My review of Three, the new mobile phone company (unedited and long)

["Gerard McGovern" <stuff@xxxxxxx>]

Review of Three for those who care. Sorry it is long and littered with
spelling/grammar errors.

Name: Gerard McGovern
Location (town, or region): West London
Age: 22
Previous mobile network: Orange
Model of 3G phone used: NEC e606
How long have you been a customer: Since day one
Which 3 tariff are you on: Kit

If I'm being honest, initially the main attraction to Three was the
tariff. For =A360 a month, the 1000 minutes to any network is good value
alone. Couple that with the 250 text messages, free video calls and 100
downloads and it is fantastic value for money. Didn't someone once say
that 3G was going to be expensive?

Now you can't have your cake and eat it. The first sacrifice I would
have to make was the phone. Having used Nokias and (Sony)Ericssons for
years, the NEC is a good few steps backwards. Couple that with a dire
battery life and being twice the size of a T68i and the tariff was
beginning to lose its shine.

After weighing up the pros and cons, I decided to make the jump. Yes the
phone is bad but this is 3G; I can watch video of my team (Spurs) losing
miserably to Arsenal. I can have a video call with anyone else insane
enough to switch too. And, most importantly, the tariff will save me
money. Bills of around =A390-100 per month would fall to =A360.

Having seen the adverts, my sister mentioned she wanted to switch to
Three as well. At least I'd have someone to have a video call with. As
she isn't very technically minded, I handled the signup/activation
process for her.

Off I trundled to the Three store in Oxford Street to place my name on
the waiting list and roughly three (would you believe it?) later, they
telephoned to say my phones were in stock. To say I was like a kid in a
sweet shop was an understatement. Signup was a little painful as their
systems weren't fully automated yet. Handed over my credit card, paid
and then left the store.

Rushed to a friend's house nearby and started charging and using the
phone (yes, I ignored the 16 hour first charge suggestion). Problem
number one; the phone wouldn't make calls. I kept on being diverted to
the customer services hotline. A lovely Scottish lady informed me it
could take up to 72 hours to activate the handset. Would have been nice
if the salesperson had bothered to tell me this.

To be fair to Three, the service was activated almost 12 hours later to
the minute. Unfortunately this is when the problems began.

For the first couple of days, I was in heaven. A new network, a new toy
to play with and best off all it would save me money. Few dropped calls
here and there but I put that down to teething troubles. The multimedia
services were very slow but again I put this down to being almost
customer number one.

Then things got worse. The number of dropped calls kept on creeping up
to the stage where to hold an hour long phone calls I'd have to redial 6
to 7 times. Worse still, the battery life on the phone was even worse
than the dire times listed in the manual. Even if you don't use it at
all it is hard to get a full day from the battery. I know exactly why
they supply you with a second battery and charger.

After just over two weeks of these problems the first big problem
occurred; I lost service for three (that number again) whole days. Being
without a phone for three hours is bad enough but three days is
unbelievable. Must have spent eight hours on the phone to customer
services who were absolutely useless. Only by luck did I get someone on
the third day who knew what they were doing.=20

To the credit of Three one of their Executive Office did call me and
compensated me with a =A330 refund on the line rental. Still, my opinion
and faith in Three had been seriously dented. What worried me most is
the staff always telling me there would be teething troubles because it
is a new network. That is not what I expect a company to say.

The service just got worse and worse. Calls dropping left right and
centre and a totally useless customer service team. Three in their
wisdom have outsourced their call centre to India in order to save
money. Good plan in theory but unfortunately their staff are under
trained and can't quite grasp English fully. It took six attempts to get
my name right (Gerard isn't exactly complicated).

Eventually I just snapped. Phoned the Executive Office and told them in
no uncertain terms that I felt cheated by Three and wanted to leave. All
their staff kept on telling me there would be teething problems for a
year. For someone who needs a phone for business that just doesn't cut
it. My phone is my life and my source of income. Having to redial every
five minutes just doesn't look professional.

We reached a compromise. I could leave my contract as I'd gone past the
14 day money back guarantee. However, they have given me two months free
rental on both phones. If the problems still exist in two months, then
I'll get another two months free. Now that is what customer service
should be. Once the service is sorted (and I get an extended battery for
the phone) I will be Mr Happy Customer.

There are still some other things that Three could do differently.
Currently there is no basic data option so I still need an Orange GPRS
account for that. The content is also limited to Three's own services
and I am not sure when/if this will change.

I'm sure in a year's time Three will be a great mobile phone company.
But at the moment there are just too many problems, even basic non 3g
related ones. If I could have cancelled my contract then I would back to
Orange like a shot. But as it stands I am with Three for another 10
months. Fingers crossed everything will get much better, much sooner or
Orange will be regaining another customer.

G

--

=BA =95 =BA =95 =BA =95 =BA =95 =BA =95 =BA =95 =BA =95 =BA
Gerard McGovern

w: http://www.inkiboo.com
m: +44 7980 760 228

aim: inkiboouk  y!: inkiboo  msn: gerard@xxxxxxx

"imagination is more important than knowledge"
=20