Three's eSIM delay - how I was compensated £400

NFH

Starting with a tweet on 3rd June 2021 and followed by multiple similar tweets, Three has changed its narrative, now saying:

We’re working hard to bring you eSIM as soon as we can. We’re hoping to launch support for Apple Watches later this year, and to share further news on a wider launch for phones soon.

NFH

I see that Three tweeted yesterday:

We're looking to launch eSIM soon on PAYG

jnm21

@THEL00SEM00SE when you said...

"My advise - speak to trading standards, confirm all the details, then threaten 'Breach of Contract' with Three. I hope if everybody does this, this will push Three to at least if nothing else, be clear with their information and stop making false claims or promises"...

My mind wandered back to when I tried to cancel a 3G modem contract & was offered a 4G modem - imagine my surprise to take to google & confirm that the 4G auction was still to happen!

If only I had recorded that call - they had a record of the one where I said I would think about it, but none when I gave notice later the same day!

Then the guy mentioned his colleague whom I had spoken to was sitting beside him - strange considering that the day I spoke to him a month previous had been his last shift!

In short never trust any company - record all calls.

jnm21

NFH said:

I see that Three tweeted yesterday:

We're looking to launch eSIM soon on PAYG

Maybe it will be printed on card, with a choice of a Robin, a stable or a star on the other side?

Thank you so much for this thread - brought me much happiness to see a Company getting hit in the pocket for a blatant **** take!

NFH

I see that, starting on 3rd June 2021, Three has tweeted more than 70 times:

We’re working hard to bring you eSIM as soon as we can. We’re hoping to launch support for Apple Watches later this year, and to share further news on a wider launch for phones soon

Three has a very odd definition of "soon", as it's now more than two months later.

NFH

This gets worse. Since 17th September 2021, Three has been tweeting "Following a successful trial in a small number of retail stores, we’re pleased to tell you that we will be launching eSIM on handsets in 2022. We don’t have an exact date right now but rest assured we’ll inform you when this is available for both consumer and business customers".

Bear in mind that Three, starting on 2nd December 2020 and most recently on 14th September 2021, stated that it would be launching eSIM in 2021. It turns out that this was just a continuation of Three repeatedly misleading its customers about eSIM.

It was clear that Three's launch of eSIM on 25th September 2020 went wrong, which is why it halted the launch and then retrospectively stated, very misleadingly, that the launch on 25th September 2020 had been only a trial.

Reports here and here suggest that Three signed an agreement with Amdocs in August 2021 to provide eSIM functionality. This is very late to be engaging with a new partner to launch eSIM, which was originally promised in autumn 2019.

WillPS

@NFH - I wonder if I could ask your opinion.

My handset is a dual SIM with one physical SIM and one eSIM. I signed up for a 12 month Three SIM-only deal back in April. I was motivated by the fact they are the only 5G provider in my area. I knew at that point they did not yet have eSIM available, but at that point the official word indicated it was coming soon/later in 2021. I had heard complaints about the internet speeds being poor but I figured at the time if I had any issues once Three enabled eSIM I could get a cheap data deal with Voxi or Plusnet and see out the contract that way.

To begin with my service was OK, but as time goes on it feels like the quality of service has slid, but I accept it still works, just not as fast/reliably as I would like - I accept under normal circumstances this would be something I would not be able to wriggle out of a contract over, but my backup plan of getting a cheap SIM so I could continue to use data reliably has been thwarted by the fact Three have failed to meet the expectation they had created of eSIM-compatibility this year.

Do you believe I have cause for complaint? My ideal outcome would be that Three allow me to leave my contract without penalty.

NFH

WillPS said:

I knew at that point they did not yet have eSIM available, but at that point the official word indicated it was coming soon/later in 2021.

Yes, Three tweeted multiple times "we're going to be launching eSIM in early 2021" or similar words.

These tweets form binding contractual terms under Section 50 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, because you took them into account when deciding whether to enter into the contract with Three.

Do you believe I have cause for complaint? My ideal outcome would be that Three allow me to leave my contract without penalty.

Given that Three's breach of this contractual term to launch eSIM in early 2020 has prevented you from using another network's physical SIM card as a backup for deficiencies in Three's service, you could could demand to be released from the contract early. If Three doesn't comply, then you could complain to the ombudsman. But there is a delay of several months while the ombudsman considers your complaint. So you need to consider what you will do in the meantime.

southsidergs

WillPS said:

@NFH - I wonder if I could ask your opinion.

My handset is a dual SIM with one physical SIM and one eSIM. I signed up for a 12 month Three SIM-only deal back in April. I was motivated by the fact they are the only 5G provider in my area. I knew at that point they did not yet have eSIM available, but at that point the official word indicated it was coming soon/later in 2021. I had heard complaints about the internet speeds being poor but I figured at the time if I had any issues once Three enabled eSIM I could get a cheap data deal with Voxi or Plusnet and see out the contract that way.

To begin with my service was OK, but as time goes on it feels like the quality of service has slid, but I accept it still works, just not as fast/reliably as I would like - I accept under normal circumstances this would be something I would not be able to wriggle out of a contract over, but my backup plan of getting a cheap SIM so I could continue to use data reliably has been thwarted by the fact Three have failed to meet the expectation they had created of eSIM-compatibility this year.

Do you believe I have cause for complaint? My ideal outcome would be that Three allow me to leave my contract without penalty.

Under what grounds do you think you can complain? You've got a sim only deal that you signed up for. Did you specifically tell them you were signing up with them based on the fact they were saying eSIM's were coming?

NFH

southsidergs said:

WillPS said:

@NFH - I wonder if I could ask your opinion.

My handset is a dual SIM with one physical SIM and one eSIM. I signed up for a 12 month Three SIM-only deal back in April. I was motivated by the fact they are the only 5G provider in my area. I knew at that point they did not yet have eSIM available, but at that point the official word indicated it was coming soon/later in 2021. I had heard complaints about the internet speeds being poor but I figured at the time if I had any issues once Three enabled eSIM I could get a cheap data deal with Voxi or Plusnet and see out the contract that way.

To begin with my service was OK, but as time goes on it feels like the quality of service has slid, but I accept it still works, just not as fast/reliably as I would like - I accept under normal circumstances this would be something I would not be able to wriggle out of a contract over, but my backup plan of getting a cheap SIM so I could continue to use data reliably has been thwarted by the fact Three have failed to meet the expectation they had created of eSIM-compatibility this year.

Do you believe I have cause for complaint? My ideal outcome would be that Three allow me to leave my contract without penalty.

Under what grounds do you think you can complain? You've got a sim only deal that you signed up for. Did you specifically tell them you were signing up with them based on the fact they were saying eSIM's were coming?

 @southsidergs On what basis do you suggest that a consumer needed to have told Three that he or she was intending to use an eSIM? The law, to which I referred above, is very clear on this:

"Every contract to supply a service is to be treated as including as a term of the contract anything that is said or written to the consumer, by or on behalf of the trader, about the trader or the service, if it is taken into account by the consumer when deciding to enter into the contract"

Therefore tweets by Three, or other public statements by Three, promising eSIM in early 2021 are sufficient to create a binding contractual term.