Consumer Rights question - Three mobile contract

alexachil

Hi,

My partner took out a phone contract for an Apple iPhone XS with Three mobile in September 2017 transferring from the EE network. He has always complained about lack of signal compared to EE but has managed until now using mainly wifi at home and at work. 

He has recently been sent to a different place of work in a different city and since working in a different office without wifi he said his internet signal is worse than ever before - he has screen recorded how long it takes for his internet to load - it's unbelievably slow. He has measured 0.26mbps download speed using a signal checker app. I did the same to compare and am getting 18.9mbps also on Three's network.

He has been in contact with Three mobile via webchat several times and they've been nothing but unhelpful and said they can't do anything and we should speak to Apple or buy out the remaining amount of the contract (over £300 - not an option) and end the chat. 

The iPhone is outside of the 1 year warranty with Apple although the issue we are reporting is poor internet signal so I believe it should be Three's responsibility. The contract is due to end in 6 months although my partner was hoping to carry on using his current phone and change to a SIM-only contract to save money.

We are left lost and confused on what route to take next as ideally he wants to keep his current handset and not take out a new contract. Surely within the 2 years of a contract we should have rights for Three to help us fix this issue?

Has anyone else been in a similar situation and can provide some advice?

[Deleted User]

Surely not, if the issue is caused by his choice of workplace.

There's nothing to stop him buying an alternative sim and using that.

alexachil

Deleted_User said:

Surely not, if the issue is caused by his choice of workplace.

There's nothing to stop him buying an alternative sim and using that.

it's not his choice of workplace, he has been deployed there for 6 months by his employer its not his permanent place of work.  I don't see how paying £60 a month is acceptable for 0.26mbps internet speed and should have to buy an alternative sim with data? 

[Deleted User]

It's his choice in that he could change employment if he wished.  Three didn't send him there.

It may not be acceptable but it's the offer he signed up to. Coverage varies. 

He doesn't have to buy another sim.  I only suggested that if he wants a better signal.

JJ_Egan

Networks do not guarantee a good signal in every location .

Test phone by using near a mast  to rule out phone problems .

J_B

alexachil said:

Hi,

My partner took out a phone contract for an Apple iPhone XS with Three mobile in September 2017 transferring from the EE network. .

The contract is due to end in 6 months

Surely within the 2 years of a contract we should have rights for Three to help us fix this issue?

Have you made a typo somewhere?

A 2 year contract from Sept 2017 would run to Sept 2019 ....

Harald

alexachil said:

Deleted_User said:

Surely not, if the issue is caused by his choice of workplace.

There's nothing to stop him buying an alternative sim and using that.

it's not his choice of workplace, he has been deployed there for 6 months by his employer its not his permanent place of work.  I don't see how paying £60 a month is acceptable for 0.26mbps internet speed and should have to buy an alternative sim with data? 

There's a bit of misunderstanding here. £60 usually means £15 to £20 for services, the rest is repayment of your phone value.
By the way: you can usually save a lot of money buying these things separately. 

alexachil

J_B said:

alexachil said:

Hi,

My partner took out a phone contract for an Apple iPhone XS with Three mobile in September 2017 transferring from the EE network. .

The contract is due to end in 6 months

Surely within the 2 years of a contract we should have rights for Three to help us fix this issue?

Have you made a typo somewhere?

A 2 year contract from Sept 2017 would run to Sept 2019 ....

Apologies I meant 2018, the years are flying by!

alexachil

Harald said:

alexachil said:

Deleted_User said:

Surely not, if the issue is caused by his choice of workplace.

There's nothing to stop him buying an alternative sim and using that.

it's not his choice of workplace, he has been deployed there for 6 months by his employer its not his permanent place of work.  I don't see how paying £60 a month is acceptable for 0.26mbps internet speed and should have to buy an alternative sim with data? 

There's a bit of misunderstanding here. £60 usually means £15 to £20 for services, the rest is repayment of your phone value.
By the way: you can usually save a lot of money buying these things separately. 

Yes that is true. but considering he works 12hr days 5 days a week i feel that even £15-£20 is a lot of money for a phone he cant use. i have previously bought an iphone separately and had a sim only contract so aware that it works out cheaper sometimes, although we didn’t have the money available at the time to do that for my partner. we thought that statutory rights would cover us with three as the service wasn’t up to the standard we expected when taking out the phone contract but from these comments we thought wrong lol

alexachil

JJ_Egan said:

Networks do not guarantee a good signal in every location .

Test phone by using near a mast  to rule out phone problems .

I could understand that in rural areas but hes currently working away in newport (a city centre in wales) we were just surprised with the lack of signal considering they are usually good for signal. seems like he will have to keep his phone at home for the last 6 months instead lol

JJ_Egan

Well i would  buy a £10 phone lolly if he had need of a phone at work a.