Time to blow off some steam regarding the network provider, Three. These guys supply both my broadband and my mobile needs. Last month, I renewed my Broadband contract with them for another 18 months, the carrot being the upgrade of my modem/router to the Huawei B525 for only €49. During this process, an additional €1.56 was mysteriously added to my forthcoming monthly bill, for "Data" used that was outside of my monthly allowance, so I queried them about it via their online 'Chat' service.
The person I spoke to couldn't explain where it came from, as I hadn't exceeded my monthly allowance, and told me not to worry about it, it would be taken care of. Fast forward a few weeks to when my bill was issued - the additional €1.56 was still there! As my direct-debit payment had yet to come into effect, on point of principle, I get onto Three again via Chat, to get this corrected, wasting almost 20 minutes this time, for a lousy €1.56. Again, I was assured that this would be corrected. Having just checked, the direct-debit went through and included the €1.56.
But whinging over €1.56 is not the purpose of this post. As I mentioned, they are also my mobile provider. About 2 months ago, I broke the LCD of my trusty but ancient Samsung D-500 mobile phone. As buying a new phone was cheaper than the cost of replacing the LCD, I went for, on Amazon, the cheapest phone I could find, a Awow 1802C. Mistake. This is an awful phone - almost no internal memory (making a memory-card essential), terrible Bluetooth audio, terrible radio reception, terrible camera and buggy firmware, where if an Alarm-alert is issued, it is often without sound, seemingly arbitrarily. But getting to know all this took time, more than the two weeks grace-period you get from Amazon before they will no longer accept returns. So I was stuck with it, but as I don't use a mobile much anyway, I figured I could live with it - alarm problem excepted; I've been late to work more than once because of this!
Until today anyway. I have 'topped-up' my credit twice since buying this. First time around, I was mystified as to how my credit had gotten used up so quickly, but as I needed to make a call, topped up online again. Today, I get a text from Three alerting me to the fact that my credit had all been used up - despite my having made just one single call of just 30 seconds since my last top-up.
So I contact Three today, again via Chat, and learned that this shitty Awow phone has been sending "data" without my knowledge, and Three has been only too happy to charge me for the service! My old phone, with the same sim-card, never pulled a stunt like this in the decade that I had it. But I think I was more pissed off to learn that the data packets that were being sent/recieved were only 0.2kB in size, about 10 in total, and for each, Three charged me €2!!! That's just criminal. I also learned that the €2 actually covers up to 200MB of data, all of which must be used on the same day - but not much use with a phone that has no memory, no web-browser, and when you don't even know that you're being charged 'data-rates' to begin with! And as a "Valued Customer" - the term the Three Rep. I contacted, used several times today! - Three sure as hell wasn't going to tip me off about it either. Ironically, in my effort to save money, Three has ended up ripping me off for more than the new phone has cost me. Heavy sigh.
But that's nothing compared to the scam they appear to have going with "Third-party Services" - or at the very least, 'aiding & abetting' these con-men. About two years ago, I had €95 worth of credit stolen from the same card-account, and all with Three's blessing!!! The organisation in question was called Prizevault, who somehow got hold of my mobile number and were charging me to be entered into weekly 'prize-draws' - all without ever having sent me a single email or text message apprising me of the fact. And they continued to do so until all of my credit had been used up! When I realised what had happened I immediately contacted Three, only to be told in no uncertain terms that as it was a "Third-party", the Three network was not liable! The Three Rep. I spoke to seemed genuinely sympathetic, even admitting that she (therefore, Three) was well aware that it was going on, and advised me to contact the Network Regulator here. This I did, and within about two weeks, received a cheque for €95 from Prizevault, but without explanation or admission of any wrong-doing on their part.
The fact though that Three allows these kind of scams to proliferate on their own networks speaks volumes about where their interests lie. It's also the reason I felt queasy today being labelled a "valued customer", when their above actions would suggest the exact opposite.
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