Help with cancelling Three contract because of poor reception.

siblades

Hello,

I'm 2 months into a 12 month SIM only contract with Three and I'm really getting fed up now. The reception in my home or pretty much ANY other building is almost non-existent.

If I do manage to get signal in my home, it's only ever one bar, and as soon as I pick up my phone it loses it again. This makes sending texts and making calls almost impossible, and I'm constantly missing important phone calls and receiving texts hours after they have been originally sent. The problem isn't with my phone, it's with their network. I have tried my SIM in lots of other phones with the same problem.

I have phoned Three to try and cancel my contract and I just get passed from department to department with no resolution. The customer advisers are extremely hard to understand, and after over an hour on the phone to them I started getting very frustrated. Because of this, the adviser actually started shouting at me down the phone.

I've been offered the signal booster thing that plugs in to your broadband but I don't want this. I want to cancel my contract, I want my PAC code so I can transfer my number to a new network and I am not prepared to pay any cancellation fees. But Three are just not co-operating. I am not getting the service I am paying for, so surely they are in breach of their contract?

Are there any laws etc I can quote to them on the phone to get them to cancel my contract? Should I tell them I'm recording the phone call? All I want is to get rid of them and get my PAC code.

I am seriously considering just cancelling my Direct Debit with them and thus preventing them from taking any more money from me. I realise that if I do this it's unlikely that I'll be able to get my PAC code to transfer my number to a new network, but will there be any more implications if I do this? Could it give me a bad credit rating?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers in advance

fearlessdukuman

You've signed a 12 month contract, so no you can't get out of it without paying up the rest of the contract.

You will get a 20% discount though, as you do not pay VAT on cancellation fees.

You would have had a 7 or 14 day window to return the sim card and cancel.

That's when you should have decided whether it was a good enough service. Not 2 months into it.

Quentin

If you cancel your dd they will chase you all the way for their money!

Guys_Dad

siblades wrote: »

Hello,

I'm 2 months into a 12 month SIM only contract with Three and I'm really getting fed up now. The reception in my home or pretty much ANY other building is almost non-existent.
. But Three are just not co-operating. I am not getting the service I am paying for, so surely they are in breach of their contract? No - read the T&C - not only 3's but all the others too

Are there any laws etc I can quote to them on the phone to get them to cancel my contract? Should I tell them I'm recording the phone call? All I want is to get rid of them and get my PAC code.

I am seriously considering just cancelling my Direct Debit with them and thus preventing them from taking any more money from me. I realise that if I do this it's unlikely that I'll be able to get my PAC code to transfer my number to a new network, but will there be any more implications if I do this? Could it give me a bad credit rating? Definitely and certainly

Any advice would be much appreciated.

This forum has many, many similar threads. Read up a few of them.

Basically, you are where you are and stuck till the end of the contract minimum period - in your case 10 more months. You can, as suggested, pay off the contract and then you get nothing for the money.

What you did wrong was not testing reception with a PAYG sim before signing your life away for a year. Then you didn't read the T&C either.

If you do feel tempted to cancel the DD, your credit record will record that you are a defaulter for years.

Next time, test everything first, act quicker and thing sim-only.

macman

Yes, of course you can get your PAC, but you'll have to pay the ETC as you (not them) are in breach of contract. Theyve offered you a possible solution, but you've decided that you want out for unspecified reasons, and refused their assistance.
If you'd acted in the first week, you might have had a case. After 2 months, no chance at all. Cancelling your DD will be absolutely fine as long as you don't want to get any credit for the next 6 years.

buscape

siblades wrote: »

I've been offered the signal booster thing that plugs in to your broadband but I don't want this. I want to cancel my contract, I want my PAC code so I can transfer my number to a new network and I am not prepared to pay any cancellation fees. But Three are just not co-operating. I am not getting the service I am paying for, so surely they are in breach of their contract?

They aren't in breach of the contract, no network guarantees to provide a signal everywhere. Why didn't you cancel in the first week if the signal was so poor?

Are there any laws etc I can quote to them on the phone to get them to cancel my contract? Should I tell them I'm recording the phone call? All I want is to get rid of them and get my PAC code.

There are no laws you can quote to them as far as I know. You can tell them you're recording if you want, it won't make a difference to the outcome. The only (sensible) way out is to cancel and pay the early termination fee.

I am seriously considering just cancelling my Direct Debit with them and thus preventing them from taking any more money from me.I realise that if I do this it's unlikely that I'll be able to get my PAC code to transfer my number to a new network, but will there be any more implications if I do this? Could it give me a bad credit rating?

You'll still be able to get your PAC if you cancel the direct debit, networks aren't allowed to refuse a PAC because you owe them money. It will impact your credit rating and Three will get debt collectors onto you to get their money.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Your options are:

1. Cancel the contract and pay the early termination fee (this will be 10xmonthly charge - 3%)
2.Take the home signal box and have signal at home so you're actually getting what you've paid for.

I would say that option 2 is the most logical as it's the only way to get signal without costing you extra money.

kier333

I had the same problem recently on two contracts after moving, one was a 24 mth contract from july 2011 and samsung s2, and the other a 24 mth contract from march 2012 on i phone 4s. 3 allowed me to cancel the contract as I live in a black spot even though i live in London (zone2) after numerous calls over 2 month period, they arrange for a specialist team to contact you. 3 asked me to either return the phones and leave without any charges, or keep the phones and pay a 50% of the cancellation fee, I chose to return the phones as both are scratched and damaged, they supplied both PAC codes which I transfered over to Giffgaff today.

buscape

kier333 wrote: »

I had the same problem recently on two contracts after moving, one was a 24 mth contract from july 2011 and samsung s2, and the other a 24 mth contract from march 2012 on i phone 4s. 3 allowed me to cancel the contract as I live in a black spot even though i live in London (zone2) after numerous calls over 2 month period, they arrange for a specialist team to contact you. 3 asked me to either return the phones and leave without any charges, or keep the phones and pay a 50% of the cancellation fee, I chose to return the phones as both are scratched and damaged, they supplied both PAC codes which I transfered over to Giffgaff today.

I'm surprised they let you leave without charge, most networks would argue that it isn't their fault you moved house and make you carry on with the contract. That said, the OP is on a sim only and hasn't said anything about moving house so their negotiating position isn't as strong as yours was.

poet123

I had this issue with my son's phone although it was in the first few days of the contract (but after the cancellation period) I eventually had to ring a Glasgow number and speak to a person called Brendan (sorry can't remember his surname) but he sorted it.

0141 204 8600; Glasgow number.

siblades

Hey, thanks for all the advice above. In the end I contacted Three via the support tab on their Facebook.

I got an email back a few days later from their social media care team based in this county.

At first they refused to cancel my contract without a fee. Due to all the advice above, I thought I was best to just accept this and ride out the rest of my contract.

So I then asked for the Home Signal box. They said I could have it for a fee of £50. So I emailed them back saying they must be having a laugh. I'm already paying for a service that I can't use in my own home and they want another £50 off me to fix this. I said this was absolutely ludicrous and I was going to write to Watchdog about the situation.

I then got an email from head office saying that they would in fact now offer to cancel my contract and provide me with my PAC code without a fee! Happy days! :beer:

So I'm now waiting on my PAC code and will be moving to GiffGaff as soon as I get it