oh lordy, my final letter to 3.

Solair

Bulmers wrote:

letter is not greaqt to be honest, wont get you anywhere.

From reading through other threads on the issue with 3, seems to me most people are happy with them and they are doing good job, cheap, good coverage...just seems to be the same people complaining about the same things really....

even going by Commander Vs poll, mostly positive...

I genuinely had a very bad experience with '3' customer care over the last while. Just because everyone hasn't had a bad experience with them doesn't mean that people who have are somehow being irrational, which appears to be what you are implying.

I got in touch with 3's Irish offices in Dublin and made a formal complaint via e-mail. I got a satisfactory response from them and I have been assured that they are investigating why there was a lapse of customer service and will resolve it.

There's no point in suffering on in silence, if a company's not performing as well as they should be on the customer service, or any other front, they ought to be told about it so that something is done to resolve the situation.

There is also no point in shouting at front line staff, sending ranting letters etc. Just send a detailed, brief and to the point outline of exactly what has happened in your case. Explain that you find it unacceptable and give them a timeframe in which to address it.

I'm hoping that '3' have taken feedback on board and might now improve things!!

godskitchen

Bulmers wrote:

letter is not greaqt to be honest, wont get you anywhere.

From reading through other threads on the issue with 3, seems to me most people are happy with them and they are doing good job, cheap, good coverage...just seems to be the same people complaining about the same things really....

even going by Commander Vs poll, mostly positive...

Most people have not had anything go wrong, I think you will find anyone who has come into contact with their "Customer Service" staff will be of the view that Three are taking the piss.

They are a fantastic company if everything is working............but then isn't every company wonderful when things are as they should be........the mark of a really good company is how they function when the wheels come off.

When Threes wheels come off they crash and burn.

As for the comment "just seems to be the same people complaining about the same things really" say that when they have not provided you with a service for the last three months but still charge you.

Also the if i was reading these threads and thinking about going with Three i wouldn't have to think too hard before deciding to stay well clear of them..........you get what you pay for, Vodafone have a policy of not leading on price but on quality of service, you may think thats a good thing, you may think thats a bad thing. i know which i would choose.

legs11

the 'hi there'

was addressed to the nice folk at comreg actually, what else am i to say.

dear nice people.???:rolleyes:


i dont care if i hear from them again or not to be honest, i cancelled thier direct debits and i can flog that n73 phone as well at the drop of a hat, and just move to o2 or voda.

dont give a damn, and they wont be getting the thousand euros off me neither.

culabula

legs11 wrote:

the 'hi there'

was addressed to the nice folk at comreg actually, what else am i to say.

dear nice people.???:rolleyes:


i dont care if i hear from them again or not to be honest, i cancelled thier direct debits and i can flog that n73 phone as well at the drop of a hat, and just move to o2 or voda.

dont give a damn, and they wont be getting the thousand euros off me neither.

How about "To whom it may concern" or "Dear Sir or Madam"?

How about commas? Full stops? Capital letters? The letter 'I' when referring to yourself?

In other words, how, in the name of God, do you expect to be taken seriously with garbage like this?

If you don't give a damn, why did you bother writing it anyway?

One thing's for certain -on foot of a letter like that, they won't give a damn either.

patrickc

they were kind enough to waive Februarys "over use" so count yourself lucky and take a course in proper letter writing

DMC

I know this is after the lord mayor's show and all, but here are good instructions of writing a formal business letter, with examples, there is a sample complaint letter there.

I'd pay spectacular heed to point 5 from the first link....

5. Achieve the right tone

Although the reader of your letter may be unknown to you, it is important to achieve a suitable tone in your writing and not to be too casual or too formal. So, as far as possible:

• Avoid Jargon whenever possible.
• Use shorter sentences rather than longer ones.
• Avoid using the passive. For example write, ‘We sent you that letter by mistake’, rather than the more pompous, ‘Our letter was sent in error’.
• Don’t let your feelings get the better of you.
• Don’t try to be too clever.
• Be clear and to the point, but don’t be too blunt.

What is also important is that people here feel that you may have a vaild complaint, and want you to win. This is constructive criticism.

culabula

DMC wrote:

What is also important is that people here feel that you may have a valid complaint, and want you to win. This is constructive criticism.

Hear! Hear! My sentiments exactly.

babytooth

In legs defense, I also am having problems with my three phone, well more specifically with thier service.

Customer service is terrible, Indinan call centre staff find it hard to communicate to western, not being racist, but the accent and turn of phrase lends it self to mis-understanding, hence Dell and Deutshce Bank and many other companines pulling call centres from India and moving them back to Europe/Usa. Either ways it is unacceptable to call a customer a liar and fail to produce the recored back up tapes to assert your claim...i won't start on it...

I am also trying to write and compose a formal letter to three, only thing is that there seems to be no advertisd direct email address to send a complaint to. I have send this email to four different address and have recieved back two automaticaly generated email from whatever silly mail filtering system they are using...

And, does anyone know if i can get a SE W850i unlocked from them and migrate to any other Irish servic provider.

Blackjack

babytooth wrote:

And, does anyone know if i can get a SE W850i unlocked from them and migrate to any other Irish servic provider.

try here

legs11

i sent my data card back, with said complaint letter (albeit poorly written, but they got the drift, unless they are retards.....) to the PO box 333 addy.

im getting contradicting emails from one dude from 3, who says. just pay the nominal fee and he says the issue is resolved but we are working on the error....

phfffft. working on it for a few months. yay

he mentioned the new modem and that i could migrate but i said thanks but no thanks, i might be subjected to bills of over a grand in the future.

drdre

legs11 wrote:

i sent my data card back, with said complaint letter (albeit poorly written, but they got the drift, unless they are retards.....) to the PO box 333 addy.

im getting contradicting emails from one dude from 3, who says. just pay the nominal fee and he says the issue is resolved but we are working on the error....

phfffft. working on it for a few months. yay

he mentioned the new modem and that i could migrate but i said thanks but no thanks, i might be subjected to bills of over a grand in the future.

Well hope they understood your letter :rolleyes:

parsi

legs11 wrote:

ok lads, theres no need to be hostile now:D

i am over 30, and maybe i was a bit harsh in the letter, but i toned it down

below are transcripts of the email i sent to comreg (oh yes) and also cc'd to 3.

and also the letter i sent 3 (re-written).

frankly i am sick of all this, as all the posters know by now, i am not a moaner and pay all my bills and blah blah. but this one with 3 takes the biscuit. they want it payed by june now it seems. so i had to take drastic action. and cease all activity with them from now on, i just cant tolerate this rubbish any longer.

____________________________________________________________________ letter to comreg


hi there,

I am writing to complain about my treatment with 3, the mobile operator and in particular the broadband package they use.

I signed up with the broadband 3000 package in february, which gave you 3 gigabytes a month for 39.99euro. if you exceeded the quota you would pay something like 40cent a kilobyte --.

i was provided with a data card and a usim for the package. the data card was a pcmcia type, which is more or less obsolete and doesnt work with new laptops, my dell is a year old and it doesnt work with it. new laptops have an express slot, which is a new improved version of pcmcia

anyway, i used my motorola v3xx which i purchased from 3 as an upgrade at the same time to connect to the internet, the v3xx had hsdpa facility.

i had no formal way to monitor data usage, how much i had remaining etc.i used the 'my3' function which 3 provided to see how much bytes i had remaining, but i found out this was not updated in real time, while using the data sim in my v3xx i was using the 'my3' to monitor my usage and was surprised to see it pretty static , despite downloading a few programs and videos in febuary. the 'my3' facility has a feature called current spending, which basically is how much you are outside of the monthly fee. while monitoring my usage i also checked this and it was still zero or perhaps a few euros, for sending text messages for instance, which are not included in the price plan.

one weekend then, the current spending went from zero to over a thousand euro, over a few hours on a sunday.

Crikey - not a single capital letter, not even for I. Confusion "it was still zereo or perhaps afew euros".

These letters are supposed to outline your case and your version of the facts. If you can't even give an accurate version of the facts as you see them then you're going to have difficulty contesting 3 who will have accurate versions of their facts.

It's like complaining to the Guard that you weren't doing the 123kmh he clocked you at and saying "well I was only doing 71 kmh or maybe 89..."

drdre

parsi wrote:

Crikey - not a single capital letter, not even for I. Confusion "it was still zereo or perhaps afew euros".

These letters are supposed to outline your case and your version of the facts. If you can't even give an accurate version of the facts as you see them then you're going to have difficulty contesting 3 who will have accurate versions of their facts.

It's like complaining to the Guard that you weren't doing the 123kmh he clocked you at and saying "well I was only doing 71 kmh or maybe 89..."

Well said

culabula

legs11 wrote:

i sent my data card back, with said complaint letter (albeit poorly written, but they got the drift, unless they are retards.....) to the PO box 333 addy.


he mentioned the new modem and that i could migrate but i said thanks but no thanks, i might be subjected to bills of over a grand in the future.

Bit foolish of you if a) the issue has been resolved, b) you have never been out of pocket, c) 3 have never demanded the money from you, d) the new modem is the answer to all your prayers (and complaints), e) you get over 3 times the data for half the price, f) you are unlikely ever to incur such a bill again as 3 have taken measures by crippling voice and roaming to prevent this kind of thing and z)zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

How say you?

drdre

culabula wrote:

Bit foolish of you if a) the issue has been resolved, b) you have never been out of pocket, c) 3 have never demanded the money from you, d) the new modem is the answer to all your prayers (and complaints), e) you get over 3 times the data for half the price, f) you are unlikely ever to incur such a bill again as 3 have taken measures by crippling voice and roaming to prevent this kind of thing and z)zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

How say you?

Solair

I hate to be the one to say this, but it's highly inadvisable to send any packages to a PO BOX number.

If you're returning a handset / modem, it should go to their physical address (which is on their website):

3 Ireland
6 -10 Suffolk Street
Dublin 2

You also should always send it by registered post too.

drdre

Solair wrote:

I hate to be the one to say this, but it's highly inadvisable to send any packages to a PO BOX number.

If you're returning a handset / modem, it should go to their physical address (which is on their website):

3 Ireland
6 -10 Suffolk Street
Dublin 2

You also should always send it by registered post too.

Yeah you are right, you should never send to a po box address as they dont recieve it a post office recieves it.

paulm17781

Solair wrote:

it should go to their physical address (which is on their website):

3 Ireland
6 -10 Suffolk Street
Dublin 2

Is this the address we should send our letters of discontempt to? Perhaps if we can get to management and not call centre staff they may do something???

Solair

Eh, well it's no big secret or anything. That's the address that's on the "contact us" section of their website!

You can't register post to a PO BOX, as it has to be signed for on delivery.
So, you've no proof of delivery at all.

paulm17781

Solair wrote:

Eh, well it's no big secret or anything. That's the address that's on the "contact us" section of their website!

Agreed, however writing to head office is more likely to achieve something than posting on a message board. Many here seem unaware of this.

legs11

lads im not sure you are on the ball here at all.

3 billed me for over a grand, right.

i cancelled my direct debits as i was unsure whether they would use my funds or not, right.

i was told from one guy, oh its a mistake. just forget it. right

another call a week later, can you pay the bill please. followed by another bill for over a grand.

so thats 2 bills they wanted.

so in all likelyhood they would have took 1,500e or more out of my bank account, which is ridiculous.

understood.?

i dont care about my lack of capital I'e E's O's or You's to be honest.

they rung me again a few days ago and i said i sent a cheque for my voice bill with the data card to the po box 333 addy. she said fine and took a note of it

its not my fault they screwed up my bills, and its not my fault they have s**** customer service either.

as for inaccurate statements on my bill

ok, i was using my 3 to monitor my usage, now normally one doesnt go. ok i got 2 euro here over my spending, lets see.

i will make an excel spread sheet just in case i get billed this month for 1,500e.

i just remembered what my current spending was, ie: a few euros. then a few days later it went from a few euros, to a few thousand almost.

duh.
no i apologise i have no spread sheet to record every time i use a service from 3, but i was not expecting things to get so out of hand.


tbh, and that 10g cap is locked onto hsdpa it seems, if you are in s*** coverage you will get no service at all.

not very good if you live in the sticks so i think.

Urban Weigl

legs11, I have no doubt that 3 messed up in your situation, and that they were at fault. It appears you took steps to monitor your usage. And they did credit you back, but they messed up the next bill as well somehow, probably due to some mistakes on their part. Maybe they never put the credit through properly. However, I think you are not being very reasonable. Not that they don't deserve it, but you could have handled it more professionally.

(posting this from my new 3DataModem)

legs11

well,

i rung them about 30 times since march to explain this error.

nada

i emailed them about the same number of times.

nada

its the year 2007, and not very difficult to write to someone and acknowledge and error or correct a mistake.

i had no more time for this dilly dallying from 3 to be honest.
the bill dates back to march, its now nearly june they had loads of time.

instead i got a bill last friday for nearly 1,600e and said, right. sod that.

Solair

You need to do the following:

1) Write a business like, non ranting letter.
Include your billing account no, phone nos, and the term "FORMAL COMPLAINT" in the subject line.

2) CC this letter to ComReg

3) CC this letter to The National Consumer Agency (Formerly Office of the Director Of Consumer Affairs)

You should send the letters as registered items to physical addresses, not to PO BOX numbers.

At the end of your letter put:
CC: Comreg
CC: National Consumer Agency.

Outline your complaint and experience in chronological order of what happened and be quite detailed.

Express that you are outraged, disappointed etc, but do not use anything that would not be considered 'businesslike' language.

Give them a time frame in which you expect a response e.g. 5 working days.

Explain what you feel would be an acceptable remedy.
Explain that you are keeping records of all communication, i.e. copies of letters, tracking ID from An Post etc.

If you get no satisfactory response, contact Comreg:


Addresses you will need:

3 Ireland
6 -10 Suffolk Street
Dublin 2

Commission for Communications Regulation
Block DEF, Abbey Court
Irish Life Centre
Lower Abbey Street
Dublin 1

National Consumer Agency
4 Harcourt Road
Dublin 2

Speak to the National Consumer Agency and Comreg. They will give you advice on how to proceed.

lucernarian

Solair has given some very good advice in this thread. Act on it, and make sure that you tidy up the basics, as everybody has mentioned in one way or another. It's a shame that you sent the first, unaltered letter, as there was a lot of room for improvement.

One other thing: Just because the letter had some primary-school-worthy mistakes, it doesn't mean that the customer care representatives would ignore it. Such a large amount of money in a complaint would be very imprudent to ignore, and furthermore, he would be right to be disgruntled if he got no reply, as there was no explicit misconduct beyond calling three Ireland Ltd. cowboys.

Gillo

That letter was class.

As the Solair said, send in another letter but I'd also appologise for the first letter.

Either way, thanks for the laugh.

legs11

which they are..........:D


i am not going to write a letter again, because i dont care, my dd's are cancelled. i can pay my voice sim by cheque or something. they can write to me or something.

its not as if they dont know whats going on.

off topic........


graham taylor once had this famous outburst against his players during his tenure as boss, back in the charlton era.
he goes f*** and blinding and every obscene letter under the sun.

he gets called into the fa meeting,

so mr taylor why use the language against your players,

he goes, simple. they were the only players available for selection.:D

legs11

solair, i dont have a pa yet to do all that work for me.........:rolleyes:

Skary

Legs,
I have never come across someone going on quite the way you are - and being in the service industry myself, I have seen a fair amount. This still tops the cake - and not for the right reasons. You are acting like a spoilt child. - as has been mentioned and admitted by yourself - you have previously downloaded a series worth of CSI and who knows what else - so in your letter when you say "obsolete and unused" eh - correct me if I am wrong - but that is just a blatant lie??? If 3 CC has credited you on previous bills for their "errors" then perhaps - maybe - just think about it carefully - they are acknowledging responsibility? It looks like you are the ignorant one here in this equation - you mention in your last post that you want to carry on paying your T200 bill by cheque? by the sounds of that letter it looks like you want to cancel everything - so If you do intend keeping your mobile bill with them - I would possibly advise that to them?
If I was on the recieving end of that letter - I would just laugh - because the way that it is written is like a 2 year old throwing a tantrum.
Do you honestly believe that people who kick up a fuss and act like raving morons actually get their own way???
Really - you should be embarrased with yourself - if you are in your 30's as you say, then start acting like an adult, and try dealing with things in a mature way as opposed to the way you have been.

legs11

to the last poster,

i am not spoilt, and i am not paying over a grand for a bill i didnt incur, its quiet simple really.

i did not dll a complete series of csi in the 1st place thats bull, thats 24 shows ok, at 350meg-ish a show that would be a hell of a bill..

i downloaded about 3 shows max, some of it was the sopranos actually. :rolleyes:

so get this right, i had a quota of 3 gig a month, 'possibly' rung up an excess quota of circa 1gig. thats from what i remember.

and they DID waive that fee beacause they never updated my quota fast enough and gave me wrong and mis leading figures back from 'MY 3'.

so, is that pretty difficult to understand.?

they waived this fee, but apparently brought this forward to my april bill, because i did not even use my data card much from then on, didnt even use my 3g quota in march. (for april bill)

i dont see why i take the biscuit with complaints.

i DID NOT use the redundant data card. i used a (crap) v3xx for a while (1 month actually).

then i used my n73, which only had 3g coverage, and lost a connection 10 times an hour.

figure it out.........