# Changes to Three contracts



## random2011 (2 Mar 2017)

I saw that Three made some changes to their contract conditions and have increased their plan prices. That said anyone who is affected is now entitled to cancel their contract without penalty. In my case my plan was increasing from 25 euros to 30 euros per month. When I rang the freephone number 1800 818021 to cancel they offered me a 10% reduction, an option to go Unlimited SIM with no long term contract and other additional sweetners. I proceeded anyway to cancel the contract.

This is just for awareness.

Who still charges for Voicemail in this day and age. Eh Three do.


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## Delboy (2 Mar 2017)

According to a Techie on the radio with Pat Kenny earlier, if you cancel your contract you can also keep the phone if you got one from them as part of that contract.
Very nice if you just got a fancy new phone in the past few weeks/months


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## PolkaDot (2 Mar 2017)

How do you know if your plan is one of the affected ones?


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## random2011 (2 Mar 2017)

Ring them is the best way.


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## Slim (2 Mar 2017)

According to Adrian Weckler, the mobile companies are altering their contracts to circumvent the EU abolition of Roaming charges due to kick in on 15th June. http://www.independent.ie/business/...ms-they-must-obey-roaming-rules-35494887.html


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## elcato (2 Mar 2017)

Thanks for the heads up. When I was with Three a long time ago they put a small line in the corner of a bill I received telling me about the new charge which I didn't see until the following month when I saw an increase of the Direct Debit. They refused to stop my contract as I had only 30 days to give notice. I would advise anyone who is with them to take the opportunity to get rid asap.


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## Daenis (2 Mar 2017)

I rang 3 yesterday am thrilled I switched to their sim only plan for 30 euro 30 day rolling contract, I was on the 55 euro plan which is increasing to 60 euro I had more than 1 year left on my contract and they will send me the unblocking code.  If ringing from the 3 mobile you dial 1913 select option 1, then option 5 and then option 1.


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## Daenis (2 Mar 2017)

This is the link to check if your plan is affected [broken link removed]


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## random2011 (2 Mar 2017)

My bills were ridiculously high with this crowd. I am on a 25 euro plan and my bills average at 80 euros. I'm not even a high user of the phone but appreciate with 100 units your always likely to exceed but this is more than triple. 

Problem is I will move to another provider now like Meteor and no doubt have similar issues lol

My wife is on the Three 350 plan and only signed up 5/6 months ago. Ive told her to think about cancelling also. She was worried she would lose the phone she received. So if she does not lose the phone she will move to the Three Unlimited SIM deal for 30 euros. Anyone know if there are any catches with this one. Seems to good to be true to be paying less money and getting more service with unlimited data, voice and text.


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## Daenis (2 Mar 2017)

@random2011 well I specifically asked them could I have the unblocking code for my iPhone and they said yes, whereas when I begged them 2 months ago to let me switch to a cheaper plan it was a definite no, not until my contract expires in march 2018, so judging by my experience with them yes your wife will be able to keep her phone without penalty.  I think most people on the dearer packages were basically paying for their phones and 3 have realised that because they are changing the contracts they have no choice but to suffer the loss, while many will phone up many others will not and a lot of people probably barely glance at their bills and will end up just paying the higher charges.


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## elcato (2 Mar 2017)

random2011 said:


> Seems to good to be true to be paying less money and getting more service with unlimited data, voice and text.


 I suspect the first line answers your question. Get out of three now while you can.


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## vandriver (3 Mar 2017)

random2011 said:


> My bills were ridiculously high with this crowd. I am on a 25 euro plan and my bills average at 80 euros. I'm not even a high user of the phone but appreciate with 100 units your always likely to exceed but this is more than triple.


Their highest tariff was 55 euro for unlimited everything.Its no use blaming the company when you were clearly on an unsuitable tariff.


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## peemac (4 Mar 2017)

random2011 said:


> My bills were ridiculously high with this crowd. I am on a 25 euro plan and my bills average at 80 euros. I'm not even a high user of the phone but appreciate with 100 units your always likely to exceed but this is more than triple.
> 
> Problem is I will move to another provider now like Meteor and no doubt have similar issues lol
> 
> My wife is on the Three 350 plan and only signed up 5/6 months ago. Ive told her to think about cancelling also. She was worried she would lose the phone she received. So if she does not lose the phone she will move to the Three Unlimited SIM deal for 30 euros. Anyone know if there are any catches with this one. Seems to good to be true to be paying less money and getting more service with unlimited data, voice and text.


Why didn't you just accept their €30/month sim only plan yourself? It means that their change would save you €50 a month. - €80 a month is a crazy bill when even your own provider had a myriad of far cheaper options. 

Technically they could ask for the phone back, but they don't. She has 30 days to call them and ask them to cancel or switch to sim only. After 30 days she is deemed to have accepted the new terms.

No catch whatsoever on the sim only - ALL calls (they may have a fair usage policy 4,000 minutes), ALL data, ALL texts. It really is as simple and straight forward as that. Its a 30 day rolling contract, so you just only need to give a month's notice ever after. Only exceptions as per all mobile networks is premium rate texts and calls and calls to 1850/1890 numbers


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## Lexi31 (4 Apr 2017)

Anyone know what happens if you missed the deadline to opt out of this contract change by one day ?


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## Leo (4 Apr 2017)

Lexi31 said:


> Anyone know what happens if you missed the deadline to opt out of this contract change by one day ?



Then you're stuck on it for the remainder of your contract period.


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## ant dee (4 Apr 2017)

try arguing that the lines were full and you tried many times to call and got stuck in call waitting


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## Leo (4 Apr 2017)

ant dee said:


> try arguing that the lines were full and you tried many times to call and got stuck in call waitting



They'll have full details of their queue volumes and wait times, so that only has a chance if they were indeed experiencing high call volumes.


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## ant dee (5 Apr 2017)

Ah yes, I spent 2-3 times waiting half an hour with no luck the first days after notices were received. Its reasonable to say someone doesn't have more time to wait on a call. Call waiting playback message would recommend you contact the web-chat online.
Live chat support would not let you cancel the contract though, after queuing there too they would say you had to go through the phone to the specialised team, which would try to flip you over to some other product.

Personally, I got through to them on the 8th after queuing again for a half hour.

Probably volumes dropped after the first days though, not much chance that suggestion will work.


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## so-crates (13 Apr 2017)

Just had a text from Three on my Pay As You Go phone.

"CONTRACT CHANGE: The period for benefits linked to your plan + add-ons will reduce from 30 to 28 days. EU data prices will increase *+EU calls will be subject to connection fee*. For all changes inc. price increases and how to cancel you plan, see http:bit.ly/2oR96AE + use code Bxxxxx. if you don't accept these changes you've the right to cancel your prepay service within 30 days on or before 14 May without penalty. effective date 28/05/17. Can't use link or code? Call 1800818022. From Three"

I am going to guess a "connection fee" is sidling right around the directive


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## newirishman (13 Apr 2017)

Three has certainly done enough to annoy me to cancel after 10 years. 
Changed place of work which has abysmal 3 mobile coverage - not just data, but even phone calls pretty much impossible. After raising this with their technical team, they pretty much said because it is not the address of my contract they don't care and won't even investigate. Mind you, this is in Dublin city.

So I get the unlock code for the phone, put a different sim into it and hey presto I am finally getting the latest Android update for the phone - which was available since Jan and still isn't available for the network locked phones.

The new contracts that are essentially to discourage roaming and work around the new EU roaming legislation are a joke. Absolutely shocking behaviour. 
I'll lose of course my "what's on in the 3Arena?" text messages but I daresay I'll manage.


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## johnwilliams (14 Apr 2017)

i dont use phone much, top up only when need (could be months apart)(pay as i use)
now they have sent me text, contract change €20 every 28 days, too rich for my blood ,time to look elsewhere


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## Steven Barrett (20 Apr 2017)

Got a the text from 3 mobile to say the terms on the business contract has changed and I can get out without penalty. When I joined them, I was told it would cost €45 incl VAT. What they quoted was actually ex VAT. Even still, bills range from €60 - €70 a month. 

Phoned Eir mobile this morning and they will give me unlimited calls & texts, 1500 calls & texts to UK for €25 a month. Rolling 30 day contract too as there's no handset. Only difference is 15G of data instead of unlimited. I'm on wifi most of the time anyway, so that's no big deal. Quite a difference in price!


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie


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## Wardy7 (1 Aug 2017)

Opinions on what has happened to me with THREE please! 

Not in the humour for a slating so don't bother. Just yay or nay should I head to the small claims court?


I've just had murder with Three Mobile and I want to take the situation further. If I quickly summarise the details, would you both just let me know if I should take it to the small claims court. Yes or no answers will be fine! Here goes:

Opened student account/connection 2013 @ a charge of €9.99 per month.

Often over used the 15gb allowance but bill would never amount to more than €15 - €20 for the month.

Received bill by email every month & pay with debit card (was signed up to DD but they messed that up when a change was made to bank details)

They sent an SMS MESSAGE to THE MODEM in April, apparently telling me of new charges and giving option to cancel. Apparently if I had seen the message light flashing and hooked it up to laptop then I could have read the message!!!! I didn't even know this was possible.

So last months bill, due to over usage, is €434.

After numerous phone calls, web chats & tweets, they have reduced it to €175.

I have said I will pay, firstly because I'm not the type not to and secondly because the account is in my daughters name. (I can't give her a bad credit rating)

My point is that Three have always corresponded with me by email. When sending this hugely important piece of information, they changed the method of communication and to one that I didn't know existed!!!

Modem is the size of a credit card and lives on a shelf in the hall. Connection is dire also!


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## MrEarl (1 Aug 2017)

Have you seen the usage and how does it compare to previous times ?

Assuming it's not radically different, I would not pay €175, not alone the entire amount. The issue with sending a message to the modem seems like sharp practice to me, I would challenge it head on - even if that meant legal proceedings.


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## dub_nerd (1 Aug 2017)

I had an analogous experience with Vodafone, though not over billing so no money involved, just months of frustration. They didn't seem to understand I was using their SIM in a cellular modem, even though they had supplied it themselves, and kept referring to phonecalls and text messages that I couldn't possibly receive.

Sure, I would tell them to go swing for it, and take it to small claims court if necessary.


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## Wardy7 (1 Aug 2017)

I can't really tell. I could add it all up......but I know there was no changes to our usage. There's no Netflix or anything in this house!

She told me on the phone earlier that the credit is now on the account but it's not. There was a credit applied for about €16 for SMS. But not the big amount that she said.

Would you suggest small claims court or solicitor? Defeats the purpose if it ends up costing me??


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## Wardy7 (1 Aug 2017)

I was totally going to do that. I thought, to hell with them. I have a mortgage, credit card etc. so doesn't bother me to leave it hanging.

Then I remembered it's in my daughter's name. Can't leave it now as it will affect her credit rating!


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## Lightning (1 Aug 2017)

Wardy7 said:


> They sent an SMS MESSAGE to THE MODEM in April, apparently telling me of new charges and giving option to cancel. Apparently if I had seen the message light flashing and hooked it up to laptop then I could have read the message!!!!



Outrageous behaviour from Three yet again. Have you gone to Comreg?


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## Wardy7 (1 Aug 2017)

Hadn't thought of that. Doing it now. Thanks!


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## Wardy7 (4 Aug 2017)

Update:

More useless contact with that shower!

I got onto comreg. By God they're quick! Emailed reply within minutes and phoned call a half hour later!

Anyway, they said they've that they've had lots of complaints about this "dongle" (his word!). Said that 3 are saying they were advised by comreg about this, not true he said. Technically they haven't done anything wrong but comreg find it very unfair. They are carrying out an investigation into it and it has already been escalated to the top!

Sounds positive so watch this space!


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## Wardy7 (8 Aug 2017)

we have decided to set the clock back and credit overage on these bills, as a once off goodwill gesture. I can see that a credit of €211.18 ex vat was already applied as a goodwill gesture to the account. As a result, I have requested the remaining overcharge charges to be credited to the account. The amount of €142.67 inclusive of VAT will be credited to the account. This will take 5-7 working days to apply by the finance department.

SHOCKED!! I'll believe it when I see the adjustment with my own eyes!

Must have been the threat of comreg!!


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## elcato (9 Aug 2017)

Great. Now do the follow up by either closing the account or telling your daughter to check her monthly usage and keep it below that. Btw I left 3 ages ago over something similar and my gripe at the time was that I should be able to set the limit to the max and no more. I made a complaint to comreg but they made nothing of it. Their customer services are just a bunch of idiots who spout out the same stuff again and again till you just get bored.


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## Wardy7 (9 Aug 2017)

Oh I've cancelled it already!


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