topic Re: Roaming charges offer in Account and services

Roaming charges offer

DS — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 10:23:01 GMT

All, I would like to know if anyone else was offered the opportunity to get free roaming if you signed up for a contract before the 1st Oct 2021? I was offered this and signed up 30 Oct 21. I have recently found out that as 3 did not process my contract until the next day I was not given the free roaming.
Customer service whilst being helpful could not do anything re this and filed a complaint 24 hours later I received a message from complaints saying they had done everything possible (this did not include correspondence with me) and that there was nothing they could do. Complaints a waste of time and now it is off to the ombudsman and a well known national newspaper.
Many years with 3 and five phone accounts, this counts for nothing with 3. please respond if you have had a similar situation as I would like to understand if this is a common practice by the network.

Re: Roaming charges offer

JonathanB — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 11:40:11 GMT

Hi DS,

I'm really sorry to hear about this confusion with your Go Roam terms. Was this a typo where you've said "30 Oct 21"? If the sale was on 30 Sep 21 but the contract activated on the 1 Oct 2021, my understanding is that you should still be on the old terms with no daily charge.

Have you incurred charges, or received a message that you will incur the daily charge? If you can fill me a little bit more on what's happened, I'll do my best to help.

JonathanB

Re: Roaming charges offer

DS — Thu, 21 Jul 2022 17:17:15 GMT

Hi Jonathan. Thanks for the response.

Yes that is a typo. the offer was sign up by 30th Sept (before 1st October) to benefit from the offer. I did check with the online sales team to make sure that even though my contract did not expire for a couple of weeks after that date that I would still be given the offer. (I have screen shots of the conversation although no-one from 3 seems interested in this). I signed up online on the 30th September.

I had not realised anything was amiss until i started to travel again recently and found that my service was cut off as I had reached my set spend limit. On contacting customer services I was told several different sign up dates until eventually I was told the correct details that I did the application on the 30 but it was not processed until the 1st and therefore did not qualify for the benefit. As customer services said there was nothing they could do they raised a complaint for me and submitted it. A stated above I received a response stating there was nothing they could do and a link to the regulator.

Whilst I have paid roaming charges, this is not about the money, this is about 3 having an absolutely awful attitude and a complete disregard towards its customers.

Re: Roaming charges offer

JonathanB — Fri, 22 Jul 2022 09:22:58 GMT

Hi DS,

It's really disappointing to hear about how this has been dealt with. I'd like to get this looked into in more detail. I'll send you a PM with guidance so that we can get the complaint investigated further.

JonathanB

Re: Roaming charges offer

jess_937 — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 08:15:20 GMT

Hi @JonathanB,

Can you let me know how this was rectified, please? I am currently having the same issue with Three.

Three seem to be completely ignoring what I am saying and the evidence I am providing which proves my points. They are saying that because my contract start date was 12.10.2021 roaming is not included, yet roaming has been included up until last month. I upgraded on 16.09.2021 and kept the billing date of 12th of every month for a smooth transition.

Thanks.

Jess

Re: Roaming charges offer

JonathanB — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 16:15:18 GMT

Hi @jess_937,

I'll be happy to take a look into this for you. Can you help me understand in a bit more detail? You have been receiving free roaming in the last two and a half years till a recent trip abroad is that correct? And there's been no change of plan or upgrades since September 2021?

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: Roaming charges offer

jess_937 — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 16:35:51 GMT

Correct, there has been no change of plan or upgrade since I believe it was 16.09.2021, but my billing date remained as the 12th of every month when I completed this upgrade so Three are arguing this is when my contracted started. Now Three are saying it is not possible to change the roaming policy despite it being included for the past 2.5 years until my trip abroad a few weeks ago for work. Something has changed/happened and Three are refusing to recognise this or honour my plan.

Re: Roaming charges offer

jess_937 — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 15:06:38 GMT

Hi @JonathanB,

Three are now saying that this is a system error and I have been not been charged roaming for 2.5 years due to the system error even though I upgraded on 16.09.2021? Can this be correct?

Re: Roaming charges offer

JonathanB — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 13:26:53 GMT

Hi @jess_937,

Sorry for the delay getting back to you on this. I just want to reassure you that I'm still looking into this. I'll let you know as soon as I have any more info or updates.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: Roaming charges offer

Spindan — Tue, 21 May 2024 08:36:46 GMT

Hi. Did you manage to get this resolved? Definitely a recent change in approach by three. My wife upgraded on the 21/09/2021 and has benefited from free roaming until now. We went away last week and have now been charged the roaming fee with three saying the contract start date is actually the 12/10/2021.

They are also threatening to charge for roaming they say we should have paid for over the past 3 years.

Re: Roaming charges offer

jess_937 — Wed, 22 May 2024 14:11:39 GMT

Hi @Spindan,

This has been happening to a lot of people I know who are with Three. I ended up going to the Ombudsman as Three customer service representatives would not accept when my contract started. It has since been resolved after much back and forth, and only after submitting all my information to the Ombudsman. At this point Three finally recognised my contract start date, and that I had been charged incorrectly. I was able to get a refund for all incorrect charges.

If you are struggling to get anywhere with Three customer service representatives, ask them for a deadlock letter once you have exhausted their complaints procedure (if you don't get the outcome you want) so you can file your case with the Ombudsman.

I decided to leave the contract and moved to pay as you go as you get the roaming in the 71 countries included, and it is cheaper than the contract I was on. It seems ludicrous to me that you can get a better deal on pay as you go than a contract. However, if you do this you will either have to change your number or move to another provider for a minimum of 24 hours and then switch back to Three with your same number using a PAC code. Unfortunately, Three are the only company which offer this sort of deal for roaming, other providers only offer roaming within the EU, hence why I switched back.

Hope this helps!

Re: Roaming charges offer

Spindan — Wed, 22 May 2024 19:34:33 GMT

Thanks so much for the reply and advice. It is really helpful. Glad to hear you got it sorted in the end.

Re: Roaming charges offer

JonathanB — Fri, 24 May 2024 10:40:02 GMT

Hi @jess_937,

Thanks for coming back here to confirm what happened, I'm glad to hear it was sorted although I'm sorry to hear of all the trouble you went through, I'll take away this feedback to hopefully help others.

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: Roaming charges offer

JonathanB — Fri, 24 May 2024 10:42:32 GMT

Hi @Spindan,

I don't expect we would recalculate historical bills and charge you for 3 year old usage, but I'm keen to help you get to the bottom of this. I'll send you a PM to get you in touch with some colleagues who can help get this checked out in more detail.

To view your private messages on the community, click on your avatar image in the top right of any community page, then "Messages".

Thanks,
Jonathan

Re: Roaming charges offer

Trueneutral — Sat, 25 May 2024 17:09:35 GMT

Wanted to join this thread as I am facing exactly the same issue. My contract was processed on 29/9/21, but started in 23/10/21. I enjoyed free go roam for the last 2.5 years and only found out it was removed when I am abroad on my latest trip today. @JonathanB Please also PM me how to get this resolved. I have also been offered the ombudsman route by the customer relations team which I will do as well.

Re: Roaming charges offer

Spindan — Sat, 25 May 2024 17:24:07 GMT

Welcome to the club. You are in exactly the same situation as my wife who renewed after being prompted by Three to renew early to avoid the new T&C. She agreed her contract on the 21\09\21 but has just been told the renewal date was actually the 12\10\21 so should have been paying roaming fees since, but has only just started being charged. My advice is to take the company to the regulator as they do not have a leg to stand on. Penny pinching at its finest.

Re: Roaming charges offer

Trueneutral — Sat, 25 May 2024 17:32:38 GMT

I believe there have been people on this thread who went to the ombudsman for the same issue - what was the resolution offered by the regulator? Did anyone manage to get go-roam reinstated?

Re: Roaming charges offer

Spindan — Sat, 25 May 2024 17:54:19 GMT

In our case my wife agreed a new 2 year contract with 70 eu roaming day passes included. We could have taken it further but life is too short to get the £10 back they charged. We also knew three would force us to move to move to a new contract at some point.

Re: Roaming charges offer

Trueneutral — Sat, 25 May 2024 18:30:24 GMT

Thanks for the reply. I will update when I get my resolution. This is a very important perk for me and is the reason why I signed up for Three in the first place.

Hope more people come forward with this exact issue to show the widespread impact.

Re: Roaming charges offer

Spindan — Sat, 25 May 2024 18:47:59 GMT

Please do. We signed up for the same reason. My wife has now had to change but I’m still on the old contract and they haven’t come after me yet to move to a new one, but I know it’s only a matter of time.

Good luck in sorting it out.