Good News! Three Customers Could Be Due A Refund

It looks like you might be getting that Christmas bonus after all...

Ireland's second largest mobile company has been fined nearly €600,000 euro by watchdog Comreg for messing up contract changes for 1.3 million customers earlier in the year. If you’re a Three customer, you may be due a refund or permission to leave your contract early without penalty.

The company did not notify customers sufficiently of the changes that would take place and the 1800 number was not adequately manned.

Comreg discovered that Three unfairly stopped their customers from switching operators when the customer discovered the problem. Customers could not leave their package without having to pay a large termination fee.

There was a failure by Three to properly advise its customers of the nature of the contract changes proposed... And to adequately facilitate their right to exit their contracts without penalty, after being notified of the proposed contractual changes.

Comreg has said the Three has now pledged the following to customers:

1) Its customers will be able to notify Three of their cancellation request “by phone, post, online chat, or by visiting a retail store” and “Three will promptly confirm such cancellation requests using the same channel of communication”

2) Its call centres will be “fully resourced” to deal with all expected call volumes on foot of any contract change notifications issued by Three

3) To refund any customer that was charged an early termination fee or any other penalty as a result of withdrawal from their contract within the ‘Regulation 14 Window’ of time (30 days)

4) To re-notify “certain customers” of their contract changes that came into effect on 3 April 2017 and advised the customers of their right to withdraw without penalty if they did not wish to accept the changes

5) To contact all customers “that it could identify” that tried and were unable to contact Three on the 1800 number provided in their contract change notification.

According to Comreg, Three must provide 30 days to customers to exit their contract without penalty if the customer is unhappy with the service.

H/T: Independent.ie