[alanken_uk]

Hi,

Last week I took out an 18 month contract with 3 with 10 months half price line rental.

My receipt shows 10 months half price, but I just got my first bill which says I will receive the half price rebate for six months.

I emailed 3 customer service and got a call about an hour later (impressive) telling me that the half price offer is only for 6 months but the store should have given me cashback for the other four months (less impressive).

I will go back to the 3 store tomorrow and query this, but I am worried at such confusion so early on. I'm aware that I have 14 days to cancel my contract (a pain as I've been credit checked), so will see what they say for themselves.

Has anybody encountered this or know how this should work? I don't particularly want to cancel the contract but I'm worried I'll get 6 months down the line and have a fight on my hands. I've been screwed by Vodafone a few years back on a similar deal and if I can't be sure I'll get out while I can.

Any advice???

Cheers,

Al.

[Hands0n]

Hello Al and welcome to Talk3G.

Sorry to hear that your first taste of one of the 3/Dealer offers has been soured so early on. But I suspect that you have nothing to fear - providing that you get hold of all the details as quick as you can, and within the 14 days.

If you bought from a 3 Dealer then what has most likely happened is that the Dealer themselves have extended 3's standard 6-month discount by another 4 months as an incentive to you to buy. But to find this out for sure you must read carefully the contract that the Dealer will have, required by law, given to you at the point of sale - or on their website. This will set out the obligations that you have to follow to the letter in order to get the Cashback from the Dealer. Be careful here, because if you make a mistake the Dealer will not honour the Cashback. The forums are legend with these instances!

The way the Cashback [usually] works is that you will be obliged to present the Dealer with the 3 bill for the months following month 6. This might just be month 10 or it may be each of the four subsequent months after month 6. You must find this out from the contract fairly urgently, and before you allow the 14 days to expire - if you are serious about possibly getting out.

It is unlikely that you are being screwed, unless the dealer is some small local that might not be in business by the time you will claim your Cashback.

Do let us know how you get on, or ask more on here if you get stuck.

All the best.

[alanken_uk]

Hi, many thanks for replying so quickly.

I took the contract out last Monday in the Three Store within Superdrug in Liverpool.

I was careful when I took out the contract and asked if the 10 month half price was by redemption rather than only paying £15 for the first 10 months. The salesman assured me that I would only pay £15 per month for the first ten months and that the offer was not by redemption.

The offer is being widely publicised in three stores and in its magazine.

I will see what they say. If it is by redemption I will probably cancel, which may be a bit drastic, but I don't want to get tied down to a company who missold me something. The copy of the contract I got is very vague, it says 6 months half price line rental on the printout, but the salesman stapled a till receipt to the contract which says 10 months half price.

Was happy with 3, so hope I don't end up having to cancel.

Al.

[Hands0n]

No problem, I was just walking by :D

Hmmmm, it does rather sound like you are going to have to pull the store manager over to one side and have a word or two. I'd not bother with a regular sales creature, they probably do not have any licence to make a decision, and that and some authority is what you want. Misselling is strictly not on, and the Three store owe it to you to make sure that you have all the information necessary to secure your discounted rental.

There is a disconnect between the 3 stores and 3 itself - I'm not entirely sure what it is but often one does not know what the other is doing. 3's CS (particularly Mumbai) will know even less! All that makes for a very frustrating Customer experience, and a particularly major reason for their Customer loss.

The remedy is at the 3 store itself for sure as that is your point of purchase, they are your Dealer and so, in law, must resolve this for you. If they start giving you the runaround then get out of the contract immediately. You can always go in again if you want to stay with 3.

If you do think of looking elsewhere I can heartily recommend a review of T-Mobile's Flext and possibly their Web 'N Walk option if you want that sort of thing. These are very competitive with all the networks and astonishingly good value for money.

[alanken_uk]

Thanks,

My biggest worry is that the store will say all is well and then after the 14 days have passed I'll get another bill showing the discount for only six months and have to argue again without the get out option!

Anyway, will see how it goes tomorrow.

Ironicaly, my other choice was T-Mobile with web and walk and only opted for 3 due to the half price line rental offer as t-mob worked out at 32.50 per month where I was supposedly getting £15 for the first 10 months on 3!

Will let you know. Cheers.

Al.

[alanken_uk]

Ok, now I'm confused!!

First 3CS tell me I'm on six months half price, then the store tell me it's 10, then 3CS tell me after 6 months they'll credit my account with 60 pound to cover half of the next 4 months!!

The store seem to know what they are talking about but I'm aggitated that CS seems to be in India and whilst trying to be helpful, just seem to lack knowledge.

Not the best of starts.... does anybody know if there is still a call centre in Scotland somewhere who may be more helpful?

I've also just discovered that Yahoo on 3 internet is little more than the basic wap site that I used to get on O2 for free!!

Unsure what to do as yet, kind of like 3 services, but also regret not going on that web and walk tariff with t-mobile! First impressions don't inspire confidence!!

[Hands0n]

The Indian CS of 3 are legend in their inefficiency and ineptitude - and I'm being as kind to them as I possibly can. I have had horrendous experience with the 3 Indian CS in the past. All other aspects of 3 are reasonably acceptable, even enjoyable, but the CS operation are the ruination of what should be a rather enjoyable Customer experience. It is lamentable that 3 have done nothing tangible to resolve the CS issues which are widely bemoaned on almost every single Mobile phone forum in the UK/World!

Regardless of what you have been told, do you have this in writing anywhere such that you can later recall it for proof of the contract that you have entered into. If noone can give you any written information to support your contract my strongest advice would be to terminate within the 14 days - or you will literally be taking your chances, and will most definitely not be able to rely on 3's CS to remedy your issue.

The UK CS is still around, but it is not that easy to get to them. In practise, I found that I got probably the greatest response and satisfaction dealing with 3's (UK) CS via their eMail webform - it seems to hit the UK desk rather than Mumbai. The UK CS are quite helpful, even calling you on the phone to discuss your matters. By comprison Mumbai are as useful as the proverbial methane discharge in a spacesuit.

If you are at all unconfident my advice is to get out while you can.

[alanken_uk]

Cheers,

The only thing I have is a till receipt showing 10 months half price which the salesman stapled to my contract which says 6 months half price!!

To be honest, I'd sort of made my mind up to take may chances and stick with it. With this in mind I connected to yahoo and the internet and am really dissapointed to find that what is on offer web wise is pretty pathetic and that each site is more wap than web!

Maybe I was expecting too much, but Yahoo wap on O2 offers more than Yahoo web on 3!! Other sites I've tried are much the same, almost not worth the effort. In two minds still (mainly because of the hassel of issuing another number and because of having to have another credit check so soon) but wish I'd gone with T-Mobile!!

[Ben]

Another credit check so soon shouldn't do you too much harm, though 3 frequent checks in the past 3 months can sometimes be detrimental. CPW messed up one of my contract applications once and checked me 3 times in the same day but it didn't cause trouble.

If you want the full web with a massive usage allowance for next-to-nothing then T-Mobile is the way to go, and those Flext tariffs are pretty sensational.

[alanken_uk]

Cheers for all the advice.

To update, I still have the handset but am planning on returning it on Friday as the experience has gotten worse.

I actually like the handset and the service is ok but I don't feel I can trust CS over my tariff as I now have 4 different answers regarding what contract I am on.

The mobile web as 3 call it is almost rivaling the old "surf the BT Cellnet" adverts in its claims to provide mobile web sites. In my opinion it is a poorer experience than wap on other networks as you keep hitting the wall and what sites you can access render so poorly it makes them not worthwile (though this latter point could have something to do with my handset (moto v3x), I think maybe the N70 etc would do better?

I have also discovered that I am charged 10p for sending email, which the store told me would be free as long as I used there browser rather than the pop/imap client on the phone.

All in all, it's a mixed bag. I like the 3 services and I particularly like "My 3", but the customer service etc makes me think I need out!!

T-Mobile here I come (I think, despite all of this negative stuff, I still quite like 3!!)

[Hands0n]

T-Mobile here I come (I think, despite all of this negative stuff, I still quite like 3!!)

That's the funny bit with me too. I like 3, a lot. But for the life of me I cannot actually trust 3 one jot (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/jot). They broke that trust way back at the beginning when they really stuffed me on the 3ToGo, and it took quite a considerable bit of forgiving on my part to come back to them for a contract last year (2005/6). That contract expired at the beginning of this year just at the time T-Mobile brought out Flext + Web N Walk plus a marvelous 25% discount for life! Too good to resist.

I do not think you'll go very wrong with Flext + Web N Walk - they have it fully running with their own Opera Mini configuration running. It is quick and slick, the homepage is nicely populated with useful links - and the websites you visit are the originals, not culled or WAP copies. That is not always a plus, but it at least means that your access [to the Internet] is unfettered.

For sure, some have run into problems with T-Mobile, as with any network. It really is a horses for courses thing. You'll have the usual 14 days to accept or reject. If you are really not sure if T-Mobile will work in your areas of work, living and play the best thing is to try out a £2 T-Mobile (http://www.t-mobile.co.uk/Dispatcher?menuid=weboffers_personal_sim_only_payg ) or Virgin easyMobile (https://www.easymobile.com/) (who are currently offering £25 free airtime for a £5 SIM!!) or other T-Mobile MVNO SIM in an unlocked handset for a few days to monitor the signal performance where you go. Then, if you're happy you can assuredly buy into a pukka T-Mobile contract - that is exactly what I did despite advice from so-called local "in the know" who said T-Mobile's coverage was weak in my area, it is anything but!!

Good luck with this and do let us know how you get on .... a fascinating thread :)

[alanken_uk]

Been to London on business today and things got worse still!!

Most of the train journey (Liverpool - Euston) I had no service. On a few occasions when the signal meter was registering a signal and the handset was showing 3g I attempted to call / text and received an error saying unable to access network!

I managed to send three emails but none of them arrived and one that I know was sent to me has so far not arrived!!

I can't live with this and am so glad I discovered these faults within the 14 day period.

Will return it in the morning.

Thinking of MDA Compact on Web & Walk.

Cheers.

[Hands0n]

T-Mobile eMail via the 6280 client is instant, by the time I get to my regular eMail client the message has arrived in the inbox. Very impressive.

Not sure why 3's eMail would be so slow - although their MMS was always rather unpredictable. I've had MMS delivered by 3 over 24 hours later! By contrast, using Orange, Vodafone and now T-Mobile it is virtually immediate.

[hecatae]

Motorola v3x has bugs with the three firmware

http://www.7900novadrive.com/v3/v3x.htm latest firmware, flash