Advice Required Please!

kpshah

I purchased a Nokia 7600 from e2save a few months back. I realised few days later that it was missing a corner piece. After visits to CPW and a few discussions with e2save, the phone was replaced. The replacement unit turned out to have sticky keys. Upon several phone calls to e2save, the handphone was eventually replaced with a Motorola V975.
For reasons unknown to me, 3 cancelled my connection (I am not at fault as money is going out by direct debit) about a fortnight ago whileI was answering a call. Spoke to the 3 people who admitted it was an unexpected mistake and they will send a replacement sim card to reach me in 4-5 working days. It is now over 6 days and still waiting for the sim card. I again phoned them today and I am advised that since the replacement hasn't reached me, another re-replacement will be despatched.
It has been a nightmare situation, being a uni-student having applied for workplacements, I am expecting calls for interviews etc. on the above phone. No messages can be received. I am forced to use another PAYG which I had from before.
Since 3 cancelled my connection without informing me, what rights do I have (i.e. if at all?). Would I be in right to cancel my direct debit until they sort the mess out? It is extremely inconvenient getting in touch with 3 as I am kept on hold forever.....?? It is costing money and time for which 3 kindly offered me £2 which would cover the cost of line rental for all this period as well as any inconvenience caused.
Any thoughts??

jf2404

You will need to read their T&C to see what it says about what they are and are not liable for.

If it says they are liable for loss of coverage (phone use) and they don't have a good enough reason why it was cut off, apart from "it was a mistake", it is their mistake and i'd think you can get them for breaching their T&C.

On the other hand, if it says they are not liable, then you won't be able to use this for a reason to cancel.

In that case you can drop to the lowest linerental and pay that each month, or drop to the lowest line rental and then pay off the contract (line rental x however long is left).

I hate it when companies do this, i don't know why they don't realise they wouldn't be there if it wasn't for the consumer and they need to provide a good service to keep us.

Get stroppy on the phone, sometimes it does help, and if they know they are in the wrong then they will eventually give in.

good luck.

kpshah

A quote from 3 website (terms and conditions) say "you can end the agreement within one month of us telling you about a variation to your agreement (which includes your price plan) which is likely to be of detriment to you. You must give written notice to 3 customer services within that month and your agreement will finish 30 days after we receive your notice."

Can the account closure by three be regarded here as "variation" to my agreement?

jf2404

It depends what they said, if they said it shouldn't have happened and it was a mistake, then probably it was a human error and someone messed up somewhere.

then you would be ok to cancel.

If they said it was a mast falling down or they had a total computer failiure then they will say that was out of their control and they are not liable.

So you couldn't cancel for that reason.

An "unexpected mistake" to me sounds like someone messed up.

Just say to them "i was cut off for no reason, i pay my bills on time and due to mistakes at your end, i have lost out on work and and possible future employment, and i as none of it was my fault i would like to cancel as i beleive you have breached your T&C."

They can only say, Yes or no.

good luck, hopefully it will work out fine.

cheghead

Cancel anyway. That way they will contact you and save your cost of calling them. Put them straight and insist on talking to a supervisor or manager and note name time and date of call.

CovMan_2

cheghead wrote:

Cancel anyway. That way they will contact you and save your cost of calling them. Put them straight and insist on talking to a supervisor or manager and note name time and date of call.

Depends on your terms and conditions, and even if they are in the wrong cancelling can get you into hassle. What they should do is do a next day delivery on the Sim card, and offer compensation. I would guess that you would probably be better off that way.

Persist and keep a record of any phone costs you incur calling them, and persist, if you are not getting satisfaction speak to someone more senior.

By the way if you getting charged for the telephone calls use 01628 765000 rather than the 0870 number (http://www.saynoto0870.com/company_search.php). What I would advise is call on the 01628 number when you have time and on a phone with fixed call prices (e.g. https://www.18866.com) and hang on and keep going more senior. Eventually they should sort you out.

Please post the outcome here.

kpshah

The situation has gone from bad to worse:
1) they cancelled my account.
2) supposedly sent another sim to my address at uni - never received it.
3) sent a replacement sim to my home address instead of my address at uni.
4) in the process, they created another account with contract date brought forward from February (when I made the purchase) to May - the time when they sent the replacement sim. Even here, the account number is the same but the phone number listed is different from my phone number. They sent a bill for £18.00 for creating a new account. The phone number for this account is not operational. With the sim card they sent, I am still using my original phone number. (Makes sense?? of what I am saying?)
5) For reasons beyond my knowledge and even 3 advisors haven't been able to answer - they are unable to check my account details - I am unable to access services where I can find out used/left minutes/text amongst other things.

Any suggestions?? All advice is very welcome. I do thank you all for responding to my request for help.