Can my mobile provider cancel my contract?

bwatkins1

I've had a contract with Three Mobile for 11 years. Same terms, same number, even the same SIM card.

Got a letter out of the blue yesterday telling me they were cancelling my contract and moving me on to PAYG. I worked out it will cost me between £125-£400 for my existing usage. Phoned the call centre and the best they could offer was a monthly contract four times as expensive as my current contract.

Is there anything I can do about this? I didn't think it was legal for them to arbitrarily decide they wouldn't honour the contract terms any more?

MattMattMattUK

bwatkins1 said:

I've had a contract with Three Mobile for 11 years. Same terms, same number, even the same SIM card.

Got a letter out of the blue yesterday telling me they were cancelling my contract and moving me on to PAYG. I worked out it will cost me between £125-£400 for my existing usage. Phoned the call centre and the best they could offer was a monthly contract four times as expensive as my current contract.

Is there anything I can do about this? I didn't think it was legal for them to arbitrarily decide they wouldn't honour the contract terms any more?

Either party can terminate the contract if it allows. I would imagine that they are well past any fixed period for the contract as it was probably fixed for one or two years when originally taken out. It then became a rolling contract which either you or they could terminate at any time, or with say thirty days notice.

Emmia

I imagine somewhere in your original T&Cs is a clause that will let them cancel your contract with a certain amount of notice - it sounds like you're on an inexpensive contract with low usage = you're costing them money / are not a profitable customer.

JohnnyB70

Yes, just the same as you can choose to leave once the contracted period has finished.

What sort of usage do you have? There are lots of providers who’ll give huge allowances for under £20 per month that you could switch to.

molerat

Yes they can.  It will be in the T&Cs that they can terminate with notice once outside of the minimum term.

How much are you currently paying and what is you usage and limits ?

There are loads of cheap contracts available.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheap-mobile-finder/sim-only/

bwatkins1

You're right that they are probably not interested in my business. I'm paying £5.11 a month for unlimited data! That's why it was worth fighting for. Their letter said they are moving me on to a new plan that is the "best fit" for me at 5p per MB which given my usage is £125 a month. It's for a secondary device that I don't use every day so it was handy having a really cheap monthly payment without having to worry about the usage. To be honest I think I'll just cancel it and tether off my phone. I do that a lot of the time anyway because the Three signal is not as good.

Emmia

bwatkins1 said:

You're right that they are probably not interested in my business. I'm paying £5.11 a month for unlimited data! That's why it was worth fighting for. Their letter said they are moving me on to a new plan that is the "best fit" for me at 5p per MB which given my usage is £125 a month. It's for a secondary device that I don't use every day so it was handy having a really cheap monthly payment without having to worry about the usage. To be honest I think I'll just cancel it and tether off my phone. I do that a lot of the time anyway because the Three signal is not as good.

Unlimited data is £35 a month on EE (sim only)- so I'd be switching to that or another provider rather than the PAYG option.

BUFF

Unlimited data is £21/month sim only on Three if you wanted to stick with them.

P1Fanatic

Three seem to be clearing out their old contracts and forcing many of us to move (see multiple other threads in this forum about it) which also introduces roaming charges which was also previously include. Strange that you were offered PAYG as I was offered £18pm unlimited everything on a 12 month contract (which I think increases with inflation +4% every April).

You did extremely well getting unlimited data for £5pm as mine was £15 and has been that way for 9-10yrs and never increased. I knew this day would eventually come. No one else is going to match that. I suggest you ask yourself if you really need unlimited data. Whilst its a nice to have is it essential? Personally since covid I Wfh so my monthly usage is barely hitting 5Gb. 

Option I am looking at right now is moving to Smarty Mobile which is a subsidiary of Three so using same network. £10pm for 60Gb data unlimited calls & txt. 1 month rolling. Alternatively there are Three PAYG sims with data packs reduced on Amazon and Three PAYG still includes roaming (for now).