Mobile charges but no signal

ive had exactly the same problem with 3...no service!! must have made about 20 or 30 phonecalls and sent a letter to 3 broadband team and got nowhere, they say i cant cancel and must take my computer to a different location to use it!!!! Im now using sky broadband and still paying 3 for no service!!

We are with Orange in Spain - and we cannot get a signal unless we hang off the front gate of our property and then it fades in and out. We are tied into an 18 month contract which we have tried to cancel but have been told we have to wait the full 18th months.

i had the same problem with two mobile contracts. the corby council had to move us to a different house because of an asbestos problem in our old house. in the new house we could only get a signal half way up the garden an no signal in the house. orange said we shouldnt have moved and we are still paying it off with debt collectors.and they even put my tarrif for the remainder of the contract.

This is an online conversation I have just had with orange about the lack of service I get for my mobile when I am at home. The website shows full coverage and the answer they have given me below shows that they do not care!I am stuck in an 18mth contract-the contract from hell!


"You: I have just seen on watchdog that what your website is saying about mobile coverage being good has not been the case and customers, like myself are being tied in for 18mth contracts, paying for a service I am not recieving. What can you do about this???
You: Is this supposed to be a speedy service?
Orange: My apologies .If the site states that coverage is at a certain level then i would not dispute that.
Orange: There is no more that i can advise .
You: You may not dispute that but I do as I have NO SERVICE! What can you do to turn around a disgruntled customer?"

From Eve

My daughter is experiencing the same problems with Orange, on her mobile phone and broadband.

Its costing me a fortune to call her!!

What is the number she should text to register her dissatisfaction please?

I am another 3 mobile customer who is now happily at the end of an 18 month contract! Signal had been hit and miss, but at least I got it occasionally, 2 months into my contract a local building with a mobile mast on top burned to the ground in a fire. This left me and orange customers with no service, when I rang 3 from my landline I was told for months that it would be rectified and a temporary mast errected, I still don't have any signal and was only offered one month half price line rental as compensation. I undersatnd the fire was beyond their controll but I shouldn't have been lied to about the temporary mast.

I have recently returned to the UK after 3 years in New Zealand. I purchased an Orange prepay sim card and put it into my Samsung phone which worked fine in New Zealand and even had coverage in the mountains! Now a home and all over the country I frequently get the message 'limited service' even when my phone shows full signal. When this message is displayed I cannot make calls or send SMS messages. I spoke to my local Orange store who told me it was my phone that was the problem. So I put the sim card into an Orange mobile and have exactly the same problem. I have asked staff in multiple Orange shops and they all say it is my phone that is at fault. I then tried it in my mothers Orange phone which works fine and had exactly the same problem. Still the staff maintain it is my phone at fault.

I am with orange and I am really not happy. I was happy for the first 18 month contract I had with orange and renewed it quite willingly but since then I have had real difficulty getting reception anywhere. I put my sim card in another phone and I could just about make a phone call. So like anyone else I presumed it was the phone. When my phone came back still broken I called up and I was told to have a new phone or to cancel my contract I have to send off my phone 3 times before they will even consider giving me a new phone or cancel my contract. I haven't got my phone back yet and still unable to make proper phone calls. Now I realize that it just is bad reception and I can't get out of this contract.

I am wondering if any resolve will come of this show for me as I did write in weeks ago. I signed up for mobile broadband with 3 in October 2007 and have received 0 service up to this date. I have phoned them up, been to the store,they have seen that it doesn't work. However, I am not allowed to exit the contract and this whole thing is counter-intuitive. It didn't even come with the tools to install it, I had to - "download a program from the internet as in the UK the installation CD is not provided for Macs". Surely if you have purchased a modem is because you don't already have internet! I am supposed to be in a high coverage area and have even tried using elsewhere. No service and no way out, what do I do? a 19 year old take Three to court?!

The last comment at the end of the programme about a mobile phone customer with a poor signal sending the programme a text message is not amazing!

The fact that it got through is an expected bonus within the mobile phone system; even when a poor signal is seen; a text message will normally transmit being digital, as they need less bandwidth than the human voice.
The weak signal ramps up the phone power as well.

This is very useful for people needing emergency assistance in remote mountainous areas below 3000ft in the UK where there is no apparent signal. No service above 3000ft due to cell antennae design.
3000m in the Alps etc.

The emergency services can locate a mobile phone from such a message transmission by the transmitter cells receiving the message.

I have a 3 broadband 18month contract. I had great signal until 4 weeks ago. I couldn't access the internet on my laptop. I went into Edinburgh city centre and got perfect signal, but when i go 5 miles out of town to my home there is no signal. When I explained this to 3 over the phone they wouldn't listen. They didn't have any idea what to do. They are trying to solve the problem but I am still a fourth year student with a dissertation to do and paying for internet service I am not getting. Can you help?

I thought I was alone in having major trouble with 3. They have agreed to terminate one phone I had on my account but not the other one. I spent hours on the phone being passed from dept to dept. repeating myself over and over. They also terminated my neighbours contract because of no signal. But they wanted me to pay £48.00. I have two months to run on my contract I will not be renewing it.

Hi there,
I note that all of the comments above related to either Orange or 3. To this list can be added [network removed]. With brilliant timing of tonight's Watchdog programme I had a very long conversation with [them] on Sunday, complaining that I could not receive a signal at and have been unable to do so for a number of months. I will be housebound for the next 2/3 months working from home and a mobile signal is vital for me. They refuse to cancel the contract as it has only 5 months to run and if I wish to cancel it I must pay the reminder of the contract. No chance will keep you posted as to progress.


[Note from Watchdog: We are unable to publish allegations against new companies not mentioned in the web report above. Best regards, Watchdog web team]

I'm yet another 3 mobile customer who cannot get any signal for my mobile broadband and have called 3 mobile 15 times in 3 months to complain about it. Their call centres are in India and everytime i ring up, they repeat exactly the same script to me, try this, try that and none of it works. After 3 months of phone calls they have now admited that there is no signal in my area and therefore as i have no coverage, they should cancel the contract free of charge however they keep saying that they don't have the authority to cancel my contract without their 'network' team checking it out and calling me back. This is the same excuse that they have used for three weeks in a row and no one has called me back. They keep saying they have tried to call but they clearly have not which is so frustrating but all they say is 'i apologise for that' which is even more patronising! Now thankfully my contract is due to run out anyway so i can cancel but they are still trying to say that i need to pay a cancellation fee. I have spoken to countless people at three, the people based in England say that i should be able to cancel without paying a fee as there is no service but the call centre in India keeps changing its mind about whether i have coverage or not. It's absolutely ridiculous. You can't even make a complaint on the three website and when you search for the word 'complaint' in their search engine, it doesnt recognise it!!!! I would advise everyone reading this to not even consider three mobile broadband as the signal is non existant, the customer service is beyond poor and i cannot wait to get out of this contract. We should all bombard the three website with complaints! There must be something we can do!!

I have a contract with 3, when I first had my contract 3 used to rent coverage from 02 & it was fine but now they rent coverage from Orange I no longer have a signal at home, but because I can use my phone at work in the city 3 refuse to cancel my contact. Not much help at all if I break down in the Fens or need to use my phone at home. Their Customer Service is appalling, the man at 3 was very rude.

At the moment I feel a victim to the corporate bullying strategies employed by Three. I have had poor service since September 2008 and complained several months in a row to be informed they are erecting a new transmitter each month in my area which to date still has not materialised.

I rang on 1st March to complain and got technical team whom where sympathetic and assured me a result within 14 days. Unfortunately still no service or result. I rang again from my home and got through eventually to a line manager who asked me to wait another week, if not I could disconnect for £220 payable now. I feel a victim of bullying and would relish the chance to speak to someone in higher authority in the UK like Mr Russell (CEO) of Three as I do not feel he is aware of the shambles he is running, or the distress it causes people when trying to get even a simple answer on the phone.

Please please live up to your promises and be an industry leader, rather than falling into the trap of too big to care.

G.

I signed up to Orange broadband in June last year, I have only used this once since I got it because I have no signal in my own house! I also have very little signal with my orange phone, I have tried all networks and can only get a signal with vodafone. I now can't get a contract with vodafone again so am stuck with Orange, and paying £15 month to them for mobile broadband that I can't even use!

I recently changed from a wired broadband with Orange in the hope of saving the trouble with long phone cables being draped around my home. The Dongle was provided and set up, but I immediately found that the connection was poor and the download speeds so slow as to be unusable. Not being a computer expert, I have struggled on, and now after 5 weeks I have been told that it was due to a very poor network signal. I am now stuck with an unusable service and an 18 month contract. Why can't Orange simply arrange to accept the return of the dongle and transfer my contract to a wireless router provided system? I would be happy to pay for the router.
Come on Orange sort it out!

I currently have a contract with orange. I did have excellent signal where I used to live. My husband is in the forces and we have just moved. I can't get any signal. I need my phone as I have two young children. I have rang orange many times. I was told there was a fault with my phone which there wasn't, I was put through to technical support who then couldn't find my address. I was told I was in a black spot and that I could apply for a mast to be put up. This hasn't solved my problem and I am paying for a service I cannot use. What can I do?

Like many of the above stories, I had received poor signal since Oct 2008 and doubled phonebills as I spent literally hours on the phone to their useless technical "support" team.

I got no-where, felt like they were robbing me blind so I got advice from the government consumer helpline (should have done this sooner) and wrote to them telling them they were in breach of their contract and under the Supply of Goods and Service Act 1982, they were breaking the law.

They finally cancelled my contract without a fee but are REFUSING to refund the £90 I lost in modem rental over the last 6 months.

VILE company I hope they go bust!

i have been with 3mobile & 3mobile broadband for 7 months and what a nightmare this is. It was working all fine the 1st 3 months then all of the sudden all the calls i would received & do from my place (i live in southeast london Zone 2) would systematically drop after 2 mins or less. I have call the customer service countless time to get it sorted. I have repeated myself everytime & their reply are always the same; we will forward the problem to the engineer & we will call you back. in the meantime i have lost the signal completely @ my work place (based in Hertford, Herts) for more than 2 months & guess what; they ask me & give me exactly the same questions & answers... I have asked to cancel my contract but they won't do unless i pay 540pounds of cancellation fee. I have requested a compensation & they will not give anything until normal service is restaured!!! So really if they never get it sorted then they don't owe me anything?! What kind of logic is that?

I have same problem every weekend my 3 mobile signal goes off from friday 5 in eve till 2 o clock at night i contact them 100 times same answer we are trying to solve this problem but no change. I strongly suggest dont buy 3 mobile there are rubbish in terms of customer services.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

my husband signed up with 3 and store promised that where we lived was a good signal.a few days after he rang up customer services and store to cancel as no signal only to be told he couldnt.it was still within the 14 days of sale.store and customer services rude when he tried to explain,which was difficult as customer services in india and a language problem,but they understood enough to say we had to pay 100's to get out of it! only way we cancelled was i had a meeting with store manager who was understanding and checked on his computer coverage in our area and agreed we were in a dead spot as 3 mobile phone masts were not even in operation,so he struggled to see why customer services couldnt see that too when they had same info as him!they were so rude they didnt want to listen.my advice is speak with a store manager and get them to check coverage on their computer cos alot different readings to one one website!

I have had issues with 3 since August last year that are only just beginning to get sorted. Although my phone appeared to be working fine for the first year of an 18 month contract, the signal turned very sporadic for around 3 months, no matter where I was. The fault was 'dealt with' (after umpteen complaints) so I took out a second 18 month contract..only to have the same problem again in January.

My 'signal' issue was actually resolved by getting a new SIM card...and although I'm not saying this will solve everyone's problems, I would highly recommend suggesting the idea to customer services if you do have issues - they're certainly not proactive enough to suggest it themselves

I'm currently having a similar problem, but with [network removed]. I have recently moved house and area, and I unable to get any signal in the house at all, I can't even send a text message.
When I spoke with [to them] they were very unhelpful, and basically said that it was my problem as I should have checked network coverage prior to buying the property!!! When I finished speaking to them I looked on the [their] site for coverage, and it says there is full coverage in this area!
They said that the only solution was to pay the remaining monthly payments in one lump sum to cancel the contract.
When I asked to speak to his manager he refused point blank to let me discus the matter with him/her.
I refuse to pay for a service which I am not receiving.

What seems to be a common thread is the complaints seem to be purely aimed at Three and Orange. These normally offer themselves as the best value for money operators.

I would hope that some of the employees, share holders and even senior management would read these blogs with a sense of shame and realise that although we may be in a recession and no one here has highlighted costings as an issue just incredibley poor service.

I’m one of the unfortunates who have a useless mobile phone contract with 3, but I am now having to pay even more just to leave the contract at the end of eighteen months!
I took out an 18 month mobile contract with 3 in October 2007 and have never received a signal at my house since then, despite being assured by the salesman that there would be no problem. After several weeks of trying, I gave up and resigned myself to the fact that I would just have to pay 3mobile the £15 per month for all the eighteen months. Then in December last, they upped the price to £16 per month. So in January I cancelled the direct debit and wrote to them to terminate the contract on the grounds that their Terms & Conditions state that I could cancel the contract in the same month if any changes were made that would be of detriment to me. (I have given up talking to them on the phone as they only quote from a screen in front of them and I find the phone lines sometimes a little inaudible) They wrote back to say that the extra money was for paper itemised billing which was now available by email and basically they could charge for it if they wanted to. They said the only way to terminate early would be to pay all the remaining months’ rentals in advance. As I am unable to make any calls, an itemised bill is of no use to me anyway, but just to be rid of them I gave in and sent a cheque to them for the remaining months, thinking they would snap my hand off! How wrong. They happily cashed the cheque but amazingly told me they could not deal with me as they didn’t recognise my middle name (even though this was the name I had used in all previous correspondence)! I replied explaining that I was in fact myself and again saying that as I had now paid (wasted!) a total of £270 for my eighteen months contract I would like the contract ended immediately.
Their next reply was that as I had paid in advance for the remaining months by cheque and not direct debit there would now be an extra charge for each remaining month of £4 p.m., plus the itemised billing charge and I cannot cancel the contract unless I give 30 days notice in writing at the end of the eighteen months
I am now of course totally confused and not very happy with 3mobile and find it hard to understand that a global company can deal with its customers in such a manner.

A long post but a glimmer of hope and a possible cause for some peoples issues.

I had the same experience with [network provider removed] for my two business mobiles.

Having been a loyal and happy customer for many years, when I needed mobiles for my business, they were the logical choice.

I had a Nokia pay as you go mobile which worked perfectly with a full strength signal.

I was recommended two HTC Smart Phones by [the network provider] but shortly after they arrived I realised that the signal was so poor that they could not be used.

[They] supplied 3 seperate phones of the same model, all which could not get a signal good enough to use, or when it was the call would be dropped when the signal finally disappeared. After three phones, it was suggested that the sim cards could be at fault.

The confusing this was, my personal phone worked fine with the business sims, and my business phones still did not work with my personal sim.

After much battling with [them], quoting "not fit for purpose" they swapped the phones for different models which work perfectly fine.

If your phone can't get a signal and you know someone with a different phone on the same network, put them side by side and check the signal levels. It's not guaranteed but you might be surprised to see the difference in signal levels.

Coverage on mobile broadband can vary a huge amount, as it does with normal phone covrage. Customer who sign up for mobile broadband do so because they dont have, or dont want to pay BT the coneection fee of over £100. What is made PERFECTLY CLEAR on the websites coverage map is that coverage is NOT GUARANTEED. What is made just as clear, is the CUSTOMER'S GRACE PERIOD, in which time they are given time to check coverage, before commiting to a long term contract.

I have had the exact same problem as Dave Wilson. I was called by a company and was told that three had the same network coverage as O2. I agreed to have the three phone to find that I could not use my phone in my flat. I was then not able to cancel my O2 phone as I needed a working mobile and three would not allow me to cancel my contract. I am now paying for 2 mobiles but I am not using my three phone which I am not very happy about! I have since moved from my flat into a house and thought I would have better signal on my three phone, but I am still not able to use it as the signal is just as poor

I have an 18 mth contract with 3 mobile, and after watching the report on Monday I realase I am not on my own with a problem. I took my contract june 08 after being with Vodafone for many years with no problem.3 offered me a good deal and the cheaker showed i would get avery good signal at my post code.Everything seemed fine untill The start if this year and my signal is very sporadic. I can be making a call in the house am disconeted no signal . Without moving the phone the signal comes and goes.Firt I went into 3 store Manchester and was told phone customer service on 333. So I did Got a lady in India Waste of time she was.2 days latter 3customer service phone would I like comment on the service I got from my call to them . without going into detail all my answer on 1 to 10 base were 1 Lastly they ask how can we improve the service . reply bring it back to UK. Next I go to 3 store Trafford centre Where I took my contract out .Still a waste of time . Your signal shows very good at that post code. Gave me address in Glasgow. So Ins write to cust/service Glasgow For attention of manager. A few days latter I get a call from a lady which seemed if she was in india After she had asked a lot of questions over and over again she said I am passing you to tech service .Another lot of questions. We will lok into the signal problem Still waiting I am paying for a service with 3 and paying BT to make calls. They wer so nice when you are taking the cotract out , but afterbthat they could not care less

Thank you DONNIE78 - but for those of us who had enough common sense to check the signal reception in our area and then have reasonable working internet service for the first year of an 18 month contract - only then to recieve bad signals because of faults on the 3 base stations - your comments are neither constructive nor useful in anyway.

If there are repairs to be made that are affecting signals 3 should not still take money from their customers, if they do they should reimburse them for failing to provide a service- end of

yes im another dissatisfied 3 broadband customer! after purchasing my broadband on-line after the sales advisor said i had an `excellent connection`ive found this connection no to be the case. 3 actually give you 3 days to try the broadband an if you do not like it you can return it to them, but how can you try something you cannot connect to? after several phone calls to them going through the same checks, they decided it was my computer to blame or atmospheric pressure and my 3 day trial had ran out. so like the man featured in your program ive cancelled my direct debit and sent 3 a letter saying that they either cancel my contract and i send the modem back to them or they can send a representative around to my house to test the connection and if the connection is not excellent like the sales advisor said i will be seekin a full refund of the money ive spent so far as i feel i was grossly missold their product. so far ive heard nothing from 3, only a letter from their debt collectors....watch this space

I have just come off an email chat with 3 regarding my mobile signal which has disappeared in the last couple of days. I have been informed that 3 no longer has a roaming agreement with O2 as of 16.3.09. It now has an agreement with Orange! Perfect when I don't get Orange or 3 at my place of work/home. Very angry.

I am having the same problem with Orange, I have had contract for 8 months, and have been unable to use my phone at either work or home, I reported the problem to Orange after 3 months but was told that an antenna was down in the area but would not be compensated for the lack of service.

Since the report on watchdog I have again contacted orange who have reduced my contract down from £45 per month to £25 as a gesture of good will, this con not normally be done until 9 months into the contract.

I have had to get a second contract with another provider which the signal is fine at both work & home but am now paying £70 a month for both contracts.

When I got the phone I paid for additional insurance with the carphone warehouse which includes a contract breaker, however this can not be used until 9 months in and will cost me a further £30 administration charge. Using this insurance you give the phone back to the shop, so for the last 9 months I have paid a total of £435 and will have nothing to show for it. I have now been given an address for the complaints dept which I am going to write to but judging on the level of service I have received so far am not holding out much hope.

I took out a 24 month contract with 3G in November 2007. The 3G site post code check stated I had excellent coverage but when I got home I had none. I contacted 3G lots of times but a technician was not willing to come out. I sent letters of complaint to their Glasgow customer services but got no satisfaction. 3G said a mast would go up near to me in August 2008 but they would not pause my contract until that time. Since then there has been no improvement and I've had to pay for a second ISP. I'm bitterly disappointed at having to pay for something which has been useless for 2 years. Shame on them.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

I took out a 24 month mobile broadband contract with 3 mobile in Jan 2008 so that I could access the Internet at my workplace. Although I have always had a strong signal the download speeds have gradually degenerated to the point where I had to wait ages for pages to download from the Internet Time-outs and disconnects were also frequently experienced. I brought these problems to 3's notice in November last year and went through all the rigmarole that other people have mentioned here - expensive calls to 'technical support', parrotlike repetition of things to try, the promise of a 'new post' that would improve matters etc etc etc. (Using their nominated speed checker BroadbandMax I was lucky to achieve speeds of around 500 kbps when the service was 'working' - they quote speeds of upto 2800 kbps!)
I have now sent the modem stick back and told them that I shall be cancelling my contract as they have failed to provide anything like an acceptable level of service. (Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act). 3Mobile seem to think that they can force people to pay for an appallingly rubbish service that is next to unusable, but don't we live in a civilised society that has legislation that is supposed to protect consumers from predatory suppliers?? Just what is the legal position?

I am with 3 and although I had great reception to begin with, it soon disappeared completely and for nearly a year I have had no reception at all at home (or in my area). I have of course contacted 3 on numerous occasions and visited their stores, only to be told that there is nothing they can do and that I must see out my 18 month contract. I can come off my contract with 3 only if I pay a hefty fine. I chose to sign up to 3 because my friend had such fantastic service in my house and because of their good deals.

I was informed that soon after I had signed my contract, 3 changed their provider (ie the masts they used) to another that didn't cover my area, which could explain the sudden loss of signal. I am unsure of the validity of this, as it is now denied by 3.

It has been incredibly frustrating as I have missed important phone calls from work and friends, only to receive a message that they called up to 10 days later. If I am waiting for an urgent call, I have to drive 10 minutes in any direction until my service resumes. Often I can go into work (in London) and still receive no service all day. I am continually apologising to friends for ignoring their calls, because I simply don't get them.

I would absolutely love to get any helpful advise on whether or not I can get this resolved

I had nightmares with Orange and am still unfortunately in contract with them. I entered the 18month contract when I was due to go on maternity leave as I thought I would have to return my work mobile. I started maternity leave approx 10 days later and realised then that I had no signal at home. I called Orange trying to cancel the contract (thinking I would have 14 days to cancel) and they advised it was 7 days. I explained the situation and that I was heavily pregnant and may need to contact my partner urgently at any time. They sent a replacement phone which didn't make any difference, then a replacement sim which also didn't make much difference. When friends visited who were also with Orange they couldn't get a signal either so it wasn't just me. I spent ages on the phone to Orange, often in tears, and spoke to various people but they would not cancel the contract. In the end I gave up and am paying approx £25 a month for a phone I rarely use. I have another phone with O2 which I use most often as people can reach me on it! I will cancel the contract with Orange as soon as I can and never use them again. The way the treated me was appalling and I know they were just waiting for me to give up the fight. Once my baby boy was born there were more important things to worry about than my Orange mobile phone contract, although I would prefer to be spending the £25 on him rather than Orange!

I'm also tied up with an 18 mth contract with 3 broadband. After telling a friend about my problems with 3, she asked me to refer to the bbc watchdog website only to find that I am not on my own with similar problems. 3 offered me a good deal for internet facilities by providing me with this useless broadband. I have to admit they are very good at selling their products - coverage is very good in my area and all the other services they would offer after sale. It will be nearly 10 months now, I have not been able to use the mobile broadband a single time without any fault, I swear to God. In my opinion there is no signal whatsoever where I live but they still recon that the same is ok in my area. I have lost count in terms of the number of calls I have given 3 but to no avail. The same applies to my phone with 3. I can be making a call in the house and the next second I am disconnected with no signal . Without me or the phone moving, the signal comes and goes. After endless complaints to their customer services team, technical team and managers, nothing has been done. I have spent hours (which are not free of course)on the phone going through the technical settings which I believe they force you to do when you call them. They just doesn't seem to understand that there is no signal. On occasions I have been told that there are maintenance work going on in my area that's why there is no signal. I asked the guy on the other side if there has been maintenance work during all the times I have been calling them. The other side of the story is you have to speak to many people, explain the same thing again and again. I therefore wonder if anything is logged on the system after you have spoken to them. I even bought a brand new laptop thinking that the modem is not performing with my old laptop. Last time I called they asked me to use it on another laptop which doesn't make sense. When trying to sort out problems with the customer services team, they will ask a lot of questions over and over again - so frustrating. Then the person would pass you to the technical team; another lot of same questions. I recently cancelled my direct debit before I contacted them to ask them to cancel my contract as they do not seem to have a solution to my problems. I certainly do not think they would at the moment unless they improve their network in my area. They refused to cancel because I have entered into a contract and claim that I will have to pay an early termination charge (which is a ridiculous sum in my opinion). I also begged them to come and take their modem away and just cancel the contract but refused. They still believe that they will find a solution and it's been nearly 10 months now. Fearing that my credit score might be affected, I have reinstated the direct debit for which I received a letter from 3 to confirm the same - cheeky. It has come to a point that I have given up on them and just paying for a service I have never used. They say they understand all this but they can't cancel the contract - what a rip off? I'm impatiently waiting for my both contracts (broadband and phone)to terminate and yell goodbye to 3. I urge the authorities concerned to deal with this company and ensure that they address the issues faced by the general public. I thank you.

My mobile is currently on the 3 network, I too have had problems with getting coverage on my phone. When I don’t have coverage my phone would have Emergency Calls only stated on the screen which not only was frustrating but total waste of money that I was paying for a service that I couldn’t use! Then I changed the handset that I was using, I did have a Sony Ericsson handset but now I have a Nokia handset. I haven’t had a problem with network coverage since changing the handset. Those of you who have Sony Ericsson handsets may want to try a different handset to see if the problem stops. So it turns out that my issue was with the mobile phone I was using and not with the 3 network.

i have a 3 phone which has iplayer on it and most of the time it is unwatchable unless i download the program first. i also signed up to 3 broadband but it is absolutly useless. i have contacted them numerous times but their tech support haven't a clue whats going on. the software on the dongle doesn't show a network although i managed to get a connection through windows connection manager. when i wrote to customer services in glasgow i didn't get a reply but a call from tech support in india which is no good as they have been unable to help me before. they tell me i can't cancel the contract. i signed up because i was led to believe i could get the turbo network (upto 3.6meg).best i got was 1200kbps but normally about 400kbps. one time i was talking to tech support and getting 37kbps. it once took me 40 minutes to download a 10 minute program on iplayer. i have now got bt broadband and still paying for 3. i will never use them again and i shall tell as many people as i can to avoid them at all costs.

I have had a 3 phone for almost 2 years and had no problems till about 3 months ago since then i have had no reliable signal 3 wont let me cancel my contract and say there are no problems with the signal but i know several other people in my area who are having the same nightmare. the customer service is awful they told me on my first cal that the transmitter was faulty in cambrige as i am in north east scotland after several e mails and phone calls i finally got through to the call centre manager who said it fixed and hung up on me they wont provide me with a deadlock letter so i have been forced to take out another contract with orange so i can stay in touch with people. It seems to be a big problem in peterhead yet 3 wont admit fault even though the 3 shops in aberdeen shops are aware of the problem even they cant get any action on this poor service

I've had exactly the same problems with 3 - I have a mobile contract with them and foolishly took out broadband with them as well. I have paperwork which says I'm on a 6 month contract with them. I KNOW I signed up for a 12 month deal on a special offer, but they are telling me I'm on an 18 month contract and I can't cancel until August. My fiance has been serving in Afghanistan for 6 months and we would get cut off because of the Three network! Needless to say this made a difficult situation really unbearable at times. I plan to cancel my contract in the next month and just pay off the last 3 months in a lump sum but I'm not sure how easy that will be. I've been into their stores for help - I was told that it was tough luck and I had learned the hard way why I shouldn't take out a contract over the phone (because all my paperwork was wrong!). Unbelievable.

I recently took out a contract with 3 and from the start i could not get a signal in my home yet they tell me that i have a good reception for my area. Then the phone started to cut off and freeze i complained and was told that i would get a replacement handset while my phone was being repaired and a new sim as it kept saying simcard failure and wouldnt send texts, i recieved neither. My phone was gone for 3 days during that time i made calls and sent emails and none were returned. When i got my phone back there was a new fault on it and i still had no sim i decided enough was enough and sent them a recorded letter asking to cancel my contract as they where not providing me with a service, or working goods. I sent an email requesting where to send the phone and boxed my phone up as it was no good to me, that was a week ago and i still had no reply so today i called them. After two hrs on the phone speaking to 7 different people including a supervisor and a manager i had no joy they refused to cancel my contract unless i paid a cancellation fee of over £400 even though i pointed out they where in the wrong. I now have a phone that doesnt work and i am paying for the privelige.

Hi I have had a problem with My 3 network in my area of oakhill, milton keynes since july last week.I have had over 15 phonecalls to 3 and the answer everytime is 'we are working on the problem'.Last week one sales person even told me to give my contract to somone else, as they won't cancel the contract.I am at my wits on what to do.Last week i only managed to use only 84 minutes out of 1000 (all 2.4 miles from my house).What can I do?

I'd been with Virgin for years and decided to go to 3 as they were offering fantastic deals. I explained how I had to be contactable 24/7 due to work, (Police). Not a problem they said. Signal was atrocious, even in London. On day 2 I was back at the complaining and within days I was reimbursed. They weren't happy but they couldn't provide what they were promising. Don't give up,explain to your Bank & stop the Direct Debit.

I took a 12 month contract out with [network name removed] after asking them if it would work in the area that i had my caravan, they said yes great coverage. Went there wouldnt connect, phoned them and after speaking to 7 different people they said no coverage there,then said sorry you cant cancel its after the 7 days. unless you pay the cancellation fee
so i am paying 25 quid a month for something i cant use!

Oh my god...this is soooo my story too!!! The oo hah I had with 3 and [phone retailer removed] !!! I had to keep a phone I couldn't use for 18 months because I couldn't get a signal. When I first complained I was told it is the customers responsibility to 'ask' for this checked for your location!! I made many complaints had my phone sent away for checking and returned stating there was nothing wrong with it....and that the area I was in was a poor signal area but by the following summer more antenna's (or whatever they are) would be put up near by and this would solve it....Wot a load of poppy cock!!!! I told my husband I should have wrote to watchdog at the time....it still angers me now!!!! The story does go on but I wouldn't want to bore you so just mentioned the main bits. Thank god now I wasn't the only one frustrated by this!

I had mobile broadband as well as a mobile phone from 3mobile. I lost my signal in my house completely when they started to do some 'work' on the system.
Every time i called them to say i was unable to get any signal they gave me the same answers of 'work to the system', 'it must be the handset', 'try this' etc. It was exhausting!
I asked if i could get out of my contracts but got a big fat no! In the end i paid £170 to get out of my mobile contract and £40 to get out of the broadband contract! All that money and it was them that were not providing the service!
Disgusting!

i moved house in july 08 and checked with 3 before renewing my contractto acertain that a signal woulld be available when we moved, told that it would be fine in our new area, therefore renewed the contract, moved and no signal was available in new area, took about three months couldnt use phone at home but eventually did get out of contract after writing, and endless telephone calls/ proble is call centre in india dont understand what you are trying to discuss/ different person each phone calls deals with complaint

(long story cut short)
Checked the Orange Website and it shows 'Excellent' coverage (with the normal disclaimer).

Bought two phones, neither get a signal in my house and a very poor/sporadic signal just outside.

I'd specifically asked the sales person to confirm that my main phone would do Broad band as I frequently worked from home and as my house Broadband is pretty slow, I could use the phone to connect my laptop.

Went back the next day to cancel the contract. The deputy manager said that the store manager *could* authorise a cancellations, so I said I'd speak to her when she was next in (tuesday).

In the meantime, did the normal thing - checked with Orange Tech services to see if they had a temporary problem with my nearest mast or whether they were due to put up additional masts anytime soon. No joy here, but there is a new mast going up in Decembe 2009 (subject to planning approval)
Spent an hour on the phone this morning - Orange Customer services say that only the shop can cancel the contract.

The shop manager says that only customer services can cancel the contract - she only has to cancel the contract if Orange tech services confirm that there is no signal. As they've told her that I "should have a reasonable signal outside and in most houses" there wasn't anything she could do. My only option was to go back to customer services.

Customers services say that an Orange shop is 'orange retail' and so if I have a complaint or want to escalate this, I need to complain to 'Orange Retail'. The manageress disagreed and said that Orange retail don't have a complaints process, the only route is via Orange Customer Services. She also refused to put me in contact with the area manager, when I said I wanted to complain because either she was mistaken or her deputy manager were mistaken, and that clearly means they have a training issue.

On a side note, of the 3 times I rang the Orange store, I was greeted with "Yeah?" "Hello." and "Hello. Oh, Hello this is the Orange shop".

The irony, that I'm learning all to late, is that if I'd stood outside the shop and signed up over the phone, then walked into the shop to get the phone, I'd be protected by the Distance Selling Regs. But Orange feel that 'fit for purpose' doesn't include using a phone in my house.

Actually - one of the first things the manageress said was "Well, you see, mobile phones are for when you're mobile, not sitting in your house".

Anyone drive a 4x4? Be warned, if it breaks down on the road, you might be told that you're only supposed to drive it across fields!

Very, very disappointed with orange, and considering the legal route.

MY HUSBAND HAS A CONTRACT WITH 3 AND HAS HAD SIGNAL PROBLEMS, WE HAVE SPOKEN WITH 3 AND THEY HAVE OFFERED HIM A REFURBISHED PHONE AS THE ONE HE HAS IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH 3G,THIS IS A 3 PHONE, WHY WAS HE SOLD THE PHONE IN THE FIRST PLACE?I HAVE A PAY AS YOU GO ON ORANGE AND I HAVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH THE SIGNAL, IF 3 BUY NETWORK FROM ORANGE WHY DOES MY ORANGE PHONE WORK BUT NOT MY HUSBANDS 3.

I have got a 3 dongle and am totally dissatisfied with the poor and often non-existent signal. This week I had no signal for 4 days out of 7 and a weak signal for the rest. I cannot get onto yahoo mail with this signal strength. I took it to Bournemouth at Christmas and it was no better there, so it's not just in Sheffield that it's so rubbish.

My fionce has been with orange for a wile now and has always had poor reception in our house and all around our area! When he has asked Orange if they can do anything, all they said is that reception should improve soon as they are taking over some new masts. But that was last year and things still havent improved. We're both really getting fed up with it, it costs a fortune to get through to him.

I have 2 x 3 phone contracts, 2 skype mobiles and 1 x broadband dongle... The dongle, hello, only once in 7 months have I seen for 10 seconds 3g speeds, the rest, dialup is faster. 5 minuts to open a website. The phones, dont get me started, SKYPE calls NO WAY MAN... like wait for connection, connect to skype then wait 1 hour before you make a call, then disconnected, wait another hour (trying and trying) maybe 20 seconds then GONE again... USELESS phones and mobile broandband... tried, tested, locked in contract, dont like, they dont care...

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I have a problem with 3 network.I couldn't get a signal; the phone has been returned to them as its useless to me, but they say I didn't give notice to cancel the contract within 7 days(although the phone was returned to them as they thought it might be faulty)- I am therefore stuck in an 18 month contract with a useless phone.I was told that the contract begins when you take possession of goods - surly it should start when the goods are working to your satisfaction? I am also being hassled on a daily basis by letters and phone calls (2 letters and one evening phone call on one day!!) after a period of just one month for the first months payment.
I am now taking legal advise as I am refusing to pay for something I don't have.

Yes the same old story I'm afraid, I bought into a two-year contract to supply me with broadband Internet access with three network, I complained about the signal right from the start but unfortunately did not cancel within 14 days, I wanted good coverage at my home address plus coverage at an alternative location; my home address is at Glastonbury and I would like to hear of others at Glastonbury with the same problem, as you can see from my username inflexible is what I would call three network, they are really bloody-minded about money at the expense of customer satisfaction, I only really got attention when I cancelled my direct debit, just before I did I noticed that they were Charging me an extra pound per month to tell me how much I was not using! Doing online banking on the street bench within a couple hundred yards of the antenna is not my idea of a good Internet service, at the moment I owe them extra because, very conveniently for them, they are adding a surcharge every month so racking up the bill they say I owe them.
How things stand at the moment? I have asked them to give me a final bill bearing in mind I have had little use out of the system; I don't hold out much hope and am very tempted to let things run their course, I am incensed at the prospect of three network expecting me to pay for nothing while they run a third-grade system in Glastonbury, the antenna is poorly located, from my home location I can see the Hinkley point power station on the Severn estuary! But the three network signal is invisible to me!
I don't require the modem it can be returned no problem, they give me all sorts of checking procedures to go through as regards the modem, it's not the modem it is their infrastructure! What is the point of the 3GB allowance to me if I cannot get the service.
The worse the service is for broadband users, the traffic is diminished i.e. downloads uploads etc. The cost to three is therefore diminished so what is the incentive to three network to actually get a good service for its broadband users? I think that is one of the key issues.
Three network are currently commissioning a new antenna even further around the corner from me, it was promised for January 15th 2009, so with that promise I was conned into keeping my direct debit going a bit longer; the premise was that this new antenna was going to boost the old antenna by helping it out in other words sharing its load, so there was an admittance that the system was overloaded, this is the reason I was losing my signal! I was away at Exeter for two weeks and managed to get a signal there from three network but it was very weak and slow and dropped out very regularly, I stopped using it eventually in favour of a wifi connection locally which was more consistent and faster.
I have subscribed to Skype and when I could use it it worked fine, now it is just money wasted.
As a matter of interest Street in Somerset is home to Clarks Village, it literally has thousands of people visit, it has very fragmented coverage by three network and I have never ever found a viable signal for broadband there! I believe they are claiming 90% coverage of the UK population? I frankly do not believe that!
Three network please see reason, don't be bloody-minded, have some customer care, be flexible you are getting angry customers fast.
There was talk at one time of three network signal sharing with T- Mobile? Very interesting because at the moment I am using that system and it works well I can get the signal in both locations that I require at almost 50% signal strength, very consistent.

I have had a bad experience with 3. They phoned to offer me a contract. i was going to agree and was in the process of giving my details. However when I found it would be an 18 month contract i said no because I lve in a village (Duffield, Derbyshire) where it's often difficult to get a signal. I was worried that I'd be tied to a contract with a phone that did not work. (I see that this has happened to many people.)However 3 went ahead and sent me a handset and started sending me bills. I cancelled my direct debit and phoned 3. It took ages to speak to anyone and when i did they were not helpful. They said I had to phone the company Servizon, who had originally phoned me in order to cancel the contracr. I tried this but in 4 attempts could not get an answer. I phoned 3 again. Like many other people as I can see from Watchdog comments i was passed from department to department, asked to ring back and had to repeat myself many times. Not one person whom I spoke to apologised for the terrible service. 3's customer service is appalling!Finally they sent me a prepaid envelope to post the hanset back in. I did this but aroubd ten days later I recieved a letter saying they had not recieved the parcel. Luckily i had kept my post office reciept as proof of posting. I sent them a phot copy of this. Today i had a 3 representative phone me to say that I had not payed my bill. They, as usual, seemed unaware of any past details and i was obliged to repeat myself yet again! It was at this point i decided to contact Watch dog!

I have nearly came to the end of a living nightmare with three broadband.
It has never worked from a couple of days after I bought it despite three stating my signal should be exceptional.

The attitude of the staff is atrocious and every time I called them I hung up feeling angrier than the last time. You get passed from department to department but never to the one you want.

For the majority of my contract ive put it away and tried not to think about it as three are so unhelpfull I only speak to them if neccesary like when they put the price of my contract up.

I have sent a letter of complaint by post and email but am not expecting a reply to either.

Something needs to be done to stop them treating people like this!!

I got a Three mobile, via their shop, the sales man commented that the phone apart from having 3G also had HSDPA as well as GPRS and Edge - the latter two provide enhanced 2G data capabilities.

The 2G network is the previous and still in use digital network, and is provided by Vodafone, O2, Orange and T-mobile. Users can make phone calls, send/tx SMS and MMS text messages and make data calls (access the internet) although the data rate is slow.

3G network, which the above 4 operators plus Three provide. Provides the user with all of the above, plus high speed data transfer rates.

Because, the 3G network is still being installed, the mobile phone will default to using the operators 2G network, when out side of a 3G cell, which for phone, text is not a problem, although will mean data transfer rates will be slower, but acceptable.

However, Three is a unique mobile operator in that it does not have a 2G network of its own, instead it arranges to use one of the other four companies 2G network. Initially this was O2. However, in early 2008, Three changed to use Orange and its 2G network, which is not quite as good as O2's.

Further, it appears that Three and Orange have decided that from October 2008 that Three's customers will no longer be allowed to access the internet when they are not in a Three 3G cell. There is evidence on the internet that Three customers prior to that date could use Oranges 2G network to access the internet.

This means that at a stroke Three has seriously reduced the generally acceptable quality of service to all its existing customers and new customers, whilst, their sales staff deliberately omit to tell the customer that whilst going on about the 2G features of the phone - knowing that it is a waste of time telling the customer that.

Further, when acquiring a contact in a shop, they offer a 14 day coverage guarantee - but only at your home location - this is a MOBILE device, whilst usage through out the UK land mass is not expected, when you are able to make a phone call (thus in a 2G cell) you should be able to access the internet, like an O2, Vodafone, Orange and T-Mobile customer can.

If there is a follow-up, perhaps Watchdog could ask Three about this downgrading in quality of service to its customers.

I am in a battle with 3 at present and have been for the last 6 months. Our home was repossessed which forced us to move to a different area. As soon as I realised that I had no signal I was on to 3 to sort it out, however I always got transferred to the technical team who on three occasions talked me through the same process of finding another network which failed each time. In the mean time I was having to use my landline to arrange work shifts and contact friends and family which was costing a small fortune. I was at the end of my tether as we were still dealing with the strain of having our home repossessed. I wrote to 3 expressing my concern and asking them to terminate my contract of which I recieved a reply stating that this was not possible and that it was up to me to have checked the coverage chart on the internet. This had been checked and is a total waste of time as it said clearly and still does that I would have 2G signal. I have written to them again after watching this programme in the hope that they might listen to me. I have had to take out a contract with O2 in order to get work shifts and keep in touch with people and refuse to pay 3 for a service that I am not recieving!

I have been with 3 network for around 5 years and had just took out a new 18 month contract when I moved to my present address 13 months ago. When I moved here i could not and still do not have a 3 signal. I have emailed and phoned for over 12 months and got nowhere with them. They have no interest and understanding of my frustration at the situation. I have had to take out another contract with vodafone so am paying £70-00 a month now and £35-00 of that for something I cannot use. 3 under no circumstances will let me out of my contract and they literally ignore my points and reasaons. I would have thought they were in breach of a contract for not providing a service that I am paying for. As a mobile hairdresser I rely on my phone for business and 3 have let me down big time. They have no customer loyaly or empathy and it is like dealing with a showroom of robots when you speak or contact them and I have been shouted at severaly times on the phone so now only deal with emails. they do not deserve any custom or recognition in any way.

Ken, North Wales

Two general threads run through all the above postings: (i) the operator says you can't cancel your contract, and (ii) what can the user do?

Firstly, don't just believe what the parrots read you from their scripts. The Supply of Goods & Services Act 1982 allows the consumer to rescind the contract if the supplier does not provide what was agreed, namely the service and other facilities specified in the contract.

Secondly, the consumer is entitled to damages for breach of contract. If you've already complained by phone or at the shop and got nowhere, don't waste any more time, money or effort - just write to the Registered Office of the firm named in the contract (get the RO address from the Companies House free "WebCheck" service). Say the firm is in material breach of the contract due to fundamental non-performance of an essential contractual obligation, and that you are exercising your right to terminate the contract. You should ask for payment of damages for the breach, namely anything you have paid the firm for the contracted service that it failed to provide. Send everything by "Signed for" post - you can add the cost to your claim. Deal only with the firm's RO; don't get drawn into talking or writing to customer services, as they probably can't do anything.

If the firm doesn't repay you, write a "Letter before action" saying you will sue it in the county court (it's very easy and NOT scary). Get help & advice from the CAB, and info from your local county court.

One poster highlighted confusion over who the contract is with: Customer Services says its Retail (the shop), and Retail says its Customer Services. The true answer is the firm named in your contract. If you've lost the contract ring Customer Services and ask them to send you a copy.

If you get payment demands from anyone other than the firm named in your contract (such as debt collectors), ask for written proof of their right to collect payment.
Ignore any unproved demands, and invite them to sue you. If that happens, go to court and explain to the judge exactly why you didn't pay.

If you find an adverse Credit Reference Agency record, send a "Notice of Correction" to the CRA saying you rescinded the contract due to the supplier's failure to supply the agreed service ("fundamental breach of a contract condition").

I am just looking at a 3mobile advert which states – “99.5 per cent of the population covered for voice and text calls”. I would have thought that even the more creditable mobile operators could not say this, let alone 3 who obviously have problems with coverage. Is this a misleading advert?

I Have got a laptop from PC World with a T-Mobile dongle, started fine but when i wanted to upload pictures on a site or use webcam to speck to family abroad i had issues and couldn't do it, Then i was given faulse info from t-mobile tell me that the service isn't used to upload only used for browsing.They then sent me new dongle and still i have now issues with internet cutting out every 30 minutes some times less. Contacted them by email but i feel they are just brushing me a side. All i want to do now is cancel my contract free of charge because i'm fed up with all this. They are very poor service provider and their customer service is helpful when you've complained several times. But nothing is resolved. Please can anyone contact me to resolve my problem. It feels like i'm going in circles. Please someone help me.

Since my comment today, three network has contacted me, of course via someone in Mumbai; on how to get my equipment working at my home location, despite my assertion that there is no signal there! The person was very polite, in fact they all are very polite, they have a job to do and probably get very little money.
I insisted that even though three network tell me that I am in a good coverage area, in fact I am not picking up a signal otherwise I would use their system as it represents good value from money if it would work.
I told him that I was after a final settlement decision as the network was absolutely no good to me.
He was unable to make any decision himself because once again another department takes care of that no surprise!
Also my service has now been restricted he said, I said that made no difference to me as you cannot restrict what I haven't got any way.
I have sent other e-mails to three network and will continue talking to them to try and work out a settlement which is fairer to me than £120 plus. Otherwise they will get nothing.

I am so glad to hear its not just me. I signed up with 3 in March 2008 on an 18 month contract after checking the website to make sure I could get signal in Cornwall where I visit friends on a regular basis. THe answer was yes. But of course this is not the truth. I cannot even get signal in my hairsdressers. When challenging the girl on the phone .. who did not appear to understand me .. she told me it was the make up of the bricks my hairdressers was made out of! I then took three phones to the hairdressers. o2, vodafone & three & of these only the THree phone failed to work. I challenged them again with little response. I asked to be realsed from my contract but THree refuse. I have written emails & letters but when they try & contact me I have no signal so it goes straight to voicemail. Surely this is telling them something. I cannot wait until September so I can rrelease myself from the mess that is THREE

I have tody decided enough is enough, no signal, never had a siganl, cannot cancel my contract. Thats what they think! Firstly cancel your direct debit, make them do the calling why waste any more money? Tell them about you prro service, keeping repeating yourself they do. If they do not cancel the contract and you get no where, and you feel like you are banging your head against a brick wall. follow the next step. After not paying them since October and still not getting anywhere with them, i called OFCOM 020 7891 3040, they say I have a very good case and have put me into contact with the ombudsman who will get a result for you. They have no right to refuse you to cancel the contract if you have a valid reason. You may aslo find you can get everything you have paid already on the contract back, plus some. Good luck

I am having the same problem with 3 mobile broadband. The signal is terrible, connection is super slow and I have been trying to cancel my contract for three months now. The worst part is that they agreed on canceling my contract and two months later took it back, and now I have a contract with another company, and even though I am not using 3 mobile broadband, they are sending me bills. We should all unite and bring them down!

ok it seems as we are all in the same boat with 3 network, im personally at the point now where it involves court action and i will not back down to them...is anyone else at this point?

My mother - who is 70 - is another disgruntled '3' Broadband customer who has been trying since September 2008 to sort out no signal at her house. She just gets passed from pillar to post by different parts of the company (something I've also experienced when taking up the matter also on her behalf) and nobody at '3' is willing to admit that they just cannot provide the service - yet they're willing to keep taking her money.
They claim that any early contract termination will be subject to a charge of £150 but they must surely be in breach of contract themselves if they cannot provide the advertised service. We're just so fed up by it all and they seem to be able to get away with it - by the look of everybody else's experience - time and time again. This surely cannot be right?

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We have had 3 mobile internet since October 2007 and have been tied into an 18 month contract. Before we ordered it we checked what the service was like in the area and researched it. Their website quite clearly states that in our area and where we would need to use it it was very good (HGSA I think - High speed connection?). Since receiving the dongle we have tried in our house, outside our house, at both our parents houses and very, very rarely, we may receive one bar on the signal and be able to connect. I am now just waiting for the end of my contract so that we can sign up for proper broadband as I will never trust a mobile dongle again or three again. Three are really not interested in this problem, they are lying to their customers in order to gain business and they are getting away with it scot free! To add insult to injury, 3 have also just decided to slap a charge on for sending me out a paper bill, something I didn't sign up to and feel quite insulted considering the bill is for something that doesn't work in the first place!!!

I have had my 3 phone for approximately 6 months and from day one I have had limited coverage within my area. I took my phone back to the carphone warehouse from where I got the contract, they changed my phone and when I came home I still had the same problem, I returned to the store and they went through my phone checking the settings and moved it from dual mode to another and that still didn't work. I contacted 3 at the beginning of January and 3 informed me that a new mast was being put up in my area on the 28th January and my signal should improve, it did not. I contacted 3 again and the lady on the end of the phone advised me to go into my setttings and scroll down to phone and do all the rigmarole that they have to get you to do. This will improve your phone, as you may imagine it still did not improve. I again returned to the carphone warehouse, they went through the phone trying to rectify the problem, I left the store again hoping that this would work.
My concerns were highlighted more when my daughter who is 10 and had only just been allowed to play out of the street, witnessed an accident and tried to phone me and could not get through, obviously I was oblivious to her being upset until she came home crying.
I was angry at this and again returned to the store, they said I would need to go to the 3 store in the city centre, which I did.
I spoke to a young lad in there and explained what had happened and was still happening and I was asked what my post code was, which I told him and I was informed that there was marginal cover within my home, when asked what they could do to help me, they told me nothing, go back to carphone warehouse as that is where I got the phone from and 3 cannot help me.
I again return to the carphone warehouse with the information I had just been told and they said to call 3, which again I did.
I called 3 got through all the press this number and that number to get to the right department, a chap came on the phone asking if he could help me, I began talking to him and thought that he was very quiet on the other end, I looked at my phone and yes I had lost the signal again, I then received a text to call them on a particular number, which I did, I explained the whole thing again and the chap told me to go into settings and everything again that had been done before. He asked me what coverage I had when I went onto operator selection and choose manual, I informed him it said no coverage on 3 or 02, he said I should have coverage, I again informed him that I did not, he told me that I should have coverage outside my house so I was to use my phone outside or next to a window, he was informed that my phone does not work by a window and why should I go outside my house to use my phone when I pay for the phone to work in my home, this is the address it is contracted at so it should work.
He said he would have to speak to his supervisor, which he did and he then told me that I can terminate my contract at a fee, I asked why should I pay for it when the service does not work, I pay for my contract, it is not my fault, I asked to speak to his supervisor and I was told that she was busy, I asked if he just managed to speak to her, why can't I, I said I would hold, he put me on hold for 3 minutes and then said that his supervisor will call me back in 1 to 2 hours.
All I can say is what a farce, I am still waiting for the call, worst newtwork I have ever been with, would never ever recommend them to anyone

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i could write a novel the length of my complaint with 3. They have admitted that the connectivity in my area is poor (i live in London!) but they are not willing to cancel my contract.
I came home to find i had been burgled, and i couldn't call the police from my 3 phone, it didn't bother them that i could not contact the emergency services!.
I'm now in touch with Ofcom and they have given me some good advice. I plan to see this one through to the end. I'm not giving up the fight.

Yet another dissatisfied Three customer here. When I call to complain about the lack of reception in their "mobile" broadband service, I am told that it is the fault of my neighbours who are also accessing the service and I should either use it when my neighbours are not in, or walk to a different location - you could not make it up!!
This company could not treat its customers with any more contempt and I like many others on here cannot wait until my 18-month contract is up.

I'm a self employed electrician and run a business through a contract with 3 mobile which have had for 8 months. I have had major problems with the reception in and around my home(my office) and several areas around where I live. I have complained several times and everytime I have been told that there is a new mast being erected within a mile of my house and should sort the problem out. September 2008 was the first time I was told this and this weekend has been the latest! They will not listen and talk to me about cancelling my contract and will not let me talk to anyone higher in authority. All they have said is that I must pay £221 to cancel. It's a good tariff and good phone but if it doesn't work then it becomes useless. I've lost several small jobs in the past as people cannot contact me and gone elsewhere, but last week I missed a complete re-wire of a house which is a lot of money, especially in the present working climate. By the way it's not my phone, as my wife has the same problem with the same service provider and I even bought a "Skype" phone and that doesn't work either.
All I want is a phone that works.

I work for carphone warehouse and will also back anyone up that i serve in trying to get their money back from three and the other networks featured, several times i have had to return products due to no signal. Which is clarified and verified by the networks themselves, if they know after Point Of Sale whether a customer does or does not get signal, should they not be making this information available to people Pre Sale??? in my opinion, for the sake of the customer and honest independant sales consultants like myself. They most certainly should!

i have been having problems with my signal since i moved house and i checked the orange website to see what the signal is like in my area. it said it was good signal but it is far from it! i contacted them and they said there is nothing they can do =( very frustrating!

Hi

Yet again im another customer who is having problems with the 3 broadband service mine isnt connecting!!!

I have called three numerous of times to sort this out which goes through to there call centre in Bombay, India in which i have to constantly repeat myself several times and they dont seem to listen.

I am fed up with the poor customer service that three gives to the customers yet they are quick enough to take our money but not quick enough or seem to bother to sort the problems out.

I paid two months line rental for a service that I am not getting and have my third month bill on the way. I have telephoned three once again and had to repeat myself again to explain my problem and the advisor wanted to go through the settings again !!!!

I then got very angry with him and told him that there is no problem with any of my laptops and that I have had to get another dongle from another internet provider due to the poor service from three and due to me using my internet for my business which I explained before to them.

They have said they have booked in my dongle in for repairs and it can take up to six days, I told them yet again I give them a week and if it isnt fixed I will cancelling my contract even though my contract doesnt end till December they advised me that I would be liable for the remainder of months left.

I am now stuck with a dongle that I no longer use or works but we will see if they stick to their word and repair it, I will keep you posted.

What I would like to know is why is it that there are so many complaints against three and yet they seemed to be getting away with providing a bad service and taking customers money for not providing a service !!!!!!!!

Am now in receipt of letter from "head of collections" 3 credit management: Stating that unless I contact them my account will be sent to an external Debt collection agency.
My account has been restricted!! Ha! no? true? how can it be restricted from zero reception ? hello?
I am thinking of billing them for loss of service when still subscribing, I was pretty patient I reckon.
In any event I have asked for a final figure to wind up the contract.
So as others have stated I to have had enough they can fight for it! and I am going to be seen as willing to compromise, which is what they will not do.

On a slightly different note I have been having problems with [another network] since July of last year when I lost my phone.

After I reporting my phone lost and having the account barred on the same day all went quiet from [them] - until they started sending me bills!

The bills were not for calls but were service charges and these carried on into September, even though I was not recieving any service from [them] and hadn't since the 19th of July when my handset was reported lost.

This has since escalated and after numerous letters and emails [they] are insistant that I should pay for the services charges along with a termination of contract fee. I have now had several threatening letters from a debt collection agency and even a solicitor threatening legal action acting on [their] behalf.

On the 24th December 2008 I recieved a letter from [them] stating that as a good will gesture they would reduce the bill by half from £533 to £266, surely an admission that not everything they'd told me so far was right!

However from the start I have stated to [them] that I will be happy to pay for any calls and service charges up to the point that the phone was lost and even the reduced amount offered would be in excess of that therefore I refused the offer.

In March of this year, after more threatening letters, [they] wrote to me again this time retracting the 50% reduction offer and saying that I now had to pay the full amount.

I simply do not understand how I can pay for a service I have not been supplied with, although I have reported this to OTEL they will not look into this until [the network] send me a letter of 'deadlock' and although I have requested this from them on at least three occaisions nothing has happened simply another reiteration that I have a debt of £533 which must be paid immediately. I fail to see how this is a debt, that would indicate that I owe money for an item or service, however I have not been supplied with a service since July of last year, no service - no debt!

Unless OTEL looks into this then I am at a loss and can see this dragging on forever.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

I have had a contract with [network removed] since August 2005 and when I moved to my current address in January 2006 I had no problems at all. However in september of 2008 I lost signal in my house - 5 doors down the road my signal is fine but I don't live 5 doors down the road! I phoned [retailer removed] who the contract was taken with and they said there was work being done on my nearest mast and service would resume by the end of the month. On the 1st October I phoned them (0870 number) and they said they would look into it, anyway long story short I ended up contacting consumer direct after [the retailer] refused to end the contract without me "buying" myself out of it. In November they said they were sending an engineer out - never happened. December, said they would send an engineer out - never happened. They got fair warning that I had been advised to take legal action through a small claims court, they couldn't even have the courtesy to respond to my letter before the set deadline. I sarted legal proceedings and they ignored that too, I entered for judgement and they have ignored that too. The next step for me is to send in the bailiffs which will be done next week. [The mobile phone network] have refused to have anything to do with it and [the retailer] don't have the manners or the backbone to contact me. They have contacted the court to ask for the details but they STILL have chosen to ignore me. I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!! I have spent hundreds of pounds on a contract I can't use in my own house and the addition cost of calling mobiles from my landline. It has also cost a small fortune contacting [the retailer] on their high rate number.

3 Network in my Stoke on Trent area has been utter rubish over the last week and when you do actually manage to get through to them using you mobile the signal goes dead. So phoned them on my landline in the end and guess what it my phone thats the problem. Funny that as its a new phone they gave me in January (also when i renewed contract) as they said the new phone would be better at receiving the signals. Well got a complete fob off during the phone call that it was nowt to do with them. Also got asked if i have tried to used the phone in different counties as it may be better there or go up a hill.

Well i'm truly flabbergasted,

I spent a lot of time last week upset and frustrated in the pursuit of a moving target. I spoke several times with customer services from another country that seemed to be totally uninterested in my quest for a result without me resorting to legal action to end my contract due to no signal what so ever in eight months.

Here is where it turns around totally; I had a phone call from 3 in the UK after I sent emails to their head office. The gentleman I spoke to could not have been more courteous and supportive and after a conversation and him actually taking the time to read my notes we came to a mutual satisfactory agreement that was implemented immediately.

I thought it only fair that I post this due to the fact I publicly complained about them, I do still feel that the offshore customer services system needs to be addressed as often a lot does get lost in translation and frustration.

Thank you to the Executive Office for Three (3 UK)

I am, I think one of the lucky ones, I have or rather had a mobile phone contract with 3 and it had 14 months to go I have been told that I am able to leave them without incurring any charges and terminate my contraact. I have had problems since October oflast year when they switched roaming partners from O2 to Orange and so hey are saying that it is down to this switch that it is all going wrongand therefore the termination is free.
I am however still waiting for my final bill and hope that this will reflect what I have been told.

On a good note on mobiles I have gone to Vodafone who I have mamged o givem 500 minutes and 100 texts for £15 amonth, thought that wa pretty good.

Top tips for getting out of a 3 contract

1) you should have been making phone calls to them from ctober 7th/8th last year to say that your coverage has suddenly become appalling
2) you need to speak to techincal to say that you are experience calls dropping out, unable to receive calls AT YOUR WORK place that also in my caase happens to be my home and yet at times you can make calls from the same placed in the house, its also pretty poor in the garden
3 Countless calls to 3 will have meant tehy will ask you to manually choose Orange or 3G or something from the list
4) eventually yo will have to either get the problem escalated - this may be suggested by them or you may have to say that you want to speak to someone about your options for terminating your contract "something you cannot afford to do but you also cannot continue with a phone that doesnt work"
5) at some point mention watchdog ad legal advice - i would leave this until the 4 or 5 call
5) once you are through to 2nd tier techincal the rest will be down to you I manage to get my contract cancelled immediatly but as to the out come i am yet unsure and it may go either way for others

this is a bit different ive just bought a pay&go mobile internet dongle because i cant afford a landline internet connection, i have a tower pc and i know other people on pcs like mine use dongles, im so angry at [network removed] because i bought it for downloading and not just browsing and e-mailing. now it tells you in the manual that a solid blue LED (connected to 3g) or a solid turquoise LED (connected to Hsdpa) you can download. my LED is a solid green which means in my area ( a Relatively poor area i cant get the other connections, now if i had known about that when i bought it from my catalogue i would not have bought it. [Mobile network removed] and other companies should realise that not only lap-top owners would use this but pc users also might want to use this as a cheaper means to get on the internet. my money has the same value as someone in an area who can gat the download connections, so i should get the same offers, so basically i believe that people are getting ripped off yet again, unless your in a well off area, i say that because it allways seems to be the poorer areas that come up short for the full packages, and they say theres no class system in this country. why cant my area have the same connections as the other areas, you the bbc could do something about this, i doubt this government could they took away freedom of speech and seem to be scared of confronting companies who do not give equality to all CUSTOMERS!and get them to play ball. all i want is for [network removed] to revise this and give the whole country the same connections, maybe then i can download and enjoy my internet time. i think this is absolutley disgusting and not equlity for all unless your rich and make [network removed] their profits. could you please answer this comment and maybe send it to [network removed] i will not stop until this is resolved for ALL PEOPLE. iam now going onto my M.Ps sight to see if he can get somthing done, ( hes Labour so just in case i will be going onto the oppositions sight aswell this should not be allowed any more, to me this proves this is a country with two tear systems throughout and im ashamed to live in this pathetic country. i suffer from mental illness and i can see now why 1 in 4 suffer and i bet the majority of those live in poorer areas where they have to suffer being 2nd class citizens because theyre not allowed to have the silver spoon. please please plaese help

An update on my ongoing dispute with three network.
Cannot now get into my three network online account they have blocked me it will appear.
While I was on the three network web page I browsed around and chanced to look at the network coverage map, to my complete amazement it now shows a large part of Glastonbury does not have coverage and I certainly do not, I would encourage anyone else who has a similar problem in Glastonbury to write about their experience.
I wrote two e-mails today the first one acknowledging receipt of the debt collectors letter, and informing them three network that we are in dispute over the matter; the second asking questions about the totally altered coverage map to the original.
From the look of the coverage does not appear that the first antenna can possibly be working, in fact it would appear as if it is out-of-town, Street has no coverage at all! And as for the best coverage that will appear to be where there are hardly any people living, I was quite stunned to see this. I am talking about broadband mobile Internet not phone, but is probably just as important to phone users.
Have a look at the broadband coverage in Glastonbury! I think you will be surprised, especially as they purport to cover percentage of population, I think they completely missed population at Glastonbury.
I am still withholding payment until an agreement has been reached, any money paid now will just resurrect the contract and feed it, I am working to resolve the matter as I am not quite sure what three are expecting me to pay for, the system is dead to me.

I would like to reply to:-

I am also experiencing problems with [model removed] phone with my Network service provider. I am currently on my third phone and still battling with them regarding the signal quality with my new phone. It is very difficult when you put a another phone next to this phone, both on the same Network. One works 5 signal bar - [model removed] - no signal. It is also very difficult when you try and speak to helpdesk, they say it is not the Company responsibility on signal issue even though we feel it is a phone issue. They then refer you back to the manufacturer.

Since you have featured the report about phone coverage, I've made several lengthy phone calls from my home phone to 3 to no avail!
I do not get a mobile signal anywhere at my work and as I work at an agricultural college nowhere near a land line, I cannot call anyone, not even in an emergency, nor can anyone contact me all day. Network coverage anywhere else is sporadic and a hit and miss afair!
I have pointed out a manager at 3, that I am paying them for a service they do not provide and as such they are in breech of contract and I am well within my right to cancel without incurring any penalties. They insist I will have to pay for another 12 month and if I was to cancel they will charge me in excess of £ 300!
I will fight this, even if I have to take them to court.

I signed up to 3 mobile on an 18 month contract after a broker called me to offer me a deal in April 2008 and the package was amazing - loads of minutes for the money, unlimited texts and they checked to see what the signal was like in my area and told me it was the best over any other phone networks. The phone arrived and it took 1 week to activate it and then there was no reception at all in my flat at all and i had to go out on the balcony to get any reception at all. I contacted 3 who were less than helpful and i said that i wanted to cancel the contract. They told me to contact the broker who were also completely disinterested and told me to contact 3. I contacted consumer affairs and they told me to write to 3 and tell them that i wanted to cancel due to the lack of signal. i did this within two weeks of getting the phone and then followed it up by calling 3. 3 told me that i had to cancel within 2 weeks and they did not accept cancellations via letter and only over the phone where they issue a cancellation code. They told me that there were problems with the make of my phone getting a poor reception and that they could issue me a new phone but i refused as my girlfriend has the same phone on orange and gets a brilliant reception. I contacted a solicitor about the matter and he advised me that it would cost me more to take them to court than it would to actually pay the 18 month contract. I finally gave up and thankfully only have another 5 months with 3 mobile - it will then be straight back to 02 again thanks!

I think the problem is that the regulatory authorities - certainly in the UK - do not seem to impose adequate controls on coverage maps. If a company can get away with claiming good coverage in area, they will do - no matter how mediocre it is.

Time for an independant unit to properly assess coverage.