Here’s the latest chapter of my saga with 3.
As regular readers may recall, about 8 weeks ago I dropped my 5 month-old DOPOD 838Pro into a 3 store because it had stopped working. They told me they had to send it away to get it repaired and it would be back in three or four weeks.
When I called them four weeks later, they told me it would be ANOTHER 3 weeks.
When I called them three weeks later, they told me it hadn’t even been looked at yet and they couldn’t tell me how long it would be before I had my phone back.
So I asked them to give me a new phone but they couldn’t do that because they didn’t have any DOPOD 838 Pros in stock.
So I asked them to just terminate my account and let me go get a phone from somewhere else. They told me that would cost me a $900 fee.
So i fumed and waited.
Today they called me to tell me my phone was fixed and ready to be picked up at the store. After 8 weeks.
When I went to pick it up from the store, the guy told me it was all fixed. But when I tried to check it, the battery was COMPLETELY dead and I couldn’t even get it to turn on more than 5 seconds.
So I brought it home, charged it up – guess what? They hadn’t fixed a GODDAMN THING. The same problem I had 8 weeks ago – namely that the thing is a brick, won’t make calls – is still the there.
So I called the store back and they told me they now had their own repair center in St Kilda Road and I should take it there. I rocked up at St Kilda Road, only to be told by the girl there that they don’t actually open until September and don’t repair DOPODs anyway.
I told this girl I was furious and explained the story. I then sat there for an hour while she called everyone from the manufacturer to the repair center to “priority support” trying to get me a solution.
After an hour, I had no explanation why they returned me a phone without fixing a damn thing, and they gave me two options:
1) Take the phone MYSELF down to their REAL repair center in Nunawading, lose it for 5 days, and take my chances.
or
2) They had a refurb unit, another DOPOD, not the same model as mine but similar, which they will send me. It will take three days. It doesn’t have a battery. So I need to go online, order a battery, pay for it, then after the battery and phone arrives, I can call 3 “customer support” and they will refund the amount of the battery.
Because I wanted a working phone as soon as possible, I took the last option.
I cannot WAIT to get out of the contract with 3 and I would highly recommend you avoid 3 if you can.
Yes, Hugo, you called it mate.
UPDATE: Looks like I’m not the only person with a gripe against 3. Check out this thread on NotGoodEnough.org.
UPDATE 2: Looks like the NGE people didn’t like my post for some reason, they took it down and deleted my account I think!
Wow – that’s got to be one of the worst customer service stories I’ve heard in a while! I had to get my JASJAM repaired – got shipped to the Australian HQ in Melbourne by the dealer, and I had it back in about 3 weeks and luckily managed to source a replacement phone from a friend for that time .. although I don’t believe I got my $30 warranty inspection fee – hmm should follow that up.
Communications ombudsman, and a distinct failure to comply with the TPA here.
Blackberry 8800 on optus unlimited internet this thing + 24hr customer service plus qwerty keyboard + faster than gmail push email fkn rox. Go crackberry next time, didn’t then name “dopod” worry u? Wtf does it mean? (Feel your pain tho reminds me of a dotcom sports car I had)
Damn – most of my 3 rants are directed at their continued crappy signal coverage and drop outs, the major problems that often surface when trying to change your voice mail answering message (you’ll find them if you’re updating it daily), times when the whole network is freakin’ down, use of LG phones that have lousy keys, crappy interface, etc.
I never had to get involved with customer service – this was all experienced while using a damned company phone…
Good luck with your hassles.
Cheers,
Grant
Sounds to me like 3 owes you money–you paid for a service and they didn’t provide it. (see Nick’s comment above and also Richard’s comment on an earlier post on this.)
A few years back this guy in Bangkok kept getting shtty repair service on his brand new car so he parked it outside the company’s HQ and went to town on it with a sledgehammer. The next week he had got a brand new freebie from a competitor. it was all in the papers.
This could all be fixed with a sledgehammer, a video camera and youtube.
I second Nick, and also a call to Consumer Affairs, your product is not “fit for purpose” and you are entitled to a full refund.
Hugo: Don’t tell him that! He might have one too many coffees and go do it.
There’s always today tonight/a current affair too. They seem to pay real attention to them, more than the net anyway – the threat’s of approaching them is probably enough.
Besides, you’re all over print now, you need to conquer TV!
Tonight, I typed ‘I hate 3’ in google and find out that you hate 3 too.
But for different reasons! They are the biggest Australian telephone scam. I hate them after signing 3rd contract with them. I would never ever want to sign contract with them.
I couldn’t agree more. Three (the UK phone network) are by far the WORST company I have ever dealt with – even worse than the old NTL, and that is saying something….
I could give a list of at least 10 reasons – but I can’t be bothered.
Trust me – don’t join three – you will regret it.