Be Excellent To Each Other

DocG will remember... way back in 2003 (!!), most of our friends worked for Carphone Warehouse. Three (the phone network) was brand new then, and Mrs Meaty agreed to try their phones out on a 14-day moneyback guarantee so that one of the friends got Three's incentive for signing up new customers.

Video calling was cool but the phones themselves (NEC e238) were terrible. They were huge, ugly, and had a battery life of maybe ten hours on standby. They also didn't work anywhere outside the city centre of Cardiff, so we both returned ours within the 14 days and resumed using our existing phones.

Fastforward to today. A letter arrives addressed to me from a debt collection agency, claiming I owe Three £166.21. I check my account page on Three's website, and I'm paid up. I check my online banking, and the debits have been taken regularly. What the hell?

I phoned Three and asked them to confirm I was paid. I then explained about the letter and gave them the account number from it. It turns out (and I do remember this, now) that when I returned the phone, CPW never correctly advised Three that it had been done. At the time, this meant getting an indemnity from my bank to get my money bank when Three incorrectly charged me. Now, they're still trying to get that money back.

Three can't help. CPW in Queen Street is gone, moved several times since July 2003. They need to be told by CPW. CPW complaints has told me to fax them the debt collection letter as their records show the phone was indeed returned to them as per the 14 days, and they will then deal with Three to have the outstanding balance cleared - or if Three refuse, send me a cheque so I can pay Three directly.

I stopped dealing with CPW after their terrible customer service pissed me off back in 2008 (coincidentally, prompting me to terminate the O2 contract I took out the same day I returned the shitty Three phone) and it's boggling that eight years on their legacy of terrible service is still haunting me.

It'll be time barred as it's over 6 years, surely?

Yep, if they haven't asked for the money in the meantime, the 6 year limitation period runs from when the debt was due, so you can legitimately tell them to get bent even if you did owe it to them.

What both of these fellas said.

Also, in case it's ever relevant in future, Gas/elec companies can no longer bill for a period of greater than 12 months ago, apparently.

But the water companies can chase you forever, using essentially whatever means they fancy to extract their dues.

I've never been quite sure why they get it so different.

Perhaps because the water companies can't refuse service.

In any event, I had a fun little excursion into the huge storm that's blowing right now. Caerphilly CPW's fax machine is busted so I had to go down to the one in Cardiff. While one guy faxed it, I chatted to the other and it turns out he used to work in the now defunct Queen St store with DocG and myself's old housemates!

We'll see how this goes, now that CPW have the letter they should be able to tell Three that there is no outstanding balance. Failing that, six years it is.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/IHTmanual/IHTM28384.htm

The gas and leccy companies pretty much can't either, once you've got a service.

"YOU ARE LITERALLY MURDERING ME BY DISCONNECTING MY ELECTRIC XBOX RADIATORS!"

Update: Another letter from the debt collection agency, and no call from Carphone.

So I called Carphone, who told me that they'd tried to resolve it with Three, but Three declined, so they've raised a cheque for the outstanding balance and that's being sent to me. They couldn't explain why it's now Saturday and I wasn't called back on Wednesday.

I then phoned Three, to find out why they refused to accept Carphone's documents. After going around in circles a few times the Three guy started the same 'we need proof' business. I told him that I had already done so, and that Three had not accepted Carphone supplying the necessary information. He said that there was no record of Carphone contacting them. I reminded him that this debt is eight and half years old, that it's due to Carphone's screw-up in July 2003, and if they are either refusing to speak to Carphone and not even bothering to note it down on their system then what's the point of me even trying to resolve this?

We ended up on a three-way call with the debt collection agency, in which he advised them that there was no outstanding balance and to stop bothering me. The debt collector quite rightly asked why this debt had been passed to them if it didn't exist, and the Three guy (not really speaking English very well) couldn't answer this. They said they will happily leave me alone AND SEND ME A LETTER CONFIRMING THIS (I had to insist to the Three guy that his 'rest assured' was not sufficient) when Three notifies them through their normal internal channels. They added that Three now probably owes them some money for selling them a debt which didn't exist.

The conference concluded, Three guy then says again they need the proof, and put me on hold for the best part of 15 minutes trying unsuccessfully to contact Carphone. I suspect he was trying to ring the old Queen Street store which doesn't exist, again, because he didn't succeed. However, his manager has told him to sort it all out so one way or another this appears to be resolved (though I shall believe it when I see it in writing).

The end result is that I didn't have to mention the statute of limitations on debts, Three seems to be (correctly) writing the debt off anyway, and Carphone as ever are a bit thick and are apparently sending me a cheque.

Glad it got sorted out. If there's one thing I've learned since moving out, it's that getting unsolicited debt collection letters for debts you don't even owe is incredibly frustrating and stressful. Completely shits on your day.

I hate this, how much of your time has this used up, and the stress/annoyance it has caused, you should be able to charge them for it, also, does it affect your credit rating at all, and also also, is accusing you of a crime* you didn't commit libellous?

*they are in essence accusing you of theft.

As far as I'm concerned, it's not over until I get my letter from the debt collection agency saying that I am in the clear. I will be then writing a complaint to Three asking them to confirm this, and a second complaint to Carphone asking why the hell this has come around AGAIN eight years later.

Darn tootin'! Keep us updated.

Cheque arrived today. Holding onto that until I'm positive I don't need it.

... and then after Three have confirmed you don't owe them any money, cashing it anyway

Just as a follow up to how bad Three are... I'm now preparing to leave them (and only stuck with them as long as I have after the fiasco mentioned in this thread because I knew I was going and wouldn't have time for someone else's contract)

I called them on the 1st of August asking to cancel my contract, and also to send me an unlock code for my phone. The CUNT repeatedly asked why I wanted to cancel, I suggested he look in the records on my account as they contained the answer. He claimed he was unable to see the exact reason and kept asking. I nearly screamed at him but managed to restrain it to a firm "I am NOT prepared to discuss it with you, if you don't keep or are unable to access the records of your customers that's your problem, not mine."

He said I would need to phone back on August 15th in order to cancel given my contract is nearly up (20th of Sept I think). He then put my through to the unlocking guys who said that the £15 charge would be automatically applied to my next bill. He took my IMEI and told me to expect a text within two working days telling me the phone was ready and needed to be connected to iTunes.

Well, that's eight days ago, longer even than the seven quoted on their website. I phoned back and asked where my unlock message was. The guy, in surprisingly clear (for Three customer services) but still broken English confusingly explained that their policy was to take a payment from a debit or credit card to cover the cost, as the actual unlocking is done by the 'phone manufacturer'. However, as I'd been having problems the last time (ahem) the guy had tried to get it done off my bill, something 'the phone manufacturer' didn't like.

I asked at which point they were going to bother informing me that this had failed.

I was meant to have a call back, he said, but for unknown reasons this was never done. The request is just sitting there waiting for payment. So I paid. Two working days. Fucking hell. I then confirmed that I have international roaming on my account, which I do.

As I tried to say goodbye, he interrupted to advise me that he could see from my account that I am a 'high value' customer and that they could offer me a free smartphone, iPad or laptop with my next contract. I laughed out loud at this and he urged me to wait to hear the options before I made a decision. I said that I had absolutely no intention of remaining Three's customer for a moment longer than I had to, and that as per my previous call I would be in touch again soon to cancel my account. The customer retention spiel started and he started apologizing... well, he didn't know what he was apologizing for, did he? Once again, unable to access my records to see just what they'd done to me. He said to give them a chance before making my decision, to give them 'an opportunity'. I quietly said that they had their opportunity a long time ago, and swiftly ended the call.

For god's sake, don't be a Three customer.

I was looking at switching to them in Nov when my contract is up as they seem to have the best iPhone deals.

I've been pretty happy with them. But! I haven't had to deal with their customer support, which I knew was horrendous. Gaywood & Danielle have had similar troubles. So alright as long as nothing goes wrong, I guess.

edit: except they wouldn't stop fucking ringing me at one point, until I found some non-obvious contact preferences. Had a right go at them on Twitter about it.

The actual phone service is decent. I have reception problems when trying to use it indoors (mostly at home but sometimes at work) but they give you a LOT of data and also tethering which meant when I was at work over the Christmas holidays I was able to play EvE on my laptop.

However, the moment something goes wrong your only option is to ring their call centre in Gubdiegubdieland and try to make yourself understood.

have a look at giffgaff. Mimi and I get pretty much the exact same deal as we did on 3, but for £5 less a month.
Unlimited texts, unlimited Internet, unlimited giffgaff to giffgaff calls, and 250 cross network minutes for a tenner.

Yeah, but I wan't a 'free' iPhoneas part of the contract. I'm passing on my HTC to Mrs Z.

Tesco are normally pretty competitive.

By competitive you mean more expensive and with less data and calls?

Shame they use the dreadful O2 network.

As Meaty says, Three coverage is actually the best I have found, after going through O2, T-Mobile and Orange (Who might actually "both" get better once they work out how to actually work together without fucking up my signal...).
Plus I got £100 cashback via quidco on their £10 a month, 12 month contract. £20 a year for 300 minutes, 600 texts and 500mb a month? I yoinked that pretty quick!

I'm just hoping nothing goes wrong so I don't have to talk to them.

I don't know how it is right now, but my iPhone 4 came as a 24 month contract. The first pictures on it were taken at the first Beex Cottage.

No.

Judging from how they knock down the older models. I'm hoping I'll be able to get a 4s when the 5 is out for around £25 a month on a 2 year contract.

Well, I wouldn't recommend O2 and Three to my worst enemy, and I wuvs you with an Earth 'W', Zarzie.

They're all twats though.

This is what I think I'm going to do now I've decided to save up a deposit for a car.

O2 were slow and patchy as fuck for me. Alright if you're standing still, but taking the bus home, it'd be a constant wrestle of jumping around the various network connection types or complete deadspots. And given everything tends to choke if you switch from 3G to Edge etc. mid-request, there was barely any point bothering.

Three have given me nothing but 3G everywhere I've been. If they don't offer 3G, there's always been absolutely no signal at all anyway. So I can't really fault their actual service. Shame their support seems to be so dire.

It’s always worth checking your credit file from time to time to see what is going on.

http://www.creditexpert.co.uk/?sc=410006

There is a 30 day trial usual thing you have to remember to call them and close it or they will take payment.

It has become more expensive as they bundle credit score reports into the service that used to be an optional purchase so it costs £15 a month now. They do offer a useful service in that they will apply for credit using your report for you and it doesn’t get recorded (something that can affect your score)

When we moved a couple of years ago I kept British Gas as energy supplier, 5 months later I get declined for a credit card. When I pulled my file I found that British Gas had messed up the transfer on my Gas and recorded 5 missed payments on my file, 3 and you are screwed for credit. Good thing is that these files get changed once a month and credit applications only use the file they can see at the time of application so once BG removed the missed payments I was fine.

It’s also interesting to see who looks at your file and why, I had the National Lottery look at my file yet there is no credit agreement between us and they only take debit cards, also when my wife renewed her card insurance (paid in full) they scanned my file, we are linked via the mortgage, but she applied for no credit re her insurance.

Phoned them today, as instructed.

NO! WRONG! You have to phone 30 days before your contract is up (September 23rd) but we will let you call 38 days before it's up, on August 17th (this Friday)

Oh. So WHAT THE EVERLOVING FUCK was your CUNT on about when he FUCKING CUNTING SAID TO CALL TODAY. Can you see how many fucking times I've called you in the last month? What's to stop the next CUNT to say that he's never heard of the 38 day thing (38 days? How fucking arbitrary is that? Their website seems to confirm it as a date for 'early upgrades' for me) and tell me to call back yet again at some undetermined point in the future?

They seem to forget that I am still paying them. They can't even make a note on my fucking account that, come the end of my contract, I want my service with them to end! Even that has to be done on the correct day or GUBDIE GUBDIE FUCKING GUBDIE NOT ABLE TO BE HELPING YOU THIS SIR GUBDIE.

In the name of everything that's precious and good in this world DO NOT BECOME A THREE CUSTOMER. The tantalizing prices and upgrades and tethering are absolutely NOT worth all the fucking aggravation of dealing with them.

Cancel your direct debit and leave the country.

Seems a bit extreme.

Change your name to myp

I need the phone to continue working for the first week or so that I'm in Canada.

Given what happened the last time I tried any funny business using my bank and Three (the reason for this thread) I'm not going to risk that again.

No you change your name to myp.

Three has easily the best coverage, best prices, and worst customer service of all the UK networks. Danielle moved back to O2 becuase of her weird "couldn't receive SMSs from some American cell providers whilst using a ported number on Three" problem. I've never had to deal with customer service so I've been perfectly happy. The signal strength and speed are both quantifiable better on my Three-connected iPhone than on Danielle's O2 one.

And I had the exact same experience with Orange that Perkies is having with Three.

They probably can't get a grasp of his weird accent, ay.

I had similar probelms with vodafone. Evil buggers,them.

Even their customer retention staff aren't native English speakers. When people want to leave, it's because they're upset, and having some tosser from the Indian subcontinent refusing to deviate from his script in broken English is not going to assist in turning people's opinions back towards favourable. Credit, such as it is, to O2 and Sky for at least providing that small amount of dignity.

Have you considered complaining in Urdu?

You racist yankee.

Try phoning their head office & asking to get put through to someone based in the UK who can understand you & vice-versa. They used to put you through to the Glesga call centre which AFAIK is still there. 01628 765000

That's not going to work if they all speak Wullie!

I've been with Three since 2003 and have never had an issue whatsoever. I may have had some rubbish 'phones but that's not really the fault of Three. Any issues I've had have been sorted out pretty quickly. I did have an issue some years back with a 'phone I had and they offered to exchange it on my doorstep without me having to wait for them to test and replace it.

Ages ago, I rooted my Galaxy S, upgraded to a custom firmware and as a result my phone basically because unusable as it probably couldn't cope with the upgrade. So the 'phone ended up in the wall with a very broken screen. One quick call to Three, during which I explained that the screen had been cracked after I dropped it(!). I was told that I would be liable for any charges for having the screen fixed and that this would cost me between £30 & £75. Five days later, it was returned, new screen & a working firmware. And no charges for the screen replacement.

Three months ago, I did exactly the same thing. So did they.

They are my network of choice, without question.

Had what I hope will be my final call with them.

The guy could at least see that I had been told to call back but (as with these call centres who put non-native English speakers on a script) he just didn't seem able to listen to what I was telling him.

He kept asking me why I was leaving and I kept telling him that I wasn't prepared to discuss it. He would then start SPECULATING based on what he could see in my records and end it in an insinuating tone. In the end I shouted at him to stop it, that I didn't want to speak to him any more because of the way he was carrying on, that I wanted a supervisor who'd actually listen to me. He protested that he was doing his job and that the supervisor wouldn't be able to tell me any differently.

In the end I finally managed to get him to understand that I wanted my contract to end, no further charges or early cancellation stuff, I get to keep my phone, and I never ever have to speak to Three again. I also told him that when I tell him I don't want to talk about something, I mean it the first time, not the second, third, fourth or fifth time.

I am angry and embarrassed that the service he was giving was so impersonal and insensitive that I, who've done enough customer service jobs to know what it's like, was goaded into raising my voice. I think it's totally unfair and I hate Three for putting me through this every single time I call them, as I should not be coming away from this feeling guilty.