£350 Charge after Returning Router

[Retired_Jolene]

I took out a 5G router contract with Three on  23/10/24 and cancelled it on 21/11/24, within the 30-day cooling-off period.

Around 03/12/24, Three sent a returns bag. I returned the router around 12/12/24.

Despite this, I've been charged £350, with Three claiming they never received the router. When I contacted support, I was told I needed the tracking number, otherwise they couldn't do anything. But I never held onto the tracking number on the bag, since at no point previously did Three tell me I should hang onto this. I also find it strange and suspicious that Three does not have their own record of the tracking number, considering they are the ones who provided the returns bag.

Three have escalated to a Credit Referencing Agency, and I’ve been receiving repeated texts and emails about it every day for months.

I followed the instructions I was given. I shouldn’t be penalised for a failure in Three’s system.

@Three support—can someone please step in and get this sorted? This has gone on far too long.

[Retired_Jolene]

@JonathanB @Maxine @PeteG I see that you have assisted with many similar cases in the past—could you please help me?

To give more info: Three sent me an email on 30/11/24 saying “Your final bill's now ready”—but this wasn’t a bill at all. It was actually a refund for the router, since we had cancelled the home broadband contract within the 30-day cooling-off period. Naturally, I assumed this meant the major steps were handled and most of the process was now done.

We received the returns bag around 03/12/24. My flatmate returned the router around 12/12/24 and got a receipt from the Post Office. We held onto the receipt for a few weeks, but since we’d received a refund marked as our “final bill,” the router had been returned, and we hadn’t heard anything further from Three for a few weeks, we didn’t think there was any reason to keep it beyond that point.

We didn’t take a picture of the returns label on the bag either, since Three didn’t tell us to do so. I disagree with the comments suggesting it’s just “common sense” to keep tracking numbers. In my experience, that’s simply not how most companies handle returns.

When I return something to Amazon, eBay, or most major retailers, I’ve never had to keep a record of the tracking number. I’ve also never been told by the company to do so. Either the company or courier emails the tracking info to me, or it’s visible in my account, or the company already has a record internally—because they’re the ones who generated the return label. That’s the standard setup.

In this case, Three sent the prepaid jiffy bag themselves. If anyone should have access to the tracking number, it’s them—not me. They were the ones who generated the return label and paid for the postage—so they should be able to retrieve the tracking info from the courier. Three did not tell me it was my responsibility to personally record the tracking number. Having to personally record the tracking number is the exception, not the rule. If they wanted me to keep a record of the tracking number, they should have said so clearly. They didn’t.

I would really love any assistance on this! It's been several months and I would like this mess to end.

[PeteG]

Hello, Jolene. 

Am I right in that the bill that you received at the end was actually a charge for the Hub rather than a refund as expected? 

Pete. 

[Retired_Jolene]

Hi Pete!

The email I got on 30/11/24 saying it was my "final bill" was a refund of £29.81 for the Hub.

Then on 27/12/24, I received a £350 bill for "non-return" of the router.

Hope that clears things up. What can be done to fix this?

[PeteG]

The amounts don't seem to line up with the amounts that would normally be charged. I'm unsure why there would be a refund for the Hub to begin with, the assumption would be that it's being returned, and so it wouldn't be charged. And the charge that was then applied for £350 doesn't match up with the amount that's normally charged for a non return. 

It's something that would need to be looked into further in order to figure out what's going on. As the issue hasn't been resolved in previous attempts, you can register a complaint through one of the complaint contact options on the Complaints Page. The team there can access the account and investigate what's going on while registering your complaint. Hopefully a resolution can be found quickly. 

Pete. 

[Retired_Jolene]

Thanks for your reply Pete.

I realise I may have worded something poorly in my earlier reply—when I mentioned the £29.81 refund as being “for the Hub,” I meant that it was the refund issued after cancelling the broadband contract within the 30-day cooling-off period. It wasn’t a refund for the device itself.

Just to clarify, the amounts here do seem to line up with Three’s usual policy.

I signed up for the 5G Hub Unlimited Data plan at £28/month on a 1-month rolling contract. I cancelled within the 30-day cooling-off period, which entitles you to a refund of the first month’s charge, as per Three's Returns, Exchanges and Cancellations policy. That’s what the £29.81 refund was for. I’m not sure why it came out slightly higher than £28—maybe a billing adjustment or tax—but either way, the refund was for the contract, not the hub.

The £350 charge is also consistent with Three’s policy. According to page 6/7 on Three's Home Broadband Plans Price Guide, if you cancel within the cooling-off period and don’t return the hub, the charge is £350. (If you cancel after the cooling-off period, the charge is £105—which I assume is the amount you’re more used to seeing.)

I did return the hub, so the charge shouldn’t have been applied—but the amount itself does match what’s stated in Three’s own policy.

I’ll go ahead and register a formal complaint as suggested, but since it looks like this confusion came from poor wording on my part, I’d really appreciate it if you could take another look in the meantime, or pass it along to someone who can.

Thanks again,

Jolene

[JonathanB]

Hi @Retired_Jolene,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience of receiving a charge for this returned hub, and moreover that the support teams haven't been able to solve this in the meantime.

I'm keen to make sure this is investigated more thoroughly for you, and that if we possibly can we sort out this refund, and correct any impact to your credit.

We won't be able to take this further directly on the Community, but I'll send you a private message to get you in touch with some more support. 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

[JonathanB]

Hi @Retired_Jolene,

I hope you're well? I'm just checking in to see if you managed to contact the team I directed you to, and if the issue has now been resolved?

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Retired_Jolene]

Hello Jonathon,

Thank you so much for remembering this and for following up, it means a lot to me. Life got very busy the last few months and I unfortunately wasn't able to keep up with this case, but I will respond to your private message now and contact the social media team as you recommended.

Thank you so much again,

Kind regards,

Jolene

[JonathanB]

No worries at all Jolene, totally appreciate that life can be busy. Please let me know how you get on once you've spoken to the team.

Thanks,
Jonathan