While I was browsing I thought i'd post on here.
Over a year ago my husband bought two contracts with 3.
He was advised to take out a business contract as he would get the best rates.
He was told he would be charged £34 for line rental and the first handset and then a further £15 for each additional line (plus VAT). He would then be eligible for a 10% reduction of the total amount every month if we signed up to the contract for two years. This would mean a monthly total of £51.81 including VAT rather than £57.58. This was confirmed by the sales staff.
The first bill came through and despite being told we would receive 10% off the total, we were actually charged £55.81.
When the next bill came through he was shocked to see he was being charged line rental of £34; £15 for one phone line and an additional £15 for the second line, plus VAT. The 10% reduction had also only been applied to one lot of £15, not the total amount as we were told. The total we have been paying amounts to £73.44, £21.63 extra per month. Over a year this has been an overspend of £259. As we're tied in for two years it will cost us an extra £519.12
At the time we had the choice of £15 per month per phone including 500 free minutes but was recommended by the staff the business tariff as it apparently worked out a better deal. It has taken over 12 months of constant phone calls, in store visits and emails to just get the area managers number. The store manager refused to give the name of the area manager, the area manager never replied to the emails the store manager sent, then the store manager left last month, leaving us in the lurch.
There has been a whole catalogue of errors from 3, from the overspend, to bank details actually being sent the wrong address. They shrugged this off as a genuine mistake.
The staff have recognised it was missold. I have an email from the store manager stating this. They offered a pitiful £250 compensation. This wouldn't even cover the overspend, let alone the hours wasted waiting in store, and constant phone calls and distress it has caused us.
We have received no communication from 3, and emails and a letter written 21st March 2008 have been ignored. We were called by a woman at head office who assured us it was the store that was at fault, and they need to rectify the problem. She gave my husband the area managers number, but despite leaving three messages, again, we have been ignored.
I think it's now time to take this to small claims. A few questions:
How would I go about doing this?
How much can we reasonably claim for distress caused?
Is it a strong case?
Thanks!
3 Problems With Business Contracts 
