Hi,

My mother has been using Three mobile for her broadband (she lived in a caravan, and later a flat, that were unable to have Virgin/Sky installed). For all of 2017 she lived in a flat with a 6GB internet allowance, over the year she went to her limit twice. Purchasing a 2GB extension each time, she had no issues.

In November, following weeks of issues, she went in to the store and complained and got upsold a new contract. 20GB allowance, plus she had BINGE (which allowed free watching of Netflix without using her data), her data would be capped and stop automatically when she hit her limit, but 20GB would be more than she needed (she was informed)

November she used 8GB, December she used 8GB. In fitting with what she'd used before. Then in January, she suddenly jumped to 12GB, 19GB in February. No explanation for her sudden jump, she only uses facebook and searches on google for stuff. There's no downloads or streaming (apart from Netflix, which is not included in her data usage, it has a separate part). Apparently most of this usage was on Mondays, when she's only in the house for 4-5 hours at most.

In March though, she had the real issue, when after 2 weeks she found that she was unable to access the internet. Anytime she tried she was told she was past her limit. 20GB, in two weeks! Still no explanation as to why it jumped so much. I went on her account to check her details.

Imagine my surprise, when despite constantly being told "You have used your allowance" and being unable to connect to anything (Including Netflix, which was supposed to be free, but was for some reason cut off when she hit her limit), on her charges it listed a further 6GB that she was OVER her 20GB allowance (despite being capped and cut off, as was requested and told would happen when she had the contract)

The 6GB over use, came with a lovely £53 charge. She only pays £15 for the 20GB, so it's extortionate to charge nearly 10x that amount on a per GB pro rata rate, but it shouldnt have been possible to go over.

Naturally, we called Three to ask what had gone on, and had a very rude staff member tell us "You cant say you only use so much data each month. We know you used a lot more" we asked how, and why it went up so much, given her habits have been the same for about 4 years now. "I dont care, you cant tell me I'm wrong. You owe use the money" Then we were cut off. One rude customer service agent. Possibly hung up on us, maybe a real disconnection. So we called again, and got basically the same response and also got told that the store could not cap her usage, so she owes them the money.

Unhappy with this, we went through their Resolver complaints procedure, and this is where we now stand.

They have admitted:

*They should have capped the account

*Mum should not have been told it was capped, if it wasn't

*The £53 charges are not fair

They have said:

*Mum cant cancel her contract, without paying them £70 early cancellation charge, despite them not giving her what she was told she was getting.

They have offered:

*My mum stays with them, and pays the £53 charge, along with her £15 bill

*To make up for their mistake, they will give her £40 credit towards her next bill

*They will now cap her account.

Leaving my mum, with an internet account that is still using an insane amount of data for facebook and google searches (she changed the password too, in case someone was using it somehow). A £13 deficit after the £40 credit, and no real apology, given that the £40 apology doesn't even cover the charge that they shouldn't have been able to add anyway!

She currently has her Three Mobile broadband unplugged and is just sticking to her phones 4G data (10GB a month, different provider, no issues).

Is there any advice for how to reply to Three now?

To me, I was sure this was a breach of contract on their part. Because at the POS she was told she was getting a capped internet (that would stop at 20GB), with unlimited netflix. She was given an uncapped internet, that had a 20GB limit before incurring extra charges, and netflix that stopped when she hit the separate 20GB allowance. Leaving her to go 6GB over, despite not even being able to go on the internet.

Thanks for any help

Email the CEO, or write to them.

Keep everything in wiriting, do not use phone or email, they just say anything or ignore you.

I'd be telling them that absolutely no chance of me being a customer, all the empty promises in the world could fall out of their mouths, still wouldn't make me give them anymore money.

My guess is if it was on repeating dates each week it would be Microsoft updates assuming she is using a computer / laptop and not a tablet (even then apps will force updates if you don't have your settings correct.)

I dont think it was updates. She browses the internet on a mobile/tablet, and I have her settings to it requests permission for updates. Even then, her updates are small ones for apps. Her largest updates never total more than 100MB, and they're once a month for that size. most are 30-40MB, for 4-5 apps, again though it's monthly or bi monthly. Not enough to shoot her usage up like that.

I was reminded by my mum about something earlier today though.

In January, on her Three mobile phone (seperate contract but share the My Account screen on the website), she called two numbers. These numbers were not part of her contract, she had free mobile calls so thought they were. Much like asking for a cap, she had asked that her contract would not allow her to call numbers that were not part of her contract. This had worked great for the previous year, and any number not in her contract would give a warning before it connected. These two times it didn't, and she got a bill for £32 for the calls.

She called up and explained, and they admitted fault, saying it should have been in place to stop the calls being made. They agreed to refund the £32, not sure why it stopped working, but they'd put the block back on.

It was the week after that that her broadband suddenly started going up. We cant connect the two at all, but my mum now has a (very wrong I'm sure) theory that they were annoyed at refunding her, so they uncapped her internet, to make her incur charges and pay back that money they refunded. HAHA