Legal rights to cancel 3 contract due to service failure

donglefan

Hi, I'd welcome advice about my legal right to cancel my contract with 3 mobile.  
There has been 'no service' since Sunday 4th June - no phone, text or internet connection. Customer services agent told me I must wait at least 7 days for a text to tell me when the network will be back up.  I said I cannot receive texts because the network is down, but his tone implied I was being unreasonable.
At what point do I have the legal right to cancel the contract and what is the best way to do so?

PHK

I am afraid there is no easy answer to this one. Mobiles are designed to be used when mobile, ans as such Three are still providing a service albeit not in a specific place you want it. It’s very unlikely that your contract guarantees coverage in a specific place or a fault free service. In fact, all contracts I’ve had have said they won’t. 

Furthermore, if a mast is in someone else’s land it can take days (or longer) to get permission from the landowner to even get the site inspected. 

So, to ‘legally’ be able to void the contract it wouldn’t be enough that you’ve been out of coverage in a specific place, you’d have to show that Three had done something wrong and not used reasonable skill or care in providing a service to you. That’s likely to be very hard to do. 

I think the best route to go down is not the legal route. If they problem continued and you aren’t satisfied with their response then To formally complain. Keep it short, stick to facts and be clear about what you want to happen. I think they’ll probably offer you a credit on your bill. But if you remain level headed, calm and persistent you might be able to get them to allow you to cancel (but remember that sites are often shared so you might have the same issue with another provider )  

brewerdave

The EE signal went down recently in my village- took several weeks for the mast to be sorted (on private land !) . Those who complained ,managed to get credits on their bills equivalent to their normal tariffs - didn't help those on PAYG tho'.

donglefan

O2 is still working here - fortunately i can borrow my housemate's phone for the most important calls.  Are there government guidelines that suggest at what point the company is expected to release you from contract due to absence of signal at your home?

Neil_Jones

donglefan said:

O2 is still working here - fortunately i can borrow my housemate's phone for the most important calls.  Are there government guidelines that suggest at what point the company is expected to release you from contract due to absence of signal at your home?

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/problems/mobile-faults-guide might be of interest.

You might want to consider yourself lucky though:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12178239/Whole-village-no-phone-signal-YEAR-faulty-O2-mast.html

(usual caveat of it being the Daily Fail so expect it to be totally OTT)

PHK

donglefan said:

O2 is still working here - fortunately i can borrow my housemate's phone for the most important calls.  Are there government guidelines that suggest at what point the company is expected to release you from contract due to absence of signal at your home?

Unfortunately no, as I mentioned it depends what is in your contract. I’ve never seen a contract that says they’ll let you out of the contract if you get no signal at a specific place. 

I would follow the advice in my post and in Ofcom’s FAQ to make a complaint. 

pramsay13

Make a complaint to Three and in the meantime buy a pay as you go SIM for O2 and use that. Include the costs in your complaint to Three. They are usually quite good at resolving complaints. 

400ixl

Can't you use wifi calling at home via your broadband as this is available on Three and will negate the issue with no signal.

Or are you also using this as your internet connection at home?

ProDave

I had similar with O2 / Sky Mobile, I lost the signal at home completely, and neither could get wifi calling to work on my phone.  I reported the loss of signal at home as a fault but a month later they reported the fault as fixed but still no signal at home.  At that point they agreed to release me from my contract and I moved to a different provider.

garyttt

an example of how the law is an !!!!!!. I would have thought that if you have a contract which necessitated you supplying an address for a credit reference, that infers unless you were buying a boat when you live in the middle of the desert, you reasonably expect to enjoy the fruits of that deal in return for coughing up a slice of your pay packet. Therefore if you can't enjoy the fruits of that contract due entirely to the other side's failure whether their direct fault or not, then they can't hold you liable for your end of the bargain. 
Now, they could just say they'll refund you in full for the missed days, but you could argue you wanted 99% up time for the whole duration of the contract. Certainly they must at least refund you those days, and not extend the contract. But suppose you make alternative arrangements for coverage which necessitates a new contract, to get a similar deal, or pay extra for a shorter term ongoing arrangement until such as, then you could argue that as they have materially prevented your enjoyment of the contract, and won't pay you compensation -  as apposed to simply refunding the portion of fees - then you should be entitled to end the contract early, as in effect they have ended it themselves through non service.
Get the right county court judge and they'd agree with you I suspect. 
But in general it's not right how the individual always has fewer rights and remedies for non performance of contracts than the big business has. If we cancel we get sued for the whole amount, if they cancel, they just cough up the smallest possible refund, after a fight and a long wait.
Contracts to be legal are supposed to be generally equal and equitable, except big business always has hat clout we don't.

PHK

That’s all supposition and guesswork on your part and not grounded at all in reality.