MSE News: Three to raise mobile prices

aldredd

perelik wrote: »

I to am annoyed at the price rise from three. I have 3 contracts with them so this £3.21 a month to me who is already on a tight budget.

I have noticed that they are increasing their price based on the whole contract value. May be wrong but shouldn't they only be using the net value of the contract, as 20% is VAT

VAT will be due on any increase.
So, £30pm / 1.2 = £25 (xVAT cost)
25*1.036 = 25.90 (add 3.6% increase)
25.90 * 1.2 = 31.08 (add 20% VAT)

Same as 30*1.036 = 31.08 (3.6% increase on full price)

will they be paying the VAT man the difference?

No, you will be

Out of curiosity, how have you ended up spending £90p/m on phone contracts? Especially when you're on a tight budget?

drbesty

perelik wrote: »

I to am annoyed at the price rise from three. I have 3 contracts with them so this £3.21 a month to me who is already on a tight budget.

I have noticed that they are increasing their price based on the whole contract value. May be wrong but shouldn't they only be using the net value of the contract, as 20% is VAT, will they be paying the VAT man the difference?

This has caused a furore on numerous sites, But OFCOM will not do anything, totally toothless.

I hope you can afford to eat now you're missing that £3.21 a month, seriously it's the price of a Starbucks......

Everyone who is moaning about the price rise should use their energy for something more worthwhile, 3 won't let you cancel, Ofcom won't do anything about it, only thing you can do is vote with your feet when your contract ends

perelik

aldredd wrote: »

VAT will be due on any increase.
So, £30pm / 1.2 = £25 (xVAT cost)
25*1.036 = 25.90 (add 3.6% increase)
25.90 * 1.2 = 31.08 (add 20% VAT)

Same as 30*1.036 = 31.08 (3.6% increase on full price)


No, you will be

Out of curiosity, how have you ended up spending £90p/m on phone contracts? Especially when you're on a tight budget?

That was before I became ill and lost my job still in contracts

NATOuk

drbesty wrote: »

I hope you can afford to eat now you're missing that £3.21 a month, seriously it's the price of a Starbucks......

Everyone who is moaning about the price rise should use their energy for something more worthwhile, 3 won't let you cancel, Ofcom won't do anything about it, only thing you can do is vote with your feet when your contract ends

That's not the point!

The point is that Three have opted to raise prices mid-contract, which they are not permitted to given the current terms and conditions in force.

Three are doing their very best to fight people's objections to this when they call up to complain, but I advise anyone who is prepared to fight them to write a letter and post it in along with a copy of the terms and conditions with section 4.1 and section 10 highlighted, indicating that there is nowhere in those sections that permits them to raise the prices without allowing the contract to be cancelled as permitted in section 10.

Just because they're a big company (and OfCom are as useless as a chocolate teapot) doesn't mean they can just impose their will on customers without some form of retaliation.

If your initial letter gets rejected (as is likely), write back and say you do not accept their reply and if they STILL don't back down then forward your complaint to the Ombudsman (Ombudsman Services Communications) who can look into the matter more closely.

aldredd

The problem, NATOuk, could be that they don't *need* it in their T&Cs.

I don't know if this is the case or not, but it could well be that increasing the price of a service in line with inflation is deemed 'acceptable' practice, and does not need to be provided for in the T&C's

completelyterrified

aldredd wrote: »

The problem, NATOuk, could be that they don't *need* it in their T&Cs.

I don't know if this is the case or not, but it could well be that increasing the price of a service in line with inflation is deemed 'acceptable' practice, and does not need to be provided for in the T&C's

Yes it does. Even if its considered "acceptable practice" they have to terms that govern that practice in their terms and conditions.

Stuart_W

MrYG wrote: »

Domestic 36 Month Mobile Phone contracts are not legal in UK according to EU law from what I understand (things might have changed since I read this last year though).

You are correct.

Orange offered them from June 2009, and they were withdrawn in May 2011 just before the EU ruling came into effect. There are some folks (including me) still on existing 36 month contracts, these are all gradually ending and cannot be renewed for periods longer than the new maximum of 24 months.

completelyterrified

drbesty wrote: »

I hope you can afford to eat now you're missing that £3.21 a month, seriously it's the price of a Starbucks......

Everyone who is moaning about the price rise should use their energy for something more worthwhile, 3 won't let you cancel, Ofcom won't do anything about it, only thing you can do is vote with your feet when your contract ends

OK then. What if they decide in six months that they'll do this again. Inflation is showing no signs of slowing down at the moment, so should they just be allowed to increase when they want?

Since there's no terms in their T&Cs governing this, they shouldn't be allowed to do it, regardless of the cost of the increase. If I rang up Three and said "Yeah, due to rises in RPI, it's too expensive for me to eat and travel at the moment, so I'm going to pay you 3.6% less to cover it" do you think they'd say "Well, our T&Cs don't allow it, but why not..."? Nope, they'd point out that I have to stick to the terms and conditions provided. They should have to do exactly the same.

Until someone can provide me with the clause in section 4 (which is what they're touting as their justification) which states that a consumer can't cancel because of an inflation based increase, I'll continue to fight this. So far, no-one has, Three included.

daleski75

From following the threads previously about Orange when they increased their prices everyone was up in arms about it and said they will fight to the bitter end and you know what? I am pretty sure no one did and Orange won and all the huffing and puffing by people on that thread contributed nothing.

Best bet is to simply carry on paying until your contract has finished and then vote with your feet and go elsewhere.

Surely you will spend more on fighting this than the increase anyway?

Quentin

daleski75 wrote: »

...Surely you will spend more on fighting this than the increase anyway?

Anyone who is successful in getting their contract cancelled without penalty will gain a great deal more than just saving on paying the increase! (Think free smartphone!!)