Rumour About 3

thetonynator

Hi all,

Have heard a rumour that 3 mobile might be going to go bust in Ireland.

Anyone know if this is true and what the consequences for 3 customers might be?

Also I've noticed they very sneakily changed their price plans to make everything more expensive, under the disguise of some free weekend minutes and some free texts.
Not a happy customer.

Random

Where did you hear this "rumour"? Don't post unless you're gonna give us a source.

A lot of networks are and have changed price plans recently focusing heavy one element of their new plans while perhaps changing another part of it.

Solair

I doubt there's any substance to that rumor to be honest, 3 is owned outright by Hutchison Whampoa, an absolutely enormous and very profitable mobile operator.

They've almost no staff, other than retail, in Ireland and seem to basically operate 3 Ireland as a slightly differentiated version of 3 UK, using the same Indian-based call centres.

Of all the networks, they're certainly the one with the fewest overheads.

I can't imagine they're in financial trouble.

Kensington

thetonynator wrote: »

Hi all,

Have heard a rumour that 3 mobile might be going to go bust in Ireland.

Anyone know if this is true and what the consequences for 3 customers might be?

Also I've noticed they very sneakily changed their price plans to make everything more expensive, under the disguise of some free weekend minutes and some free texts.
Not a happy customer.

It's completely unfounded rumours like this that can actually put a company under, by causing customers who hear the rumours to panic and flee.

As already said, 3 are part of a very profitable parent company and also landed themselves a nice little contract with the government to roll out the NBS. Can't see them pulling out.

Tom Dunne

thetonynator wrote: »

Not a happy customer.

There's the source of your rumour.

Seriously, companies regularly change price plans in response to changing market conditions. As others have pointed out, 3 is in fact quite a strong position, both nationally and internationally.

sold

I know nothing about rumours, and 3 is a very big international company so it won't leave its irish customers standed.

But what I know as fact is that thousands have switch to Vodafone & O2 in Ireland over the last number of months. I did myself, 3 is not the easiest network to be on in Ireland,m you cuould not use online banking to topup or topup on their website with credit card. Their services were are lot poorer than Vodafone and their customer service was lightyears behind Vodafone.

So as regards rumours of going bust, (bankrupt) I doubt it, but they are loosing customers.

granadaghia

Well i for 1 do hope its true, they are the most ignorant shower you could come across, their cs must be operated from the bowels of hell staffed by satans finest . Just another company here to plunder the Irish market giving no employment here apart from a few minimum wage jobs in their shops.
Dont think they will be missed if they do go . rubbish network , inferior coverage in rural areas , and a customer service that must be the worst in the world.
By the way their customer service centre is not in Ireland.

Solair

I joined 3 Bill Pay on SIM only and I found the service pretty abysmal to be quite honest.

Their call centres work from scripts, so it's quite difficult to discuss a problem with them if it's anywhere 'off script'

Bill Payment options were unacceptably poor too. It's extremely difficult and messy to pay any way other than by Direct Debit.

I've been on Meteor and on O2 bill pay and I would have to say that it was a LOT easier to deal with them and the payment options were far more flexible, particularly as you can set them up on online banking without any fuss.

I doubt 3 are in any kind of financial trouble, but they really ought to get their act together when it comes to getting the small localised things right!

If you are happy to pay by DD and never speak to them, they're great!

ronaneire

thetonynator wrote: »

Not a happy customer.

Another unhappy customer?

granadaghia wrote: »

Well i for 1 do hope its true, they are the most ignorant shower you could come across, their cs must be operated from the bowels of hell staffed by satans finest . Just another company here to plunder the Irish market giving no employment here apart from a few minimum wage jobs in their shops.
Dont think they will be missed if they do go . rubbish network , inferior coverage in rural areas , and a customer service that must be the worst in the world.
By the way their customer service centre is not in Ireland.

I moved to 3 over two years ago and have never had any problems with them.

Our man in Havana

I have not had any problems with them since i moved from o2.

mk6705

I doubt this is true. It's possible people may be leaving them but with the amount of money the government gave them for the NBS it'd be hard to go bust!

god's toy

Yep a happy 3 year user here of 3

Just wish the Usim would work in my N900 grrr... But still happy

granadaghia

How come the Government appointed them to run the nbs? was there no irish company in the running ? or is it a case of give jobs to the foreigners at all costs to be seen to be pc.
If you run a pink nokia on 20 euro a month , and only call other 3 users within urban areas and never contact them they are probably brilliant, but we dont all wear tracksuits and drive civics.

Tom Dunne

granadaghia wrote: »

How come the Government appointed them to run the nbs? was there no irish company in the running ? or is it a case of give jobs to the foreigners at all costs to be seen to be pc.

Let's keep the politics out of it.

Back on topic, please.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

ronaneire

granadaghia wrote: »

If you run a pink nokia on 20 euro a month , and only call other 3 users within urban areas and never contact them they are probably brilliant, but we dont all wear tracksuits and drive civics.

Are you talking about another mobile provider here or we still talking about 3?
My bills are more then €20 a month and I use the phone for a lot more then ringing users within urban areas.

Mweelrea

I moved from vodafone to 3 just under a year ago on prepay, i can now send 4 texts for the price of 1 on vodafone, makes sense to me. They're mobile internet is far faster than vodafone's in my experience too. Switching over turned out to be a smart desision in my case

lord lucan

granadaghia wrote: »

If you run a pink nokia on 20 euro a month , and only call other 3 users within urban areas and never contact them they are probably brilliant, but we dont all wear tracksuits and drive civics.

I've an N97 on 3 costing me €30 a month,i don't wear tracksuits and i ride a motorbike,i guess i should switch networks.:rolleyes:

Davy

thetonynator wrote: »

Have heard a rumour that 3 mobile might be going to go bust in Ireland.

Anyone know if this is true and what the consequences for 3 customers might be?

Would love too know where you heard this rumour from?

As already said I don't see it being true as they are part of such a global company that have invested so much here. There poor attempt at customer service is a try at maximizing profits but don't think that would put them out of business just yet.

What did they have on last review, 4% market share revenue it believe it was which is more than they ever had.

Elessar

I certainly hope not!

I joined them after being with Meteor for 7 years. I switched primarily because they are the ONLY operator to offer a pay-as-you-go internet data bundle (1gb for €10). Absolutely essential for the iPhone.

When I joined aswell their prices were quite good, 30c/min to all landlines&mobiles and 5c texts. Though thanks to this thread I've just discovered they've changed this to 35c/min and 12c texts!! Ugh.

The sooner anyone else can offer a decent internet addon for prepay, the better. Though I have to say their coverage is quite good.

Walkman

Elessar wrote: »

I certainly hope not!

I joined them after being with Meteor for 7 years. I switched primarily because they are the ONLY operator to offer a pay-as-you-go internet data bundle (1gb for 10). Absolutely essential for the iPhone.

When I joined aswell their prices were quite good, 30c/min to all landlines&mobiles and 5c texts. Though thanks to this thread I've just discovered they've changed this to 35c/min and 12c texts!! Ugh.

The sooner anyone else can offer a decent internet addon for prepay, the better. Though I have to say their coverage is quite good.

Their prices went up but you get 200 any network mins (at weekends) and 300 any network texts with every 20 top up

3DataModem

Had two bill phones plus a broadband contract for past two years. Very happy costumer. The 3g Internet is pretty fast and it's great that there are no roaming costs in the uk.

jordainius

Walkman wrote: »

Their prices went up but you get 200 any network mins (at weekends) and 300 any network texts with every 20 top up

Only a promotional offer though which ends on the 31st of March.

Walkman

jordainius wrote: »

Only a promotional offer though which ends on the 31st of March.

Ya but i'd pay they'll either extend it or bring out something else.

corcaigh07

nice offer but its only covering up the fact texts are up to 12 f-ing cent and voicemail now costs money.

Mimikyu

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Our man in Havana

Captain Morgan wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Nor do Vodafone.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

GigaByte

This is very typical of the mods on boards, you can post up any **** you want and they haven't got the brains to see the damage it can do. Even though the original poster is posting in other threads he's completely ignored the very one he's started.

Why because he had no source other than a friend of a friend who knows someone who's a friend of the wife of a school teacher who happens to play football every monday night with an estate agent who recently lost his job and over heard this on the bus going to collect his dole.

Tom Dunne

GigaByte wrote: »

This is very typical of the mods on boards, you can post up any **** you want and they haven't got the brains to see the damage it can do. Even though the original poster is posting in other threads he's completely ignored the very one he's started.

What exactly is your problem?

Walkman

Tom Dunne wrote: »

What exactly is your problem?

I thin k what Gigabyte means is it can be damangning to a company for ropumers like this to be started. The OP has posted in other threads uncluding the Vodafone thread about the "rumour" he heard about 3 closing down. He started this thread and has not posted since but gone to post in other threads only once on this