3 - charging for text delivery receipts

bazmobile

Unlike the previous poster, in my case the ombudsman has ruled that the change was not detrimental to me because it did not increase my overall cost for the service by more than 10%...

So all he recommends is an apology from Three and £10.

What rubbish. Strung me along for 6 months for that!

cwmparc

bazmobile wrote: »

Unlike the previous poster, in my case the ombudsman has ruled that the change was not detrimental to me because it did not increase my overall cost for the service by more than 10%...

So all he recommends is an apology from Three and £10.

What rubbish. Strung me along for 6 months for that!

Same here, It said the charge is not detrimental because I took out my contract in May, charges came into effect June and as I didn't use the service because of the cost it has not increased my bill.
They came to this conclusion even after I told the ombudsman I asked Three if there were a charge for delivery reports before I took out the contract.
Really don't know if it's worth appealing?
£10.00 is an insult

cwmparc

Well I decided to appeal and faxed my letter to the ombudsman today.
Not holding out much hope but will let you all know the outcome. :beer:

im-lost

well I've received a response to my email asking for my case to be reviewed again.

Its a bloody cop out, the ombudsman agrees that is a detrimental change
to my contract, yet they feel as that they are putting me in a position had
the change not happened i.e a credit of £120 to my account then my right
to cancel as per my contract terms are not relevant, because three will be
in a worse position if im allowed to cancel without penalty!!! don't change
my bloody contract then you bunch of shysters.

Ah well Im pretty much doe trying £120 credit to my account, 9 months left
to go, so effectively £13.33 off my bill monthly, leaving me with a total of
£12.19 to pay monthly :cool: well actually £15 off monthly, so £10.52 left to pay,
as its paid a month in advance anyway.

Not what I was hoping for, but i really cant be bother pushing it further now.

So there you have it, 3mobile are free to change their contract terms as and when
they feel like it, as the ombudsman wont allow people to cancel their contract as
three will be worse off, you really couldn't make it up :rotfl:

Below is the letter form them, three have 28 days in which to action the decision,
and that shall be my last word on this, I shall ride out the last 9 months and then
move to giffgaff or some other sim only deal, and I shall take great pleasure in
telling three where to stick it when the time comes.



Final decision letter from the ombudsman services


19 December 2011

Dear Mr W********

YOUR COMPLAINT ABOUT THREE

Both you and Three accepted the Report following the investigation of your complaint.

You are prepared to accept the resolution as proposed but nonetheless do it with some
reluctance given your view that we have not fully addressed the issues about contract
termination. The Ombudsman has looked at your comments, but while he understands your
points his view is that the proposed resolution does address the main points in your complaint.

Our aim is, as far as possible to put the complainant back in the position they would have been
had the problem not occurred, and a goodwill award which broadly reflects your increased costs
achieves this. While we understand the argument about contract termination, we must also
resolve disputes in a way that is fair and reasonable taking into account the interests of both
parties.

The Ombudsman’s view is that if you are no worse off with the goodwill award, and that if Three
may be significantly worse off as a result of you being allowed to terminate your contract without
penalty, the outcome we have proposed is fair and reasonable to both parties.

This means that the Report now becomes the Ombudsman’s Final Decision. For the avoidance
of doubt, the Final Decision requires Three to:

• provide a written apology for failing to advise you of the change; and
• provide a credit of £120 as a gesture of goodwill.

I shall write to Three to inform it of the Final Decision.

The Final Decision is now binding on Three which must provide the remedy to you within 28
days from the date of this letter.

Yours sincerely

Simon P****
Investigation Manager

(Encs: Remedy Not Received form)

miniyazz

That is a bit of a cop out, but it sounds as though Three offered you a £120 'goodwill' award. I guess if they offered you that, and your monthly SMS delivery reports total less than ~1500, then technically they haven't caused a detrimental change to your contract, as you won't be out of pocket (although naturally if you were to end up out of pocket by e.g. >15% of your monthly fee, I would expect the Ombudsman to still allow you to cancel without penalty).

For those of us who haven't been offered a goodwill settlement amount, I would hope that the Ombudsman permits cancellation without charge.

im-lost

miniyazz wrote: »

That is a bit of a cop out, but it sounds as though Three offered you a £120 'goodwill' award. I guess if they offered you that, and your monthly SMS delivery reports total less than ~1500, then technically they haven't caused a detrimental change to your contract, as you won't be out of pocket (although naturally if you were to end up out of pocket by e.g. >15% of your monthly fee, I would expect the Ombudsman to still allow you to cancel without penalty).

For those of us who haven't been offered a goodwill settlement amount, I would hope that the Ombudsman permits cancellation without charge.

Three didn't actually offer a penny, the £120 comes as a resolution via the ombudsman, three have no say in the matter other than accepting or declining it as a resolution, the same with myself.

Although I can see what you are saying, there has been a detrimental change for the past 6 months, with the only way of it getting resolved is to go via this route, whether or not a 'goodwill gesture' is forced upon three, doesn't mean the breach hasn't occurred.

All that being said I'm fairly happy with the outcome, it could have been a lot worse, and at the end of the day, three really aren't that bad when compared to the other networks, just with 2 changes in a short time, the 50 odd pence 'in line with inflation' increase, and then the sms delivery reports, and digging their heels in over this, I felt I had to win this little battle, just because I'm stubborn

miniyazz

True. I'm still annoyed at them for the VAT increase, since I specifically asked them about that before buying the contract (since I got it about a fortnight before the new year), and they said it wouldn't affect me.. but of course it did. And of course I don't have anything in writing from them. :mad:

cwmparc

cwmparc wrote: »

Well I decided to appeal and faxed my letter to the ombudsman today.
Not holding out much hope but will let you all know the outcome. :beer:

Well as expected, no change from the ombudsman. Both they and Three are an utter waste of time. Roll on end of contract.

credit-card-tart

I must be Lucky, got to leave early and a £10 refund