Three Mobile Don't Care About Their Customers
There, I've said it. Three (in the UK at least) used to be a good network, and had fairly good customer services. I've been with them for nearly 6 years, but now things are going further and further the way of the crapper and it seems that whatever problems I have with their service and phones are just that; my problem and nothing they really want to divulge any time sorting out.
It started quite a while ago when I was having severe signal problems at home for both my mobile and a mobile Internet dongle. Now this was my previous flat, the very same one I had "signed up" to the contract in on the phone when it came up for renewal. I mention that point because I've seen some threads online talk about how the signal can only be guaranteed at the home address (on a mobile phone contract, the sort that implies that you might want to use the phone on the move perhaps?) and signal problems elsewhere can't be helped. This flat was in central London (Zone 1 on the Tube map for those of you familiar with our British transport system) and as I was told by their sales teams many times, Three has great coverage for the whole Greater London area. So after many phone calls over a period of a couple of weeks I'm given a string of reasons why this was happening, and some odd tests to try perform for them:
- My phone must be damaged (it's brand new and has a brilliant signal elsewhere)
- My Internet dongle must be damaged (et tu, dongle?)
- My OS isn't supported (the dongle worked fine on my Linux laptop in other locations, why was it so sporadic on my Linux desktop at home)
- (after testing on a WindowsXP partition) Could I test in a different location? (Sure, I'll just move my whole desktop system somewhere else to appease their "support" team who can't deviate from their script)
Eventually I was told that one of the masts in my area was being worked on, which would explain the random dropout and bad signal issues I was having. Two weeks to get a straight answer, thank you Three.
This was all just prior to getting the phone that I currently have, an HTC Desire. Originally, I'd agreed to a 1½ year contract that came with an HTC Wildfire. What actually happened was my phone never came. I waited a week, then called them about it. Apparently I had already "signed" for the phone. News to me, so I asked where it was delivered and what the name was on the signature. Needless to say, it was no name I knew, and I was understandably annoyed. They then told me that I had to wait 2 weeks while they attempted to track down the phone that was meant for me before I could be sent a phone. After the two weeks I was told that the Wildfire was out of stock, and I could either wait or get an the Desire which would mean an extra couple of quid on my contract each month, conveniently "forgetting" to mention that the contract would also be extended by an extra 6 months to take it up to two years.
Eventually I do get the Desire sent through, and all works well for a while, until about 7 months in it starts to get really hot all the time, drop calls, reboot itself and the camera stops functioning. At one point I could no longer charge it whilst it was switched on because it would enter an endless reboot cycle because of the overheating issue. I have to take it in to the shop for repair and get the joy of using a rubbish replacement phone for 2 weeks, for which I had the privelage of paying a £30 deposit! Yes that's right. I give them my expensive smartphone to repair and I have to give them money to get a phone that I could use in the foundations of a house.
Not three months after getting back my phone than I again am having similar problems with it:
- The camera stops working
- The flashlight that accompanies the camera stops working (This is where my first visit to the Three shop was made, but they have no replacement phones to "give" me while mine is being repaired)
- Signal is up and down all over the place, often losing signal completely
- The speaker used during phone calls stops working (Prompting another visit to the Three shop, but still no dice)
- GPS is sporadic and occassionally crashes the Google Maps application.
- Maps finally has enough and uninstalls itself from my phone
- Phone crashes and a slew of settings are reset, from the phone lock code to the ringtones. Oddly, the rest of the theme is fine.
I have ended up this month visiting several Three stores (for a phone shop they seem to have a remarkably astounding habit of never having replacement phones available) and making many phone calls to Three. I've been given what can only be described as the worst customer service I've ever received anywhere. I've had rude phone centre operatives, ones that just refused to listen and tried to talk over me, others that had selective hearing for half of what I said and tried to "catch me out" by claiming I'd said something other than I had and that my problem was something different. At one point I was even advised to take the phone into a service centre myself, but the Three store I went into didn't know where the nearest one to me was so a staff member actually went into a Phones4U shop to ask them (nothing but professional service from our Three staff.)
I phoned up and tried to cancel but was told I would have to pay £100 to do that to break my contract. As I'd already considered they had by not giving the service that I was paying for I refused and ended the phone call. Not having the phone was still an issue, so I call up again willing to cancel and this time am told it's actually £280 I need to pay, the full amount for the rest of my contract and I'll be getting even less than that which I am getting now (I can at least still text and use the Internet for Web and Email.)
So as a last resort I cancel my direct debits to Three and send them an email explaining why I did that and that I'll pay as soon as they help me get the phone fixed. Bear in mind that this whole sorry episode has been going on now for a little over a month, barely a few days go by when I get a few calls from Three saying that they are calling to help me with my phone. Thank you, but why did it take so long to help?
As for the phone calls, well it seems that the wonderful idea Three had to outsource all their call centres to India has had some teething issues, the foremost being that the staff really don't seem to know who they're actually working for. The first two calls I got were from their staff claiming to be from 3G, and could I just confirm some details of my account to verify who I am. Excuse me, but you called me, and you can't even get the name of the company right, so why should I entrust my personal details to you? After pointing out to one woman that there was no such company as 3G, and it was actually the type of technology the signals were based on and that the company was either Three of Hutchinson 3G, she told me that she never claimed to be calling from a company. I just wish I'd made that up, but sadly no, she really was that stupid. I refused to verify any more details as I didn't know who she was and was told I should call them back.
So, I did, or I tried to. When I called the number back that she'd rung from, I got an automated message informing me that this number was no longer in use. Now it really did seem to be dodgy, so I Googled the number and it was listed on an official Three website. Luckily I found another number which I did work, so I called that and mid-call got an email from the first woman who called saying that I should call Three on such-and-such a number (the working one I found and was currently calling on) to speak to them. I eventually get past their ridiculously long automated 'press 1 to speak to an advisor if you are standing on one leg and it is a full moon, press 2 if you want to stay on hold' speel. A good ten-minute conversation ends in the conclusion that the best way to get my phone repaired is to take it into a shop. Wish I'd thought of that, oh wait, I did. When I asked what I could do if they still didn't have a replacement handset I was met with utter confusion. The call centre simpleton couldn't understand that they might not have a replacement phone. I gave up on this call, as I was considering seriously at this point that I could make a nice sideline in milking rocks, or failing that just smacking my head against one until I forgot all about Three.
I get one further phone call from someone who seemed to actually know where they worked for. I mentioned that I was having problems with previous callers who were asking for personal information but didn't know where they worked, so he kindly put a notice on my account that any further callers would know to say they were from Three Mobile. If only I could have reached through the phone I think I might have slapped the idiot. I explained that it's not something I was being pedantic about, but a serious problem with phishing calls. Given their previous levels of (in)competence I can only assume my words fell on deaf ears.
So, now I have to see today whether or not I can get my phone fixed. Suffice to say I won't be renewing my contract with Three once it reaches the end.