By Jo Best, 20 November 2003 12:25
NEWS Telecoms regulator Oftel has published its consumer complaints figures – and the picture isn't rosy for 3, Vodafone and BT's internet units.
When it comes to whinges about ISPs, BT Openworld and BT Broadband clocked up the most complaints per 1,000 users at 0.7, while on the mobile front, Vodafone acquisition Cellular Operations picked up the Oftel wooden spoon with 1.4.
When it comes to who actually had the most complaints, third-generation operator 3 could well be in the lead. Oftel said that while it had received 552 complaints about Hutchison Whampoa's UK 3 network, it didn't have customer numbers to allow it to perform an accurate comparison. Back in August, 3 announced that it had 155,000 customers – which would put it bottom of the league at around 2.8 grumbles per 1000.
The most common complaint made about mobile companies was the fact that customers were ignored when they complained, followed by objections over pricing and handsets. The white knight of the mobile operator world turned out to be Virgin Mobile, which didn't even manage a whole 0.1 complaint per 1,000 users.
On the internet side, customers most often aired their grievances to Oftel over billing – but the second biggest bugbear dogging web users was a sporadic or non-existent broadband connection, followed again by companies adopting the "La la la, I can't hear you" approach to their users' complaints.
However, moans about ISPs have actually dropped by around 12 per cent since six months ago, racking up 4,700 this time round, compared to 5,325. The winners of the best web customer service award are two of the largest ISPs, according to the Oftel numbers – AOL and Telewest – who only managed to get 0.1 complaint per 1,000 users each.
The statistics cover complaints made by business and residential users to the watchdog from 1 April to 3 September.
Comments
There are 47 comments. Join the discussion
1. Richard Speirs
I'm on the 3G network and I'm one of their unhappy customers. Firstly, the 3Services we're unavailable - Such as Video downloads and QuickMap options. Then SMS messaging failed on me - quickly followed by a billing error. I'm 5 months into my contract now and when it ends next May i'm off to Virgin! :-)
2. Simon Hobson
I can understand the low level of complaints about Virgin. I used to be with them and like the Ronseal adverts, their service just did what they said it would, and at the price they said it would be.
I moved to Orange to get GPRS and it's been a complete disaster, of 8 bills, only the first has been correct, but the annoying thing (as mentioned in the article) is that Orange just keep re-iterating that their interpretation of the contract is the only valid one and all the bills are correct. The 'read between the lines' message from them is 'stop whinging and pay up'.
I don't think I'll stay with them, and I wouldn't recommend them to a friend.
3. Steve watkins
I am not surprised that BT is one of the most complained about of telcos. I have to use BT here, unfortunately, as there is no choice. I have complained to BT very very frequently and this is what happens:
1) I make a complaint to their department.
2) Days go by without even an acknowledgement.
3) I complain to Oftel who take about a week to repsond.
4) Oftel get on to BT.
5) BT then respond with a pathetic apology, and refuse to do anything about my complaint.
In other words, BT are not interested in any complaints, and will only respond when nagged by Oftel.
Just try getting any of the following from BT:
1) Try getting their sales staff to listen to what you want. They won't and they get it wrong. That is what happened when I moved to a brand new house.
2) Try getting BT to give you sequential numbers in a brand new residence. They won't. Another telco, NTL can do this, but BT won't, their excuse being that they have 'run out of numbers'. So they didn't know how many new houses were to be built in a particular area? Why do we have Local Authority Planners then? Just try getting BT to answer that question. I did, and failed.
If anyone from BT reads this they can ring me on 01280 816266 in the evenings and I will bend their ear violently on the whole sorry story.
I am not expecting a call.
4. Paul Bluefield
3 sent me two bills a month for 5 months, one related to my handset and the other someone elses account. Every time I received the second bill I'd complain and be assured that it wouldn't happen again! Guess what.. shortly followed by another bill!
3 have also got my name and address incorrect and every call (of which there are many - not from my three phone though as it doesn't hold a call up at home) has been met with further assurances that it had been corrected only for me to find in a months time that it was still incorrect!
5. Matthew Gemine
I’ve been a 3G customer since July 2003. Their call centre is a joke! I have also been sent two bills a month and have in excess of £200 taken from my account! When i complained they wanted to refund me in phone credit! Their whole company is laughable and as soon as my contract expires I am going to a more reputable company who do not treat their customers like this!
6. Davina Gallagher
1. i have a 3 mobile phone for my daughter. keeps freezing. often no network. will be leaving at end of contract as she cannot use as she would like and because of this is always way under her free minute usage. also had problems with battery life being short and was told this was normal. eventaully was sent new battery and now better.
2. Dispute with vodafone over anytime 400 price plan. thye have been charging me for peak calls and only giving off peak free. i first informed them on 20.1.2004, now 2.3.2004 and i have been told by the collections department that bills are correct. my january bill was £142 and i had only gone over my minutes by 90 minutes. therefore 90 minutes of calls is costing me £90 - certainly not correct. i think this may have been happening since i moved price plan last august but i never kept my bills. i will not pay until it gets sorted out satisfactorily.
again when the contract is up i will be moving to. from what i can see here Virgin will be where we will be going.
7. Dave Jones
3g Network - Don't do it!!
Recently, (3 weeks ago) I purchased two Motorola A835 mobile phones (Large phone, 1 day battery life, large hands Free, my old Nokia 6210i was better and had better PC software) from the Carphone Warhouse on the 3 Network, one for me and one for my girlfriend.
We talk a lot so I was please to see the offer with 3 of 500 Talk time minutes a month at £12.50 a month for the first 3 months and then 3 months cash back and as my old contact was up, with T-Mobile, I decide to swap. It seem too goo to be true!!
It was, I had checked the Network coverage in my area, and although I know they offer no guarantees, the coverage was good. We were informed that if 3g network were not available then it would switch to O2.
As it turned out the connection in our house was very week. So, when making a call the 3g network dropped to 2.5 (O2) the line would disconnect and you would have to re-dial. Unfortunately, this would then happen again when you re-dialled as the network flitted between 3g and O2. I rang customer service several times to se what I could do.
I got varying solutions:
Select the O2 network manually. (Doesn’t work!)
Clean the SIM
One honest woman said there is nothing you can do, put me on hold, and never came back. (She probably got fed up with the same complaint and ran out of the building screaming “333333333333333333333333333eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee”!
I am now out side my 14 Return period and both 3 and Carphone Warhouse say that they can do nothing.
Does any one now if I can get out of this contact?
Dave
8. anonymous
Totally agree. The 3G network is a waste of time!
9. anonymous
Having been tempted by some of three's very good "anytime" contracts I signed up. I don't want to download porn or play games or watch footie. I just want to make "Anytime" calls. According to Three I should be able to make video calls from my extremely well networked area.
LIE
Whenever 3 phone me they have to use my landline because the mobile has no signal.
Because of this the handset automatically boosts gain to compensate and, hence, the battery lasts about a day.
Text messages have taken up to THREE DAYS to get through to me.
Now to add insult to injury I have had my handset barred by three, who have admitted that this was a mistake. One week later and I still can't make a call. Speaking to Ofcom about breach of contract. Seems to me that anytime shouldn't mean "one of the three places in your postcode where you can get a signal".
10. anonymous
Hi I also made the mistake of going with 3 and much to my pain have the same problems as yourself. Im lucky to get a signal on the nightime if at all.
There is no solution but having read through numerous forums I think the solution is to ditch the 3G hand set and get an O2 phone (2G) and put your sim in and hope.
11. Sarah De'Ath
I made the worst mistake of my life last June when I decided to purchase a 3 mobile phone. I have since found out that even 3's own engineers would not touch 3 with a bargepole, but at the time I thought I was getting a pretty good deal.
Like most others here I was tempted away from my previous provider - in my case Vodafone - by the amazing tariff 3 seemed to offer, and the prospect of getting my hands on the latest video phone.
Reader, I was greedy. Do not be like me.
My dissatisfaction started almost immediately. First of all I was very put out by the fact that the 'limited offer' (of 500 free, cross-network, any time minutes for £25 per month) was not limited at all. In fact the offer got even better the following month. So much for 'until the end of this month only!!!' (Ed note. To be fair they were honest about that - they didn't say it wouldn't get better, they just said your offer would end at the end of the month).
Second of all, I believed I would be paying a base rate of £25 a month. Not so. My bill is consistently £28, despite the fact that (a) I do not go over my free call/text limits; (b) my bill without tax comes to about £21 a month, and the tax takes it up to £25; (c) itemised billing is provided free; (d) this happens no matter what payment method I choose.
So what's the extra £3 for? You tell me - I've no idea.
In addition to this I find that I receive bills (that is, when I *do* receive bills - sometimes they don't appear for months on end, and then two or three appear at once) with my name spelt incorrectly. I called up 3 last July to alert them to their mistake. They promised to sort it out. Did they? Did they heck. This was only the first of many, many phone calls I would make to their "customer service" department.
To cut a VERY long story short I ended up contacti
12. stay away from 3
I purchased two nec 616 3 phones and have had nothing but trouble with them.
The phone will switch itself off the network coverage is virtually non existant and as for the fact it will switch to the o2 network what a load of rubbish!!!!!!
I have alredy taken one phone back for a replacement handset because of a fault after the first day.
I have had the phones for twenty days and i strongly advise people not to sign up for these to good to be true tariff deals, I am now stuck with these phones from hell as I cannot cancel my contracts>.I am sure that I am not the only one who has had this amount of grief and if the majority stand up and report every case to watchdog we could bring them down
All I want is a reliable phone,
stick to an established network provider with a reliable handset.
together we can beat them!!!!!!!!!!!!
13. anonymous
Same has happened to me. im on the phone now to creditors as 3 have passed my info onto someone else.
Phone taken back within 14 days (everything done prob, gave the cancelation number etc)- I phone 3 up and they say i have no balance, and the account isnt even active!!
Now this has taken up too much time, I phone, write and email but still no joy. They'll be dreaming if they expect me to pay £350 for a phone i didnt even turn on
14. anonymous
Like many who have contributed to this site, I too got 'conned into a contract' with 3 last year... the phone never worked (kept switching itself off), there was no 2G coverage in the City of London, let alone 3G. Customer services were absolutely the pits. I handed phone back and the bills kept coming... I contacted the company to no avail... spoke to Oftel, wrote to BBC Watchdog (who did eventually cover the story on behalf of others last October). I got a letter from 3 after that programme was aired to say, ok no more hassle... and guess what? Six months later (yes, six months), they have sent me a bill for 100+ quid... who the hell do they think they are!!?? My suggestion to everyone who has posted to this site - let's form a working group and show this company that we will not be bullied in this way!
15. anonymous
Re NeC 616 I new I couldnt be alone 3g coverage is useless the messages arrive as and when they feel like sometimes never and they dont tell u in the shop that you will pay pro rata for the first week before your account is activated, their callcentres are useless aswell i need a relaiable phone for my businees and this is not a funny situation, surely with a low standard of service you shoud be able to get out of a contract
16. Ruth Lynch
Oh where to start- I purchased 2 phones pretty much when 3 came into being, for a grand total of £300 the pair. Aside from every single one of the listed complaints occuring at some point or other (and a whole lot more), my brother decided that he wanted one (fool!) and so seen as I wasn't using mine much (bad signal etc.) he took it off my hands. This was ok because we had bought the phones outright on the pay as you go tariff. Now, when he called 3 to change the billing details he was told that the phone would have to be cancelled and then re-connected. Weird but fine we thought and in a move so unlike 3, they did so almost imediately. When he phoned them back however, to re-connect the phone he was told that that couldn't actually be done. Then, to top it all off, we were told that we had to return the phone as we had cancelled it. A million phone calls later, they eventually decided that the phone did actually belong to us. At this point it was all about the principle of keeping my nearly new,£150 paperweight.
17. Andy Staermose
How do BT get away with 11% rise in line rentals? Why don't Ofcom have any sensible complaints procedure. Why, when you fill in two pages of complaints on BT and post it you just get 'fault with this page'!
18. zeb khan
I will not be with 3 for long.
They replaced my hand set then started billing me twice. I told them to stop and they stopped send ing me the second bill. Guess what, they were still taking the money.
It has taken two months to get this sorted then they started disconnecting the line saying I had not paid the bill. Their Phones are not good but their service is appalling. The operators keep hanging up on you.
I would stay well away from these people. I have complained and they have not replied.
I will be complaining to Oftel.
19. anonymous
Do not go anywhere near the 3G network. I took out a contract on Carphone Warehouse's recommendation in April and it's just been a complete disaster ever since and CPW do not want to know. Got to the point where I'm going to threaten legal action against them.
20. Tom Cunningham
I took my contract out in January. Did my homework by looking at their "claimed" coverage and thought they were ok! What a load of crap!
Got to the point now where i'm writing a complaint letter to their customer services dept. I'll let you know how i get on.
Main complaint is bad network coverage, no matter where you are, constantly getting the "Emergency Calls Only" message etc.. and false texts in my in-box which won't let me delete them and when i try to, the Motorola A835 turns itself off & re-boots!
I'll keep y'all posted!
21. Colette Dickens
My 3 phone has worked only intermittently since January 2004 when I took out the contract. It is now 31 July. I have written, emailed, phoned 31 times, visited the 3 shop 20 times. The company have not responded. All they do is "promise to get back to me". I do not know what else to do. I have no phone, my livelihood has been affected, I have spent hours and hours of unproductive time trying to resolved this matter. If they don't bother to deal with complaints, what can we do?
22. anonymous
Orange used to be good but aren't any more; their tariffs aren't competitive and customer service pathetic. The line telling how many minutes remained this month hasn't worked for 10 days, so I used extra minutes and had a bill of £75. Complained but basically got the answer 'tough'. Intend to change once contract is up.
23. Lol Langridge
I have just spoken to 3G for the umpteenth time about a phone bill I keep getting for my husband (who had a brain haemorrhage last year and can't even use a phone let alone order one) and they told me they can only talk to him as he is the main account holder. Between them and Tulip they couldn't run a p**s up in a brewery. I too would be interested in joining forces with others as I am seriously thinking of suing them.
24. Sallyanne Fraser
DO NOT GO WITH 3!!!!!! I am having a really horrible time trying to sort out all the problems relating to 3! Words can not describe the level of poor service. I will give you a few examples otherwise i will be here ALL day! Unable to process a basic payment, providing me with a phone that does not work properly nec 616! Having the worst call centre i have ever dealt with (in India). Cutting me off for no reason of my own, refusing to recognise payments. Look guys please, i know that the deals are good but it is really not worth all the time you will clock up in sorting ALL the problems out, or trying to!!!! I am in the process of gathering evidence and shall be claiming breach of contract at the very least!
25. anonymous
Signing up for Broadband? BEWARE! Don't rely on the postcode check...find out how far away your telephone exchange is. More than 3 miles...don't bother. This is getting more common. BT claim ADSL compatible, so you sign up ( Wanadoo in my case)ADSL modem doesn't work...Wanadoo blame BT, BT say 'no fault' and your stuck with a 12 month contract(£215!) and NO CONNECTION. I have had to sign up to Ukonline (56K modem)surftime AS WELL an extra £13.99PM. BEWARE!
26. Vipin Tayal
I am also a customer of 3G on a 12 month contract.
I am basically fed up of their services and want to terminate the contract.
My phone has gone for repair 3 times and come back worse every time.
problems are bad line, bad coverage, bad battery life, bad connection and bad customer services.
I am contemplating to cancel the bank direct debit. what are the legal fallouts.
What are the other options available.
Any suggestions.
27. ben talbott
3 network is the worst! i have ahad a contract out since feb and not usesed it till may they are rubbish i have since stoped paying the monthly payment and sent letters of complaints but i have never recived a letter or a call of reply i will not pay anymore of my hard earnt cash to 3 i have also contacted ofcom who can point you in the right direction about getting reallsed from ur contract! i cant belive how bad the signal is for saying it is a new tec! i am now on 02 and have no problems apart from
28. ricky
they promised me my first lines bill free because i complained about my number port.when it came to giving me the refund they offered me £5 instead of £35. Riddiculas. I hate the three network!
29. Mo
3 is the worst network ever. why dont they just stop doing business? I made a phone call three months ago saying that my sim card is blocked and will not work, they said they will send me a new one and i still have not got it but they have been taking money out of my account. these people are crazy. do not go anywhere near them.
30. Cass
I agree with all those who are sick and tired of 3. They should not be aloud to conduct business in the way they do. I have now run out of any patience with them and am looking into contacting Watchdog to make others aware, before they too entre into a contract with them!! Each and everyone of you who have already posted your comment on here should contact Watchdog to, so we can have a good enough case in exsposing them for what they really are.
I could go on now with all my complaints with them, but to be honest I am fed up moaning about them, and now want to do something about it.
31. anonymous
Scancom or is it SCAM COM sold me a Vodafone on Vodafone Anytime 200 tariff. They included weekend unlimited weekend calls for 6 months but Vodafone refuses it as they said that scancom had not told them.
32. DAVID GABRIEL
IF EVERY ONE TAKE THERE COMPLAINES
TO BBC WATCHDOG SOMETHING WILL BE
SORTED ABOUT THOSE GUYS
33. Disgruntled 3 user
Whatever you do when considering a mobile phone avoid 3 like the plague, their network in the West London area is nothing short of abysmal with dropped calls, oneway transmission etc being the norm. I have complained to their customer service on numerous occasions but still the network gets worse and worse and still they are allowed to advertise for new customers, nothing short of disgraceful !!!!
34. 3 Hater
In response to Dave Jones and anyone who is having similar problems with 3, I too was stupid enough to be talked into buying two 3 mobile phones on the "fantastic" talk 500 package! All I can say is that anything that seems too good to be true, is too good to be true and 3 mobile is no exception. If you want cheap line rental with promised free minutes that you can't use and you want crap network service and even worse customer service then go for 3 mobile, they are the experts in that. My saga with 3 has been going on since August and I have now written to Otelo the mobile phone ombudsman who are taking legal action against 3 on my behalf! If you try and cancel your contract before the 12 months is up you either have to pay the remaining amount of line rental or risk being blacklisted! I would recommend writing to BBC Watchdog via their website, I have and if they get enough complaints then they will do a programme relating to them (they have actually already been on Watchdog a year or so ago). All I can say is if you're thinking of buying 3 mobile - DONT and if you already have then Im so sorry that you are going to have to go through what I have been through the last 6 months!
35. anonymous
I have foolishly signed up for the 3 network and urge anyone out there who may be considering, don't do it. I fell for the rubbish that the salesman at Phones4you gave me, namely that the Network had improved. This is just not true. I have also found many like myself who have told me that they cant wait to end their contracts. I will not wait to end mine. Two months is enough. I will see them in court.
36. anonymous
Another dissatisfied 3 customer here !
Having seen the Woolies adverts for the NEC phones on 3 PAYG just before Xmas I went on their website to check out coverage in my area. Input my postcode to the checker and lo and behold the pointer said Video was available in my area. So I went and bought 3 NEC e616V and a E228 as pressies for myself, my son and 2 daughters.
We have to drive 7 miles towards Norwich to actually get the 3G service,and therefore can't receive/send video calls or download media messages (which 3 keep sending !) or access internet pages. What's more it seems it is impossible to unlock the phones to use on another network. I purchased a 128MB memory card for the phone so I could play MP3s and store videos and photos on it and the phone keeps freezing and saying there is a fault with the card so I have to reformat it every couple of weeks and upload the data again via my USB cable.
The expiration of top up vouchers is ludicrous as is the fact you have to choose between text and voice and then get left with only £5 credit. The fact you can only download ringtones etc from 3 themselves must be in contravention of some sort of monopoly/competition rules surely ?
My son got so exasperated with his yesterday that he went out and bought an )2 camera phone at a cost of £80 and took great pleasure in stamping the NEC phone into the ground LOL.
37. anonymous
My wife and I foolishly signed up for a 12 month contract with 3, I have yet to be able to make a call without it disconnecting, sometimes you just lose the signal altogether even when stood in the same spot. The final straw came when both LG phones just died and would not power up again. 500 free minutes/month, not a chance of using them up in the full term of the contract!.
Dont do it
38. anonymous
Doesn't anyone have any time for poor old 3? There must be some good news stories out there, surely???
39. chris
do not buy a 3 phone - they are just appalling... the cust service is just not worth the hassle.
40. anonymous
I just left the Virgin network and signed up with an 18 month contract with 3 and I am sooooo sorry I did. Avoid 3 like the plague. I had no service whatsoever in the heart of Glasgow for over three hours. There were major problems transferring over my old phone number. The service centre in India is not up to par. They're interested in getting you signed up. They're not interested in providing a good service. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.
41. anonymous
i bought a vodafone for my daughter,because of the vodafone live option,and it doesnt work.no-one at the shops can help and every time i phone the customer care the problems being sorted,nearly four months and no help!!!!i wouldnt buy another vodafone
42. Lindsey Milhench
I have been having exactly the same problems since Nov 2004 and am still not sorted out. I've been on o trading standards and and under the sale and supply of goods act you are well within your rights to surrender your contract early incurring no extra charge to yourself. For some reason 3 dont belive this and have passed me over to a debt recovery agent but I will stand by my guns and am not paying £400 to cancel a contract for a phone that doesn't work and I'm certainly not paying £300 outstanding line rental for something I cancelled but they didn't carry out.
43. Julie P.
In my opinion 3 should receive a formal warning from Oftel. I have been on their network for 5 months with 3 handsets between me and my staff. I have worked out that 6 out of 10 conversations are cut off mid speech in our case. The longer you are on the phone, the more times you get cut off. On the 7th, 8th and 9th October our phones were unable to accept incoming calls - all callers went directly to voicemail. On 10th Oct, that applied to outgoing calls also. The indian call centre said it was widespread and their engineers were currently onto it and it should all be solved by tonight. They offered to refund 4 days line rental on all three of my lines. Well gee whizz, that'll make up for trying to run a business whilst being unable to contact your staff !! So this is my advice to anybody on 3 who wants to get out of the contract - cancel your direct debit ! It's that simple. You may have to be prepared to forfeit your mobile phone number which like me you've probably carried with you for donkey's years because I doubt whether any of us would be given a PUK code quickly enough. But ask yourself this question - if it got to court, who'd win ? What judge would favour 3 when it doesn't actually provide a half acceptable service ? The answer is - no judge would.
44. David Crick
I have been billed for amounts 3 to 4 times the size of the correct bill. I let one go but then had to cancel the DD.
After upgrading in August they continued to bill mee for the BT150+ service aat a cost of 31.41p. The actual cost of my new BT100+ was to be 6.99p net +usage (2 or 3 pounds) . Instead of re-issuing the bill the tried to give credits in the Oct bill. However a credit for 24.68 was mistakenly placed positive, thus throwing the whole bill out by double this amount. After numerous phone calls and emails and Faxes they are still asking for the 31.41 with threats of termination which I have never asked from them. Meanwhile my phone has been off air for two + weeks. I should be in dispare. This overbilling is becoming so common.
45. anonymous
Sent my phone for repair with a minor problem and it was sent back unrepaired with more problems that made it completly useless. 3 refused to take the phone to the coditon in which I had sent it. They have threaten ed that I have to pay for the line rental even when I do not have the hand set to access the service. Their cutomer service is such a JOKE, they never call back and nobody knows what they are talking about. Advice, do not make the same mistake I made, STAY AWAY FROM 3
46. peter
Based on my experience and the experience of a group of friends that at about the same time signed up for three broadband in the UK.
While Three broadband does work at an acceptable level in some parts of the country, in London where most business users are it appears over subscribed.
There call centre in India is very polite, however they don't actually do anything other than solve windows PC configuration problems.
If you have the problem I have above, they will simply give you the run around, wasting hours of your time until you get fed up.
They will not investigate the problem themselves, they state that it is impossible to do this.
47. terry grant
I hate 3. I have cplained over 50 times to them , sent the handset back to the mnaging director twice, had about over 6 repairs and still am waiting for a response telling me what the hell is happening. Do not subscribe to the 3 network or you will be seriously seriously disappointed with what you get. I could scream my head off.