Getting my €100 deposit back from 3

quinlaj2

I was wondering if anyone has had a similar problem with 3?

I signed up with 3 Ireland in March 2007. I was signing up for one of their bill-pay options which icluded the usual cheap phone etc. However, also at the time I was informed that I needed to put a €100 deposit down to cover my first 6 months of the contract. This was news to me but seeing as I had been in the store on Grafton St. for over an hour at this stage (they were training a new staff member in and she kept screwing up) I agreed without much deliberation. I used my laser card and instead of paying someone in the store I had to call out my card details over the phone to someone in their call centre. I was informed that this would be returned to me in six months time and I never gave it a second thought after that.

Then in October/November 2007 I realised I had never received the €100 deposit back so I contacted their call centre. They claimed to have never received any payment of €100 from me at that time and asked if I could provide proof of payment. I contacted my bank and got a statement for that period sent out to me. I hightlighted the date of purchase, cost of the phone, and the €100 deposit and faxed it into 3. After two days I rang them up again and they said they never received any fax from me proving that I paid and could I send it through once again. So I did and again waited two days (the time it takes for them to receive a fax apparently) and called them up. This time they said they had received it and that I should expect a check in 21 days.

So I waited but there was no check. Once again I rang them up and again they claimed they never received any proof of payment from me via fax. When I told them that someone there had told me they had and that the check was in the post they said that was not the case.

At this stage I was talking to a supervisor who asked me to send in the proof of payment for a third time. So I did and this time the supervisor rang me up saying that she had received the fax and that she had authorised the check and that I should have it in 21 days.

That was roughly around February 2008. After all that I was certain that I would receive my refund in 21 days and kind of put the whole thing to the back of my mind. Of coarse there was no check and somewhere around mid July 2008 I was in town and remember that I hadn't received anything. So I dropped into the store on Grafton St. and inquired. Luckily enough I was talking to a friend of a friend who works there and he said he'd investigate it for me. So I got a call a few days later saying that he rang them up and they told him that there was no record of proof of payment for that €100 and that no check had been authorised.

So after all that...where do I go from here???

drunkmonkey

You drop into the store in Grafton Street and start banging on the counter until someone picks up the phone and calls 3 on your behalf, I'm surprised 3 do not have a record of the payment as none of my customers have ever had to jump through hoops like that to get there deposit back....The 3 store should also have a record of your payment.....

quinlaj2

I think you're right man. I am just going to have to go in and watch them actually do it. And the worst thing is they actually got me to sign up to another 12 month contract by offering me an upgrade...pretty stupid on my part I know.

I am generally very happy with the service and tariff I am on but this whole episode and the stuff going on with my BB and UPC at the moment really makes me wonder...are we just ment to get screwed all the time?

drunkmonkey

quinlaj2 wrote: »

I think you're right man. I am just going to have to go in and watch them actually do it. And the worst thing is they actually got me to sign up to another 12 month contract by offering me an upgrade...pretty stupid on my part I know.

You were right to take the upgrade, that's one thing I really like about 3 is a new phone every 10 mts, It's a lot better than what the other networks offer....

Go in there and stick to your guns, maybe call them first and see if they can resolve the problem without draging you into the shop, give them your name, number and dob and they should be able to call 3 with that information and sort it out for you....It shouldn't take any longer than an hour....

quinlaj2

Cheers for the advice DrunkMonkey. I'll give them a shout first and see how that goes.

Danbo!

I'd call up and ask for the €100 to be credited to your account, referring to the occassions that you have been told the cheque is in the post.. They'll just give you the cheque bull**** again and again in the hop that the next time you call it wont be them you'll be dealing with.