Getting out of a Meteor contract due to poor coverage

sarahsulll

Hi all,

This seems to be a widespread problem at the moment but I need some advice.

Last July I entered an 18 month contract with meteor for 400 mins, 400 texts and 2 GB of data for 40 euro, 48 when you add on VAT. I got the Blackberry Curve 3G. My home address is in country in Cork and has absolutely appalling signal. My college address by UCC is just as bad. I wanted to get out of the contract for a while now but I waited until I got my 300 euro deposit back at the end of March.

Basically the signal is dreadful, I was overcharged for Blackberry usage for three months, I was cut off from service for 4 days for no reason whatsoever and on three occasions spent up to 50 minutes on hold before I finally got the service back. I've complained about it before to no avail. In the last two weeks I went into a meteor store and told them of the issue, they gave me a 3G sim card,they said I was issued a 2G sim card last July and this should help. It doesn't. At home I have no signal for internet whatsoever and all my calls drop, 5 rooms of my house have "no network" coverage, only a few rooms upstairs have 1 or 2 bars of EDGE at best. My father and sister's bill phones are the exact same.

I'm raging about this, I complained about it in detail to customer care on Saturday, I was told I should return the phone under warranty and get a new one. I told her I wanted to get out of the contract as I was just wasting my money. I was told they can't guarantee indoor coverage, but the coverage is the same outside? I made her check with the technical team three times because I've checked the map on the website and it says I only have EDGE coverage. The tech said it was "patchy" but that wouldn't be enough to terminate a contract. For a 3G phone and a 3G service I feel I shouldn't of been sold the service if they knew they couldn't provide it.

I complained to a supervisor about it and I'm waiting to hear back from a store manager also. They have no interest in helping. After repeating myself 4 times about being over charged I made him refund me it. All of the operatives are sarcastic and out right rude, I have remained as calm and polite as possible because I work in customer service myself and I know its the best approach. I've contacted ComReg and they're getting in contact with meteor on my behalf now.

I have no intention on staying in this appalling contract until January 2013 and I refuse to have to pay a cancellation fee when I'm not getting the service I should be. Any advice? I can't afford to keep wasting my money and time on this?

Paulw

When your father's phone and your sisters both had bad coverage, why did you go with the same operator and expect something different?

No operator will promise signal strength in any particular location, and some buildings shield phone signals more than others.

Just because there is no coverage in two particular locations (or others), does not give you a valid reason to terminate the contract early.

You can try reasoning with Meteor, but they are within their obligations.

sarahsulll

I've been with Meteor for a few years but never had a 3G phone so I had no need to use the internet. This was my first one and seeing as it prides itself on being the Curve 3G with data usage, push emails etc I expected to have proper 3G coverage. The issues with coverage have only become a major issue in the last couple of months, its getting progressively worse. A quick search on google of "meteor coverage" will return many people reporting the same issue. Especially in Dublin city, this doesn't seem to be just a rural issue. There seems to be widespread issues with the coverage. I don't know where to go from here, I don't want to pay 48 euro a month for a ridiculously limited service.

evolutionqy7

Paulw wrote: »

When your father's phone and your sisters both had bad coverage, why did you go with the same operator and expect something different?

No operator will promise signal strength in any particular location, and some buildings shield phone signals more than others.

Just because there is no coverage in two particular locations (or others), does not give you a valid reason to terminate the contract early.

You can try reasoning with Meteor, but they are within their obligations.

Agree, Why did you get in the first place knowing the coverage? If the coverage was bad from the start why didn't you make use of your coverage guarantee and get a refund and get out of contract?

sarahsulll

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

Agree, Why did you get in the first place knowing the coverage? If the coverage was bad from the start why didn't you make use of your coverage guarantee and get a refund and get out of contract?

Refer to my previous post. I always had a decent enough amount of coverage but in the last few months its gotten progressively worse. I used to have pratically full service in all rooms of my house and now I barely have 2 bars of EDGE and that's only upstairs. Its the same outside my house. It seems to be a nationwide problem in the last while.

evolutionqy7

sarahsulll wrote: »

Refer to my previous post. I always had a decent enough amount of coverage but in the last few months its gotten progressively worse. I used to have pratically full service in all rooms of my house and now I barely have 2 bars of EDGE and that's only upstairs. Its the same outside my house. It seems to be a nationwide problem in the last while.

Well I don't know about Nationwide now. Meteor didn't have the best coverage to begin with, id be traveling front and back from midlands to Dublin and between work and college and it hasn't really changed for the past three years.

sarahsulll

You're lucky.

Judging by my own coverage in Cork city and from searching the issue on google, Meteor customers all over the country are experiencing terrible coverage lately, especially on smart phones.

evolutionqy7

sarahsulll wrote: »

You're lucky.

Judging by my own coverage in Cork city and from searching the issue on google, Meteor customers all over the country are experiencing terrible coverage lately, especially on smart phones.

Well that's why I rather stay on sim only and just buy my own phones. Saves this hassle and can leave any time I want, it turns out pretty much the same amount or even cheaper that way over the period of 18-24 months.

If I get any hassle I can always just switch. Though then again I don't have full coverage anywhere with any carrier so there's no difference to me.

sazmeise

I used to be with O2 and never had a problem with data coverage.

I changed to the same plan as you on Meteor.. live and work right in Dublin city and the 3G coverage is appalling. Always get webpages timing out. When you're relying on it for sat nav or maps to get somewhere its never good enough. MMS messages take 2 weeks to receive and send!! Crazy.

Did you have any luck getting out of your contract in the end?

Saz
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