Are all mobile providers this bad? :(

lvf

After having multiple difficulties with O2, I decided to see what other deals were out there. So on Saturday, having called around, I decided that Three would be the network I would move to. Their sales team (based in Scotland I think) were very helpful and gave me a deal similar to my current price point, but much better in terms of allowances. I said I would call them back closer to the end of my contract (which is in March 2015).

However, having called O2 for further information on my contract ending, I again suffered rude staff (which I normally get) and when I said I was leaving at the end of my contract, I was asked why, I said the service I had got was poor (having been through to their independent review team multiple times over different issues, including taking double DDs, promising refunds which were never sent, refusing to work with me despite not owning a fax machine, network issues). I was then passed through to their disconnections team.

The disconnections team asked me what the new provider was offering that they couldn't, I said unlimited data and their network coverage was much better, as O2's in my area was non-existent, and at times I couldn't muster enough signal to even receive a text message. The guy then says "yeah, to be honest with the roll out of 4G we have been focusing on that and your area has been overlooked, but we can look at what we call a retention deal for you." I politely questioned the man's sanity, having just heard him admit the signal is poor but would I sign up to a new deal.

So straight away I called up Three's sales team (again in Scotland) and said to them to sign me up. Went through all the formalities, got the checks done, they even took £1.95 from my card as a 'fraud prevention check' or something. Got all the details confirmed and was given a delivery date for Tuesday between 8am-6pm. All was to be confirmed to me in an email, to be received "within 24 hours but should be within the next hour". In the meantime, I received a call from the 'Customer Protection' team at Three (which had basic English) to review my order and details. Having been called from a withheld number, I was skeptical but as he knew the entire deals of my order I duly complied in answering his questions. However, I called Three straight back to check was that a legitimate call.

The person I spoke to again had basic English, and didn't even check to see if this was a Three call. In fact the answer I got was "if you signed up for a new contract, it probably was Three yeah". I questioned the withheld number but this was brushed off too without a response. Not a good start.

So Sunday morning came, and still no confirmation email. I decided to leave it until today, and still no confirmation. So I called back, the lady I spoke to checked my details and said there was "information missing", and my details would need to be sent to a back office for amending. I then asked if this meant my delivery was still to go ahead tomorrow, I was first told no, then "well maybe it will go ahead but maybe not". Yeah thanks for that. I then asked what details were missing so I could help them update my details faster, but she said "no we have all of your details". WHAT?!

Now I am in a position where I have no idea where I am. I have no confirmation of a delivery, no confirmation of my new contract, awaiting a call back from them and I have been left in a position where I am asking myself "Have I just made a huge mistake here?"

No idea what to do.

mobilejunkie

Sounds excellent to me. Try Vodafone or EE if you really want to complain!!

flashg67

Can't suggest anything but to call hem again. I have two contracts with 3 and have found them to be good so far, both with confirmations and sorting out issues, so I'm surprised you're having problems, but it does sound like you're going to have to more persistent on the phone on the next call...

Frozen_up_north

Speak to the Three Sales Team, not the call centre staff who are based in India and just read from a prepared script on screen.

The issues I've had with Three were/are:

1. When upgrading from PAYG on Three, to contract, they messed up the number transfer which required escalation via their CEO (David Dyson). I got a month free of charge as compensation.

2. I am currently on their discontinued "One Plan", which has been good value at £18 per month for everything I need. As mentioned on this forum, One Plan customers are being moved onto much worse deals at prices close to EE's. However, in my location EE appear to have better data coverage (4G as opposed to 3G) and in some local towns and cities (Beverley and parts of Hull) the data rate on Three has dropped to virtually zero recently.

If you assume all mobile networks are poor, and that some are worse than others, you won't go far wrong! Around here (rural East Yorkshire), Vodafone and O2 only have GPRS (2G) data. Three have 3G and EE have a mixture of 3G and 4G.