that Three can change their prices at any time.

An offered discount of £10 per month to cover the newly introduced charges would certainly indicate, at least to me, that these charges are likely to be of material detriment to the customer. I don't require, nor expect, comment from your company on these points noted above. I merely wish to reaffirm the position in which I've found myself, and how I believe an outside party would see the point of conflict.

I make the following offer in good faith, and believe it to be a fair compromise for both parties:

1. Three release me from my contractual obligations without penalty. My account is closed upon start of the second point in this offer, and a charge of £15.32 is added to my final bill for this account in exchange for the unlocking of my handset. The final bill on this account comprises just the unlocking charge, and my prorated monthly charge for this billing cycle. Any request for the return of my handset shall be interpreted as a request to purchase it from me for £399.90, which is the cheapest price I can find for the equivalent handset on 3 PAYG(at obil.co.uk).

2. I formally accept the revised charges for the supplied delivery report Services, and agree to undertake a new 2-year contract term on the same plan, with the refurbished "Samsung Galaxy S" at £25 per month, as detailed on your website( http://threestore.three.co.uk/dealsummary.aspx?offercode=24TONED117 ), and the transfer of my telephone number to the new contract. Premium rate and international telephone calls and texts are disabled on the account, as is the age-restricted content filter and voicemail services.

3. A goodwill credit of £20 is applied to the account to compensate for the failure of the "£20 free accessories voucher xxxxxxxxxx", offered by your online sales team on 12.52pm February 12th 2011, to actually function.

I trust the above offer will be an acceptable solution, and bring this dispute to a close without the need to involve outside parties.

Thank-you.

I'm sorry for the slight delay in getting back to you. A combination of training commitments and system issues stopped me from replying sooner.

The suggestions you've made in your recent email won’t be considered I’m afraid, so I'd recommend escalating your concerns to Ombudsman Services: Communications.

Details of how to contact our regulator can be found here: https://www.ombudsman-services.org/communications

Any correspondence we then receive from them on your behalf will be handled by this office.

I hope I’ve explained our position.


Thank you

In which case, if Three are still not prepared to honour the contractual terms I was presented with when I started using your company, I require an official statement of deadlock from your company in order to escalate to the ombudsman, as-per my first email to you, whilst submitting my case to the courts.

Obviously, given the disclaimer at the end of each email, I'll also require a hard copy, signed by a duly authorised representative of Hutchison 3G UK Limited.

So, they're going to get charged for it being passed to the ombudsman, whilst it also goes to court(where consensus here is that I should win(?) and get my costs back), and end up annoying(and losing) a customer - all for a penny per report. When I offered to take a fresh 2 year term and they'd lose less(just this contract, but keep the customer and continue to get money from them). I really don't understand them!

The terms and conditions seem clear, and looking at an earlier post on here it seems ofcom indicate customers aren't in the wrong here?