MSE News: Three to raise mobile prices

Quentin

tomc1984 wrote: »

(

It does say that the price rise is in line with the RPI as of April 17th. 2012, the RPI as of April 17th. 2012 was 3.5% and a rise of 3.6% is MORE than that, therefore cancel away folks!

BAck to the drawing board!

The increase is based on the March RPI increase.

The March RPI increase(3.6%) was announced on April 17th!

tsmoney

Evening all,

I, like others, also received notice of a 3.6% increase to my bill.

So, with some time spare I rang 333.

Yes, it was an indian sounding man and he sounded very fed up.

We went through all the formalties of the increase and that I have to pay the increase. I put to him that I had budgeted for only £35 per month and declared that is all I can afford to pay. In a mildy threatening way he replied that my billing account would then be passed to a third party if I did not pay the full amount on time.

With this information I directed the conversion to cancelling the contract, only to be told that I would have to pay fees to cancel.

The final words I spoke were, "So i have to pay the 3.6% increase or pay the cancellation charges. In effect I am trapped into paying you whichever route I chose.

He replied, "Yes you are trapped".

NATOuk

real1314 wrote: »

Is this the right bit of the contract?
I can't see a clause that refers to a price change at/below inflation.

4.1 (b) (iii) refers to an above inflation increase. So that isn't the one. (and you can cancel on that change)

4.1 (b) (ii) refers to a material detriment, but the cancellation right still applies.

"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; or
(ii) relates solely to Additional Services; or
(iii) relates solely to Add-on(s) (if applicable to you).
In such circumstances you will not be able to end
your agreement but you will be able to cancel the
Add-on(s) by giving us 30 days’ written notice; and
(c) if you carry on using Three Services after the
variation commences, you will be deemed to have
accepted the variation.
4.2 If we offer a range of Packages, you may change from
your Package to one of a selected range of other
Packages on such terms as agreed with us."

Anyone got any thoughts on this? (haven't seen this mentioned in the thread; might have missed it though)
:cool:

You're quite right, section 4.1(b) simply says they must let you know if they increase the price by MORE than the Retail Prices Index. There's nothing in section 4 at all which actually says they can increase the price without customers having the right to invoke section 10 of the agreement to cancel. None of the exclusions mentioned above are applicable. I'm fighting them all the way on this one, simply because they're in the wrong here and I don't think they're playing fair with the customer.

amiehall

That whole section in 4 is indeed not the cancellation section, it's about their obligations to inform you of changes.

completelyterrified

NATOuk wrote: »

You're quite right, section 4.1(b) simply says they must let you know if they increase the price by MORE than the Retail Prices Index. There's nothing in section 4 at all which actually says they can increase the price without customers having the right to invoke section 10 of the agreement to cancel. None of the exclusions mentioned above are applicable. I'm fighting them all the way on this one, simply because they're in the wrong here and I don't think they're playing fair with the customer.

This is the point that I'm currently putting to them - none of the terms and conditions documents have a clause which say they can raise prices in line with RPI. None of them. Section 4 merely makes note of how they'll inform you, and your right to cancel. I'm pushing via e-mail, and via their twitter @threeuksupport to specify which clause gives them the right to do this.

So far, they've avoided the question, which leads me to believe they've probably made a cockup by not having the same specific terms in as other networks.

System

I spent some time phoning 333 today and should not have been surprised that they have set up a special department to deal with this.
after spending 20 minutes trying to make the guy on the other end understand what I was telling him about section 10, I asked to speak to his supervisor. he refused to let me speak to his supervisor. he told me that his department was the first stop and the last stop for this issue. after i demanded to speak to his supervisor, not about this issue, but about his attitude towards me, the phone went silent for a bit and then hung up.
I realised that this is not the way to go about it.
if you get directed to this department, I advise you to fight it. they have been set up in order to put us through the wringer. they are trained to give us the run around, to intimidate us, to frustrate us and to beat us into submission.
don't go to that department, see if you can get through to another department.
I spoke to the cancellations department and at least they listened to me and thought about what i was saying. when he tried to put me through to the other department again, I made it clear that wasn't acceptable.

he told me he would get his manager to phone me back in the next 24 to 48 hours. I suspect this is a pr tactic to try and make me lose morale, but i will phone them back in 2 days if i have not heard from them and i will not back down until they firstly acknowledge my right to cancel. then i will decide if I will cancel. they may concede to giving me a discount. I would be happy to accept that, since I am only upset about paying more than i initially planned.

Idiophreak

real1314 wrote:

If inflation had reversed and become deflation, would 3 (& voda &orange) be reducing their prices?

Idiophreak wrote: »

More interestingly...if they failed to do so, would that equate a detrimental change?

This has got me wondering...I wonder if you could use this as an argument against the rise.

Simply point out to 3 that if they want to set a precedent of changing bills in line with inflation, that's just fine...but the first day they fail to reduce your bill in line with deflation, you'll view it as a detrimental change to the contract and you'll be walking away with whatever phone you have at the time.

May have to wait a while to test the theory out...but the argument might make them think, anyway.

MrYG

aldredd wrote: »

What I meant was that you won't find (m)any contracts with a minimum term of over 24 months.

There are still some 12 & 18 month contracts out there, but 36 months contracts are yet to 'catch on'.

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).

Quentin

tremault wrote: »

I spent some time phoning 333 today and should not have been surprised that they have set up a special department to deal with this.
department.
I spoke to the cancellations department and at least they listened to me and thought about what i was saying. when he tried to put me through to the other department again, I made it clear that wasn't acceptable......

Maybe a time saver to give up phoning and put your cancellation to them in writing, stating the reason. Then a paper trail will start that you can use to escalate this to the ombudsman services if/when they insist on a cancellation fee.

perelik

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.