Three Mobile - incompetent, if not shady returns procedures

snedger

Bear in mind that the timeline for this started before the Huawei 5G boycott, so the 5G promises were just marketing lies and not impossible infrastructure fulfilment.
This idiot believed Three in Summer 2019 that they were rolling out their 5G network with immediate effect. - first 6 months was half price.
Month after month I chased and was told every time - give it a few more weeks.
Then when working from home I found out that the mobile service where I live is useless - I hung on 'cos of the repeated promises that 5G was coming.
November 2020 - enough was enough.
On a chat, started complaining - was told I should have said something before - explained I'd said someone and been given false promises every month - was offered 15 days free rental - I asked if the poor service would be fixed in 15 days - no - so offered 30 days free rental - good grief.
So said I was leaving - they wanted termination fee - so I demanded that they give me rental refund from March 2020 - 10 minutes later - was told I could return my phone, cancel my contract, with no termination fee.
Got the returns packet - returned the phone  - emailed their proofs email address with the proof of posting details - on 30th November.
Did my PAC exchange - got a text tellling that I would be charged £500+ - so called Three again - annoyed person said that I wouldn't be charged.
21st December 2020 - charged £500+
Since then been calling every week and every week someone says that it will be sorted.
They told me that hadn't received the phone - they told me that they had received the proof of posting details - in that case, they should have just chased up with Royal Mail and not charged me.
They even told me after looking on the Royal Mail website at the tracking details that the phone had not left my local post office and I should go to the post office to find out why.
Post office said that I should just tell Three that the phone had been sent - this time Three told me to claim through the Royal Mail.
Spent an hour on the phone waiting for Royal Mail today - a knowledgable person explained that Three are the customer and it is up to them to follow up if the parcel doesn't get through. She said that a punter like myself will NOT see the journey on tracking - just the dropoff and she said that Three should have received the parcel no later than 10th December 2020
Tried Three again today - flipping heck their returns department, second time for me - both times echoey voice, picks up other call operators voices SO LOUD, so you can't hear the person you're talking to - I did politely ask if the chap was on speaker phone - said he wasn't
Apparently they received the phone two weeks ago - been calling every Friday, so not sure why they didn't know that when they said that they didn't have it two Fridays ago.
I had to leave the call being told that I should get the money within the next 48 hours - which I have been promised a few times before.
Anyway they shouldn't talen £500+, 4 days  before xmas when they hadn't even investigated a supposed missing return.
Every time I change mobile phone companies I vow never to go back - this time the promise may actually stick.  
I really hope that I don't waste my next Friday off and good job the pubs aren't open - I would have slammed a few beers already if they were and it's only 11:19am 

will-he-payitoff

Why dont you buy a phone upfront and go sim only on a 1 month contract.

Phones4Chris

snedger said:

................
On a chat, started complaining - was told I should have said something before - explained I'd said someone and been given false promises every month - was offered 15 days free rental - I asked if the poor service would be fixed in 15 days - no - so offered 30 days free rental - good grief.
So said I was leaving - they wanted termination fee - so I demanded that they give me rental refund from March 2020 - 10 minutes later - was told I could return my phone, cancel my contract, with no termination fee.
Got the returns packet - returned the phone  - emailed their proofs email address with the proof of posting details - on 30th November.
Did my PAC exchange - got a text tellling that I would be charged £500+ - so called Three again - annoyed person said that I wouldn't be charged.
21st December 2020 - charged £500+.......................

Did you get an emailed copy of the chat where you complained? When you called Three again, how did you do that? Do you have a record of that?
By what means were you charged the £500?

pmduk

Never call a mobile network repeatedly over the same issue. Try just once, then go down the formal complaint route.

Phones4Chris

pmduk said:

Never call a mobile network repeatedly over the same issue. Try just once, then go down the formal complaint route.

Don't agree, sometimes persistence pays off. On a PAYG account I ended up with £15 free credit

getmore4less

I have found with three  online chat you nearly always get offered something, extra data, bit of credit.
They love to get their chat ratings high.

Phones4Chris

getmore4less said:

I have found with three  online chat you nearly always get offered something, extra data, bit of credit.
They love to get their chat ratings high.

Well I'm afraid that's not my experience as detailed here

In fact, my experience generally with "on-line char" is you get nowhere fast if your problem is not the simplest and the agent doesn't have the authority (or ability - needs another department etc.) to fix your issue. I found that with Vodafone, EDF and SSE to name just some!

getmore4less

Phones4Chris said:

getmore4less said:

I have found with three  online chat you nearly always get offered something, extra data, bit of credit.
They love to get their chat ratings high.

Well I'm afraid that's not my experience as detailed here

In fact, my experience generally with "on-line char" is you get nowhere fast if your problem is not the simplest and the agent doesn't have the authority (or ability - needs another department etc.) to fix your issue. I found that with Vodafone, EDF and SSE to name just some!

I didn't say they will fix your problem, they will give you credt|data 

J_B

getmore4less said:

I have found with three  online chat you nearly always get offered something, extra data, bit of credit.
They love to get their chat ratings high.

I agree- there was a 'new user' deal (£8) mentioned by MSE a while back, so I did live-chat and persuaded them to put me on it and then they asked if anyone else wanted to go on the deal, so, put Mrs B on it as well.

Result!

Phones4Chris

getmore4less said:

Phones4Chris said:

getmore4less said:

I have found with three  online chat you nearly always get offered something, extra data, bit of credit.
They love to get their chat ratings high.

Well I'm afraid that's not my experience as detailed here

In fact, my experience generally with "on-line char" is you get nowhere fast if your problem is not the simplest and the agent doesn't have the authority (or ability - needs another department etc.) to fix your issue. I found that with Vodafone, EDF and SSE to name just some!

I didn't say they will fix your problem, they will give you credt|data 

What I was offered by the miserable git I mentioned in the post to which I referred wouldn't have even covered postage if I'd made a recorded delivery formal complaint. As it was, by actually "talking" to someone on a phone a few days later, I got £15, and the problem fixed!

KayBur

This is some kind of thriller, not an incident from life. I was also persuaded to switch to 5G, but I thought it was a premature transition. The technology is new and the quality of communication may not be very good yet. And 4J, to be honest, is enough, video calls are of excellent quality, the connection is not interrupted.