ALWAYS HAPPY TO HELP

I called into the Merry Hill Shopping Centre Shop on the 3^rd November 2006 to discuss upgrading my existing phone on the 3network and I spoke to an assistant called Mo who talked me through the original price plan and explained to me how I could save money.

During the conversation he called over a lady, who introduced herself as manager or assistant manager. This lady, I can’t remember her name, offered to phone my existing provider to find out how long I had left on my contract and she offered me a ‘good deal’.

After she came back from office she said I had 3 month left which meant my existing contract would finish in January 2007.

I thought this info was inaccurate but she assured me that it was 100% correct. She also told me that she had dropped my existing plan from 3 from £45.00 to £ 35.00 for the November bill and to £25.00 in December and  £20.00 in January. This would then be the end of my existing contract.

To switch my contract now to a videophone would consequently cost me £80.00 but Phones4u would give me back the maximum payment of £75.00 which meant that it would cost me just £5.00 for a new contract. When they told me which phone I could have I explained that I travel long distances and that I needed a blue tooth headset and they confirmed to me that the Motorola K1, which I had chosen, did come with the Bluetooth headset. She gave me a brand new, boxed phone and when I said I just wanted to check that everything was in it, she told me that everything was in the box, including the headset. It was not and when I phoned the shop to complain they said I must have got confused as this phone does not come with a headset, yet when I tried to open the box upon collection they told me that the headset was inside.

On the 26^th November 07 I received my bill from 3 which was for £45.00 and when I phoned them they told me that they could not have possibly dropped the price to £35.00 as I was told by Phones4u. They agreed to drop it to £35.00 for December and to £25.00 for January, but when I asked them to confirm that my contract would expire in January I was told that it was not up until the 24^th April 2007.

It became clear that I was told blatant and deliberate lies by Phones4u and that I was out of pocket by £180.00 instead of the £80.00 which meant that after taken into the account the cash back of £75.00 I was still loosing £105.00 instead of just £5.00 as told by Phones4u.

I was very angry by now and I complained in writing in January 2007 to the Merry Hill shop who confirmed to me in February that they had passed my complaint to their Head Office. They also sent me a cheque for £100.00 and confirmed that my contract did not expire until April 2007 but they refused to supply me with a Bluetooth headset as it ‘did not come as standard’.

So here I was, they did give me back the £100.00 as a ‘gesture of goodwill’ but as far as I understand that, this is not ‘goodwill gesture’ but merely a reimbursement of the costs I had incurred due to the lies of Phones4u and I still had to go out and buy a Bluetooth headset which they had promised me.

I put all my concerns in a letter to their Head Office pointing out that I was rather angry at the obvious lies from their staff and that I would consider taking this matter to the ombudsman if my complaint was not addressed properly.

In their short reply they just stated that they felt they had dealt with my complaint and that nothing further could be done.