Three have raised prices; cause to cancel contract?

System

Can I suggest that all people who believe that they can cancel their contract do so. They can then continue their argument with the debt collectors and ultimately write their reasons on the forms that come from Northampton Bulk Centre whilst watching your credit record be comprehensively trashed.

completelyterrified

The problem is here that the T&Cs talk about notification of "increases no higher" than CPI over the last 12 months, but after spending the last 45 minutes or so going through mine (iPhone T&Cs), there's absolutely nothing which states they're within their right to raise it in line with RPI.

They basically say "we will give you one month's notice, and you can terminate within that month if the change is detrimental to you." There isn't a single entry in the entire terms and conditions which says "you CAN'T terminate if the change is in line with inflation/RPI".

The "not limited to" clause quite clearly refers to the fact that your monthly bill can have extra charges applied in line with the price guide, not limited to the list given - that's not a qualifier for chucking a percentage rise on the monthly cost, it's a qualifier to say that the can add additional charges to your bill outside of your price plan.

grumbler

!!!!!! wrote: »

Can I suggest that all people who believe that they can cancel their contract do so. They can then continue their argument with the debt collectors and ultimately write their reasons on the forms that come from Northampton Bulk Centre whilst watching your credit record be comprehensively trashed.

Well, there is another way of doing this.

1. Cancel.
2. Pay under protest.
3. Sue Three for the amount you paid plus court charges plus inconvenience.

I am no expert and cannot guarantee anything, but IMHO Three's T&C are pretty clear (unlike Orange's, T-mobile's and Voda's) and I think the court will agree that you can cancel without penalties. That said, Three are likely not to let this go to a court and settle before.

gowinm

Hello everyone,

Just to make you aware of the following email from Three and the response I have sent in. I'd be interested to know people's thoughts on this matter.

Dear Matthew,

From 16 July 2012 we’re changing our prices and putting up your monthly bill by 3.6%.

This means that from 16 July 2012 you’ll see an increase of £1.18 and your new monthly charge will be £34.18 per month. The rise is in line with inflation.

We know that increases are never welcome, so it’s not a decision we’ve taken lightly. In fact, it’s the first time we’ve ever put up package prices for our contract phone customers and we’re confident that your plan still represents excellent value for money.

To help explain things, and save you a call to Customer Services, we’ve set up a special web page here.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Malleschitz
Marketing Director

===============

Dear Three,

You recently emailed me to explain that you would be increasing my monthly charges by 3.6% in line with inflation. I am emailing you back to tell you that in my experience no other mobile phone operator I have had a contract with (O2, Orange, Vodafone, Virgin, Fresh) has ever applied such an increase and as such your company stands out from the other operators in a negative light. Inflation may indeed be rising however I signed a two year agreement at a fixed monthly cost so far that I was aware. Inflation is pretty much a given according to recent history in the UK and the fact that you decide to extract it, against my wishes three months into my contract with no option for me to terminate my agreement is exceptionally poor customer service; it is also greedy and an excuse for bad management in my opinion. You can be confident that I will be negatively expressing my views on this matter amongst my friends and colleagues until such point you reverse your decision. Further I shall leave you to work out how likely I am to be a repeat customer in the future, given the reduction in my satisfaction levels in line with inflation.

Yours sincerely

Matt Gowin

liam8282

gowinm wrote: »

I am emailing you back to tell you that in my experience no other mobile phone operator I have had a contract with (O2, Orange, Vodafone, Virgin, Fresh) has ever applied such an increase

I think you will find TMobile did exactly the same thing a couple of months ago.

No doubt you will be wasting your time.

grumbler

Should have gone to Specsavers?

Quentin

gowinm wrote: »

.......Inflation may indeed be rising however I signed a two year agreement at a fixed monthly cost so far that I was aware. .....

You are mistaken, and should read before you sign contracts.

It isn't a "two year agreement", its an ongoing agreement with a minimum duration of 2 years.

Do you imagine 3's contracts would allow us all to fix our mobile costs forever?

Read the ts + cs again to see they can charge what they want, as the charges you agree to pay are those as shown in their Price Guide (which we now know is shortly to be amended!)

grumbler

Quentin wrote: »

Do you imagine 3's contracts would allow us all to fix our mobile costs forever?

I would imagine that if they stipulate the minimum term they would possibly allow us to fix the price for this term. Is this far too unreasonable expectation?

Read the ts + cs again to see they can charge what they want, as the charges you agree to pay are those as shown in their Price Guide (which we now know is shortly to be amended!)

If you repeat this statement 100 times this will not make it true.
They can charge what they want. You can leave without penalties if they do this.
They can blackmail you by threatening to trash your credit history. For the sake of several pounds you can leave and then fight them if you don't have more important things to do.

And no, I am not with '3' and my comments are absolutely unbiased.

hiraku777

Hi all,

I recieved similar message via text from Three aswell.

I haven't read their T&Cs but i really think its unfair to raise the bill given the product was sold as certain amount/month contract. This is very cheeky of them to charge additional fees like this to existing customer who are in the middle of the contract, totally unacceptable.

If things go on like this then we will soon start to see inflation added to every other services.

ohclaude

I also had the same message from 3 which was essentially - we are putting up up your contract price by 3.6% and sorry, there's nothing you can do it as stated in our Terms and Conditions.

I am no lawyer but my understanding is that Terms and Conditions must be reasonable. My argument to 3 is that to impose an increase with no escape is not reasonable and I wont pay the increase. I do not use anywhere near my monthly allowance as it is so they already get "money for nothing".

I await their reply with interest.