3 Mobile Contract Renewals - Disreputable Behaviour

SeanCo

I've been a 3 Mobile contract customer for in excess of 12 years, usually taking phone packages costing in excess of £50 per month.  Until recently when I looked at contract renewal options, the service has been good and when it hasn't, they have put things right quickly.

My current contract with 3 is due to expire imminently, so using the link provided from my account I looked at renewal options.  One stood out in particular, the Honor Magic 4 Pro being offered with cashback and a free watch, headphones and charging pad.  I then went and signed-up for this online.

The phone and other items were scheduled to arrive last Friday, the 27th of May, early in the morning, so I made sure I would be available to accept the delivery.  I looked at the live tracking and was astonished when the driver just disappeared when he was very near my address and marked the delivery down as having failed as nobody was at home.  I immediately contacted 3 and after further calls to both 3 and DPD the delivery company, my phone was finally delivered at about 15:30.  However, when I opened the package there was just a phone, nothing else, no free accessories and no mention about cashback.  I immediately called 3 again and spoke to a lady called M***** from Customer Options who said she would investigate and get back to me.  Unfortunately, I didn't receive a call back so I called 3 Customer Options again in the evening.  This time the customer advisor said that I was not entitled to any free accessories or cashback as this offer was only for new customers.  I queried this and he admitted that whilst not being clear on the website, it was in the detail.  So, in essence, instead of having a dedicated renewals page, 3 direct you to a new customer promotion and rely on small print.

On Monday evening (30th May), whilst I was at a dental appointment, M***** called me back and left a voicemail message (which I have saved in MP3 format as evidence) saying that have could have the free accessories and cashback.  As I didn't receive a further call back from M***** yesterday (Tuesday 31st May), I called 3 Customer Options again only to be met with complete denial that I could accessories and cashback and that they had no record of the call from M***** and would not even connect me to M*****.  A request to speak to a supervisor yielded exactly the same response, complete denial.  I have probably spent in excess of 10 hours dealing with this matter.

In summary, 3 Mobile:

Do not value their existing customers, offering substandard renewal options

Have webpages for renewals that are at best unclear and probably misleading

Acted completely dishonestly in denying that M***** had proposed to give me the free accessories and cashback; even to the point of refusing to connect me to her

flaneurs_lobster

Why not ring them and say "honor the deal offered by Ms M or I cancel the whole deal". You are within 14 days of the start of contract so there will be no financial penalty for doing so (other than any chargeable phone use). 

SeanCo

flaneurs_lobster said:

Why not ring them and say "honor the deal offered by Ms M or I cancel the whole deal". You are within 14 days of the start of contract so there will be no financial penalty for doing so (other than any chargeable phone use). 

Exactly what I did. Unfortunately they remained in denial mode refusing to even acknowledge that I was offered better terms despite the unequivocal evidence to the contrary.  Rights under the distance selling regulations have now been exercised.