3 Mobile phone contract

[Jacksy1980]

A while ago i took out a 12 month contract with 3, i got 500 free txts a month line rental was cheap. When it came up to the 12month period i decided that Im happy with this deal and would upgrade. I rang up telling them id like to upgrade, i would be getting a newer phone, and i asked to keep the same contract which the person on the other line agreed too.
Anyway 1 month later after lots txting using my free txts i get my 1st bill....whammmo over £100 compared to the usual £40-£50 i normally recieve. When i checked i had been charged for all those txt messages.
So i rang them up saying im on a contract were i recieve 500 free txts. They said i had agreed to 500 free mins and that the offer for 500 free txts is no longer available. When i said the person who upgraded me asked if i wanted to keep the same deal they would have none of it. I was so un-happy i said well i want to cancel my contract then as this wasnt what i agreed to upgrade to. I was told i would have to pay the 12months line rental if i wanted to end my contract because i didnt respond in 14d ays they allow to end the agreement. I argued that i couldnt respond in 14 days because i didnt recieve my bill for a month, so how was i supposed to know i was getting charged for txts that i thought were free?
They still would have none of it and said letters would be sent,well i ignored there demands then the debt collection letters started to arrive, so i just wanted this matter ending, and paid £129 through there debt recovery group.

Now as i read some of the stories on here it makes me wonder if i could have argued my point and taken it further, or am i still able to take it further? Trouble is i dont have proof of an agreement just the phone call. But i thought all calls were recorded so surely its on there?
Any advice would be appreciated
Jack

[cheddar]

I would have thought (probably gonna get told I'm wrong though!) that if you only agreed it over the phone then there is no proof that you started a new contract. Therefore how can they make you pay for it. If they record their calls then request it via Data Protection Act request and then you will have your evidence that you were mis-sold the new contract and shouldn't have to pay for the txts and line rental.

[Beaker_smiles]

T-mobile did the same thing to my wife. If it was agreed over the phone then they will have a recording of it (any company you call nowadays records the conversation as a point of reference). Ask them to prove that you agreed to this new tariff or you will consider the contract void. Either they will have to back down as they don't have evidence (unless you signed a new contract), or they will have to produce the recording agreeing to the texts and not minutes.

[lynzpower]

This EXACT same thing has happened to me

I was thinking of getting a cheaper contract andi understood my contract is up in may, phoned to clarify the date,, they told me no, november its an 18 month contract. Dont remember this, so asked for a copy of the credit agreement told to call dialaphone. ( did so, thats another story)

I then called 3 back, and the contract that I got was 100 free texts a month. they told me yesterday that they are charging me £5 for it. NO meniton of this on the bill they simply get called inclusive texts. I remembered that I was paying 10 for 100 free texts too, so cancelled that but the fiver for 75 is compeltely new to me, I KNOW i was told they were incuded, which is wh yi thought it such a great deal in the first place.

3 are saying that dial a phone have missold, I actually dont think they have I think its 3 thats taking the pi55 here.

Cancelled them anyway, as of yesterday, but have I got any comeback?

Try Ofcom http://www.ofcom.org.uk/

I used to work for Vodafone and they didnt like it when they got involved!

Good Luck

[Jacksy1980]

Im writing a letter today, il ask for proof of the phonecall if they cant find it then il demand action because i didnt sign anything. Il also ask for any bad credit to be taken away, seen as they involved a debt collection agency

[Jacksy1980]

Letter has been sent today asking for a full refund of £129.15 I also asked to terminate there action with the debt collection agency and to remove any inserts regarding this account from my credit file.
I have given them 14 days to take action, after that i have advised another letter before action will be sent, they will have a further 14 days, then i will take the claim to court.

Ive sent it recorded delivery so they cant give me any excuses for not recieving the letter

Il keep you all posted

Ok good Luck!

Lou x

[Jacksy1980]

They have rang me up today from some call centre in india.
They basically said I wouldnt be able o have the refund because what I owe is a charge for cancelling my contract during the 12 month period.
When i explained i had been mis-sold a tariff and the 14days to change/cancel the contract was unavailable because I didnt know I had been put on the wrong contract until I got my bill a month later.
I said conversations are recorded and they should listen to them. Then i got some rubbish saying the contract is closed and that information is not available, so i said if its closed how come you still have information of when I have rang you, and payments I have made....no asnswer. Then the usual rubbish of well you should have explained it to our team and we would have helped put you on a correct tariff, I said I did all this and they refused, because i didnt do it during the 14day period.

I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told they were busy and they would call me back.
So now what, apparently I dont owe a line rental fee, but a cancellation charge.

Any thing I should say to them to scare them, Ive mentioned court action but sounded like she was reading off a script, should I mention any other groups, offcom etc?

Any help would be grateful
Jack

[Unimexsol]

I too am having trouble with 3. I would suggest that you write to Mr Fuller, CEO, 123 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, G2 5EA.

[mickkid]

I work for a mobile phone company myself and I deal with upgrades. All calls are recorded but only tend to be for "training purposes" - however, with legal matters these can also be used to defend the company. If they cannot prove their side of the story, then if you were to take legal action, surely they would be in trouble. They should also be FSA Regulated - which basically means you can't get tricked into things over the phone. You should still have been sent a copy of the airtime agreemt with the phone - these days a verbal signatire is taken, a piece of info like your place of birth is normally taken.

Hope that helps!

[Beaker_smiles]

I've been doing proper market research for a firm, and I can say as fact,

When they say your call MIGHT be recorded, it actually IS being recorded, but they don't want to upset you. Guess what they use to record your conversation??

That's right, it's all done digitally using a PC. So you could try telling them you will request the information under the Data Protection Act if you have to, and use one of the template letters for the banks. It would need tweaking, but the principal is the same.

[mickkid]

I have seen a lot of posts on here where people have asked for transcripts of conversations. You are right when you say that conversations are recorded digitally using computers so therefore under the Data Protection Act, surely you are entitled to either copies of the recordings or transcripts. This would help in this case where you haven't physically signed a contract for a mobile phone - it has been done verbally. Surely if they lost a copy of a paper contract - they would have no proof of an agreement.

[Jacksy1980]

Some supervisor from the call centre..rang me the other day basically going through the same thing as the other lass. I explained my story loads of times, he just kept going on and on. Turns out the £129 is for calls/messages i didnt pay for before my contract was terminated(say 2months of bills) but he said i owe £29.50 and this should be paid immediately, i said so what about copies of the conversation, being sold the wrong tariff etc if i pay this then thety can deal with it! yeah right!
Another thing though that really got me was when i pay this outstanding amount, i might then have to pay a cancellation charge because i ended my contract early!!
What a joke, so i pay this off then your gonna charge me again!! Told them i wouldnt pay it because there in the wrong. They said that details of this conversation are not available because i ended my account, so i asked why they still have records of my phone calls, bills, account details if my account ended??? then i said the contracts void then if you cant prove it, then he said when i pay this outstanding amount, and if i am charged then to call back and they can deal with it. I was asking why cant you deal with it now, why do i then have to go through the same process of chasing you lot about.

Grrr they do your head in! think il send the £29.50 in the post and charge £29.50 admin fees, il give them a cheque for £0 haha

[Beaker_smiles]

I would write to them telling them you will not pay. If they don't have any record of your calls because the account has been closed, then there can not be an outstanding amount. If you owe them £29.50 then your account must be active, and they should have a record of your calls proving you were right. It might be worthwhile adding a sentance about writing to OFCOM complaining about the way they are handling your account and their lack of professionalism whilst dealing with you.

I would definately write though, it will act as hard evidence that you are trying to resolve the matter, unless you are going to start recording your conversations.

But I'm no legal expert.

[mickkid]

If I were you I actually would write to OFCOM and to Watchdog - I'm sure they are compiling many horror stories about 3. As the previous post said, I wouldn't pay anything but write to them demanding that they prove their side of the story first.
As you were mis-sold the contract, they shouldn't have to charge an early termination fee - however they will probably require the handset returning to them as until you complete a full 12-mth contract, the handset is technically their property.

In the phone company that I work for, I had to do this a few weeks ago. A customer had been mis-sold a contract and the phone call hadn't been recorded becuase the call was made before the system had been installed. So the only choice we had was to terminate her contract early without charging the termination fee and asked the customer to return the handset.

You still have rights, even if you have sold your soul to the devil and taken a contract up with 3 haha.

[carlandnush]

I have had a problem with 3. I got called up regarding an upgrade when my contract had nearly finished. I asked for the sony ericson w880i. I was advised that the newest Sony Ericson would be sent to me. When I recieved the phone it was not the one I requested and called 3. They avdvised me that if I had opened the phone I could not return it. The box was already opened when I recieved this. I advised them of this and was told I could not send the phone back. I started to use the phone but it was faulty and the battery kept dying on me. I rang them up to complain and was told it was my fault and I must be on the internet all the time!! I advised them I was not and they told me I could send the phone back and they would have a look at it but I would be without a phone for a couple of weeks depending what is wrong with the phone. I told them I was not paying for a contract when I didn't have a phone they advised me I had to. I stated that I wanted to to cancel the contract and send the phone back. They told me I could not send the phone back as I was out of the 7 day money back guarntee. I asked to lower the contract so I could pay the 18 month contract off and they advised me I could not lower the contract until 6,9 or 18 months into the contract! I was not advised of this even though on the website it states you can higher or lower your contract at anytime. I looked into this and issued a letter with my phone and quoted the below as I was not aware of the 7 day money back
Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000
Traders who deal via distance-selling schemes are required to advise you that you have a seven day period within which you can cancel your order (for any reason) and get your money back. Failure to provide you with this (and other) information may be a breach of the Regulations and can have the result of extending the cancellation period by up to three months.
They called me up today and advised that that does not apply to them as I was told about the 7 day money back and could have sent the phone back when I rang and disputed it wasn't the phone I requested even though I was told I could not. They stated that 'in their notes' it says that I was advised of this. I requested the notes along with a recording of the conversation adn I got told they are not allowed to issue recordings to customers but the notes are right as they check them against the recordings (even though previously in the conversation he told me that the recordings could not be found!). I was then told that I cold not lower my contract until the contract was up so I queried about the 6,9,18 month contract lowering I had been told before but was told that I had not been advised this! I asked about the website advsing you could lower it on there and my question went unanswered. I also got told that even though I have sent my phone back as my account is still active they are sending the phone back to me. I told them I do not want the phone and wish to cancel the contract and was told I could not do this. I also advised that I would not accept the phone and would return it to sender and they replied that they would call me up again to see what the problem was!!!!! AAARRGGHH! I advised them if they do this they are in breech of harrasment and I would seek legal advised against this and they just advised me that that is there company proceedure. An answer to most things! I'll let you know how it goes.

[bluejay]

total BS, I have managed to change my tariff on at least 3 or 4 occaisions in a 12 month period. The rule is when moving down a tariff you can only go one step down and you can do this once per month, I had no problem doing this at all, I even managed to get them to jump 2 tariffs as I had been promised the month before that I could drop to a particular one. Generally speakin their deals are good, they are now not unbeatable but if you do end up with 3 then tread cautiously as their Customer Care is dire at best.