[delinquentwoody]

Well after 11 months on my 3 contract, the time had come to ring them and give them my 30 days notice to cancel it. I took my PAC code to transfer my number, but in the end decided not to use it as I took out another 3 contract and didn't think I'd be allowed to transfer it to the same network.

But - lo and behold - I kept receiving monthly bills for line rental for the phone I no longer had!

It took a total of 2 hours on the phone to 3, speaking to 6 different people for them to admit they had made a mistake and they had misinformed me about their procedures. Eventually I got a refund of the amount I had overpaid (a total of £60) (which they told me to claim through Direct Debit indemnity from my bank), and requested a final bill which was for a credit amount - but no cheque was included so I had to ring again to get this.

Apparently, what i was NOT told when it came to giving them my 30 days notice is that their system works like this.

Basically they offer 2 options.
1. Give them 30 days notice, and don't take a PAC code
2. Take a PAC code, which is valid for 30 days, if it is not used then the contract will not end.

It was this last small but important fact that 3 failed to mention. But because I had said to them 'I hereby give my 30 days notice of cancellation' they admitted they didn't have a leg to stand on as they hadn't told me this last fact. It was just a pity it took 2 hours on the phone to get back the money that was rightfully mine.

[Hands0n]

Important point re DD raised in the above ..... whenever you cancel a contract which uses a DD you should also make sure that you contact your bank to cancel the DD also, or do it online if you have an online bank account.

Yet another testimony to 3's abysmal CS and Admin.

[Ben]

See, I'd be very wary when cancelling a direct debit. When you cancel the contract the DD should end up being cancelled too. I always wait until the final bill is settled and no more bills are coming before cancelling a DD or checking it is cancelled.

Why? Well, if there has been a problem and the contract wasn't cancelled correctly then the next bill will possibly go unpaid. There's also the chance of extra charges. If the bill does go unpaid then there's a chance of it affecting your credit history. I know it can be incredibly annoying when a company collects a DD not owed to them, or collects too much, but taking a month to get your money back has to be better than six or so years of that unpaid bill residing on your credit history.

[Hands0n]

True if the final bill is not paid. I had trouble with 3 in the beginning days where they messed up continuously, they were cancelling the DD and then charging me the £3 for the billing! Long story short, I cancelled and asked for a final bill which they sent + £3 "Admin" which I paid gladly rather than spend hours on the phone to their CS (sic).

I'll likely do the same this time round to avoid developing a bad case of angina courtesy of their ineptitudes. £3 is a small price to pay for such peace of mind.

Cynical I know, but I've sampled the horrors of their CS several times too many to date.