Finally, acknowledgement from Three that they lied and misled me

[Anonymous]

So after several months of 'try moving your router further along the windowsill', Three finally admitted today that they misled me with false promises about broadband to my location. When will the law protect consumers from this disgusting profiteering? 

As I've repeated since October to Three on many occasions, being honest at least allows the customer to make a decision. Instead, they tell lies to keep you in a support loop, hoping to retain custom in time for their eventual improved infrastructure. 

This is exactly what happened at my previous address; 18 months of disruption and lies, eventual admission of insufficient infrastructure, and in the end, service was restored to a decent level (in that case it had previously been good, so not sure what they were doing in the meantime, but some sort of major works, apparently).

So far I've been offered to have one month's fee waived, which is not a satisfactory offer. They also expect me to return the router if I cancel (which wasn't my intention). I've gone from 150-450mbps to 0.5-30 mbps with dropouts and inability to stream content such as live sport reliably. I've even said I'll be reasonably OK with 20-30mbps as long as it's consistent and reliable (and price reduced for the non-existent 5G I'm paying for).  

The customer service has yet again been utterly appalling.

[JonathanB]

Hi @Anonymous,

I'm really sorry to hear you feel misled by Three, and let down by the service in your area. I don't think it's likely that anyone would be intentionally misleading you, from what I'm gathering there's either limitations in coverage, network capacity, or some sort of complicated network fault which we haven't been able to solve as fast as we'd like.

I appreciate it can be frustrating being told to reposition a router, and go through other troubleshooting, but this can and does help solve or improve service in some, but not all situations. In terms of where this sort of activity doesn't provide an improvement then the team can provide options such as you've described like a credit or help to arrange a cancellation, but we wouldn't provide open ended discounts, or completely free service.

This can be really subjective, and I only have the info you've shared to go on when discussing this in a public forum, but it sounds like the dispute here is down to quality of service. The speeds aren't as good as we'd both like them to be, so with that being the case, you can continue to wait for improvements, or you may wish to look into alternative options for your Broadband service.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Anonymous]

Hi Jonathan,

Thanks for replying. I'm continuing a dialogue with the 'complaints' department (call centre - I'm getting different reps replying each time) and they've offered me a 1 month refund, which obviously isn't of much use. It's not really subjective, by the way. They referred to my mast being 'busy at times', but speeds such as 3mbps, reported to them yesterday, are obviously in a much more serious category of issue. You're welcome to discuss with me outside of this post if you'd like verification of this, a period of measured statistics etc.

I would have thought a fee reduction for a set period, whilst we wait for infrastructural work, would seem fair. I would use the balance to buy add-on data via my back-up supply. I also dispute that there is no estimated date for the fix. Surely any such work must be subject to costing and estimation?

Cancelling isn't the best option for me at present.

Regards,

Tom

[JonathanB]

Hi Tom,

I can appreciate that you're having a frustrating time, and as you've mentioned this has gone on for 6 months, following a previous 18 month issue at another location.

I hope this doesn't come across as down playing the issue by any means when I say this can be subjective. There's evidently congestion/capacity issues based on what you're describing, and I can see how "busy at times" can feel like a statement which isn't engaging with the impact and dirsruption this could be causing.

I think the heart of this matter is that either our service is or isn't suitable in the present state for your needs. I could understand if you were being asked to pay a termination fee, that you'd be unwilling to buy out of a contract where we aren't holding up our end, but I can only assume that you've either finished the minimum term (as you've explained you've been with us for over 2 years), or the team have offered to waiver any early termination fee as part of the option to cancel?

I appreciate that cancellation may not be the best option for you personally, and if I'm misinterpreting your situation here I apologise, but it would seem as though the situation you've presented is that the service has not been meeting your needs, but not so far that you want to change provider?

We want to provide a quality service for every customer, and we'll continue to invest in improving our network infrastructure as time goes on, I hope it's not too long till there are improvements, and that the team can reach an amicable solution with you.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Anonymous]

Hi Jonathan,

Just to be clear, I’m a 5G home broadband customer, so speeds of 0.5 to 3 cannot be deemed just congestion/capacity. Your team have acknowledged this, the infrastructure isn’t there yet at my location. I’ve been with Three since they bought Relish, so that’s some years now.

The reason for not wanting to cancel is I don’t yet see a viable alternative using a data-to-router model, at a good price, and where I can be sure I won’t have the same issue again. My O2 (mobile device) 5G from here is great, but I urgently need reliability at present, and hence a back-up is important to me.

By the way, if you could remove the replies from the little troll who keeps making unsubstantiated slurs on my character in replies, then I’ll stop responding too. You’re welcome to remove all replies, and I’m happy for you to edit the post title if you think it’s unfair, by removing the ‘lies’ wording.

In summary, there doesn’t seem an easy solution that suits everyone, if my suggestion of a reduced rate until reasonable service is available is something Three are unwilling to entertain. I’ll probably take it up with higher authority before making a decision.

Thanks at least for replying,

Tom

[Paddiewack]

The little “troll” is here watching but not partaking. I wouldn’t miss this saga.

[Paddiewack]

If you really believe you’ve been lied to and misled (strong accusations) then you need to seek legal redress because in principle it’s sounds as though you’re accusing the company of deception. (Correct me if I’m making an incorrect assumption).  For my part I don’t accept your interpretation of events. Maybe I’m being overly cynical but there it is. All conversations with Three are recorded (for good reason) so it would be interesting to hear them.However your place is the legal route not a spleen venting posting on a public forum.

[Anonymous]

You can call it a 'spleen venting' if you like, for me it's simply posting this to get the issue stated somewhere public, and perhaps help alert other potential customers to avoid the issue. I'm not familiar with this forum, and hence also hoped I might get advice from other users. Given I've been a loyal customer since they took over Relish, and I endured over a year of the exact same scenario at my previous address (and again they ended up admitting what I'd said for months, no issue with router or devices as they repeatedly claimed, but infrastructure insufficient, which was eventually resolved), I don't think it's unreasonable; you're free to ignore it. Thanks, though, for suggesting the legal route. Given Three have, in the latest reply, been honest about the situation and my assumptions, I think I would have some grounds for this, though realistically I doubt I'll pursue it. Your cycnism does somewhat surprise me; if you look at social media, for example, there are absolutely scores of people reporting similar issues.

[Paddiewack]

Cynicism is seen as healthy and I’m A1 ! You mentioned loyalty and I reply so what. Loyalty counts for nothing. Three are a business not a charity and you chose to stay with them out of how much less you’d  have to extricate from your pocket not because of your perceived love of the brand so don’t try that old pony on me.  I’d still love to hear the telephone conversations in which you allege (failings) let’s call them that. I personally think you’re trying to leave the network for whatever reason and all this smoke daggers and verbal pontificating is your route to that. Anyway I’ll leave you considering your options but when people come on here and talk about their loyalty then you know their argument has gone from 5g to 2g.

[Anonymous]

Your self-righteous assumptions show a lot about you. I disagree totally about loyalty, business status and not being a charity. You jump in and make assumptions about me - accusations, actually - without knowing anything about me, that's cowardly and weak. I'm not trying any 'old pony' on you (don't flatter yourself), I didn't say I had a love of the brand, just that being a very long-term customer I might expect a better response to what they've admitted was misleading information. If you don't like the post and want to make a point about its validity on the forum, so be it. But jumping to totally incorrect conclusions about my motives is hideaway keyboard-bashing at its most pathetic. I actually want to stay with Three as the delivery method suits me, and I'm loath to only slave my (very good) O2 5G as I prefer a back-up. Take a good look at yourself, and get a grip.