Chapter 14: Three is NOT the Magic Number!

The clue is in the title peoples... this week I am going to discuss the POOR service that is provided by the mobile network, Three. And since I have already written a letter of complaint AND complained in the shops, I thought I would have a little rant about it in my blog this week. NOTE: for ANYONE that is considering joining Three, don't bother your arses!

A week last Friday, my phone went dead (I have a Samsung Galaxy S2) so naturally, I thought I would charge my phone. After over an hour on charge, my phone wouldn't turn on and all that appeared was the Samsung logo on the load up. Flashing, flashing, flashing. I HAD to have a phone because I was going away for the weekend for mine and my boyfriends four year anniversary. So I popped my sim in a Nokia E63. I never realised how much I depended on my phone until I used this phone for one day. I couldn't take photos which REALLY upset me, cause I'm all about the photos and Instagram, use Twitter OR Facebook?! 

When I arrived home on the Sunday, I decided to ring up Three to sort out the issue. I explained the situation and they told me to hold on to the volume, home and power button simultaneously to see if it would revive itself. The same thing happened... flashing Samsung logo over and over. I started to lose patience and they suggested I take my phone away for repair either over the phone (3-5 working days) or going into a Three shop (10 working days). I said I would like to have a loan/replacement phone while this issue is being fixed and they said they couldn't provide me with one and that I had to go into a Three shop, meaning more time and money for myself. My boyfriend then asked to speak to a manager and you know what the guy did? He laughed. WTF?! He then proceeded to say there wasn't a manager present and when we asked why he laughed, he said it was over a separate issue. Regardless if it was or not, it was a bad time to laugh and well, he shouldn't have laughed at all! In anger, I hung up on him and my boyfriend wrote a large letter of complaint as he heard all of the conversation and I was too angry to do anything at the time. 

Monday came and I went to Merry Hill after work (the only Three shop open by the time I get home). Again, I explained the situation. Again, the guy did the volume, home and power button scenario. Again, I was getting annoyed. Did these people actually KNOW what they were doing? When I asked if they had a replacement phone, they said they had non in stock and it was subject to availability. This was bull to me because I know most networks would provide a loan phone on the spot if someone's phone needed to be repaired within the warranty they were given when opening a contract. He then said there were two options:

1. Do a factory reset, which would mean starting my phone from scratch, losing all my contacts, photos... basically EVERYTHING.

2. Connect my phone to Samsung Kies to make sure all my data is backed up before doing a Factory reset... Well the phone has to be fully charged and functioning to do that, dip shit.

So I rang up Three again and they basically confirmed that if my phone wasn't turning on, then everything is wiped from my phone anyway. Great. So then I got REALLY pissed off. Non of this was my fault?! And no one was doing ANYTHING to help me?! All they suggested was that I send my phone off for repair and basically have NO loan phone whilst waiting for it to be returned. This was unacceptable. I said I would cancel my Direct Debit unless they helped me. Did they care? No. I even went to the Citizens Advice Bureau to see where I stood and they suggested I go to Trading Standards. GREAT ADVICE!! I spoke to people at work and my friend Shao reckoned it could be to do with my battery. Made sense as the battery was completely flat after charging it for several hours.

I gave Three one last chance to redeem themselves. I went into the Merry Hill shop again and explained myself AGAIN. I added that I thought the battery might be contributing to the fault and he flat out said no. He said it was definitely down to software issue and that a factory reset was the only option to clear any faults the software contains. However, this guy said something different. He said that if I had a Google account, then more than likely, everything on my phone was backed up (excluding apps). He said it was worth a go and if it didn't work he would suggest something else. FINALLY, someone was helping me. The phone turned on and when I logged onto Google, all of my contacts and pictures were backed up. Ranjit (the guy from Three in Merry Hill) was the ONLY helpful person I spoke to from Three and I was very happy with his customer service manner. 

This takes me back to what I said in my first blog... how can people afford to be rude in customer service when there are people out there CRYING for jobs?! Even though Ranjit came through for me in the end, there is no doubt about it... I will DEFINITELY be leaving Three come the end of my contract in February and I wouldn't recommend the mobile network to ANYONE considering going with them. Rude doesn't even cut it...

This week I would like you to tell me who you think the best and worst network providers are based on your own personal experiences. This will give me an idea of who I might consider joining next year. And if any of you take the hand and say Three are the best, I WILL be ignoring you ;). Again, just reply on here, Facebook or Tweet me by clicking over the highlighted links.

I think the below video best describes how I was feeling about the phone situation last week...

Take my advice, if Fenton pisses you off, you let 'em know!

T.