Left Three, Final Bill Confusion

deepsea_diver

Hi All,
Been out of contract over a year, switched from Three to Lebara on the MSE 85p deal.
Switch has completed, number has transferred and all appears ok.
I cannot, for love nor money, get a straight answer out of 3 when, and what my final bill will be.
Normal bill taken from my bank 7-10th of the month. Switch completed yesterday on the 19th.
The way I see it is I get billed by 3 in April and that’s me done. But the CS rep bless his heart, spouted literal gobbledygook and took me what an awful mistake I’d made.
That was phone down and done, I cannot put myself through another call with these guys.

Am I right and April then clear or is it 30 days from completion so I’d be billed usual in April, and 10 days or so for May?

PHK

It’s too soon to say. 

As it’s a contract, certain things are billed in arrears (eg roaming, pay by bill etc) and three won’t yet know if any of these will need to be paid for because it takes time for these charges to reach Three

The date your payment is taken is also not the the important thing, it’s the date your bill is prepared that counts. 

This is why the general advice is not to cancel your direct debit until two payment dates have passed. 

deepsea_diver

Update, just been billed for period 19th March-18th April to be collected 7th April.
So they’ve billed me for 30 days following switch, which I’m ok with to finally escape. 

I’ll be binning the DD on the 8th. 😊

flaneurs_lobster

If you were out of contract then there's no notice period to serve if you used a PAC - you shouldn't be paying for service after your switch date. 

You will probably get ANOTHER bill which will show a credit for any days billed past your switch date. This will be credited using the direct debit details in place. 

This is why you SHOULDN'T cancel your DD on the 8th.

deepsea_diver

This is where it’s getting confusing damnit. 

The entire period of that bill is after the switch so why bill me?

Looks like I’ll be waiting till May to see if they credit it back.

tinker411

deepsea_diver said:

This is where it’s getting confusing damnit. 

The entire period of that bill is after the switch so why bill me?

Looks like I’ll be waiting till May to see if they credit it back.

Why is it confusing?

Your bill was issued on March 19th, and your port went through on March 19th. As their billing system can't see the future they'll have billed you on the assumption that you were staying (at least while the PAC was active).

Due to this, you'll get another bill issued by, if not before, April 19th, crediting you (to your DD account) for any days service they charged you for but you weren't with them.

deepsea_diver

Because they’re billing for a month after they know the switch has been completed.
If the switch completed 19th March then I’m no longer using their services, so why bill for another month?
It just seems unnecessarily complicated.

The switch (according to Lebara) took two days to process so it must of been requested prior to the 19th March.
Anyway, it’s done so thanks to all for your advice. 😊

PHK

deepsea_diver said:

Because they’re billing for a month after they know the switch has been completed.
If the switch completed 19th March then I’m no longer using their services, so why bill for another month?
It just seems unnecessarily complicated.

The switch (according to Lebara) took two days to process so it must of been requested prior to the 19th March.
Anyway, it’s done so thanks to all for your advice. 😊

It doesn't work like that. Until the port actually happens neither party knows if it will happen or be cancelled or a technical problem, so they can't cancel the account until the port is confirmed to take place. 

If that day is the day your bill is generated you could easily get a bill generated before the switch.