Phone call from Three today.

JonathanAnon

Hi people,

I am on Monthly broadband with Three .. 20 euro for 20Gb, and I'm very happy with it... However I got a call today, from Three Broadband saying that they were ringing me because I was "such a valued broadband customer" and as such they had a very special offer to make me...

The guy asked me first if my phone was with Vodafone, as my number is 087, but I told him it's also with Three.. "oh great" he says.. he proceeds to say that they were gonna off me a free phone with 20 euros credit for "my partner or one of my relations"... I said to him that I dont really need another phone, and I that I wouldnt have a use for it.. He kept persisting and saying "oh but it's free, you might as well etc etc"..

I questioned him on it, and behind all the sales patter it turns out that there is a charge for the phone, but which they give back to you with the future credit you buy for the phone... I put the question to him straight three times that this IS a charge.. he responded "but you wil get it back when you buy credit for the phone"... I confirmed with him forthrightly that I did not want him to send me anything..

I'm pissed off with them to be honest that they would try to dupe me.. How the hell are they allowed to get away with sh!t like this.... Did anybody else get this call...

Mods, I know this is about a mobile phone, but it was only offered to me because I was a Three Broadband customer, I would just like to see if anybody else got the call or if I misinterpreted the guy

William Powell

Interesting that the guy didn't know you were a 3 customer? While looking up something for this thread in the Talk to 3 forum I remembered reading your post and thought it was relevant here also.

From comregs page on Cold Calls

Mobile phone users

Mobile phone numbers are automatically opted out of direct marketing calls by your mobile phone provider.

If you want to allow direct marketers to contact you in this way, you can call your mobile service provider and ask that your number be made available to direct marketers.

Now that they know you are a 3 mobile phone customer you shouldn't get another call, but on the otherhand I can't see how they can split hairs and say your not a mobile phone customer whey you have 3's mobile broadband as the SIM is a mobile phone SIM with a mobile phone number attached to it. Unless of course you opted into 3's direct marketing?

Walkman

You can opt out if these calls through my3, there is a clause there stating they may call you to let you know of new offers etc...even if you opt out

daithi2011

I treat cold callers as a bit of entertainment know.
Keep them on the phone as long as I can.
They have a time limit and then their supervisor cuts them off.
So you have to make it sound like you are about to buy and just hang it there in front of them. Great craic

JonathanAnon

William Powell wrote: »

Unless of course you opted into 3's direct marketing?

I dont think I did.. But I couldnt be sure.. could have been a checkbox I ignored somewhere on the website.. Had a look through the my3.three.ie stuff and cant find any such setting..

To be honest, it wasnt the call that bothered me, if they have offers that they want to ring and tell me about that's fine... but as a "valued Three customer" I wouldnt expect them to try to dupe me...

PaulPinnacle

JonathanAnon wrote: »

...if they have offers that they want to ring and tell me about that's fine...

They have offers, they just won't call to tell you about them

Can't say it 'will' work, but from my experience...
If your contract is up (I assume by 'monthly broadband' it's the standard contract setup you have?), give the normal helpline a call and say you wish to cancel your contract. The standard helpline staff will transfer you through to the retention department.

Once through, say you've got another provider and you're no longer sure you'll have a use for the dongle and wonder what's required to cancel your contract (you can say what you like tbh, but that one gives you room to wiggle should they not make an offer). From experience, the staff will offer you 2 months free usage "as a valued customer" :rolleyes:

At the end of the two months, they should/might also offer a significantly reduced rate for (iirc) 6 months (can't remember fully the reduction or the term, but remember thinking it wasn't a bad offer relatively speaking).

As mentioned, that's from one experience dealing with them on behalf of a family member, so can't say for sure it will always be the case.

Sponge Bob

Bit like when you try to cancel Sky they can often be persuaded to leave you Irish channels only ( + the free UK ones) for €5 a month....which means your recording still works.

jfk75

Got the same call myself about a month ago. Guy offering me a free handset for a family member if I agreed to a 12mth/€25 contract on top of my present €40+ one. Told them a straight no, that I wasnt interested but the stupid guy just wouldn't leave it and I eventually just hung up after a few mins. Next day my phone rings again and a woman introduces herself as 3sales and ask if she can speak to my wife??? So when I ask her why 3irl are calling my number to speak to someone else she says to me that I had been talking to her colleague the previous day and that 3irl felt that because I had refused such a fantastic offer that they felt that they should call again and make the offer directly to my family members!! I sh#t you not, this actually happened!! Funilly enough I hung up and now I just don't answer to 3sales.

gazzer

I had the same call last month. I am with 3 for my mobile broadband and also last year I switched my O2 mobile phone to 3. The guy who rang me didnt know I was with 3 for mobile calls.

He must have told me about 20 times how much of a special customer I was but he couldnt get it into his head that I didnt want another phone as everybody I knew already had one.