Three not providing contracted service

spendaholic

I have been with Three for absolute yonks and I, generally, recommend them to death. I'd like to stay with them, really. But as their local mast has been down since 31 January, I'm currently tied in to a 24-month contract, yet receiving no service, and although they have allocated line-rental refunds, I still have no mobile phone service at home.

Their Three-in-Touch app doesn't work. It's never worked at any property I've tried it. it cuts off calls, doesn't connect calls, doesn't send texts, and it interferes with both phone settings and home broadband. I've installed and reinstalled this, but it's still not working.

They keep telling me to use the app and to use the home wi-fi, but this doesn't give me a working phone signal, for which I am contracted. (If I wanted an internet phone I'd get one!)

My question is this: If Three are not providing their contracted service, how can they justify charging 40% of the remaining contract period based on their calculation as a "goodwill gesture" after 28 days of no service? Surely they should just release the customer from the contract that they're not providing?

My husband is also with Three but his contract ends in June and he's likely to jump ship anyway. My contract still has almost 2 years to run. There is an open complaint running on both accounts.

Thanks for any advice offered.

d123

spendaholic wrote: »

My question is this: If Three are not providing their contracted service, how can they justify charging 40% of the remaining contract period based on their calculation as a "goodwill gesture" after 28 days of no service? Surely they should just release the customer from the contract that they're not providing?



Thanks for any advice offered.

Out of interest, what phone did they give you when you signed the contract?

Have you factored in the cost to them of the free or nearly free handset into that termination cost?

spendaholic

d123 wrote: »

Out of interest, what phone did they give you when you signed the contract?

Have you factored in the cost to them of the free or nearly free handset into that termination cost?

They will take this into account, but I said they could have the phone back. They said they weren't allowed to do that ...

d123

spendaholic wrote: »

They will take this into account, but I said they could have the phone back. They said they weren't allowed to do that ...

Probably because the phone is pretty useless to them, they can't really send it out to a new customer who signs up and don't run a recycling scheme (as far as I know).

What phone did you get?

spendaholic

d123 wrote: »

Probably because the phone is pretty useless to them, they can't really send it out to a new customer who signs up and don't run a recycling scheme (as far as I know).

What phone did you get?

They do refurbished phones, so they must get those from somewhere.

It's a Samsung A3 2016, so not one of the more popular ones. I think I can get it still from O2, but O2 are merging with Three ... EE were offering it, but now they're just offering the bigger models.

But they're saying that yes, this is the 40% contribution they'd like me to make, but they also say that they will first calculate the cost of the time remaining of the contract before coming up with this figure. It's this calculation of the cost of the time remaining that I'm disputing.

I think they should just terminate the contract and sort out any phone cost separately, as they're not providing the service they're contracted for.

d123

spendaholic wrote: »

They do refurbished phones, so they must get those from somewhere.

Probably from a company that does the refurbishment.

It's a Samsung A3 2016, so not one of the more popular ones. I think I can get it still from O2,

Check what it would have cost at the time you signed up.

but O2 are merging with Three ...

No, they aren't.

I think they should just terminate the contract and sort out any phone cost separately, as they're not providing the service they're contracted for.

That's where I was going, I would email the CEO's office at Three (email address for David Dyson is easily found by searching Google for "three UK CEO email"), list the coverage problems (accurately, and without any emotional language) and tell them that customer services are offering an early termination with a discount you don't agree with. Offer them the cost of the handset as the amount to terminate the contract.

Keep the email as short and concise as you can just covering the facts, write it as if it was a business email with no emotional additions.

If they reply and mention using the app or wifi, explain that you have very slow broadband and the app doesn't work properly on the handset.

spendaholic

d123 wrote: »

That's where I was going, I would email the CEO's office at Three (email address for David Dyson is easily found by searching Google for "three UK CEO email"), list the coverage problems (accurately, and without any emotional language) and tell them that customer services are offering an early termination with a discount you don't agree with. Offer them the cost of the handset as the amount to terminate the contract.

Thank you. :beer:

spendaholic

d123 wrote: »

No, they aren't.

Hmm, I have a friend who works at Hutchison and a family member who works at an O2 call centre. They're both saying the merger will still go ahead ... BUT, not the issue here! (Just interesting to still watch, perhaps ...)

[Deleted User]

Im with 3 and had some issues with signal in my area. After calling up they had it fixed within a week. Have you ever had good signal at your address or is this a recent issue?

Im shocked they haven't had an engineer out to look at the problem.

Frozen_up_north

Like Superpauk, I've raised issues over coverage and also poor data rates, I've no particular affinity to Three but have found them quite obliging once you get beyond their initial call centre staff.

They should be able to give you an update on what is happening to your local mast site.

spendaholic

superpauk wrote: »

Im shocked they haven't had an engineer out to look at the problem.

Apparently the engineers have been working on it since 31 January, but when they rebooted the mast, it fell over again and they identified other problems in several other areas. They keep giving me a rolling 7-day completion, but Three haven't contacted me once with an update, apart from a customer satisfaction survey, which I'm holding off completing for now ... All communication has been from me.

The service worked quite well up until 5pm on 31 January, and even 10 minutes before it all crashed. Three in Touch has never worked on any phone in any property for either me or my husband.