3 - won't allow tariff change for 9 months - legal?

brody77

Hi all.

I took out a contract with 3 via phones4u on 13/08/06.
It was a 6 months £22.50 tariff, going up to £45 after that, with the option to change tariff after 6 months.
(18 month contract)

I went in this morning to change it, and what do I find?
3 sent a bulletin to phones4u on 01/11/06 advising that 18 month contract customers who signed up between 01/06/06 & 31/10/06 were no longer allowed to change tariff until 9 months had passed!!
(IMPORTANT NOTE - NO 3 CUSTOMERS WERE INFORMED OF THIS)

Phones4u could do nothing, but did give me a copy of the bulletin away.

I called 3, who are apparently based in Glasgow, but got an Asian CSR with bad English (not being racist here, I'm just getting at the annoyance of having to call people you can't understand)
She kept saying over and over that it's a "business rule" so they didn't need to tell me?
She wasn't listening to a single point I made, wouldn't put me on to a supervisor, and when I asked for the complaints dept, got told they don't have one!!

Also, after 9 months pass - I have to commit to a further 12 months OR pay a downgrade fee to change tariff!
How the hell do they get away with this???

The best of it is, I'll end up paying over £45 every month, as I text a lot & now only get 400 a month.

Any good advice?

Thanks


:mad:

ioscorpio

Surely your complaint is with phones4u not 3, you knew the contract you were signing and for how long, so if you average out the cost of the half price part of the contract £135 with paid for part of the contract £540, then take that as your monthly cost £37.50, if you had gone direct through Quidco you would have got another £100

Surely you can't blame the network because you chose the wrong tariff cos you text a lot

You could try asking if you could transfer to the 300 min and 1000 text tariff but agree to still pay £45 per month or wait until you can officially downgrade

Beware eveyone, chose the tariff carefully, cos 18 months is a long time

naj131

I think that the OPs complaint is that 3 changed the rules of the contract part way through, so I think he is fair to be a bit miffed with 3.

brody77

yeah, my complaint is 3 changing the rules - I have no quibble with the store, I knew what the deal was & signed under the proviso I could revist my tariff - to tailor it to my needs - after 6 months.

DazedByTheLight

Is the following correct?

Three changed their terms and conditions and informed all their agents.

You signed up after three had changed their terms and conditions and the agent did not inform you of the new conditions.

I cannot help but think that your gripe should be with the agent you got the phone from.

blaster99999

Phone 3 back up and ask to be put thru to cancellations, tell them they have breeched there original contract and because the actions of the change are financially against you due to the not being able to down grade until 9 months and the £25 extra down grade charge, tell them you wish to call this contract null and void and terminate there and then, if they are not willing to write them a email to there customer service department giving them 7 days to review your case or court action will be taken to cancel this illegal action to nullify this contract, see if that rocks there boat, dont worry about it mate there is no way they can change contract details without contacting you first and if the change is not in your favour you have a 30 day period that you can cancel any contract under these circumstances, and has they have not contacted you they have not got a leg to stand on .

mzqa395

A long discuss here http://www.3g.co.uk/3GForum/showthread.php?t=50645

brody77

DazedByTheLight wrote:

Is the following correct?

Three changed their terms and conditions and informed all their agents.

You signed up after three had changed their terms and conditions and the agent did not inform you of the new conditions.

I cannot help but think that your gripe should be with the agent you got the phone from.

Nope, I signed up before they changed the terms and conditions.
At the time I signed up, I could change tariff after 6 months.

c-m

if they have changed their terms and conditions you can have the contract set aside, provided they changed after you joined

brody77

mzqa395 wrote:

A long discuss here http://www.3g.co.uk/3GForum/showthread.php?t=50645

I had a response on here from a guy who works for 3.
He says phones4u were told in JUNE that anyone taking out an 18 month contract would not be able to upgrade for 9 months.

That completely contradicts what P4U are saying.

I've emailed both companies, as one of them is at least responsible for messing me about.

The short of it is this: I was on 150 minutes & 500 texts with o2 for £20 a month, so why would I want a £45 contract with less texts & more minutes?
This was also told to the sales girl - on the contract I signed for, I was getting 800 texts a month for 6 months at £22.

ioscorpio

Yes but you knew it would increase to £45 after 6 months, did you get it in writing from phones4u that you could downgrade after 6 minths