As promised, here is the follow up to my earlier post, full of intrigue, drama, secretive phone calls, dead drop messages and information…
As you may recall, I have an issue with my network, Three. When I signed a new contract last year, I was given a loyalty discount. When I wanted to change my talkplan last week to the One Plan, I was told it would be £35 and my Loyalty discount didnt apply. Hang on, its not a ‘managers discount’, or a ‘sign up at the time’ discount, its a loyalty discount!
A trip to the local Three shop and another call to 333 confirmed this, but I wanted this looking at. I have no problem with the new price, as its cheaper than running my current plan alongside the data dongle I have (thats getting terminated soon). But I do have an issue with using the term ‘loyalty’ for a discount that can be removed.
Here is the response from a spokesperson at Three:
A Three spokesman, said: “With 2,000 any network minutes, 5,000 Three to Three minutes, 5,000 texts and All you can eat Data from just £25 a month, The One Plan already offers fantastic value and gives us little scope to discount it further.”
Still not happy, I replied:
Thank you for your swift reply,
My issue is the terminology used by Three with regards to the discount. I have been told, at the time I upgraded, last week and this week that I have a £12 loyalty discount. Thats loyalty, not a ‘sign up now’ discount, or a ‘managers special’ discount, but a loyalty discount. By removing this discount, your are by implication (a) stating that I am not a loyal customer anymore, or, (b) the ‘loyalty’ discount is merely a marketing solution, designed to make me feel warm and appreciated enough to get a sale, without Three actually embracing what loyalty is.
I appreciate your co-operation with this query, and I eagerly await your reply,
So I waited, and to Three’s credit, I got a call, and I had a great and informative conversation with another spokesperson, but the content of the email was confirmed. The discount given when I upgarded was applicable to the talk plan and is not applicable to the new plan.
So where does this leave us? In my mind, no matter what they call the discount, dont count on keeping it when you change the talkplan. Also in my mind, it leaves Three needing to check the definition of ‘Loyalty’ in a dictionary, and stop using it incorrectly.
I will also say, that as much as the networks are hammered for bad service, I have found Three to be helpful, and swift to reply. In this case…
Andy
the worst thing about 3 – the shameless censoring of the internet, any ‘adult’ content kicks you to a 3 login page, where you can purchase pornographic content from 3, but no way to view the content that kicked you there in the first place, even if you prove your over 18 and the content isn’t pornographic. case point somebody posted a pic (not nsfw) of the actress sacha grey in a forum i read and in the post below someone mentioned she did porn, i went to do a quick wikipedia search to confirm only to find i was kicked to the three page – for a wikipedia article. but worse than this is the censoring of non-adult content, for example a search for ‘proxy servers’ (to get around this censoring) will find each search result unloadable – kicking you to a 3 page saying the website is unavailable
wot’s your perversions got to do with this??
He’s making a point why insult him?
what have my perversions got to do with my view on the 3 network? well quite a lot actually since they’re my perversions and my views
I’m with 3 and care not a jot about loyalty to any brand. Remember, they are a business and care nothing about our welfare. Of course they are going to use terms like loyalty etc, but we the consumer must take all this crud with a large pinch of salt. These service providers (this includes Gas/Electric/ Car insurance etc) all rely on our laziness to shop around. In fact, you could almost say that loyalty is just a byword for lazy bugger!!!
bit of a daft point though…..