Three Mobile Broadband - driving me mad .....

I have the 5GB for £15 a month deal with a laptop dongle.

But its a nightmare. Firstly its SLOW.

Secondly Three are supposed to send me a text message when I have used
20% of my allowance - I have complained for months that this never
happens.

Now Three have tarted up their My3 accounts page(s) so that at least
its easy enough to monitor my usage and balance. Right? Wrong. The
figure on the tarted up page is not refreshed in real-time - but
approx. at three hourly intervals or longer.

This latter is a pain, because when I am nearing the end of my
allowance its impossible not to go over the limit - and when that
happens the extra charges are astronomical.

Again I have complained about the lack of real-time updating of usage
figures for months. No improvement is implemented.

Then the system is supposed to send out a text message warning me when
my allowance is about to run out - again this rarely gets sent, and if
at all only after my balance has gone into debit.

Again complaints result in no improvement whatsoever.

Three is cheap and cheerful, but its systems and customer service are
appalling. All I get from the CSA is confirmations that things would
be better next time. They never are. Lies, all lies, just to shut me
up.

Obviously Three makes its real profits from the gross over-charging
when account limits are inadvertantly exceeded. Its systems do nothing
to help hapless customers from avoiding this.

BTW I just got a text message which says:

2011-11-15 12:29:03
From 3:You have nearly reached your credit limit. If you would like
more information or want to make a payment please call 333 or if
abroad +447782333333.

On the My3 usage page my account balance is stated as:

Mobile data MB 3,758 (aka 3.758GB)
New monthly allowance starts in 27 day(s).

The mind boggles at the ineptitude.

===

I get the same problem with lack of warning texts when tethering my S2
and using an Internet add-on.

The last time I got a text message saying I'd used up all my allowance
(120MB for 50p) only after my add-on had actually run out and my
credit was being used up at the rate of £1 per 1MB (or something
equally outrageous).

Then about 5 minutes later I got a text warning me that my add-on
allowance was about to run out.

Talk about ar$e about face.

===

"CJB" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:ec76b072-c3da-4836-aa6b-(E-Mail Removed)...
I have the 5GB for £15 a month deal with a laptop dongle.

But its a nightmare. Firstly its SLOW.

Secondly Three

Ah I see your mistake now!

SNIP - tale of their standards of customer service and business standards.

On 15/11/2011 13:39, CJB wrote:
> I have the 5GB for £15 a month deal with a laptop dongle.
>
> But its a nightmare. Firstly its SLOW.
>
> Secondly Three are supposed to send me a text message when I have used
> 20% of my allowance - I have complained for months that this never
> happens.
>
<snip>

> BTW I just got a text message which says:
>
> 2011-11-15 12:29:03
> From 3:You have nearly reached your credit limit. If you would like
> more information or want to make a payment please call 333 or if
> abroad +447782333333.
>
> On the My3 usage page my account balance is stated as:
>
> Mobile data MB 3,758 (aka 3.758GB)
> New monthly allowance starts in 27 day(s).
>
> The mind boggles at the ineptitude.

Presumably that's the warning you say you never get - when you've used
20% of your allowance?
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On 15/11/11 13:39, CJB wrote:
> I have the 5GB for £15 a month deal with a laptop dongle.
>
> But its a nightmare. Firstly its SLOW.
>
> Secondly Three are supposed to send me a text message when I have used
> 20% of my allowance - I have complained for months that this never
> happens.

[snip]

> BTW I just got a text message which says:
>
> 2011-11-15 12:29:03
> From 3:You have nearly reached your credit limit. If you would like
> more information or want to make a payment please call 333 or if
> abroad +447782333333.
>
> On the My3 usage page my account balance is stated as:
>
> Mobile data MB 3,758 (aka 3.758GB)
> New monthly allowance starts in 27 day(s).
>
> The mind boggles at the ineptitude.

Whose? That looks like a text telling you you're almost at the 20% threshold
to me....

20% remaining of 5GB would mean you have used 4GB, and you have used almost
4GB....

In message <ja36tl$52e$(E-Mail Removed)>, funkyoldcortina
<(E-Mail Removed)> writing at 14:49:28 in his/her local time opines:-
>On 15/11/11 13:39, CJB wrote:
>> I have the 5GB for £15 a month deal with a laptop dongle.
>>
>> But its a nightmare. Firstly its SLOW.
>>
>> Secondly Three are supposed to send me a text message when I have used
>> 20% of my allowance - I have complained for months that this never
>> happens.
>
>[snip]
>
>> BTW I just got a text message which says:
>>
>> 2011-11-15 12:29:03
>> From 3:You have nearly reached your credit limit. If you would like
>> more information or want to make a payment please call 333 or if
>> abroad +447782333333.
>>
>> On the My3 usage page my account balance is stated as:
>>
>> Mobile data MB 3,758 (aka 3.758GB)
>> New monthly allowance starts in 27 day(s).
>>
>> The mind boggles at the ineptitude.
>
>Whose? That looks like a text telling you you're almost at the 20%
>threshold to me....
>
>20% remaining of 5GB would mean you have used 4GB, and you have used
>almost 4GB....

He said 20% used. That means he expects a message at 1GB.

Would a confusion between 'used' and 'remaining' lie somewhere near the
heart of this?
--
Roy Brown 'Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be
Kelmscott Ltd useful, or believe to be beautiful' William Morris

"CJB" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:ec76b072-c3da-4836-aa6b-(E-Mail Removed)...
I have the 5GB for £15 a month deal with a laptop dongle.

But its a nightmare. Firstly its SLOW.

Secondly Three are supposed to send me a text message when I have used
20% of my allowance - I have complained for months that this never
happens.

Now Three have tarted up their My3 accounts page(s) so that at least
its easy enough to monitor my usage and balance. Right? Wrong. The
figure on the tarted up page is not refreshed in real-time - but
approx. at three hourly intervals or longer.

This latter is a pain, because when I am nearing the end of my
allowance its impossible not to go over the limit - and when that
happens the extra charges are astronomical.

Again I have complained about the lack of real-time updating of usage
figures for months. No improvement is implemented.

Then the system is supposed to send out a text message warning me when
my allowance is about to run out - again this rarely gets sent, and if
at all only after my balance has gone into debit.

Again complaints result in no improvement whatsoever.

Three is cheap and cheerful, but its systems and customer service are
appalling. All I get from the CSA is confirmations that things would
be better next time. They never are. Lies, all lies, just to shut me
up.

Obviously Three makes its real profits from the gross over-charging
when account limits are inadvertantly exceeded. Its systems do nothing
to help hapless customers from avoiding this.

BTW I just got a text message which says:

2011-11-15 12:29:03
From 3:You have nearly reached your credit limit. If you would like
more information or want to make a payment please call 333 or if
abroad +447782333333.

On the My3 usage page my account balance is stated as:

Mobile data MB 3,758 (aka 3.758GB)
New monthly allowance starts in 27 day(s).

The mind boggles at the ineptitude.

===

I get the same problem with lack of warning texts when tethering my S2
and using an Internet add-on.

The last time I got a text message saying I'd used up all my allowance
(120MB for 50p) only after my add-on had actually run out and my
credit was being used up at the rate of £1 per 1MB (or something
equally outrageous).

Then about 5 minutes later I got a text warning me that my add-on
allowance was about to run out.

Talk about ar$e about face.

===

I wrote to them a few months back saying that I wanted service to stop when
I reached my data allowance. They rang me up and set up a cap so that it
cuts off at my data limit and I'm not therefore charged for exceeding it.