Action against Three; Ombudsman ruled in my favour, awarded me £100 but Three are refusing to pay

PhilAtkinson

In Nov'19 Three transferred my mobile number without my authority or permission. After taking 15+ days to return it to me & the appalling treatment I received from Three I decided to take my case to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman agreed with me & awarded me £100 on the 13th March 2020 with payment due 14 days later. An unsigned letter received from the Three Executive Office said that my "cheque for £100 has been processed, so please allow 14 days working days for this to reach me." 

When the cheque did not arrive, I followed up with the Ombudsman & Three then sent me an e-mail via the Ombudsman which said "Three has advised that it is currently unable to issue cheques due to the changes in its operation. Three states that when the restriction is lifted the cheques will be issued to you."

Being a Chartered Accountant, I know that this is a Business Decision to not make any payments as there are no-restrictions on Three that would prevent cheques being issued. I requested that the Ombudsman add £5 per day to my award but they have been appalling, stating that there is 'nothing that they can do'.

Three are not honouring this payment using COVID-19 as an excuse so I complained to the Ombudsman who essentially said that Three can do what they want due to the current situation. I have no idea what the 'restrictions' to which Three refer to as the only restrictions I am aware of relate to Three's bricks & mortar stores. Yes, I am am also aware of Three's issue with their current call centre in India but that has nothing to do with making payments. Sure, their Accounting & Finance team may need to work remotely but there is absolutely no restriction on Three making payments. It is even worse when I have received a letter stating that "my £100 cheque has been processed" but not apparently posted.

How can I make Three honour their Ombudsman agreement to make payments when the Ombudsman has said that Three can do what they want due to the current situation? 

A very frustrated Three customer

macman

Cheque needs an authorised signature: ask them to pay you by bank transfer, or ask them to apply a £100 credit to your account?

PHK

The passing of pieces of paper is not recommended under social distancing rules and cheques require multiple signatures. Three are certainly not alone in being unable to issue cheques as the moment.

I don't know if this is the case with Three, but several large organisations are unable to deal with post at the moment either because of issues with delivery/collection or simply because all staff are working from home and therefore cannot pass paper between them. Even bodies like the Financial Ombudsman say that post will not be dealt with until the current crisis is resolved. So, I wouldn't say that Three were being unreasonable. As you will also have some difficulty paying the cheque in then I would ask Three if they are able to arrange a bank transfer.

Personally, I would just accept that we are living in unusual times and wait until the crisis is over.

littleboo

You need to wait. It’s not the most pressing issue.

buglawton

Three transferring a number without permission happened to my son and appeared to be part of a scam to get access to his bank account.

Exactly as you say about your situation, Three were 100% obtuse to deal with. Maybe the fact that their call centre staff are located halfway across the world gives them a sense of invincibility. My son gave up getting compensation from Three, that sort of thing is not his forte. His scenario was special, he'd been using an unregistered 3 SIM for 6 months and the fraudulent number transfer happened exactly when he signed a Three contract, got a new SIM then tried to transfer his old number onto it. It looks like the scammers took advantage of exactly that moment to register the old SIM and gain access to the number.

My son was actually paying for a contract for a SIM the scammers held. He had to pay off Three to cancel that SIM. 'Inside job' is a thought that popped into my mind. My advice is, always register a pay as you go SIM.

buglawton

macman said:

Cheque needs an authorised signature: ask them to pay you by bank transfer, or ask them to apply a £100 credit to your account?

And the funny thing is, if you cancel the remaining term of your car tax to SORN a vehicle, they send a cheque, having processed the original car tax payment entirely online. Duplicitous, eh? We have a cheque sitting in a drawer we're avoiding paying in due to social distancing Natwest doesn't accept posted cheques. Good old DVLA!

cranford

I have just paid in a cheque from home using a banking app. Just photographed it using the banking app and in it went!

buglawton

cranford said:

I have just paid in a cheque from home using a banking app. Just photographed it using the banking app and in it went!

Exactly the service that Natwest does not offer.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6006258/natwest-slow-to-deposit-cheque-image-in-app
Not just slow, not offering at all.

From the above May 2019 MSE post, Chat from NatWest:

I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this may cause
however trust me we are on it and we'll have this updated soon in
the app. being customer myself I can understand your concern

jb66

littleboo said:

You need to wait. It’s not the most pressing issue.

It could be to the OP, many folk are struggling right now