Do 3 really have the worst Customer Service?

According to Which magazine 3 mobile came bottom of the pile when it came to mobile phone’s network customer services coming in at 69th place. The winner was O2.

But we really need to examine as to why 3’s customer service is really that bad.

I personally have been a customer of 3 for 5 years and Ursula my partner has been a customer almost since day one.

The problems we’ve had have been everything from reception issues to faulty handsets to trying to obtain a PAC code.

On occasions we’ve been lied to maybe unintentionally, or the operator wasn’t aware of the facts.

The main problem is that although it is a UK company the call centre is based in Mumbai, India. There is sometimes a language barrier because the operator speaks very little English as I would imagine English would be their 2nd language.

They used to offer good value for money but these days they’re just like any other network.

Another thing that 3 do is lock the handsets in way that affects the operation of the handset. The 3g to 2g switch is disabled meaning if you live in a borderline 3g area your handset will not work. It will reboot the phone and sometimes you can’t even make call or send a text message. The operator will blame the handset and tell you to send the handset in for repair, but you know its not the handset – well it is kind of, its usually the firmware in the handset which has 3 branding, I always try to get the handset unlocked and get the generic firmware installed.

This last week we were in the last 30 days our the contracts.  We rang up to get our PAC codes which was a intention to leave the network and port the numbers to another network. It was like the Spanish inquisition why did we want to leave the network, we simply said we wanted an 18 month contract with a free handset (LG Optimus one) or (htc Wildfire) they said we could have either but would have to pay £80 upfront so we promply told them where to go, this went on for the past week.

We finally got a new contract a better deal than we’re already on. The girl in my local 3store used her own discount to get us the deal an HTC Wildfire which I am actually writing this blog on.

If 3 moved they’re much fabled call centre to the UK, who knows it might win an award for their customer services. But I would very much doubt it somehow.