Three in Breach of Contract?

[Aaron_H]

Hi,
I have had a lot of hassle with three since I took out an 18 month contract 12 months ago.

I've basically been looking for a loophole to end my agreement for the last 6 months. My problem is that I dont receive bills every month. - Ive received 3 bills in the last 8 months! Even a duplicate (that cost me £5) failed to arrive.

I've never disputed I owe them money, but I do dispute handing over cash without checking my bill as I had a very bad experience in the past.

Obviously this is playing havoc my Credit Score.

Anyway, today I thought thats it, I cant get around it, So I phoned up to give my notice as stated in their T&C section 10.3

Pay Monthly Customers
10.1 You may end this agreement in the following ways:

1. In certain circumstances under our Returns Policy. You may need to get in touch with 3 Customer Services to arrange Disconnection.
2. You can end the agreement during your Minimum Term (if you have one – this will be stated in your Price Plan) by giving notice to 3 Customer Services at least 30 days before the date you want to end the agreement. However, you must pay us all the Charges you owe, plus any Cancellation Fee for your Price Plan (as set out in the Price Guide).
3. On 30 days' notice, outside the Minimum Term. You can end the agreement if your Price Plan does not contain a Minimum Term, or if you want to end the agreement at the end of your Minimum Term or any time after your Minimum Term has expired, provided you give notice to 3 Customer Services at least 30 days before the date you want to end the agreement. (A Cancellation Fee will not be charged.)
4. Within one month of a detrimental variation to your agreement. You can end the agreement within one month of us telling you about a variation to your agreement (which includes your Price Plan) which is likely to be of detriment to you. You must give written notice to 3 Customer Services within that month and your agreement will finish at the end of that month once we receive your notice. (A Cancellation Fee will not be charged.)

guess what? they wont accept my 180 day notice period! - I am falling within their T&C of giving at least 30days & they wont accept it as their computers dont support this option - In fact they wanted me to call back 30 days before my contract is up & only then will they accept my cancelation notice. Now that will carry me into 19months if I forget by 1 day!

So...... Are 3 in breach of their contract? If so, then I have grounds to terminate my contract with immediate affect & no penalty .

I have had no problems with 3 services/signal strength, or my mobile phone. The only reason I want to leave is because of the failure of a bill arriving on my doormat. I've even offered to pay the extra £1 odd for them to send it recorded every month, which they wont do.. so they cant say Im being unreasonable or havent tried to fix this problem.

[davethorp]

Personally I cannot say if they are in breach however if they are it is very unlikely they will let you out of the contract.

You can solve the problem by serving them written notice and sending this to the address on your bill by recorded delivery stating you are terminating under 10.3 and when you would like the termination to take effect from

I see no reason why they would not accept this especially as it will be dealt with in the UK rather than mongolia or wherever 3 have their CS.

It is always best to send termination notices through the posted via a trackable delivery method. The amount of times conversations with CS regarding termination have not been action because the conversation "never took place" or letters have been lost in the post is phenomenal