Three have randomly removed my free roaming in go-roam destinations with no notification or warning

[dingdong808]

Like thousands of other three customers I renewed my contract in September 2021 before the deadline to ensure I retained the free roaming in go-roam destinations.

For 24 months I continued to receive free go-roaming... and this then continued on as a rolling contract... so I've had 33 months of free roaming.

This past month I suddenly received £45 in roaming charges.

Complaints to the billing team have got me nowhere.   They simply say that Go-Roam was removed from my account in March (with no notification or warning).   I've since submitted a written complaint and they are now saying my contract started on 17th october 2021 and didn't have free roaming..... despite the fact I've had 33 months of free roaming and the online chat at the time of creating my contract confirmed I'd have the free roaming benefit.  I even gave them an example of a previous bill that had free roaming and they are claiming the bill had daily roaming fees when it clearly shows zero!

Has anyone else experienced this recent change.   I'm getting nowhere trying to get it resolved?    

[MadAtThree]

I might add that their customer service has been abysmal. They simply do not even try to understand the issue - probably because they have been tasked with saying they can't do anything - but they can't even get their story straight. They were quick to suggest the Ombudsman, as would rather go that way than respect their long-standing customers.

[Trueneutral]

Yes, Three is well aware that a referral to the Ombudsman will only be a small slap on the wrist (£75 in my case). It seems like they have done the sums and decided this is cheaper than offering roaming.

[MadAtThree]

I also renewed in September 2021 but my contract date says October 2021 and they have randomly removed the roaming, with no notice. But I received an email in November 2021 saying "you don't have to worry", because they were exempting me from Go Roam charges until I upgrade or change my contract (neither of which I have done).  Did anyone else receive this email?  
They also removed roaming last year, after their systems "upgrade", saying I should have been charged for it, but eventually they refunded the charges and reinstated the roaming fee exemption. 

They are now conveniently ignoring the fact of their own email, or don't have a record of it, and every person I have discussed it with has given me a different rationale for the removal - but they won't add it back, so it's to the Ombudsman I go.

[martinski99]

I took it to the Ombudsman, I requested by transcripts from Three from when I took out the contract in September 21 and it clearly showed that I was told my contract start date would be in September 21 (Three have since changed it to October 21 when my billing cycle begins) and also the operative included lots of legal blurb which stated Go Roam was included. Amazingly Ofcom initially still sided with Three despite what I considered to be overwhelming evidence to the contrary. I appealed and was awarded £75, which is paltry considering this is only 10-5 days roaming when I should have roaming for free until I upgrade.

[martinski99]

The outcome that I requested was for Go Roam to be reinstated. Even though I won, Ofcom said they couldn't do that as Go Roam doesn't exist anymore so they awarded £75. Go Roam does exist, and I'm sure Three could find a way of putting it back on to my contract, but I'd used my appeal so had to accept the outcome or take it to small claims. 

Ofcom made a lot of errors and tbh didn't really understand the situation very well, they were holding me to T&Cs which applied from October 1st 2021 even though I agreed to the contract a week earlier, basically telling me that I was bound by T&Cs which I hadn't seen and which weren't even published when I agreed to the contract. Seems absurd that they took this view.

[MadAtThree]

Ofcom have taken that wording - "Go Roam doesn't exist any more" straight from Three. I heard exactly the same thing from Three complaints. Three also said to me they can't add or subtract benefits from accounts, but they can certainly take them off, so it doesn't add up. Just words to make us go away. I have evidence from Three that I am on the old contract terms, but they've still removed roaming, and were quick to point me to Ofcom, probably knowing Ofcom has no teeth and won't make Three enforce their contracts. 
It's a shame Ofcom isn't better at this - but I am still going to try.
I wonder if the papers would take the same view

[PeteG]

Hello. 

It's disappointing to hear you're having an issue with Go Roam. I'm unsure why anyone at Three, or any where else would tell you Go Roam doesn't exist. Go Roam still exists, and is referenced on the website, as well as within the terms and conditions. It has changed over the years though, and newer contracts have a different set of terms for accessing it. 

I can't see what the details of your agreement are, or why the Go Roam part was changed if your contract wasn't altered, but the team should be able to confirm for you when the start date of your current plan was, and fix it if it needs fixing. 

You mentioned you were directed to Ofcom, and that's something else that has me quite puzzled as they will not be able to help directly. Ofcom don't investigate individual complaints. It's possible the adviser you were talking to might have been trying to refer you to the Ombudsman, and perhaps got mixed up in the process. 

Was it a complaint that you had registered with Three that you were discussing at the time? Or were you speaking to the support team? 

Pete. 

[MadAtThree]

I think they are talking about "free roaming" not existing. But they have certainly removed it from my plan, which I have not upgraded or changed in any way, as they seem to have with all the other people on this chat. And they no doubt can fix it, but they will not. Three is apparently drawing the line on "free roaming", which is how they put it, rather than saying it's something provided for contractually that they have removed and will not put back. Very self serving of them. 
You are right on Ofcom though - I meant the ombudsman - which they were extremely quick to refer me to, probably knowing they're in safe hands with ombudsman decisions. 
In any case, this all reflects extremely poorly on Three, who don't care about their long-term customers and do, in fact, not provide the services they are contracted to do.

[NauticalRoamer]

This is also affecting me. I will be switching to Vodafone and contacting the Ombudsman. 

Think I will have a pretty good case because they have already admitted once before that they mistakingly charged me roaming however the last time I complained for a refund the help desk guy lied and said because my fixed term was up they could charge me roaming. When I complained about the salesperson affectivly gas lighting me it was instantly dismissed within 10 minutes.