3 PAYG rate increase

Phones4Chris

SpanishBlue said:

If you open an account with 18185 https://www.18185.co.uk/ and use their freephone 0808 number, you can make landline calls for 2p a minute plus a 4p connection charge.

But also note calls to mobiles are more at 6ppm + 4p connection.
Edit: Correction 10ppm + 4p connection.
Rates can be found at https://www.18185.co.uk/rates-mobile

Junaid26

You can still get the O2 classic 3-2-1 SIMs, and just move over once your credit does finish. There's a deal for it over on HotUKDeals.

Phones4Chris

Junaid26 said:

You can still get the O2 classic 3-2-1 SIMs, and just move over once your credit does finish. There's a deal for it over on HotUKDeals.

Confusing eBay seller page (not uncommon) as it says they are 99p (free postage) but they say Quote "DISCOUNT WILL AUTOMATICALLY APPLY AT CHEKOUT"
Nice mis-spelling!
Make sure you can get an O2 signal before buying of course!

SpanishBlue

Phones4Chris said:

SpanishBlue said:

If you open an account with 18185 https://www.18185.co.uk/ and use their freephone 0808 number, you can make landline calls for 2p a minute plus a 4p connection charge.

But also note calls to mobiles are more at 6ppm + 4p connection.

It's actually 10p a minute plus 4p connection to a mobile using the 0808 freephone number.

But it is at least a possible solution for people who make landline calls.

leadhead

I contacted 3 about this tonight via their call back option. I was put in touch with someone I could hardly understand (Cumit), he then said he would put me in touch with someone who could answer my question. After hanging on for 15 minutes, the line went dead...(possibly a deliberate tactic to put people off cancelling)

My question was.....My wife topped up this account by £10, a few days before this 300 to 400% increase was announced, how will she be refunded any outstanding balance when she leaves.....I notice that under normal circumstances, if you leave 3, you lose any outstanding credit.....but these arent normal circumstances, 3 have changed her agreement drastically, surely they HAVE to refund any balance....Is there any one who HAS cancelled that has also received any credit balance that they had before the announcement.......and if not, how can we make 3 refund any credit they hold belonging to us.

Phones4Chris

SpanishBlue said:

Phones4Chris said:

SpanishBlue said:

If you open an account with 18185 https://www.18185.co.uk/ and use their freephone 0808 number, you can make landline calls for 2p a minute plus a 4p connection charge.

But also note calls to mobiles are more at 6ppm + 4p connection.

It's actually 10p a minute plus 4p connection to a mobile using the 0808 freephone number.

But it is at least a possible solution for people who make landline calls.

My apologies, I scanned down the page too quick as I haven't use the 0808 version for sometime (not using 18185 much of late either!!).
The 0808 rates are on https://www.18185.co.uk/rates-mobile

I've put a correction on my original post.

jon81uk

leadhead said:

I contacted 3 about this tonight via their call back option. I was put in touch with someone I could hardly understand (Cumit), he then said he would put me in touch with someone who could answer my question. After hanging on for 15 minutes, the line went dead...(possibly a deliberate tactic to put people off cancelling)

My question was.....My wife topped up this account by £10, a few days before this 300 to 400% increase was announced, how will she be refunded any outstanding balance when she leaves.....I notice that under normal circumstances, if you leave 3, you lose any outstanding credit.....but these arent normal circumstances, 3 have changed her agreement drastically, surely they HAVE to refund any balance....Is there any one who HAS cancelled that has also received any credit balance that they had before the announcement.......and if not, how can we make 3 refund any credit they hold belonging to us.

Their terms state you can end the service if they make changes that are a detriment
"Within one month of a materially detrimental variation to your agreement. You can end the agreement within one month of us telling you about a variation to your agreement (which includes your Package) which is likely (in our reasonable opinion) to be of material detriment to you by stopping your use of Three Services."
from the old PAYG terms at Terms & Conditions | Three. 

Its not clear what happens to your credit if you stop use of the service.

But they have given one months notice of the changes which is what their terms state they have to do.
"4 Variations to your agreement or prices 4.1 We may vary any of the terms of your agreement, including our Packages, Add-ons or prices, on the following basis: (a) any updated Packages and new terms will be available on our website and on request to Three Customer Services; (b) we will let you know at least one month in advance if we decide to: (i) discontinue your Package; or (ii) make any variations to your agreement which are (in our reasonable opinion) likely to be of material detriment to you. 4.2 You are free to stop using Three Services if we make such variations, but if you carry on using Three Services after any variation or change commences, you will be deemed to have accepted the variation."

TheZec

I am a low user on Three - but as soon as my existing credit expires (which will be a lot sooner with these price hikes) I will be moving to 1PMobile.  £30 a year seems fine to me.  However there is one thing potential swappers need to be aware of - 1PMobile don't currently offer WiFi calling.  Although they use EE as their carrier, EE currently reserve WiFi calling for EE customers - however, I had it confirmed last night from Penny at 1PMobile, that they are sorting this through with EE and expect to have WiFi calling available to 1PMobile customers by the end of February.

If you live in a rural area like me with no phone signal, then WiFI calling is essential - especially for receiving OTP (over the air One Time Passcodes) from banks and other companies.  Three are going to feet a sting in the tail from this as I'm sure there will be a mass exodus of customers leaving as a result of these price hikes.

Roger1

IMO this is a massive own goal for Three.  OK, price increases come along, but Three's are huge and of course must lead to the abandoning of the convenient 3-2-1 USP.

My wife has been using Smarty, owned by Three.  It's a monthly contract rather than PAYE and works well ... until they 'enhance' the service.

SpanishBlue

Roger1 said:

IMO this is a massive own goal for Three.  OK, price increases come along, but Three's are huge and of course must lead to the abandoning of the convenient 3-2-1 USP.

I suspect Three will be happy to lose the people (I am one of them) who only use a small amount of credit every year.

They can't make much money out of us as things stand, and will probably gain by some of us switching to a monthly contract with them.