3 is without doubt the WORST company I have ever come across, agressive instore staff (the Grimsby store is the epitome of how a shop should NOT treat customers), abysmal customer services and a general shodiness that just defies belief.
O2 simply destroy 3 on every level, better mobile packages, better mobile broadband, better instore help and advice, far superior customer services and technical support, excellent UK call centres 3 just want to sell you rubbish and get you out of the door, when you run into inevitable problems, the Indian call centre is staffed by the rudest, most incompetent, unhelpful people ever.
A shocking, disgraceful company.
Gadget Show Live: 3 bullishly defends mobile broadband strategy
In an exclusive interview with Broadband Genie on the first day of Gadget Show Live 2009, 3's head of internet services David Kerrigan made a bullish defence of its oft maligned yet hugely popular mobile broadband product. He said he thought the reason it recieved more complaints than other providers was because it had more customers, going on to claim 3 would become the biggest 3G network in Europe.
He also talked about its plans for the future and criticism of its call centres, while taking a swipe at speed claims from the provider's competitors in the mobile broadband market. If you're waiting for 14.4Mb claims from 3, don't hold your breath.
When quizzed on the fact Broadband Genie gets many more complaints about its mobile broadband product than any other on the market, Kerrigan replied: “We've spent an awful lot of time and money building the network. We're not finished, but we're further ahead than anyone else. The reason we get more complaints is because we have more customers than the other providers of mobile broadband, so while we're the small guys on [mobile phone] handsets we're number one in the market for mobile broadband by volume. So, as a ratio of customers it probably isn't any worse than the other guys.
“We're building up the network - we've added more than 1,000 base stations in the last eight weeks - so we have the biggest coverage. We are going to keep on increasing that, so over the next six, nine, twelve months we will end up with twice as many base stations as we had last year. We will the biggest 3G network in Europe by coverage, by population, whichever way you want to put it.
He continued: “We realise we have to keep on going. It's not just about base stations, it's also about the back haul. That's what we're putting in place. Anywhere we see congestion, we're putting in extra capacity as quickly as we can. We know we have capacity issues. Anywhere a customer has had an issue we're trying our best to resolve that, because we're trying to get the best offer in terms of both price and performance.
“We believe we're further ahead than anyone else, but we're going to keep going. It's quite complex, as it's base stations as well as the optimisation of each cell. We have people across the country doing tests. But crucially, I think where we have the advantage is back haul as well. We have a team dedicated to monitoring congestion. Anywhere we see it rising, we're out there trying to get more capacity in as quickly as we can.”
Kerrigan did not dispute poor feedback about 3's call centres. He replied: “Call centres get criticised the world over. It's a hard job. We invest a lot of money in training – guys from our offices are flying out to call centres, literally walking the floors trying to train people. There is on the job training the whole time. We're working really hard to improve the service.
“We're absolutely committed to improving our service across the board, from call centres to stores. We're not resting on our laurels. We want people to associate us with value, with performance, with simplicity – to be customer champions across the board. It's a big statement, but we've got a lot of people dedicated to achieving that.”
Another area Broadband Genie customers criticise 3 mobile broadband is the speed. But Kerrigan didn't make promises about imminent improvements to its performance, instead choosing to turn the heat on its competitors claims. He said: “We're not going to go and make unrealistic claims: we're not going to say we've got 14.4Mb. What the customer really cares about is, can they do what they want to do. They don't necessarily see the difference.
“We have the added benefit of being part of a global group. Some countries have rolled out their high speed networks. We're talking to them, learning from them, seeing the true speed that you, as a customer, actually experience. We have competitors out there claiming things we know they know isn't necessarily the experience every customer gets.
“We believe if customers can get their email, use Facebook, all those things, reliably at a good speed, they're happy. You hit that first, rather than 14.4Mb for 2 per cent of the population and then say we have it . That doesn't fit with our customer championing ethos.
“Our main concern is to make sure we've got quality and good coverage, as broadly as possible, so the experience is there. We will then layer on the extra speed over time. We're building the network out, we're building the coverage, getting the back end capacity. Then its a case of putting the upgrade speed on top of that.
“Lets give realistic expectations for people, deliver that well, support it well, and then we'll up the ante – put new hardware out and get new dongles to the customers.
On the fact 3 was the only mobile broadband provider on show at Gadget Show Live, Kerrigan added: “I came to the show to give some head office support to the retail staff and I'm delighted to come. I love to get out here on the stand and find out what the real customer feedback is and show that, at head office, we're not detached from what's going on. We'll take criticism and strive to do better.
“I'm not concerned about whether competitors come here or not. We're here to understand where the market is at, to meet people. If the others aren't here, that's fine.”
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Comments
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3 store at crawley sussex,staff excellent,sort any problems,
with mobile broadband, which is good in my area,now have 3 phones
two of them,best signal compaired to other networks,and good
call rates,no need to use call centres as store staff so helpful,
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three is the only company, in the world, that ive ever come across that refuses to take money off me! True story- even though im a pre-pay customer of good pedigree(!) of a year, because one month i had the temerity to use the phone more than usual they refused to let me top up unless i registered another card - which takes five days or whatever to register.
see you later, three...x -
Dont touch 3 with a bargepole, I signed up with them when they launched in the uk and had to carry another phone with me to make and complete calls. ended up paying off the contract rather than put up with there abysmal service, sent the phone back and still recieved the only default on my credit rating I have had in my life, they said I still owed them about £150 for a second phone they included in the pack. now 5 years later still getting nasty letters from 2 companys that claim to have bought the debt... again unless you are a total masochist do not have anything to do with this sorry bunch.
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Surely the worst call centre staff ever, incredibly poor service.
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hi everybody
received a letter from 3 asking me to pay 137.00 in outstandig fees for a contract that i terminated in october 2006! yes 2006! 35 months ago, i am wondering,what legal grounds do i have against this sort of blatent illegal harrassment?has anybody else had the same or similar experiences?
any advise would be welcome,i am going to send this document to the national press and hopefully discredit this inept non english speaking disgrace of a business. -
Just go insore and loudly kick up a stink, the customer non service of 3 is DISGRACEFUL, non English speaking, without doubt the rudest and most no helpful call centre anywhere, switch to a company with a UK call centre.
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The most appaling company ever! They have been promising to send me my 3g card from 1 month and it has still not arrived. They wont let me cancel the contract until it arrives - which will be in about 200 years, if i am lucky. Rude ignorant staff, dreadful, promise and dont deliver, make up stories, I would never ever ever ever recommend such an appalling company to my worst enemy.
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Hi three are the most disgusting network to join I'm shocked there such a leading competitor. There nasty rude arogant unhelpfufull lying b*****ds.
They breached there contract with me by taking down there signal mast and when I phoned to tell them that they told me I'd have to put up with it. So I refused to pay my bill eventualy after spending 3 hours on a mobile to them they agreed to cancell it
Only as I threatened them with court actionn if had debt collection letters and almost every threat under the sun
The store staff may well be nice but any issues which u often get with any network sum where down the line.
There call centres will not help ul be on the phone for hours being passed from one person to the next. This is not a phone company this is a scheaming unhelpfull company. And there the worst company Ull ever find - just call there call centre and ask for advice, they won't know what there talking about
So how would they help u with an issue down the line?
They're not to be trusted!
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