Three - We need to speak to you about changes to your plan

joeluken

Tobas wrote: »

Traffic shaping needs to be dynamic, I don't really have a problem with that. Yes, it's worked out well and I have what at first sight appears to be a decent plan on a monthly basis when 3 expect me to sign up for 12 months for the same.

It's not traffic shaping I'm referring to but giffgaff's Traffic Flow T&C's (not to be confused with traffic management) that it evokes to ban repuchase of its Always On goodybag based on certain using patterns that change dynamically based on place, time and traffic.

As customers we have no visibility of the metrics that determine what will ban us at any given place, time or location. What may be an OK usage pattern one day, place and time may be a bad pattern triggering a ban on another day, place or time hence the dynamic nature of the ban. The only way to avoid is don't use much especially between 08:00 and 24:00. Even then if you use a lot during off peak i.e. around 10-12GB it appears it can still causes a ban.

As for Three I wasn't forced to sign up to 12 month contract just pay £17 per month and continue on a rolling monthly basis. Whilst my data is still AYCE my hotspot is now limited to 12GB and my total mins dropped to 2600 including the 2000 3 to 3. Still lower than anything else I could find and more importantly it works very well for me.

Perhaps negotiating with Three would have resulted in a better offer but you're now appear happy with Giffgaff.

joeluken

thigger wrote: »

I was hoping for unlimited data (and happy to accept fewer minutes) but they weren't going to budge; and 8Gb is unlikely to be limiting for a while.

I think you would need to raise a formal complaint and get though to the team in Glasgow to get the best deals. When I called the number of the letter it was just the oversees call centre that appeared to have limited offers.

Looking around the best on offer that I've seen is £20 for AYCE everything or £17 for AYCE data/texts with 600 mins + 2000 3 to 3 rolling. I went with the latter.

dealer_wins

Moving to Vodafone I have noticed a massive difference in speed, and more importantly latency of my connection compared to Three.

I dont know what Three do to their connection, but whatever it is its very noticeable compared to my new Voda service.

Anyway Three can do one trying to double my costs for receiving less minutes and data.

thigger

joeluken wrote: »

Looking around the best on offer that I've seen is £20 for AYCE everything or £17 for AYCE data/texts with 600 mins + 2000 3 to 3 rolling. I went with the latter.

I specifically asked for the £17 version of the deal. The first guy ('retentions') denied it had ever existed. The second ('cancellations') just said he couldn't do it and kept pointing out I've never used >8Gb in the past. As he'd doubled the data offer from the previous guy, and I'm free to renegotiate/move in the future, I thought it wasn't worth continuing to argue over.

foxmeister

Please could someone tell me how to raise a complaint? Many thanks

Tobas_2

joeluken wrote: »

Perhaps negotiating with Three would have resulted in a better offer but you're now appear happy with Giffgaff.

I've had my fun with Three in the past, from arguing over their "at least 30 days notice" cancellation policy when they would only accept cancellation exactly 30 days before to an unexpected offer to terminate my contract with no penalty 3 years ago when their local network mast simply couldn't handle all the connections. I went back to them a year later when they got in touch to let me know the mast had been upgraded. Good customer service.

All has been well since then but when that letter arrived, I saw red and nothing was going to stop me cancelling. What further angered me was being told it was a standard letter, that it didn't take my circumstances into account, yet there in black & white were my contract details so it wasn't a standard letter.

Had they written a better mail-merge program for the letter, they could easily have retained me. I originally signed up for a 12 month contract, their T&Cs turned that into a rolling month and the letter assumed that I only wanted a rolling month contract. Had they pointed out in the letter that signing up for 12 months would cost £20 instead of £30, I am likely to have stayed.

joeluken

thigger wrote: »

I specifically asked for the £17 version of the deal. The first guy ('retentions') denied it had ever existed. The second ('cancellations') just said he couldn't do it and kept pointing out I've never used >8Gb in the past. As he'd doubled the data offer from the previous guy, and I'm free to renegotiate/move in the future, I thought it wasn't worth continuing to argue over.

The better deals are typically offered by the Customer Relations team based in Glasgow.

The problem is this team is difficult to reach and usually you only get overseas first line or retentions which don't offer the same deals and will deny deals or even discounts exists which is an insult.

To get though to Glasgow you need to need to be persistent and raise a formal complaint and you will receive a complaint reference number. For example your complaint could be that the agent lied to you by claiming a £17 deal didn't exists when its clear from info here on other websites that it does.

joeluken

foxmeister wrote: »

Please could someone tell me how to raise a complaint? Many thanks

See my post above re being lied to about certain deals. You need to state you wish to make a complaint and be persistent. What usually happens is the overseas agent will attempt to offer something but just reject it (unless its what you want) and maintain that you want to raise a formal complaint. Once the agent has exhausted available options you are usually provided with a complaint ref either transferred or called back by customer relations. It's then down to you to make you case for a better deal that is being offered to others so why not you and why ?

joeluken

Tobas wrote: »

Had they written a better mail-merge program for the letter, they could easily have retained me.

Clearly they didn't want you.

My immediate reaction to the One Plan letter I received was to tell Three to stick it but then I realised I would be cutting off my nose to spite my face in terms of what else was on offer based on my needs. It was going to cost even me more for even less using another provider so I decided to try to get a better deal from Three.

The good new is you're sorted now with a better service so Three's loss and your gain.

dekaspace

Got my letter today too stating they want to put me up to £30 a month.

Not that I use my phone much but its there for emergencies, what I do now is I have spare 1 month PAYG sims with unlimited data that I use when travelling so I don't have to worry about charging my phone every so often but only have a few of them left.

I hardly ever use the phone but lets say I was travelling and had to make a hours call, or ring parents (which I spend as much as a hour a time doing) it could mean I use a few minutes per month for a few months then a few hundred another, and its a similar idea for the tethering, I don't use apps so data alone is worthless but id rather have like 1000 minutes and unlimited data (with a 4 gig or so cap on tethering)

But I doubt thats cheap, I would just stockpile cheap data sims but want to keep my number.