Three have raised prices; cause to cancel contract?

cirian75

that link above says the phone is nothing to do with the contract at all

It's 100% yours as soon as the deal is done and you walk out the shop.

It has been suggested elsewhere that Three in asking for the phone back as an extra condition outside the parameters on of the contract could be considered blackmail of a kind.

You have already paid an inflated price vs the same plan sim only.

plus the iPhone crowd prob thumbed up an extra £50/£100 at the very start.

also I'm a fair chunk of the way into the 24 months now.

Dead_keen

Singh23 wrote: »

To sum up, once the phrase 'material detriment' comes into play, we have no standing (regarding ~£1pm). If the iPhone T&Cs do NOT state 'material', they should be able to cancel without penalty IMO.

The words "material" and "materiality" do not appear at all in the iphone contract: http://www.three.co.uk/_standalone/Link_Document?content_aid=1220466582225

zaphod001_2

barmeepbanameepninibom wrote: »

hi

i got an email today from three saying they're raising their prices in july and that there's nothing i can do about it. however, i read through their terms and conditions and i saw this:


4. Variations to your agreement or prices
4.1 We may vary any of the terms of your agreement,
including our Packages, on the following basis:
(a) any updated Packages and new terms will be
available on our website and on request to Three
Customer Services;
(b) we will let you know at least one month in advance
if we decide to:
(i) discontinue your Package; or
(ii) make any variations to your agreement which
are likely to be of material detriment to you; or
(iii) increase the fixed periodic charges for your
Package (if applicable) by an amount which is
more than the percentage increase in the Retail
Prices Index Figure (or any future equivalent) in
any twelve month period.
You can end the agreement for such variations as
explained in Section 10.
Subject to the above, you will not be able to end the
agreement if such variation or increase:
(i) is due to changes to the law, government
regulation or licence which affect us;

and in section 10:


10. Ending this agreement and
Disconnection of Three Services
10.1 You may end this agreement in the following ways:
(d) Within one month of a materially detrimental
variation to your agreement. You can end the
agreement within one month of us telling you about
a variation to your agreement (which includes your
Package) which is likely to be of material detriment to
you. You must give notice to Three Customer Services
within that month and your agreement will finish at
the end of that month once we receive your notice. (A
Cancellation Fee will not be charged.)

what exactly do they mean by material detriment? when i signed this contract back in december 2010 i was meant to be paying £25 a month; in january they raised the price because of the increase in VAT which i agreed with since it was beyond three's control. now, however, they're raising the price because the RPI has increased and so they're trying to fob this off on consumers.

this current attempt to increase the price is of material detriment to me since i'm on a limited income (i claim benefits).

should i contact a consumer rights group or could one of you kind people help me?

I have had the same run around as every one else. I took legal advice and the news was that Term 4.1 relates there ability to put up prices which of course they can. Clause 4.1b only relates to when they have to give you notice of such price increases and points to clause 10 for the basis of cancellation. It does not say anywhere in clause 4 that you can’t cancel the contract for an RPI increase it just says they have to tell you about if its more than the RPI or materially detrimental or they’re cancelling your contract

Clause 10 says you can end the agreement in the following ways. Section (d) deals with a materially detrimental variation. There is no definition of material determinacy any where in the contract. It can only mean materially detrimental to you. So for example if your on benefits any increase in costs is materially detrimental and you should not have to pay any cancellation charges including returning your phone. If your in a good job then it probably isn't "Materially Detrimental". It all hinges on your circumstances. That's the muddiness of the law. What's the phrase "The Law is an !!!" - Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist

zaphod001_2

See page 11 para ii and pages 23/4 para 10.1.d of your link to their Ts and Cs

jsmith9156

Has anyone had any success contacting three about this?

I emailed them yesterday, But no reply as of yet.

James

zkw29

I emailed them on Tuesday night and had three missed calls and three voicemails from them today. Before I had the chance to listen to the voicemails they sent me an email which was basically just a copy/paste of the page on their website. Just replied back to them asking them to point me to the specific section that they are referring to.

Although having had the pleasure of dealing the Three customer service before, I imagine that the answer to that question isn't on the script so I'll get an identical reply.

im-lost

People still going on about this then?

!!!! me, its the same as what happened last year, terms pulled apart,
every angle looked at, months of being in contact with Ofcom, otelo,
3's executive office etc etc.

Make a nuisance of yourself with three cs and you MAY get a credit to your
account that will cover the increase, many of us did last year, but that's as
far as you'll get.

Bunch of newbies joining and going over and over the same crap.

You can't get out of your contracts because of this, its that simple.

An increase inline with inflation is allowed, as per the terms you signed up
to.

dragonsoul

hello all, im new to MSE and this is my first post, i have read this thread and have some questions, i can see a few people are very fixed on their opinion that there is nothing we can do about this price raise, please do not think i am arguing with you, its just that i am unclear on a few issues that i will add now

1. i know this will sound petty, but in a few online dictionaries detrimental is defined as harmful, or loss to name but a few, surely as i am now losing money it is detrimental?

2. 3mobile are saying that this increase will be effecting all customers, yet the same contract i have is still up for sale at the old price, if the price was being offered at the "new" price, i wouldn't be quite so annoyed

3. on 3's site i can see usage etc being subject to T&C's, yet their costs has no such referral to T&C, if for example it stated "£15 per month*" and at the bottom stating the Astrix referred to T&C i would again have less of an issue

4. my knowledge on law and contracts is amateur at best, but surely any areas that may increase your cost should be clearly set out?

5. i don't buy the idea of this increase being down to inflation, my contract is 24 month, i am 12 months into this, i simply cannot except a company the size of 3 failed to project their costs less then 12 months into the future

6. my last point (i think) my credit history isnt great to be honest, i have made a few mistakes, and had a few debt problems, i am not making excuses, but due to suffering long term with clinical depression, i have in the past found it very hard to deal with debt problems, due to this i am now very careful with any new credit agreement i enter into. i know what i can and cannot afford, due to this i asked the sales person (on the phone) a few questions, one was "if i stayed within my usage, will my phone bill anyways remain at £15" he replied yes, i asked this as i was checking for hidden charges etc, so i really feel i was miss sold.

Bingolingo

dragonsoul wrote: »

hello all, im new to MSE and this is my first post, i have read this thread and have some questions, i can see a few people are very fixed on their opinion that there is nothing we can do about this price raise, please do not think i am arguing with you, its just that i am unclear on a few issues that i will add now

1. i know this will sound petty, but in a few online dictionaries detrimental is defined as harmful, or loss to name but a few, surely as i am now losing money it is detrimental?

2. 3mobile are saying that this increase will be effecting all customers, yet the same contract i have is still up for sale at the old price, if the price was being offered at the "new" price, i wouldn't be quite so annoyed

3. on 3's site i can see usage etc being subject to T&C's, yet their costs has no such referral to T&C, if for example it stated "£15 per month*" and at the bottom stating the Astrix referred to T&C i would again have less of an issue

4. my knowledge on law and contracts is amateur at best, but surely any areas that may increase your cost should be clearly set out?

5. i don't buy the idea of this increase being down to inflation, my contract is 24 month, i am 12 months into this, i simply cannot except a company the size of 3 failed to project their costs less then 12 months into the future

6. my last point (i think) my credit history isnt great to be honest, i have made a few mistakes, and had a few debt problems, i am not making excuses, but due to suffering long term with clinical depression, i have in the past found it very hard to deal with debt problems, due to this i am now very careful with any new credit agreement i enter into. i know what i can and cannot afford, due to this i asked the sales person (on the phone) a few questions, one was "if i stayed within my usage, will my phone bill anyways remain at £15" he replied yes, i asked this as i was checking for hidden charges etc, so i really feel i was miss sold.

You're correct about the dictionary definition of the word detrimental. However, it's used in your contract with the word materially and materially means that there needs to be some significance to the detriment. An inflationary increase in price is far from significant.

As for new customers getting a better deal, well that's not any different to me paying £1 more in tesco for something which someone later picks up at a reduced price. It sucks, but that's life.

The clarity of 3's Ts &Cs probably leads a lot to be desired, I have the same issue with my network TMobile. Again, that's just another thing that sucks but there's not a lot you can do about it other than ask for it to be explained to you by someone from 3 if it's not clear to yourself.

The terms are there in your contract allowing for inflationary increases in price. I'd doubt any business would make an effort to draw customers' attention to a term like that. As far as they're concerned, it's in the contract and that's enough; and they're correct.

They probably do think ahead about increasing the price but for business reasons won't tell customers.

Being mis sold is a horrible thing but it's nigh on impossible to prove.

All the best.

dragonsoul

zaphod001 wrote: »

See page 11 para ii and pages 23/4 para 10.1.d of your link to their Ts and Cs

i have done this, and on these grounds i cannot see why they can refuse to cancel?

also 10.2 b iii, states they can cancel if they reasonably believe i cannot afford to pay. well they should be able to to believe it, as i have told them i cant :P

sorry, im being petty, but im very angry, i have never seen any other service that is free to change your pricing without question, if this was gs/elec etc i would just change supplier, they have us trapped, and this in my humble opinion is wrong