(Oh) Dear 3UK – Part 1

For those of you game enough to have read any of my previous posts you’ll be aware that I do like a good rant, and none more so than about the generally contemptible excuse for Customer Service that so many UK based companies inflict upon their paying Customers.

Well not wanting to disappoint my mate Carl Martin, who even publicly recognises my need to vent, this is a tale of a true love/hate relationship, filled with joy, success and deep deep despair at just how lamentable my UK experience with the mobile network operator 3 has progressed.  And it’s a long one so to spare the impatient / ADHD / bored / uncaring I will split it into most probably 2 parts….

In the Beginning

Those of you who know me, or how have hung around here for a while also know that when my family moved back to the UK in Sep 08 we crowd sourced a mobile network service and ended up with 3 – they offered great deals, decent phones and were full of promise.

BUT no sooner was I signed up to an 18 month contract it all went downhill fast.

Issues of Goodwill

Only 3 weeks after signing up, 3 decided to drop the cost of the plan I was on by £5 a month but when asked refused to apply this reduction to my contract as it was already in play.  When I pointed out this seemed a little unfair the response I received was shocking;

“Whilst we cannot apply this new pricing to an existing plan please be assured that when it comes to your renewal date in 17 or so months we will offer you a far better deal than we ever would a new Customer.”

Now I know churn is a massive pain for MNOs and that they have whole departments dedicated to retention but honest, simple and transparent treatment of ALL Customers would surely make for a better model long term.

Note: in a similar situation with T-Mobile and the G1 price plans had seen those Customers having their plans reduced.

A Deliberate Mistruth

There was an issue with a referral payment from 3 not being paid; simply they pay an existing 3 subscriber a referral fee for new signups.  After a couple of months I queried the payment only to be told by the 3 referral team (in Maidenhead I believe) that “No such referral application was made” even though I clearly made a note of it when joining up.  Peeved I dropped the subject only to discover two separate referrals were also made, one via Quidco and another via a friend’s website, which had been refused on the grounds of an existing referral already being processed.

In other words I had been lied to by 3 about the issue, I can’t really see another way of putting it.

Needless to say a subsequent phone call quoting these pieces of evidence saw the referral rapidly paid.

99.5% Population Coverage?

And of course the usual coverage stick had to waved at 3 after a few weeks of missed and dropped calls, along with super-flaky 3G service (and 3 don’t provide GPRS fall back coverage any more).  Thankfully the lovely Whatleydude came to my immediate rescue with the Spinvox service meaning that at least I got those messages via email.

Now whilst EVERYONE has problems with coverage, and yes every MNO spends inordinate amounts throwing new cells up I’m not convinced anyone has had the response from their operator that I received when questioning 3, and I paraphrase;

3UK: “from where did you purchase your account?”

Me: “It’s on my account details but I bought it online whilst talking to a customer services rep via online chat who pointed me to your website which clearly shows full HSDPA coverage for our address, in fact it’s the same map they had in the 3 shop at Bluewater when I visited.”

3UK: “Ah”

Me: “Ah?”

3UK: “Well if you had bought the account whilst talking to our telephone sales team they would not have sold you an account, or at least have advised you that because you are in a marginal at best reception area.”

Me: “What?  But your map says…”

3UK: “Sure I understand but we have more accurate maps here and we wouldn’t have sold you the account.”

Me: “So 3 sold me an account that they should have known at the time I can’t use?”

3UK: “Well, err..”

Could I break the contract, no.  Was I mis-sold, maybe, probably.

Note: when I raised the question of those coverage maps with senior 3 UK managers at a meetup in Holborn they openly admit that there are a number in circulation (including at the time their website) which perhaps were not the best.

Data, Data Everywhere Nowhere & Filtering

An off shoot of the coverage reared it’s head during Q1 of 2009 when mysteriously 3G signals disappeared in the most curious of places.  Gerrymoth reported outages in the North, Freshplastic to the West of London and for me a train journey through S.E London saw vast areas without so much as a sniff at data.

Furthermore certain data utilising applications just didn’t work over 3’s network, from Nokia’s FriendView to Nimbuzz.  And despite much complaining 3 vehemently denied at first knowledge of the problem then responsibility or any suggestion that they might be filtering out services, preferring the old “it’s their fault” response.

No one has every actually admitted where in their network the fault laid BUT fix it they did – eventually.

As for the 3G data coverage, that kind of resolved itself for some but for Gerrymoth it was too much and he publicly ditched 3’s services.  Freshplastic I feel is probably not far behind.

Detrimental Changes to Contract Terms

And then, sometime in May, 3 went the extra mile to annoy me and every other travelling Customer by mucking around with their “3 Like Home” service and removing it from play just when i) the EU brought in legislation to regulate calls and text messaging costs across the region and ii) Vodafone launched their roaming charge removal for the summer.

A truly incredible piece of poor timing if you ask me.

They had changed the service offering in such a way to have a detrimental affect on it’s value to me and under the terms of the contract that meant I was allowed to terminate the contract without any penalty.

After all the crap I’d been through, 3 had opened the door and offered up was an out, an escape, a get our jail free from a contract not half way through.

And so this story of woe now begins, yup begins because what happened next really cemented just why 3UK achieved the lowest consumer rating in 2009 for a mobile network operator’s Customer Service.

Next time: So long (3UK) and thanks for all the fish, frustration.