Contract with 3. No Signal and they will not do anything about it!

davidmartin_3

Hi all,

I took out a contract with 3 at the end of November 2011. I spend a lot of my time at home, so it is very important for me to have a signal at my home. I checked my postcode with the online coverage checker, and it states there that I should have a good indoor and outdoor coverage.

However, once the phone was delivered and all set up etc, I didn't have a signal. It kept fluctuating between Nothing and 1 Bar, and never went into '3G' so I couldn't use the 3G internet. At first, I left it a few days as I thought that sometimes it takes a couple of days to start working properly.
That day has never come. I rarely get a signal indoors, and have to go a hundred feet or so from my house to make a phone call

I started complaining to 3 in January about having no signal at my home. They said there was maintainence in my area, and to wait 7 days to see if there was an improvement. No Improvement.
I called back a few days later. They told me there was more maintainence in my area and to wait 28 days, and then see if there was an improvement. 28 days later, no improvement. 3 did give me 28 days worth of credit to my account to cover this.
I called back again, and was asked to wait another 7 days as there was more matainence in my area. Suprise suprise. 7 days came and went with no improvement.

I started to think that it might be a problem with the handset (It was an iPhone 3GS, and I remember that the iPhone 4 had a lot of problems with network coverage, so I thought it might be that)
So, I sold the iPhone 3GS as I needed the money to buy another handset (A '3' branded ZTE phone).
I called 3 to let them know about this. I spoke to a manager and told hime about what had gone on, and he informed me that there never has been any maintainence in my area. Nice one 3. Way to gain a customers trust! He credited £100 to my account for my trouble so far and he said that £100 was the average cost of buying a new handset.
He also promised to reduce my bill by £2.50 a month because I didn't have the handset I took out the contract with so The reduction of £2.50 would make my contract the equivilent of having a Sim Free contract.
He never reduced my bill by £2.50 per month. I am still paying full price.

I have spoken to all sorts of different departments, all sorts of managers. Even cancellations will not do anything other than cancel my contract for a £500 early termination fee, which obviously I am no way paying!

Since that offer, I have called again (more than once!) and have been called back by other managers and tech support and network support and all they have offered me 3 options;

- A Box that I plug into my router that will give me a signal at my home
- A £5 reduction in line rental (down to £20 per month)
- If I send back the iPhone, they will cancel it and half the early termiation fee.

I don't know if these would be acceptable for some, but I don't think they are good enough.
-The Box sounds good, BUT I have been told that I will need to upgrade my home broadband to Unlimited which will cost me more money. Also, they want £50 up front for it.
-The £5 reduction in line rental is not enough. I took out a contract of 500 minutes Unlimited Texts and 1GB of internet. Because of the appauling signal, I can only use about 30 mins, 250 texts and I never use any Internet. I am not paying £20 a month for 30 mins and 250 texts.
-Finally, I can't send the iPhone back because I don't have it. 3 know that. Also, in an earlier conversation, 3 said that if I send the iPhone back, then there will be no termination fee but now are saying there will be a £250 fee. I am not paying them a penny to have this cancelled.

I have asked them to downgrade my tariff to the cheapest one they offer (£10 per month) so I can just pay it off every month and forget I was ever a customer of 3, but they will not do that.
They say they cannot reduce my rental to £10 per month, and they will not reduce my tariff.
(I thought there was some rule somewhere about companies not being allowed to keep you on a higher tariff than you actually need)

So, at the moment, I am unsure what to do. Where do I stand?
I signed up to a contract, and I am not getting what I signed up for.
I have kept to my side of the contract (paying the bill) but 3 have not.
What rights do I have? They are just so impossible to deal with and will not do anything to sort my problem at all!
I want my contract cancelled because I can't use it!

Thank you for reading down this far, I know it is a bit wordy!
Help always appreiceated.
Thanks in advance.

gjchester

davidmartin wrote: »

I took out a contract with 3 at the end of November 2011. I spend a lot of my time at home, so it is very important for me to have a signal at my home. I checked my postcode with the online coverage checker, and it states there that I should have a good indoor and outdoor coverage.

No network guarantees signal all the time in al locations, and especially not indoors, it's impossible to say with any real accuracy due to the various construction methods of buildings. The online checker does say it's a guide not a guarantee.

Did you say when you got it it had to work at your home or only go on the checker? If you specifically said it had to work at a set location you may have a case for mis selling, if you assumed it was OK on the coverage checker then you have a lot weaker case.

The best way is to buy a PAYG sim and check yourself but thats a bit of a mute point now.

davidmartin wrote: »

He credited £100 to my account for my trouble so far and he said that £100 was the average cost of buying a new handset.
He also promised to reduce my bill by £2.50 a month because I didn't have the handset I took out the contract with so The reduction of £2.50 would make my contract the equivilent of having a Sim Free contract.
He never reduced my bill by £2.50 per month. I am still paying full price.

Not sure I can see why he offered that, you presumably sold the iphone for a profit why would three offer to give you something for a new phone, or reduce line rental. It's nothing to do with them what your phone is, and the iPhone had to be paid for somehow.

davidmartin wrote: »

Even cancellations will not do anything other than cancel my contract for a £500 early termination fee, which obviously I am no way paying!

...


I have asked them to downgrade my tariff to the cheapest one they offer (£10 per month) so I can just pay it off every month and forget I was ever a customer of 3, but they will not do that.
They say they cannot reduce my rental to £10 per month, and they will not reduce my tariff.
(I thought there was some rule somewhere about companies not being allowed to keep you on a higher tariff than you actually need)

You agreed to the contract, you need to see it through. If you want to cancel you need to pay the fee's, remember they gave/ subsidised the iphone you had before. The £10 offer is persumably a sim only or a very cheap phone, not a £400 apple device.

Theres no such rule about being on a higher tarriff than you need, thats down to what you agreed to to get the phone you wanted at the prioce you did.

davidmartin wrote: »

So, at the moment, I am unsure what to do. Where do I stand?
I signed up to a contract, and I am not getting what I signed up for.
I have kept to my side of the contract (paying the bill) but 3 have not.
What rights do I have?

Actually Three have to some extent.

They have provided you with the facility to make calls, with inclusive minutes / texts / data. The question is did you specifically ask for it to work at a set location?

If you did then they didn't forfill that requirement, if you assumed it would work from the checker and never asked then you have a much weaker case (as the checker saus if in doubt ask Three) and either need to see out the contract or terminate and pay the fee.

Sorry it's not better news but it hinges on if you specified a location the phone should work.

grumbler

davidmartin wrote: »

...I ... have to go a hundred feet or so from my house to make a phone call
...

If this is not your handset's fault and if their coverage checker shows good signal, I think you have a strong case for cancelling the contract. Get a deadlock latter from Three and then complain to the ombudsman.

However, you should have started complaining in November, not wait until January. And you should have not sold the phone as they have a right to get it back.

davidmartin_3

I should have said, I thought that there was enough information there.

I did complain to 3 about the possibility of the iPhone being faulty more than once, and the CS rep on the other end of the line each time went through a line on questioning to determine whether the iPhone was at fault or the network. Each time, it was resulted as the network at fault. Not the iPhone.
I still sold the iPhone because I still thought that the phone may be the reason why I was not getting a good signal, not that the phone was faulty, the fact that some phones do have better signal than others (I had a Motorola Razr a long time ago, and that would always have a poor signal, yet my Nokia on the same network would have a good signal)
Yes, I probably shouldn't have sold it, but 3 would not take it back as it was deemed to be Ok, and they would not send me out another handset to test to see if the signal was good with that one. I had no alternative to sell it.

I did not sell the iPhone for any personal gain at all. I only sold it so I could buy another handset (which cost me more than what I sold the iPhone for)

In one of my many phonecalls to 3, I have been told by one of the CS reps that I should have a good coverage in my area. So (fair enough, it was not before I took the contract out as I signed up for it online, but I have been told by 3 that I should be all Ok for coverage)

I know I should have started complaining at the end of november when I first got the handset, but I did assume that it would pick up after a couple of days (from past experiance) which it didn't, but then I got a bit caught up with christmas and visiting family/buying gifts etc and just didn't have the time to call them before.

I am not 100% sure why he offered me the £100 credit. I think it was mainly due to me complaining about being lied to by the previous staff about maintainence, and having to buy a new phone as 3 were not doing anything about my problem.

I can sort of see what you are saying that yes, they have provided me with the facility to make calls and texts etc, but I can't through no fault of my own.
As I said earlier, 3 have told me that I should have a good indoor and outdoor coverage. That is from a CS rep and not just the Coverage Checker.

I forgot to mention, but another offer that 3 have offered is for me to manually select the 2G 3 network, so I don't get the 3G services. The person on the other end of the line said that doing that should improve my network coverage and allow me to make calls and texts.
I wasn't very happy about being told this. I signed up to the biggest provider of 3G, just to be told to turn the 3G part of it off!
However, I did try doing this, and it actually made my coverage worse.

Thanks for your responses, if you need any more info, please ask.

jbainbridge

Do consider the signal booster - given you've had a £100 credit you're still £50 up.

I have a Vodafone one and it works brilliantly. The amount of broadband it will use will be small. What is your data allowance currently for your broadband?

davidmartin_3

I have considered the signal booster box, but it is not for me.

I use all of my ethernet ports regulary, so to have to have this box plugged in all the time will be a real inconvienience.
I am not happy at having to pay anything for it, becuase I will have to shell out to get it, then have to pay my ISP more than I need to every month.

KTF

Myself and my parents got a signal booster out of them Three for nothing so its worth pushing as its cheaper for them to do that than you cancel the contract.

What cap do you have on your broadband as the booster only uses a small amount of data when it is actually being used - i.e. calls, txt, browsing.

amiehall

davidmartin wrote: »

I have considered the signal booster box, but it is not for me.

I use all of my ethernet ports regulary, so to have to have this box plugged in all the time will be a real inconvienience.
I am not happy at having to pay anything for it, becuase I will have to shell out to get it, then have to pay my ISP more than I need to every month.

You will NOT be able to cancel this contract with a low penalty particularly seeing as you haven't got the phone anymore to return. If your complaint is with poor signal then this device will solve your signal problems and you'll be able to use your phone.

They'll solve your signal problems and have already given you a significant goodwill payment. What more could you possibly expect?!

davidmartin_3

You have quoted a post that I don't think you have read properly.

Yes, the box may solve my signal problems

BUT

I need all of my Ethernet ports. So it is a real inconvienince to have to have this box plugged in. To be able to use my phone, I will have to have other things unplugged that I need plugged in and constantly plugging in and unplugging wires.
I would at least expect not to have to pay for this box, as I should have a signal here, and 3 have told me that I should have a signal here. I do not expect to have to pay £50 to be able to use my phone.
I don't want to upgrade my Home Broadband. That is going to cost me more money each month. I am on a Broadband package that suits my needs perfectly, and I don't want to upgrade it to an unlimited package just so I can use a mobile phone that, by 3 records, should work here anyway

grumbler

Surely it doesn't have to be unlimited package.

KTF

It need a min 1mb line but there is no mention of needing an unlimited connection as it uses about 500mb a month on average (An hour talking on the phone uses around 37MB of data).

A cheap hub could be used to get round the problem of all the ports being used.

Full details here:
http://support.three.co.uk/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBISAPI.DLL/,/?New,Kb=Mobile,Ts=Mobile,T=CaseDoc,Case=obj%285440%29