The internet through a developers eyes

3 times the rate per minute

Posted last year, at the start of September by Dave.
Categories: Telephony.
Post Views: 1,046 Views.

After getting my latest bill from 3 Ireland, I checked out my call usage and costs. Normally I wouldn’t do this, but I had made a call to the United States and I was unsure of the cost per minute.

For a 13 minute call to a landline in the United States it cost nealy €10. I was shocked to see this. It is cheaper to call the United States on Vodaphone’s prepaid service. Now I am paying for the highest plan with 3. 1000 minutes, unlimited mobile broadband (thats not really unlimited), 100 text messages for €129 per month. And for that I get use of a customer support center in India who don’t have a clue what they are doing and all they ever say is we will contact you back in 24 to 48 hours.

When you get your bill from 3, if you dont pay it in the time they say they cut your service with out warning. Example I get paid on the last Thursday of each month, but they go for the direct debit on the 3 week of each month. I asked last month to change it to the 2nd of each month, but there is no chance of that happening. So when I looking into my last bill in detail, I looked up on the 3 Ireland website and seen that the per minute rate to the United States is 30 cent per minute. So straight away I called the useless people over in the 3 call center in India. And after being on hold for about 20 minutes they came back and say yes we have over changed you and we will pass it onto the billing department. I have been waiting 2 days to hear anything back. Now it it was me disputing paying them they would cut me off with out thinking twice.

Yesterday morning I did get a call from 3’s collection department demanding payment. Telling me if I don’t pay they will cut me off that very day. I had only paid them last week. And after being yelled at by a member of 3’s collection department (God only knows what country he was in) I grabbed my bill and looked at the due date….. 17 September 2007! After pointing this out the staff member said sorry and was very quick to change the subject.

So for anyone thinking of signing up to 3 Ireland, don’t they are useless and dont know whats going on. All they care about is getting your money and not dealing with you at all. The customer service department is in India, the collections / tech department are in England and there is no one here you can talk to. I have contacted ComReg about all this.

Last 5 posts in Telephony

• NATD Annual European Meeting, Dublin - April 25th, 2007
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Telephony