Upgrade with 3 - it's a steal!

[delinquentwoody]

I decided to give 3 a ring, 4 months before my 12 month contract ended, and selected the option "if you are thinking of leaving us, please press X" (which always makes me chuckle).

Anyway I told the friendly lady who answered straight away a little white lie: that P4U had made me an incredible offer and were going to buy me out of my contract unless she could offer me something better.

Which she did - I ended up with a shiny new N73 delivered *6* hours later the same day!

The tariff she offered me was a bespoke one, which she said she had specifically designed for me in order to beat my (fictional) offer from P4U. She also said she could only offer me this as I'd been a customer with them for over 2 years.

Basically, for a £315 commitment over 12 months, I've got the following.

Last 4 months of previous 12 month contract written off
Nokia N73
£180 worth of calls and texts per month
1GB of data per month, including ability to use phone as high speed modem!

The lady told me it isn't an official price plan, instead what they do to retain customers now is offer them a bespoke price plan which is what they've done to me.

I was curious when I got my new handset what it would say when I look on 'My 3' because it says the name of your tariff on there, but it simply says "Bespoke Tariff: £180 Allowance for use on all calls and texts except non-geographic numbers"

I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I've done too badly there! So my advice for anyone on 3 who's fed up with their handset is - ring them up, say P4U have offered you a better deal, and ask for an N73 on X series!!

Or hold out for the N95

[getti]

That plan is the 'Personalised Plan' which is matching Flext35

[Hands0n]

Gotta be careful with this one - is it really like Flext35? For sure, the £180 allowance is the same but what of the call charges that deplete that £180?

On T-Mobile Flext; Texts are 10p, Voice and MMS are 20p. Everything else is extra (Videocall, Data).

What are the call and text prices on 3 in relation to their version of Flext? I can't find anything useful on their website so I'm guessing that they're not really wanting you to know! Why?

[3GScottishUser]

Oh dear...... this sounds like another disaster waiting to happen. Verbal confirmation of a deal from a salesperson can end up greatly different from the actual package which only becomes clear when the 1st bill appears.

Retention staff have a reputation for promising the earth so the above comes as no surprise especially in 3's case as they are desparate to keep customers as it's much cheaper than paying dealer commisssions to gain new ones.

As for the call charges, if they are based on 3's out of contract bundle pricing then calls to 3 handsets and landlines cost 10p/min and calls x/net 25p/min, SMS is 10p each. There are different (higher) call charges on some tariffs so I think before commiting to what seems reasonable over the phone, ask for the details to be clarified in writing. Another couple of days is'nt going to make much difference one way or the other and would be worth it in terms of peace of mind.

NB: 3's T+C's makes it very clear that x-series does not include the use of a handset as a modem.

One last point..... Telling porkies to extract a better deal might just have the consequence of coming back to haunt you and some would point out that there might be some justice in that.

[a_ukboy]

I got a call for Three the other day, i've been offered the same deal but mines over 18 months, i do think its a very good deal.. One thing though i was told the the plan was a copy of the Flext 35, but i've since found out that its £180 on calls and texts, but on T-Mobile its also MMS, so not quite exactly a copy, also i've heard T-Mobiles updating there Flext tariffs from 1st Feb, so should i wait??

[Ben]

Yes, wait. T-Mobile are said to be adding further value to their tariffs. O2 are also expected to unveil new tariffs this spring, and Orange are said to be waiting to see what T-Mobile do before they announce theirs so they don't get totally blasted out of the water like they did when they launched Animals (quirky probably would have worked were it not for Flext).

[delinquentwoody]

I rang 3 to confirm the call charges on my tariff, and it's 10p per text and 20ppm for all standard voice calls (landline, any uk mobile), and MMSs are included at 25p each.

[delinquentwoody]

Also, 3GSU, I took your advice and have stopped using my phone a modem until my next bill comes through, just to be on the safe side, and boy am i glad i did! 3 days later I looked on my3 on the phone, and all of a sudden my current spend went from £0.00 to £224.61!!!! Which gave me the shock of my life.

So, obviously they do charge for modem use, however when 3 sold me the tariff over the phone I asked them at the time if it included modem usage and was told yes it did. They also said they would send me details of the contract in the post, and now it's exactly 4 weeks later and still haven't received anything.

I rang 3CS up straight away, and acted dumb, asking them where the £224 charges had suddenly appeared from. The lady said they were due to data charges, and I said 'Hang on a minute, I'm on the X series, so all my data is supposed to be included'. She put me on hold for 5 mins, spoke to her supervisor and came back and said 'yes, there must be some sort of error on the system, you will not be charged for your data usage you have made on the x-series tariff, and i don't understand why it is showing as a charge on your account.' I cunningly asked if it is possible to get the charge removed straight away, and she said unfortunately not, as the bills are calculated automatically at the end of each month, and if there is a problem when i get my bill i should ring them straight up, and that I will not be paying for anything included in my tariff.

Obviously the call centre lady, and her supervisor, didn't realise that modem usage isn't included in x series.

Now I find this whole thing really annoying, because I now know that I'm going to be billed for about £260-odd quid this month, despite being told verbally when i took out the contract, that modem use was included.

I'm really not looking forward to ringing 3 up on the 25th of this month, and arguing my case for a £225 discount on my bill! But whatever happens, there's absolutely no way I'm going to pay it as a matter of principle, because I was told it was included for the whole of the time I am on X series.

[Ben]

Well, don't let principle ruin your credit rating - worst comes to worst, pay the bill and then fight on for a refund.

Really sorry to hear you were misled and charged for your modem usage If I were you I'd try and get the upgrade cancelled immediately and look elsewhere for your next contract!

[3GScottishUser]

Bottom line is that call centre staff cant vary the terms and conditions to suit themselves.... that's just bonkers!!

Retention staff have targets to meet and woe betide anyone who believes everything they are told. I had a similar experience with BT but as they are a proper company wiith some credibility they confirm details in writing and have a cooling off period and I was able to cancel my agreed deal as I had been misinformed and the confirmation was clear evidence of the fact. Happily BT cancelled the deal and as a result of their shenanigans I dumped their Broadband and went elsewhere. So nastly untruthful proactive retention staff can be a liability!!

Sorry to hear about the charges but I had a feeling that I was right about them being able to correctly identify modem usage. I am sure there will be others who will also get caught out with this over time.

[miffed]

Frightening to think how high the bill might have gone ,had you not found out on here about the modem usage ! wonder how many people end up stung for a lot more ?
Wonder if it was a genuine case of an uneducated salesperson ? if not it certainly wouldn't be the first time a salesman has told a "white lie" just to make a sale
It does surprise me that Three seem to have picked up & acted on it almost instantaniously though - I have the T-mobile W&W standard £7.50 plan - so I am not allowed modem access, however , I used it for about two weeks over xmas , and about 4-5 weeks dotted around the year -and have had no complaints - If I look on "my t-mobile" , where it identifies individual calls as Web / Wap / t-zones etc , it just shows the modem calls as "web" and no charges are registered
I have heard that t-mobile will only wave the FUP at me if they do catch me - & certainly wouldn't bill me for all the modem use by all accounts - which thankfully is a much more civilised approach to Three's by the sound of it

[Hands0n]

T-Mobile's approach to data is a very healthy one for all concerned. They are getting a known amount of income, and the punter is getting a fair crack of the whip. Now that is what I call Sensible Trading.

Sorry to read about the staggering bill for £224 being run up by using x-series as a modem. As is said above, how many others will not even know about this until the first bill arrives? There will be much more bad feeling generated at 3 about this, and it is a shame really.

It is simply not good enough to refer the Customer to the T&Cs - who ever reads these anyway (apart from me!!!)? There should be a very clear and concise headline usage policy supplied to each x-series Customer outlining what they can and cannot do in Plain English. Anything less is exploitation of the Customer base.

That said, I much prefer T-Mobile's Web N Walk "do what you like" approach, and it is fairly clear what you are not allowed to do without having to trawl through reams of T&Cs.

I do hope that 3 fulfil the expectation set by their CS to you, but somehow I very much doubt it. You'll be obliged to pay the outstanding amount or, as Ben says, 3 will trash your credit reputation without blinking an eye. Then you'll have a bit of a fight on your hands to find a sympathetic ear that is empowered to actually remedy your problem.