[Ben]

Three UK have begun texting customers advising them that a 1p charge for delivery reports on text messages will apply from June 6th 2011.

Under their own terms and conditions they are required to give you a month's notice of any changes that may be to your detriment.

Therefore anyone who has not been given sufficient notice could come to the conclusion that Three UK has breached these terms and conditions. I'm no expert, but you may be able to terminate your agreement early if you can demonstrate that you will be affected.

Perhaps more serious than the notice screw-up is the fact that Three, after going to such great lengths to make its tariffs transparent and great value, would introduce such a 'stealth fee'. It's absolutely at odds with all the advances they've been making lately, and my mind boggles as to how they could be so stupid as to risk tarnishing the brand that they've been doing such a good job of polishing up.

It looks like the mess surrounding tethering on 30-day One Plan wasn't a one-off. Somebody doesn't know what they're doing...

[hecatae]

and this is why so many wont take a longer contract than 30 days sim only, not worth the hassle if they change terms and conditions so quickly, cost me £180 to get out of my contract 2 years ago during a similar issue with 3 like home

[Ben]

They make it really, really hard to trust them.

[Hands0n]

This episode is so strange and out of keeping with Three's latest trend where it does indeed seem to be working so very hard on building up their brand reputation and loyalty. It was, indeed, a complete surprise to see Three impose this penny per delivery report tariff change, seemingly out of the blue.

Of course, Three are a business like any other and do need to make money while also supplying a viable service. But judging by the amount of negative feedback on Twitter, some of it quite emotive, this news has no been well received by the customers. So this does not appear to be quite the right thing to be doing just now, especially as they're attempting to win the public's trust.

Three are outreaching all over the place, with public events and campaigns. These have been well received. One really has to question Three's timing. Do they really need all of those little pennies? Isn't there a better, and less damaging, way to improve the already UK-leading ARPU that they generate?

For my own part I couldn't care less, simply because I do not use delivery reports (DR). I regard them rather like the email equivalent that tells the other person that you've opened the email that they've sent you. It is none of their damned business and so I tend to block all such requests in my email client. But I do, of course, understand that some folk leave DR switched on permanently. It irritates the hell out of me to get a confirm each and every time I send a SMS.

But this does appear to be something of an own goal by Three. I don't think that they can really afford to be doing that kind of thing at this stage in their renaissance.

[DBMandrake]

I didn't even realise Three supported delivery reports ? I've been unable to find the prefix code for delivery reports on Three....(since the iPhone doesn't have built in support for delivery reports...)

[Hands0n]

The codes to use in the UK are :

T Mobile *0#
O2 *0#
Orange RCT followed by a space
Virgin *0#

I have not been able to find a code for Three yet.

[3GScottishUser]

Yet again 3 UK send out the message that what you might have agreed to when you bought a deal is no certinty for the life of your contract.

1p per delivery report will probably earn them a very small amount of cash so you have to wonder why they would ailenate their customer with nonsense like this.

Full marks to 3 UK for strategic incompetence.

[Hands0n]

Seriously, how significant is this? The Three Twitter channel has had a few people complain and threaten to leave. Others claim to have done just that. The tweets are from the same narrow group of tweeters.

For what though? Are these people serious? Or seriously deranged? Why would you leave the most comprehensive 3G+ network in the UK, with the fastest network speeds of all, at this time, and the most universal coverage for the sake of SMS Delivery Notifications?

SMS is "fire and forget". It is not transactional nor is it guaranteed delivery. So why on earth are people using SMS for what they claim to be mission-critical or life-saving needs? If their messaging need is that vital then they seriously need to speak to the person at the other end. That is the only assured means of making 100% certain your message has got across.

I have been involved in messaging of one kind or another since 1970 and in all of that time the advances in technology, introducing store-and-forward paradigms, have done very little to convince me of the safety of using those technologies for mission-critical applications. There are exceptions, of course, but none of these are generally available on a smartphone.

So where exactly are these people going to go to after they leave Three? Where are they going to get the same deal of minutes, SMS and unlimited mobile data with Tethering, for example? Are they in an area that has worse or no coverage by the other network operators?

Really, if it is truly that important to them then they really have got to pick up sticks and go. But I would think it completely safe to expect the other network opertors, those that currently are free, will start charging also. They're all working on ever-difficult financial conditions and will be looking at all and any means to maintain income and profit margins. So what will they do then?

[Ben]

SMS delivery reports are a part of SMS. They accurately and reliably, in the UK at least, confirm delivery to the handset, which is surprisingly useful - especially in a world where networks like O2 randomly 'lose track' of their subscribers and don't deliver SMS for hours. Yes it's still happening.

The whole idea of charging for a component of what should be included in the cost of sending an SMS message in the first place is just ludicrous. It's a very desperate attempt to extract revenue from the customer base and, to be honest, a complete betrayal of all the progress that they've made that they can't even be bothered to give their customers proper notice of the change under their own contracts.

Today it's 1p for delivery reports. What other hidden costs are they looking to introduce?

[gorilla]

I'm going to have to jump to the defence of three here.

I do not know what a SMS delivery report is. I'm not aware that I use it, or have ever used it. It is not immediately clear to me how one would actually use the service or of it's value. Therefore, perhaps three are trying to phase an old (?) technology out which will save them money in the long run.

This must be for old customers as I have not had this text. Does that therefore mean I already pay 1p per SMS delivery report.

More troubling for me is that their £10 a month sim only tariff has done away with the 3000 3-3 calls! (or however many it was)

And another thing, who actually sends texts these days? And please don't say "kids" ;-) I can barely send 200 a month.

[Ben]

That's still 6-7 texts a day - if that's barely using SMS then it's still alive and well ;)

I send over 1k a month. What can I say, I like texting.

I'd use DRs if the iPhone supported them natively. I use them on FishText; the ability to get DRs is probably my favourite feature.

It's the principal that outrages me. A little reminder that despite all the PR, companies will be companies just like boys will be boys.

[Hands0n]

It's the principal that outrages me. A little reminder that despite all the PR, companies will be companies just like boys will be boys.

Three are, very understandably, quite keen to reproduce the 'making a profit' thing that they did over the previous financial year. Hutchinson Wampoa have been funding the venture for some considerable time, more to be in the game than to make a huge profit. If you look at HW's history and their company it becomes somewhat easier to understand the [inscrutible] minds that are at work launching and supporting Three across the years.

I am not convinced that charging a penny a DR is going to make them shed-loads of money, but it will help. I do worry about what any mobile operator is going to do to claw back some ARPU, and we've all seen them do it - sometimes disasterously. This will cost Three some little goodwill, but they've survived far worse - and inexplicably continue to do so with their god-awful customer services shambles.

But of recent times Three's overall proposition has improved beyond belief. Who would have believed, for example, back in Bob Fuller's days that 3, now Three, would be selling AYCE Internet with completely unfettered access! The nay sayers continue their barking at the moon, meanwhile Three keep moving on to bigger and better things. As Dan's recent foray into London with their new HSPA+ dongle can attest to. I won't steal his thunder here.

[gorilla]

Just to clarify, on average I wont send 200 SMS per month, far from it! I don't think it's dead or dying out, just that there are lots of competition for it.