3 is the cheapest, but is it best

fuzzballjunior · 29 September 2008 at 10:16AM

I recently upgraded my 4 contracts on 24 September 2008 as I was offered a deal which I believed was better than alternative networks.
Despite having major problems last year, when they didn't honour the contract agreed with me. I figured surely it must be ok this time.
I had actually decided to move to Orange and requested PAC codes for my phones but the operator (Constancio Rodriguez) offered me an extra 2000 mins to 3 mobiles and unlimited internet. This was on top of the 750 mins and unlimited texts for £25 pm.
As Orange were not giving me unlimited internet, I decided to stay with Three. What a foolish mistake.

I was given a delivery date for all 4 phones of 26 September. Only 3 phones arrived. I called Three that day to find out what happened to the other phone. I was told it would definitely be delivered on that day. However, it did not arrive. I called after 6pm to notify Three. I was told that it had been held up in the system but it would arrive on 27 September.
In order to prevent any further confusion and as I had major problems last year when upgrading (I agreed a new tariff, only to discover at my next bill date that the new tariff was not what had been agreed) I asked the operator to send me an email for each of my 4 contracts outlining the terms of the deal I had been offered. I again specified that I had been offered unlimited internet and this was confirmed.

However, on receipt of the emails (I only received 3 emails, not 4) I noticed that the unlimited internet was not detailed. So, I called Three again to ensure that this was added. The operator then told me that the unlimited internet was not in my notes. I explained that I had most definitely been given such an offer which had been confirmed by other operators ( I clarified with each operator I talked to that I had unlimited internet on all 4 contracts. Each operator (at least 3 operators) confirmed that I had unlimited internet).
I was then transferred to Benedict who told me that unlimited internet was not on my notes and that Three would never offer such a deal. You can understand my shock as this deal had been confirmed by more than one operator, which suggests that, at one time, the unlimited internet was on my notes and has since been removed.
After this I was told that my new phone would be deliverd on 30 September. Another mistake.

I have been a customer of Three for at least 4 years and expected better service than I am getting at present.

I agreed a deal which kept me with Three, but now I feel that Three are in breach of contract.

I can offer no evidence because all I made was a phone call. It would be possible for Three to check my conversations if they were recorded and this I would gladly support. However, they just fob me off with "it is not possible to do anything". This is total rubbish.

I would like to cancel my contracts but have been told that because I have used 3 of the phones I cannot return them. It was not unreasonable to expect to use the phones until I discovered they had not provided the agreed contract, so I thought.

So, I am left an unhappy customer. I do not have the offer I agreed with Three and I cannot get out of my contract.

If the unlimited internet add on was given to my 4 contracts I would be appeased for the moment. However, I will never deal with Three again. Customer Services are a total sham. How can they offer me a deal and then deny it later. There is something very wrong in their system and I do not trust them.
If Three care about customer relations there is a very simple solution - give me what was promised to me - unlimited internet.
I am cancelling my 4th contract and going with Orange.
Sorry for the rant.

Sui_Generis · 29 September 2008 at 3:52PM

Call Trading Standards at your local council, they may help.

frimo_2 · 29 September 2008 at 10:12PM

I have been in your shop in************ today and left absolutely furious. My contract has come to an end. The £15 a month one. While in the shop I asked could I upgrade to a new phone and plan. The manager who I took to be very unprofessional and his couldn't care less attitude. I asked could I go on the new promotion on your website for the Samsung soul phone. 750 minutes and unlimited text. He printed of a letter from a template to cancel my contract. Its highlighted I DO NOT REQUIRE CONTACT FROM YOU IN RELATION TO THIS MATTER. I asked to speak to the manager, he said it was him. I then asked him to put me in contact with his area manager, I was told he didn't have one as such. I then asked to speak to customer service. This was in India, I had to keep repeating myself over and over again. I then asked to speak to a supervisor. He told me the offer was not available in the shops. Your web page clearly states it is. He did offer to post the phone out. I never buy of the internet, so declined the offer. I could not believe what I was being told. Cancel then, sign up again with a different number. I asked to cancel my phone also my broadband. The number for my broadband is ********** If thats how you run your business then its not for me. Therefore please cancel both phone and broadband. I told the manager he should be in a different profession as his customer services fell short. He just smirked and shrugged his shoulders. Am sure there are plenty of firms willing to provide me a good service for what would of been £35+ per month. I shall also ask my friends not to renew. Were supposed to be in a credit crunch and this is how you treat your customers. The address I was told to send the cancelation letter to was P.O box 333 Glasgow G2-9AG. I really hope someone take's a good look at this correspondence. Because I am Baffled.

Frimo

fuzzballjunior · 30 September 2008 at 4:48PM

As I said above, I tried to cancel the contract for my phone yesterday. What a pile of poo! This notion of customer service from India is a disgrace. I have repeated myself over and over again to at least 6 operators; each one intent on persuading me to, not only stay with Three but to increase my tariff - unbelievable!
When I asked to cancel yesterday I was told to hold on - this happens everytime you call. I've spent 4 hours on the phone to Three this week repeating the same information - it's crazy!
When I said I want to cancel he then asked me why I was leaving, so i told him. The poor customer service and the breach of contract. He then put me on hold again. He comes back suggesting I had a good deal and that I would be best staying with Three. These people do not listen.
He explained that if I asked for a PAC code and didn't use it within 30 days I'd have to give another 30 days notice. I said I wanted to cancel anyway. So, he then puts me on hold again and comes back to tell me that as I was cancelling this contract, my other three contracts would lose their discounts. Flabergasted I reminded him that I had 4 separate contracts and one should not influence the other. Of course he insisted that this is what would happen. I became increasingly frustrated by their sheer arrogance and incompetence and demanded to speak to the manager. This resulted in the operator putting me on hold and returning to say that I could cancel without it affecting the other contracts. Sense at last? I don't think so. He then gave me a sales pitch when it was clear that I just wanted to cancel. We went around in circles and I felt so helpless.
From this point I was tired and became confused. I was so conscious of not cocking things up or losing my temper that in the end I came off the phone having not cancelled so I could get another deal first. Another 30 mins wasted.
I soon realised my mistake and called straight back. The same routine again. It gets so boring. This time the guy tells me that I can't cancel my contract because I had agreed to an upgrade and the phone was being delivered. I should cancel once I had refused delivery of the phone. I said, I am now refusing delivery, please cancel my contract. I explained that I was out of the house on the delivery date, therefore I could not possibly accept delivery. I told him that I had only just been on to cancel 10mins before and that there had been no problem then, if I had wanted to cancel. He had the cheek to tell me not to raise my voice - give me strength! So, another call another waste of time.
Today, I came home to a delivery note: "Sorry you were out . . ." So I called to cancel. Same routine, put on hold, asking me why I want to leave, "let me see what I can do for you", and another 30 mins on the phone. I repeatedly told the woman that I was unhappy with the service and wanted to cancel. She would not give up asking me what kind of contract I wanted. I told her that that info was irrelevant, I wanted to leave Three. I was banging my head against the wall.
Thankfully, she backed down when I explained that I was home for lunch didn't have anymore time.
The whole admin at Three is diabolical! I will never take out another contract with them and will do my best to dissuade other from joining. They are arrogant and have disgusting sales methods. I am seriously appalled at such service.
Thank you for listening. I feel better now.:T

frimo_2 · 1 October 2008 at 3:56PM

Best way is put it in writing, recorded delivery. Like many others would not touch three with a barge pole again:beer:

aaranj · 2 October 2008 at 10:24PM

Handset: Sony Ericsson W660i (Originally Nokia 6288)

Most commonly used location: Liverpool

Ease and reliability and connection: Good

Any other problems: Very poor customer service from call centres, especially regarding upgrades, cancellations and just about any other problem you may have. However in-store staff have been very helpful.

Overall service and rating (out of 10): 3/10

xtrouble · 4 October 2008 at 8:41AM

3 customer service is shocking. I had 2 contracts a few years ago, and they were a nightmare. I was on the phone for 2 hours some days to "customer services" to try and sort out various problems. I think Fonejacker must have had a 3 contract at one stage.

Unfortunately, I was stupid enough to be seduced by the 15Gb for £15 mobile broadband offer. Needless to say I got connection speeds approaching my pre-broadband days (approx 5k per second !). I phoned to cancel only to wait in a queue for 1 hour yesterday.

laneontour · 4 October 2008 at 9:12AM

Handset: Nokia 6500 slide

Most commonly used location: Brighton

Ease and reliability and connection: Good, but not as good as Vodafone

Any other problems: Main issue is that 3 have changed their T&Cs to add £1 to my bill unless I change to paperless billing. I am fully in agreement with a paperless world BUT I expect any change to be a reduction in my charge if I decide to opt in, not an additional fee if I don't. I signed a contract on the agreement of my price and the service, and that included paper bills. If the company wish to cut their costs and go down this line, then great, but drop the monthly fee the customer pays. I am wondering if Hutchinson are allowed to change the contract to charge more anyway? I have asked and they believe they can if they give some notice. Does anyone know? Since 3 have wrongly charged me on many occasions, I like to check my bill every month and I know this will be harder with paperless bills.

I had a 6500 classic initially but I had to change it due to broken camera and buttons did not work intermittantly. Same happened to 2 others I know.

Overall service and rating (out of 10): 5

xellieqx · 5 October 2008 at 5:44PM

rich2011 wrote: »

I just noticed this thread, my own story of 3 terrible customer service :

Recently my current contract on 3 was up for renewal and I was thinking of leaving, so I contacted their customer services for my PAC code to transfer to O2.

After an hour long battle on the phone talking to a guy called Kailash in India, I agreed to stay with 3 for an N95 8GB, 12 month contract, discount on my previous tariff and X-series silver internet (usually £5 p/m) for *free*.

I received my new phone some days later and phoned up customer services again to check that what we had agreed above was still correct before using the phone. I originally spoke to a girl in the accounts department who said yes everything was the same EXCEPT the X-series internet access was actually £5 extra, so I asked to be transferred to cancellations department again as this wasn't what we had agreed. She transferred me to another guy in India called John who looked at it, and said - actually it IS included for free - "she was mistaken".

On this information, I started using the phone (big mistake)

I received a letter through some days later with my contract details, no mention of the X-series silver. Again, phoned up 3 and was told - "it's actually extra" - was a little bit angry and told the customer service guy I want to cancel the contract because of this. He obviously knew that I'd started using the phone and immediately said "sorry you can't cancel this contract now" . I was understandably p***** off and asked to be put through to Kailash's supervisor (called Alastair) - and promptly got cut off waiting. Had to phone back and explain my story to another girl who said the same thing "you can't return your phone now, I will get Alastair to call you"

So it seems that 3 sell contracts and agree to a deal over the phone, send it out and can go back on what they say at a later date after which time you are powerless to do anything about it.

What's the best way to take this further ? - I would imagine it's best to write in letter as phone calls are pointless to 3. Has anyone had any experience of who to write to ?. Is there an ombudsman to write to after 3 probably being no further help ?

They're all called John. I spoke to loads of people called John the other day.

rich2010_2 · 7 October 2008 at 12:28PM

xellieqx wrote: »

They're all called John. I spoke to loads of people called John the other day.

I don't doubt that. I've now talked to 3 customer services in Glasgow who are saying that their transcriptions of the calls don't show that the operators agreed to anything that we actually did agree to on the phone. So now taking it further with Otelo and sent off to 3 Data Protection for a copy of all these so called "transcriptions" and will hopefully see what "Johns" name really was.

They even offered me a goodwill gesture and said that they thought the operators would have looked at my previous contract by mistake, so they're in effect admitting that they made a mistake but still refusing to honour the contract in full.

My advice to anyone talking to 3 customer service and agreeing deals etc is either record the calls yourself (you can get call recording applications for mobile phones - wish I'd done that) or get it in writing first because they will tell you anything they want. DO NOT USE YOUR PHONE until you've got hard proof that your contract is what you originally agreed.

3 is the cheapest, but is it best

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