3G just stuffed me - HELP!

Scougar

Scougar

Scougar

Soldato
Joined
30 Jan 2007
Posts
15,509
Location
PA, USA (Orig UK)
OK, basically... end of contract my 18 month £30 a month contract. Call to cancel and get off 3G and after a LOT of haggling, the lady offers me N95 8GB for £18 a month and 18 month contract.

I think all is dandy, and getting used to new phone for the first day. When I check 'my account' on the phone, it turns out they have signed me up for a £15 a month contract (for 18 months) AND a £15 a month Video add-in that I haven't been informed of.

I will say that again.. I was never informed of having any other charge other than the £18 a month.

So after a very long phone call and them trying to say I can't return the phone because I have 'personalised it' (That means I called them, sent 3 texts and used the planet 3 button to check my account, and accidently pressed the internet button causing 0.05p expenditure), all it seems I can do is get off them a k800i to replace this N95 and go on there £15 or £18 month (I'm so fuming I can't remember now as I was so ****** off by the end of the last 3 minutes of the call that lasted 45 minutes-ish to them).

Basically, I have been misold a plan and phone and they are effectively stealing off me, and locking me into a contract that I hadn't agreed to. What the heck can I do, as they apparently won't now accept a cancellation.

As background info: The woman I was talking to had already been informed by me that £30 was too much and that was the reason I was cancelling originally with three, so the £18 a month was obviously appealing with the N95 GB

Help :(

Matthew
 
You have a 7 -14 day cooling off period? when you sign upto a contract, therefore they cannot refuse to cancel it if you have only had it a day!
 
Yes 3G/Three (I realise 3G is the technology).

After I agreed to the contract there is an automated message saying don't personalise the phone else you can't return it blah blah.

Now that is fine as I am happy with the phone. The point is they screwed me on the contract which I never agreed to.

I have no idea how this affects the 14 day cooling off period though for distance selling? I couldn't care less about the phone, I just thought I'd try haggling for once and she offered me a fantastic deal, it just turns out that the deal she said isn't the deal I got.

Seriously, that is a £216 over 18 months for a feature I will never use and was never even mentioned to me.

Matthew
 
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Yeah Three don't just give you a phone these days, you pay extra per month (which includes the video call minutes). Send it back since you were obviously misold the contract. They should have a recording of the conversation you had when you agreed to the deal.
 
Is their a law against being misold etc, especially via distance selling.

Is that even legal, to tell you about not using the phone, then expect no comeback if you find out you have been misold?

Matthew
 
3 are a bunch of towel wearing *******. They will try and rob you at every possible opportunity. Their list of complaints is endless.

NEVER , EVER deal with 3. Its also hard to understand their crappy english as well.
There should still be a law that protects you so call trading standards about them, you won't be the first i guarantee it.

Things i hate:
1. Smoking
2. The 3 network and all the gimps that work for 3.
 
I am due a 3 upgrade at the moment and will be calling this week to "cancel" with the intention of getting a cheap contract, so I'll be careful. I have had lots of trouble with 3's customer service and I have learnt to record all my phone conversations with them myself. However, I stick with them because as along as everything works, the price plans are great.

Last year when I threatened to cancel but eventually upgrade, they offered me a new phone with half price line rental or keep my existing phone with free line rental for the whole contract duration. Needless to say, I took the latter, effectively making free calls and sending free messages all year. Not stuffed then, and hopefully won't be at all this week.

I do realise that they offer "free" phones through paying for video minutes etc.
 
It isn't free if they haven't told you about a £15 charge on the phone. I will sure be recording everything next time!

Apart from them agreeing to swap for a K800i (No idea if it's any good, I just didn't want to get off the phone without being completely and utterly screwed). I confirmed the k800i was free however as the N95 should have been.

I still can't believe they are doing this, it is scandolous.

I should have just said I hadn't used the phone even though I was calling from it, but frankly, I prefer to be honest unlike 3.

Any other advice/help appreciated.

Matthew
 
phone again and ask to speak to a manager - they should be recording the calls. also did you not get a letter explaining the contract before you used the phone? If you did and it explained the charges in there then I'm afraid you are stuffed, but if not then I'm sure you can get this sorted.
 
No there was no letter explaining the contract, the phone turned up in a box and that was it. No mention at all of contract changes or charges (believe me, I looked!).

I have now written an email to [email protected] and just received an automatic response within a minute of: Thank you for your e-mail highlighting your concerns. This has been forwarded to the correct department for investigation. Your e-mail has been forwarded to [email protected]

Hopefully something can be done about it as it really isn't acceptable for this to happen. Even if it gets sorted out, I may need help with making a complaint to Ofcom as this appears to be happening to more than just me.

Anyway, I wrote (plus my details excluding from quote):
Hi,
I have been mis-sold a contract by a Three(3) employee and cannot get a suitable resolution.

This will be my 4th Three(3) phone and the first contract I have been frustrated with on the FIRST day (This is today).

After calling to cancel my contract as it had been 19 months on an 18 month contract, and I wanted to go pay-as-you-go as I felt that £30 a month was too much to be paying, the employee eventually agreed (after much talk), to give me an £18 a month contract, with an N95 8GB for 18 Months. That seemed like a very good deal. I confirmed I would be paying only £18 a month and that was confirmed.

After receiving the new handset and looking it over, I charged it up, and used it for 3 texts and then checked my account using "My 3". I soon discovered I was actually on a £15 a month contract and not the £18 a month contract agreed, and I was being charged an additional £15 a month for a video add-on I had never even been informed of. I am effectively about to have £12 a month stolen from my account. I will put that simply: I was never informed of having any other charge other than the £18 a month, which I believe to be completely illegal. Why is the contract not the contract I agreed to over the phone? After looking on your own Three(3) forums, it seems I am not the only person who has been mis-sold/lied to in an identical way. How after expressing that I did not wish to continue due to the cost of £30 a month contract, have I ended up with a £30 a month contract after agreeing to £18 a month?

Now after being referred to as a "Loyal Customer" after 18 month contract, and her not knowing my previous Three(3) phones, I was actually rather agitated.

After phoning customer services and being passed to three operators, I have had to currently accept the exchange to an K800i so that I won't be paying the £15 video add-in charge, which still leaves me in the position with having to keep the contract (Although I am already reading on the Ofcom website about being Mis-sold and looking to make an official complaint to Ofcom and possibly Trading Standards). Given that without having the N95 I would not have actually continued using the Three(3) service, I this really is an inadequate solution.

After this I am quite frankly have no real desire to continue the contract and certainly in am in no position to recommend three.

I would like you to find out why I was not informed of a £15 a charge (effectively theft), have been put on a contract I never agreed to (£15 a month instead of £18 a month), and am looking for either recompense and/or complete termination of this contract which I am one day into.

This is not how you treat a long term customer.
Click to expand...

Matthew
 
Robert said:
That isn't a video package, it's how you pay for the phone.
Click to expand...

That's all well and fine, with the exception of Me: "So that's only £18 a month I pay?", Response "Yes".

I couldn't give two hoots about a video add-in, I've never used it and never will, if I'd even known it was going to be included (and charged for!) I wouldn't have gone for the deal and would have continued to cancelling my phone contract with Three (3). I wanted to reduce my costs, not keep them the same.

Matthew
 
are you sure they are not gona put a discount into your account?

my contract is £55/m with some add-ons but i get £20 loyalty discount so its £35/m which is the price agreed when i signed up a new contract
 
A2Z said:
are you sure they are not gona put a discount into your account?

my contract is £55/m with some add-ons but i get £20 loyalty discount so its £35/m which is the price agreed when i signed up a new contract
Click to expand...

It mentions no such loyalty discount on my account page, and the Three people mentioned nothing of the sort when I enquired about my minimum expenditure.

Honestly, my average bill is between £34 to £70 anyway, but that is not the point as it is more about reducing the minimum spend when I need to. If they have agreed to go with a certain contract then it should be honoured as agreed. If I cannot enforce what they verbally told me, why can they enforce one me that which I wasn't informed of?

Matthew
 
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I recently upgraded to the N95 8gb with three...I was told (i did it in my local shop so I didnt have to wait for the phone!) that the £15 a month for video calls is a standard thing with the X-series of phones, there is no way out of it.

tho while we're moaning about three, I got a phone call last year sometime saying that because I had been a loyal member for such a long time (nearly 4 years back then) that they would like to offer me a second phone. I asked if they meant on the contract, as in a 2nd phone attached to my current contract, there was a pause and they just said yes a contract. I shouldve stopped it then but I didnt.

a few days later I received 2 (yes two not one) phones through the post, both on new contracts at like £17 a month. I called them up and tried to explain and was given the run around so I started calling over and over till I got a manager who agreed I could return them. I got a packet through *** post so I sent both phones off together. the next day I got another packet through the post...but ignored it.

end of the month and I received 2 bills (my original phone and 1 of the new ones) so I call up again and they say they only received one packet. I tried to explain that I'd sent both phones together and had to argue this for ages.

Eventually about 3 months later they stopped charging me - not that I'd paid a penny for the new phones anyway as I'd cancelled the DD's as soon as I could)
 
Swampyseifer said:
I recently upgraded to the N95 8gb with three...I was told (i did it in my local shop so I didnt have to wait for the phone!) that the £15 a month for video calls is a standard thing with the X-series of phones, there is no way out of it.
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Great if they actually tell you about it. She tried to offer me the phone at £30 and I wasn't interested, so I think what happened is she lied to me, point blank to get the sale.

And yes i'lve been offered a 2nd phone before as well. Er, no thanks!

Matthew
 
In fact just seen the Mix and match 1100 deal for only £20, so them giving this phone now now is an even bigger screw than giving the N95 back. I just need to cancel this contract.

You think there is any milage in swapping the phone tomorrow (or within 14 days) and then cancelling as I won't have actually used the K800i?

Matthew
 
Scougar said:
No there was no letter explaining the contract, the phone turned up in a box and that was it. No mention at all of contract changes or charges (believe me, I looked!).

I have now written an email to [email protected] and just received an automatic response within a minute of: Thank you for your e-mail highlighting your concerns. This has been forwarded to the correct department for investigation. Your e-mail has been forwarded to [email protected]

Hopefully something can be done about it as it really isn't acceptable for this to happen. Even if it gets sorted out, I may need help with making a complaint to Ofcom as this appears to be happening to more than just me.

Anyway, I wrote (plus my details excluding from quote):


Matthew
Click to expand...

Send that email again to executive office, however as you did not refer to any management its been referred to bog standard customer services. Find the CEO name, address it to him and you might have some luck...
 
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