Three didnt cancel contract when asked, deny knowledge and keep taking money

Arty_Al

Hi all. I have 3 mobile contracts with Three. One I use, one my daughter used and one for my son. In April my son and daughters contracts were ending so I contacted them in March via live chat on their website and requested the accounts to be closed as both kids had new phones on EE. All went ok and I was told that I had given my 30 days notice and the contracts would end in April. My kids even got bombarded with text messages from Three saying "Sorry you're leaving" and offering various deals to stay with them.
Fast forward to this week and I noticed Three were still taking money out of my account for the kids phones. I contacted them via their live chat yesterday and was told that no cancellation request had been put through in March and they had no record of me asking for such BUT they had generated PAC codes back in March which were not used, so the accounts stayed active.
I've spent a total of almost 4 hours on live chat now being bounced from one advisor to another and they have told me that both contracts have been cancelled (again) but I have to serve my 30 days notice... so i can expect another bill! They also said they've raised my problem with their billing department who MIGHT refund me the £130 they've taken as the accounts havent been used but as I didnt cancel them, and they have no record of me asking them to be cancelled back in March, its down to their discretion *Grr*.
Surely if they generated PAC codes back in March they must have been prompted to do so? So they must have a record of something? Even though I didnt ask for the codes, I asked for the contracts to be terminated.
Im not expecting any refund from these useless idiots and I'd be surprised if they actually do cancel the two phones... AGAIN. Does anyone know how long I should wait before I take this further? I've read somewhere that i cant get the financial ombudsman involved for 8 weeks. Is that correct?
I also wanted to file my live chat as a complaint but the advisor said he filed it under a general query because he had cancelled the phones thus satisfying my question. Does that mean there is no active complaint on my account thus nothing will happen?
Thanks for any advice in advance

eDicky

Arty_Al said:

Hi all. I have 3 mobile contracts with Three. One I use, one my daughter used and one for my son. In April my son and daughters contracts were ending so I contacted them in March via live chat on their website and requested the accounts to be closed as both kids had new phones on EE. All went ok and I was told that I had given my 30 days notice and the contracts would end in April. My kids even got bombarded with text messages from Three saying "Sorry you're leaving" and offering various deals to stay with them.
Fast forward to this week and I noticed Three were still taking money out of my account for the kids phones. I contacted them via their live chat yesterday and was told that no cancellation request had been put through in March and they had no record of me asking for such BUT they had generated PAC codes back in March which were not used, so the accounts stayed active.
I've spent a total of almost 4 hours on live chat now being bounced from one advisor to another and they have told me that both contracts have been cancelled (again) but I have to serve my 30 days notice... so i can expect another bill! They also said they've raised my problem with their billing department who MIGHT refund me the £130 they've taken as the accounts havent been used but as I didnt cancel them, and they have no record of me asking them to be cancelled back in March, its down to their discretion *Grr*.
Surely if they generated PAC codes back in March they must have been prompted to do so? So they must have a record of something? Even though I didnt ask for the codes, I asked for the contracts to be terminated.
Im not expecting any refund from these useless idiots and I'd be surprised if they actually do cancel the two phones... AGAIN. Does anyone know how long I should wait before I take this further? I've read somewhere that i cant get the financial ombudsman involved for 8 weeks. Is that correct?
I also wanted to file my live chat as a complaint but the advisor said he filed it under a general query because he had cancelled the phones thus satisfying my question. Does that mean there is no active complaint on my account thus nothing will happen?
Thanks for any advice in advance

Are you sure that no request for PACs was made and none were received..?

With any network it's normal that a contract will continue if a PAC is issued but not used within 30 days, regardless of making any previous notice of cancellation.

Arty_Al

eDicky said:

Are you sure that no request for PACs was made and none were received..?

With any network it's normal that a contract will continue if a PAC is issued but not used within 30 days, regardless of making any previous notice of cancellation.

Yep, 100%. I never requested a PAC code but asked for both accounts to be terminated as the kids already had new phones on EE and werent bothered about keeping their old numbers. They never received the PAC codes that were generated anyway. If they did that would have got the alarm bells in my head ringing as I've heard of Three doing this many times to people who want to cancel.
Cheers

J_B

Do you have a copy of the cancellation texts as proof?

cymruchris

J_B said:

Do you have a copy of the cancellation texts as proof?

That was going to be my question 👍

molerat

The kids didn't want to keep their numbers ?  Requesting a PAC would have been so much simpler (or a STAC if they didn't want to keep the number).  Anyway, written formal complaint is the way to go.

Arty_Al

J_B said:

Do you have a copy of the cancellation texts as proof?

Yes, we still have the old phones and they still have all the text messages on them

J_B

Arty_Al said:

J_B said:

Do you have a copy of the cancellation texts as proof?

Yes, we still have the old phones and they still have all the text messages on them

That's good, you have all the proof you need .... hopefully!
Good luck.

cymruchris

Arty_Al said:

J_B said:

Do you have a copy of the cancellation texts as proof?

Yes, we still have the old phones and they still have all the text messages on them

That's good - so a written complaint outlining the timeline of events, and photographs of the messages on the phones, would be a great place to start. Let us know how you get on. 

sdduk

Arty_Al said:

J_B said:

Do you have a copy of the cancellation texts as proof?

Yes, we still have the old phones and they still have all the text messages on them

Did you tell them you had proof?
when i got a deal off of 3 from on here they said it was for only 6mths and i said no it was for 12mths and i have proof, they said send it to them which i did and i ended up getting the deal for 12mths.
i think i sent it to proof@three.co.uk .
Hopefully you get it sorted good luck.