If you’re a Three customer, this is worth checking out.
Irish mobile phone network Three has committed to providing refunds to any customers affected by a breach of contract in relation to a change in their terms and conditions earlier this year.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that Three Ireland (Hutchison) Limited (“Three”) made a payment of €575,000 to ComReg following investigations into the manner in which Three implemented contract changes in March and April 2017.
Also under investigation were conditions and procedures put in place by Three in respect of proposed contract changes that had the effect of disincentivising customers from changing service provider.
In March of this year, Three notified all Pay As You Go and Bill Pay customers of changes to terms and conditions that would come into effect on 3 April 2017. The notification issued by Three stated that if customers wished to cancel or required further information, they were to call an 1800 number.
Shortly after the notification was issued, ComReg Consumer Care received a significant volume of consumer complaints, the majority of which were from customers who felt they were unable to gain access to the notified 1800 number. ComReg also reviewed copies of contract change notifications that were issued by Three that purported to notify consumers of the upcoming contract changes.
Three made a payment of €575,000 to ComReg after ComReg formed the opinion that 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.
In light of ComReg’s findings, Three made the following commitments.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. In these cases, Three committed to remedy the situation to their customers’ satisfaction, including offering them 30 days to exit their contract without penalty.
Three has confirmed that it has fulfilled these commitments and will engage a third-party auditor to affirm this.
Three has also made a number of commitments with regard to any future contract changes, the full details of which can be read here.
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