# 3 Broadband Consumer issue



## brigadear (8 Aug 2010)

Hello, just looking for advice here or has anyone experienced anything similar. I was with UPC broadband and moved house but engineer told me that they couldnt get broadband in my estate so I had to get a new provider. So I went with 3 Broadband as part of the 14 day trial. Now it appears the UPC can be got in my estate, so I have decided to go back to UPC, as 3 is slower anyway and I was happy with UPC. I decided to call 3 this morning and inform that I was not taking up the option of continuing with their service, as I am still within the 14 day period, and they told me I have to pay 360 euros cancelling fee. When I signed up this was not mentioned, I was only told that if I cancelled within the 14 day period I would have to pay for postage returns. I also looked through the terms and conditions and there is no mention of 360 euro cancellation fee.


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## Pat Bateman (8 Aug 2010)

Did you not discuss this with the representative who you spoke with?

It sounds ridiculous.


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## allthedoyles (8 Aug 2010)

We took up a similar option with 3g and cancelled within the 14 days due to coverage problems ,

No mention of a charge - We did send back the modem and still waiting for refund of € 39 

We had a nightmare experience with 3 - it has been  discussed here previously


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## Satanta (9 Aug 2010)

[broken link removed]

Check section 4.6 of the above PDF for full details. 

Whoever told you that you had to pay to cancel within your 14 day cooling off period should be reported as that's shocking customer service. Just be sure to get the modem/packaging/etc back within the time period and to follow the 'requirements' to the letter.


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## brigadear (9 Aug 2010)

Satanta said:


> [broken link removed]
> 
> Check section 4.6 of the above PDF for full details.
> 
> Whoever told you that you had to pay to cancel within your 14 day cooling off period should be reported as that's shocking customer service. Just be sure to get the modem/packaging/etc back within the time period and to follow the 'requirements' to the letter.


 
Thanks Satanta, will speaking to them this morning.


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## Papercut (9 Aug 2010)

I'd suggest that you instruct your bank to cancel the direct debit mandate just in case 3 decide to help themselves to the €360, & that you inform 3 that you have done this & that you will pay any small amount outstanding on receipt of an invoice from them.


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## Locke (9 Aug 2010)

+1 Satanta

Whether this is a stalling tactic or just terrible customer service (probably latter with 3 from my experience) cancel and send back modem.


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## JoeB (9 Aug 2010)

Yes, it's a disgrace.

Is this a genuine mistake by Three?, or a considered policy?

I'm a bit of a cynic so I think this may be a considered policy, to deliberately give out false info. Of course this is basically impossible to prove, but it should still be investigated, to see if this does represent a considered policy to mislead and intimidate customers.

But who could carry out such an investigation?... Comreg?.. well, personally I wouldn't hold out much hope of them doing anything...


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## Satanta (9 Aug 2010)

JoeBallantin said:


> Comreg?.. well, personally I wouldn't hold out much hope of them doing anything...


The scary thing is that in the grand scheme of things that Comreg are failing to act on (or incapable of acting on), this actually ranks fairly low.  
(Not to belittle the issue, it is VERY serious... but so are MANY of the others issues that Comreg are allowing to happen on a daily basis)


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## brigadear (11 Aug 2010)

I am sure that they record these calls?? But this is 3!!. Anyway just an update, 3 refused to give a return address for the modem, so I posted to head office, I have sent 3 emails since Sunday and no reply, even after I tryed to cancel the trial on Monday I thought that they may ring me back, but NO. Funny enough some marketing company rang me last night, they were hired or commissed by 3 to give feedback on my recent communications with their customer service. Told the girl exactly what hapened, and how they can imporve service, bla bla, usual stuff, and had to give a rating on 1-5 on various issues, 1 being the worst, pretty much everything was a 1.


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## JoeB (11 Aug 2010)

Your contract is required to contain an address.. if it does not then it is illegally formed. Contact COMREG.. although they will likely do nothing, despite having a legal obligation to do so.. according to their own published documents. It has been required since 2002, yet many operators don't comply, again according to Comregs own published documents. Personally I feel it's an absolute disgrace that private companies can break the law with the blessing of the regulator. Typically Irish.


You can request a copy of all phone calls that were recorded by Three.. under the Data Protection Act. They can not delete info after having received an access request, they must provide it. They must provide either an audio copy of the recordings or a transcript. The transcript is problematic, in that they might write 'unintelligible' rather than writing what was actually said. This is a problem with the legislation in my view.


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