Mis Sold Phone Contact - can now prove it!

[37KAT]

Hi, not been on here for ages. Wondering what a wider group of people think.

Someone from my mobile phone provider called me and offered an upgrade. All through the call I was told it was £29 a month. I received an email called summary stating it was £39 a month. I called them back immediately and the person confirmed £29 and re sent the email summary stating this.

Roll on a week and I receive the contract stating £39 a month. This is where the issue starts.. called them back and was advised that all the notes say £39 and this is what I agreed to!
Got out through to complaints who agreed someone would listen to the calls.
Called them back for an update and was told they have listened to the calls and I was clearly told £39 on both the sales call and follow up call I made - not true.

I made a SAR request and yesterday received the voice recordings. It is clear as anything that I am repeatedly told £29, I even say 2 9 and he says yes and repeats it.

Called them back last night to advise I now had evidence. So someone has either not listened to the calls at all or lied on my account, either way they've lied as well as mis selling.

It is this I am struggling to digest as if they had been honest when they said they listened to the calls it would have saved me a whole load of admin and time filling in forms and making calls as well as huge stress.

They have now agreed to reduce my monthly fee to £29 - so they should, it's what I was sold. Also offered me a small credit on the account. They say they will carry out an internal investigation.

So my dilemma is do I move on and accept their offer or take this further. My DH feels I should also cancel, I'm inclined to agree, although it will be more time and effort finding another provider and contract.

I wonder if I should take this further as this could be their business practice mis selling to customers and then lying about it, and if so how?
Other unfortunate consumers may not be able to prove what was agreed. Has anyone else had this issue with Three or is it just me?

I would have cancelled. You have 14 days to cancel and this is what I would have done. I'm not quite sure why you went to the lengths you did personally.

I think by posting on here it is likely to get picked up by a reporter anyway but yes, I'd be tempted to take it further.

Decide on whether you want to continue but I would certainly send your evidence to OFCOM and Trading Standards.

I would report it to the Ombusdman (OFCOM?). Well done for pursuing it with the company

@FloofenHoofen apparently the 14 day cooling off period isn't applicable to upgrades.
I don't feel I went to great lengths. It was important to me to prove I was mis sold for my own peace of mind and integrity.
It was awful not being believed especially after they said they listened to the evidence...

I'd keep it as you were happy to pay £29 which you'd now paying but yes to reporting them to ofcom.

Yes it is @37KAT I've done it myself.

I would be weary that somewhere down the line this would increase for no reason and you would be paying 39 within a few months. My friend is with 3 and she had an Internet dongle which stopped working, she was paying nearly 30 quid a month for something that had no signal, after a while she went into store and they sorted her out but she didn't realise at the time they had started a whole new contract on the dongle, when she had only got a few months left on the last one.
They wouldn't cancel it and so she ended up with another 2 years of paying for a dongle she didn't want.
I'm with three too and when I last upgraded they were trying to sell me the cheaper version of the phone I wanted. It was reduced everywhere at the time due to the new one coming out and the guy on the phone was trying everything, he even tried tricking me, so you want the insert old version of phone on a 2 year contract with bla bla bla for £39 a month, in the end I was like NO do not ask me again I want the p20 mate pro. If I hadn't been paying attention he would've signed me up to the contract on the phone they were trying to get rid of. Naughty. Definitely go to OFCOM and complain.

Did you upgrade your handset or just your contract? If the latter I’d just cancel altogether and go with another provider.

I’ve had hells own delight with EE. Could not get a straight answer just conflicting statements from everyone I spoke to.

I’m with Giffgaff now and they’re brilliant. No contract just a rolling bundle that I can amend or cancel anytime through the app on my phone. Everything’s transparent and easy.

@NotExactlyHappyToHelp they replaced the handset and new tariff, so all new.
Giff Gaff sounds interesting, I'll have a look. Thanks

29£ a month is crazy - I pay £9 with virgin on a yearly contract!

Did you get a new phone with this offer??

In future just buy phones right out and get a cheaper plan

I would cancel this on principal and yes report them!

I'm another who is a bit at the price some people pay.

In use mine to work, as in I use apps to complete all work, invoices, etc. And I use a Mates Rates package with my broadband £5 a.month. Before that it was £10.a.month with Vodafone.

Shop around. I'd you don't need the bestest phone ever then why pay such exorbitant amounts per month?

Are you sure it was definitely your actual provider phoning you and not a random 3rd party?? You have 14 days to make changes/cancel any contract change, including updates.

It doesn’t matter how much people pay, that’s not what OP is asking.

I'd definitely take it further, that's absolutely outrageous.

@Excited101 if it was a random 3rd party calling the OP how would three have managed to provide her with the phone call recordings?!

@Excited101 it was definitely someone from Three, they have sent me the voice recordings and I have been speaking to their customer services.

It happens 🤷‍♀️ Just trying to help op, if you call a number back on the number they called you from it’ll be the same dodgy people you’re phoning. Obviously if you called the official 3 number then it’s fine.

The 14 day cooling off period DOES still apply if it's an upgrade. Because you're starting a new contract.

I upgraded last October and had some issues and I confirmed that the 14 day cooling off period still applies.

They've behaved appallingly I'd be going elsewhere.

@Graphista thanks, I've never experienced anything like this before. As I said in the first post, Im struggling to move on from the fact my account has blatantly been updated with lies.. it has been a stressful, long unnecessary process to prove I am telling the truth!

It IS incredibly stressful I had a right time doing my upgrade to the point I ended up first 3 months of new contract were effectively free they cocked it up so bad!

Ofcom are pretty shite they don't use the teeth they have and mobile phone and broadband providers can behave terribly!

Best way we as customers can get them to step up is to make it bloody awkward and expensive for them to sort any mess they make! Hitting them in the wallet is what they understand.

I would contact the CEOs office. It’ll get passed to an executive team, but this would get their attention of multiple “mistakes” for want of a better word.