Vent - 3 Mobile

PDavis

Just wish to let everyone know about a current situation I am going through with 3 Mobile.

About 4 years ago I needed a new mobile phone. At the time I was living in an area which did not have very good services for most mobiles. Due to not having good coverage I decided to contact several mobile phone companies to get advice.

In the end I decided to go with 3 mobile as I was advised by their people they have pretty good coverage in my area.

Straight away I realised I had made a mistake as my calls were constantly being dropped and I rarely ever had more than 2 bars signal.

I contacted 3 mobile technical support department and asked if anything could be done to improve the service.. After several calls and many hours on phone it was clear that 3 mobile was just not going to be a good service for where I lived.

I contact 3 again and told them I wanted to cancel under the cool down period. I was told by a 3 customer support that if I waited they were actually upgrading the service in my area and it would be one of the best in the country. Also they were the only ones planning the upgrade in my area so I would have the most reliable service available for my area. After thinking about this I decided to stick with 3 and put up with the bad service for 3 months to eventually have a great service after the upgrade.

3 Months passed and still the same bad service so I contacted 3 again and this time I was told by someone that they never did have plans to upgrade the service. I was furious and told them I am cancelling the contract and paying no more money to them.

Well constant letters kept coming through saying I had to pay off the £350 ish pounds to cancel the contract. Regardless of the calls I made to them about how I had been deceived to not use the cool down get out clause and that was an act of fraud, they just never listened.

Anyway 4 years later I have moved away and 3 have contacted me again. This time they have sold the debt onto a debt collecting company. I have contacted this company and explained the situation and pointed out I was going to take legal action against 3 for fraud etc but they still claim I have to pay up.

So my advice to you is avoid 3 mobile like the plague

Mk14:37

Your experience is very similar to my own with Three- I've been with them for six years now and constantly gripe about how bad they are, yet they keep tempting me back because they are happy to say whatever you want to hear. I've variously been told, in the same phone call with the same rep, that they are and they aren't doing work in my area (by way of explanation for poor signal).

The last time I was suckered I wanted a Nokia X6. (How times change!). They told me that it "comes with music", by which they meant that it was the inferior 16gb edition with a voucher to download 20 tracks, not the Comes With Music 32GB edition with a years free downloads.

Now it's upgrade time and they are trying to sell me an "exclusive" offer for upgrading - the exact same offer available to all and sundry in their stores or online.

Sally for you, despite Three's failings, you left it far too long to take action and are liable for your debt.

PDavis

Mk14:37 wrote: »

Sally for you, despite Three's failings, you left it far too long to take action and are liable for your debt.

Well you say this but after talking to a friend, who is in the law business, I have been told to fight it in court if they persist. Simple fact is in lying to be on phone to get me to avoid the cool down get out clause they have broken the law. Basically they have used deception to gain finances which in legal terms...Is Fraud.

I have already pointed out to the people who have now bought the debt that if they persist I will take it to court and if I win charge them for all my time that has been put into this.

If_it_can_go_wrong

Can you prove it to the court though? In my experience many companies will say anything over the phone, as they know they won't be held to account for it later.

katerinasol

I had loads of problems with them when trying to cancel my contract, as they kept claiming to have never received my letter of cancellation etc. In the end it got sold to a debt collectors and I decided to just pay the money, so we came to an arrangement where I pay them £1 a month for the next 6 years or so

Mk14:37

PDavis wrote: »

after talking to a friend, who is in the law business...

Well, that rather covers a multitude of sins, doesn't it?! I'm guessing he's not a lawyer or you would have said so.

I'm not "in the law business" as such, so can't quote you chapter and verse but I think you'll find that there is a statute of limitations for bringing action, and four years is a very long time to have elapsed.

Oh, and good luck in proving that the conversation ever took place.... :cool:

jamespir

PDavis wrote: »

Well you say this but after talking to a friend, who is in the law business, I have been told to fight it in court if they persist. Simple fact is in lying to be on phone to get me to avoid the cool down get out clause they have broken the law. Basically they have used deception to gain finances which in legal terms...Is Fraud.

I have already pointed out to the people who have now bought the debt that if they persist I will take it to court and if I win charge them for all my time that has been put into this.

how do you plan to prove that as its been 4 years and its not fraud

jamespir

PDavis wrote: »

Just wish to let everyone know about a current situation I am going through with 3 Mobile.

About 4 years ago I needed a new mobile phone. At the time I was living in an area which did not have very good services for most mobiles. Due to not having good coverage I decided to contact several mobile phone companies to get advice.

In the end I decided to go with 3 mobile as I was advised by their people they have pretty good coverage in my area.

Straight away I realised I had made a mistake as my calls were constantly being dropped and I rarely ever had more than 2 bars signal.

I contacted 3 mobile technical support department and asked if anything could be done to improve the service.. After several calls and many hours on phone it was clear that 3 mobile was just not going to be a good service for where I lived.

I contact 3 again and told them I wanted to cancel under the cool down period. I was told by a 3 customer support that if I waited they were actually upgrading the service in my area and it would be one of the best in the country. Also they were the only ones planning the upgrade in my area so I would have the most reliable service available for my area. After thinking about this I decided to stick with 3 and put up with the bad service for 3 months to eventually have a great service after the upgrade.

3 Months passed and still the same bad service so I contacted 3 again and this time I was told by someone that they never did have plans to upgrade the service. I was furious and told them I am cancelling the contract and paying no more money to them.

Well constant letters kept coming through saying I had to pay off the £350 ish pounds to cancel the contract. Regardless of the calls I made to them about how I had been deceived to not use the cool down get out clause and that was an act of fraud, they just never listened.

Anyway 4 years later I have moved away and 3 have contacted me again. This time they have sold the debt onto a debt collecting company. I have contacted this company and explained the situation and pointed out I was going to take legal action against 3 for fraud etc but they still claim I have to pay up.

So my advice to you is avoid 3 mobile like the plague

why has it taken 4 years to take legal action ?

jmheggie

I had this problem with three many years ago, I had loads of problems with repairs on the phone and a rubbish service and after about 4 months told them I was going back to o2. They refused to let me move my number unless I paid something like £400 which I refused. They also told me that they were upgrading the service in my area in 18months time. after about 3 months a debt collection agency tried to get the money out of me and I explained why I wasnt paying, they said they would hand the case back to three as they were failing to provide a service set out in the contract. A few weeks later a letter came from three saying they had written the debt off.

about 3 years later after now being made bankrupt a letter came from a company who had brought up all of threes bad debt (probably the same company you are dealing with now). They told me court action was going to take place, an entry made on my credit report and they wanted something like £670 now for the debt. When I explained and showed them proof it was written off they said it was fake and when I told them I had just been made bankrupt they said tough as it didnt come under my order, I didnt know about it so couldnt have included it.

Anyway it has now past 6 years a few months back and nothing ever went on my record and they have no leg to stand on. I know of lots of people who have had companys who buy debt up send them stupid threats but nine times out of ten then dont have any documents to support a case. My advise would be contact them and ask for all the paperwork they have to support there case. If they cant prove this you can walk away. If they can prove it it may be worth sitting on it for the time being to see where it goes. These companys buy bulk debt for next to nothing and if 10% of people pay in full they make a massive profit. if they have to do lots of work they know its not going to make a profit for them so they move on to the next.

Like I say it may not work for you but its worth ago

paulofessex

I feel you may be liable for the debt therefore l would send the DCA a cheque for £10 and set up a STANDING ORDER for £10 per month expressing this is payment arrangement is pending possible action you are considering to take. You can get any payments refunded should a court find in your favour once you decide if you take court action. Do not provide the DCA with a run down of your income/outgoings, none of their business. Once you are paying a regular payment they cannot then force you to pay a higher amount.