Customer loyalty.....not

[snowy2]

I have been a customer of three for.....well about 7-8 years or so as both a contract customer and a PAYG customer at the same time. (i have 2 phones on the network in use every day) Sometime in late 2009 three offered me to keep me as a "loyal and valued" customer a lifetime (so long as i kept my number on the three network) discount of £10 a month on whatever contract i chose with them, (HTC Hero on 900 minutes mix and match and an internet add on for £19) and that discount would remain how ever many times i changed my tariff. 18 months later my contract comes to an end and three now say they are no longer prepared to honour the deal, the discount will only stay if i do not upgrade with a new handset.

So i ask for a pac code, and get offered an HTC Desire on the one plan on an 18 month contract for £17 a month, the deal would remain open to me until the end of May......and the lifetime discount would end, thus if i changed my tariff for a lower one it would actually go up in price!......except the new contract offer was withdrawn less than two hours later. they then changed my plan to the "one plan" and i pay £15 a month, but no phone even if i offer to pay extra for it!

I ask for a pac code again and now i am being offered the one plan for £10 a month on a 12 month flexible contract......but no phone.

I offer to pay £25 for the Htc desire s on the one plan but they say they cannot afford to give me that. odd because the one plan is normally £25, it would be a discount of £7 over the normal price of £32. they offer it to me for £28 but the desire s is £7 more than the one plan which i can have for £10 so add the £7 premium to the one plan and it should be £17.......the same as the earlier offer, i am offering £25???? they refuse.

As a last try to get them to see some sort of sense, i phoned tonight to get a deal out of them. all i ask for is for three to make an offer that is better than the offers i can get as a new customer, not much to ask.

So i get some details on the Samsung Galaxy S2 on three deals, (free hand set, 900 minutes "text" plan 1gb data for £30 inc VAT) via a third party provider. Three retention offer the same deal for £38! or the one plan for £40! these offers SUCK! they insist that they cannot even match the deals.

Three don't give a T*** about keeping existing customers, and will not honour a "life time" deal only offered 18 months ago, and will not even offer a deal as good as some research will get you!

Even though i use Skype fairly often, and the new deal i have found for the Galaxy S2 on three is about the best i can find with that hand set, three can get stuffed and i think Orange will get my custom for both my phones from now on.

They have treated a loyal (i know i am nuts) customer with contempt. Clearly they think i am some sort of idiot, who is willing to pay an extra £8 a month for the privilege of staying on the three network.....as if!

[Ben]

Hi, welcome to Talk3G!

Out of interest, were you dealing with Three's CS based overseas by any chance? :S

[snowy2]

yes and no, most of the time with the India CS sometimes with the Scottish neither will give me what they have promised. Even though i received an email from three executive office over 15 months ago (after a lot of problems actually getting the discount) stating the deal i was offered on the £10 discount was genuine and for life, it was the same three executive office that with drew the offer earlier this year. Life clearly means until three might actually have to cough up on the deal!
The Glasgow office have made some of the best deals, which they refuse to send me in an email or writing of any kind, they will often promise to hold the deal whilst i check it out but always when i call back to accept it is with drawn and a lesser deal is offered.

P.S. thanks for the welcome......sorry my first post is a rant ;-)

[snowy2]

Thinking about it....i might as well use the discount i get with out the phone deal on the 300 text plan (300mins a month) for £13, or to me £3 a month. so i still get free skype and msn and three get next to nothing from me, that will irritate them greatly and the 900 mins i get with the new orange/Tmobile contract will give me 1200 mins fora total of £33 a month for 18 months, a good deal all round and three get almost nothing. I will use their 300 mins first then swap to my other phone for the remainder of the month.

[Ben]

It's a bizarre situation to be sure. Companies really should never offer anything 'for life' - nothing about companies is ever permanent! But they did, and there's no excusing their performance, particularly where it has emanated from the executive office.

I gather they've changed your plan already to something other than what you were on previously? I suppose that's probably put a dent in your bargaining power as they've already 'retained' you. Perhaps if there's no deal you can get that you want then there's no point sticking around, though you could take the £3 deal as you say as it's a next-to-nothing cost so long as you'll make use of it :)

[snowy2]

Here is a copy of the email three sent to me after several months of hassle over receiving my £10 discount and the upgrade of my handset, this was sent after they informed me that the discount would no longer apply to a new hand set, (although it had previously, my last new hand set went to my wife) The deal i am on with three is the 30 rolling contract, so i have no contract with them and could leave or upgrade at any time.....

Dear David,

I can confirm that your price plan has now been changed to the One Plan, as agreed during our conversation earlier today. This will be effective from the date of your next bill on 6th February 2011.

The £10 discount that you have on your account will remain in place, so you will only be charged £15.00 for your price plan. I note you also currently have an X-Series Add-on active on your account for an additional £5.11 per month. If you would like to have this removed, please reply to this email and I will have this arranged.

I can also confirm that your monthly £10 discount will remain in place on your account, regardless of any future price plan changes. You will have to contact this office to make sure of this if you do decide to change your price plan.

In addition, if you do decide to upgrade your contract with a new phone at a later date, then the £10 monthly discount will be lost.

Again, thanks for contacting us and I hope that this email meets with your requirements.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Borland

Three Executive Office

This is my reply to this email, sent recently. It is worth noting that this email was only sent to me after i got "OTELLO" involved.

Dear Stuart;
I have decided to look for a phone contract which includes a new mobile phone, however since three are no longer prepared to offer me the "lifetime" discount agreed on 2 years ago, unless i do not receive a new phone in which case the discount will continue. I refer you to the email linked to this reply and specifically to the following quote.


" I can also confirm that your monthly £10 discount will remain in place on your account, regardless of any future price plan changes. You will have to contact this office to make sure of this if you do decide to change your price plan."

I have tried to negotiate a new deal with your retention staff however they are constrained by the deals on offer on your web site, and are unable to offer any deals outside of those offered to any new customer. I have tried numerous times and to be honest receive only insulting offers which can always be beaten on various internet sites with only the most rudimentary of searches.

The deals i have been offered range from the "One plan" on a 12 flexible contract deal for £10 a month (very good, but no phone, even when i offer to pay extra for the phone!!) It is incredible to me that three offer me the one plan at the price above and a new contract deal on a ned (for example) HTC Desire HD for £35 just £10 more than the normal sim only deal of £25 or my phone of choice the Samsung galaxy S2 for £40 a month at £15 above the one plan (so to me it could be as low as £25 in theory) or i could have the phone on the 900 text plan for £38....(in theory £23 to me)

I can in fact get the Samsung on the 900 text plan for £30 a month with the phone for free on a 24 month contract here.....

http://www.buymobilephones.net/mobile-phones/Samsung/Samsung-Galaxy-S-II/30,72930,All,tt1,ct1?&gclid=CK6_vvuP_KgCFQoa4QodXXBXSw#noAjTariffList?ad network=goog

It is clear that both the company offering the deal and three will be making some profit from the deal so everyone is happy, your retention staff after requesting a pac code could only offer me the deals noted above.
i.e. for the privilege of remaining a loyal customer of three you expect me to pay a premium of £8 a month! As if!
All i asked of your retention staff was to offer me a better deal than that offered to a new customer can get coming to Three, for a valued customer (on both PAYG and Contract) you think such a concession would be possible. since i could get the phone of my choice and a tariff i could live with (minimum of 900 minutes a month) for £30 a month and theory you could offer me the phone at as little as £25 a month on the one plan (your costings not mine!) i requested a tariff of £25 on the text plan or £28 on the one plan, thus offering Three something back in terms of the theoretical maximum discount i have been offered, but in line with the £10 discount originally offered. Both were rejected.

So i am at an impass, i have a pac code for both my PAYG phone and my contract phone, so i need to decide what to do. i think that i will transfer my PAYG to orange on a deal for the Samsung for the same contract effectively as your 900 text plan for the same price indicated above (the same site ) £30 a month. and i will reduce my price plan with Three on my contract phone to the rolling 1 month 100 minutes plan (£10 a month) thus with the discount confirmed as given in you email my bill will be £0 and my number is retained on the Three network.

You are about to loose a loyal Double customer and you are even going to have to pay me to keep me on the network, poetic justice for trying to renege on your offer to me two years ago. I have told your retention staff that the had to midnight last night to make me an offer, i am giving you until the end of the following week (the first week in June) when i will move to Orange or T-mobile and i will expect you will amend my tariff to the plan listed above (before the 6/6/11) to keep my "loyal" custom.
Yours Dave Adams