GRRRRRR 3 mobile

kebabkiller

Lost my phone yesterday. Called 3 to cancel the sim yesterday and again today to arrange an upgrade.

I'm 3 months into a 12 month sim only plan, as i bought the lost phone outright. Now they want either £126 early upgrade fee or £106 early termination fee.

Strange that the termination fee is cheaper than the upgrade.

I'm trying to chuck £700 quid and shackle myself to them for the next 2 years, but they seem happy just to take my £106 and have me gone. Although its the quickest i have ever been given a PAC code, last time i was on the phone for 90 minutes, this time i had it in less than 10 mins.

Vent over, think its time for a pint

MarkBargain

Why not just buy a new phone and see the 12-month SIM only contract out?!

specialboy

MarkBargain wrote: »

Why not just buy a new phone and see the 12-month SIM only contract out?!

That sound too easy

kebabkiller

I could just buy the phone outright, but in the end it would end up costing me about £60 more.

Its just crazy that having been a customer for 6 years they have no flexibility. I would have liked to stay with them but looks like i need to go find a better deal somewhere else.

The rest of the families contracts with them are up over the next 4 months, so ill probably change them all over as well, in total they will end up losing about £180 a month.

DomRavioli

OP, you signed a contract - upgrading before your contract is due to expire is always more expensive than paying out the contract.

Perhaps you may want to have gadget/phone insurance for your phone in future? Technically they have done nothing wrong so the fees stand; you could easily get a cheaper handset and use the sim only plan in that handset - they will send you another sim no problem.

Seems like you are causing yourself problems.

MarkBargain

kebabkiller wrote: »

I could just buy the phone outright, but in the end it would end up costing me about £60 more.

Its just crazy that having been a customer for 6 years they have no flexibility. I would have liked to stay with them but looks like i need to go find a better deal somewhere else.

The rest of the families contracts with them are up over the next 4 months, so ill probably change them all over as well, in total they will end up losing about £180 a month.

As you were on SIM only and willing to sign up to an expensive contract they perhaps could have been more flexible, but there you go.

Why does buying the phone outright cost more? I've kept my SIM only running for years and just buy a handset when I want, the latest being a £100 Moto G.

dealer_wins

OP you should be ranting at yourself, Three have done absolutely nothing wrong.

And Three offer 1 month rolling SIM only contracts designed specifically for people like you, but you CHOSE to commit to paying a fixed amount for 12 months, for a fixed service!!

Some people just LOL

simax

A contract is a contract. End of.

kebabkiller

Yep i know a contract is a contract. In the end i spoke to their executive office and they agreed to drop the upgrade fee to £20, so all sorted.

Its just annoying that i had to jump through hoops. Even the guy in the executive office agreed that it was better for them to tie me into a 2 year contract costing than have me pay for the next 10 months and leave.

So the moral of the story is
1. Dont be an idiot and get insurance (yes im an idiot, i forgot)
2. pester them a little bit and you are likely to get a reduction in the cost.

MarkBargain

kebabkiller wrote: »

1. Dont be an idiot and get insurance (yes im an idiot, i forgot)

I don't think everyone should have specific mobile phone insurance! Unless you have a very expensive handset and get a good value for money comprehensive policy with no/low excess, then you are probably better not being insured. Would insurance even cover the "loss" of a phone i.e. with no police report to say it had been stolen?

Nationwide's £10-a-month Flexplus account insures phones, as well as providing car breakdown cover, worldwide travel insurance, extended warranties on electrical items and 3% in credit interest...so I expect that beats most mobile phone insurance hands down?

Also, you may be able to get phones covered under your house insurance depending what options you take.

patman99

Kebabkiller, do you have home contents insurance ?. If so, then your phone will be covered under that. What you should be doing is reporting the lost SIM to '3' and arranging for them to send out a replacement. That way, you get to see out your contract at no extra cost (apart from the insurance excess).