Here is a copy of the email three sent to me after several months of hassle over receiving my £10 discount and the upgrade of my handset, this was sent after they informed me that the discount would no longer apply to a new hand set, (although it had previously, my last new hand set went to my wife) The deal i am on with three is the 30 rolling contract, so i have no contract with them and could leave or upgrade at any time.....

Dear David,

I can confirm that your price plan has now been changed to the One Plan, as agreed during our conversation earlier today. This will be effective from the date of your next bill on 6th February 2011.

The £10 discount that you have on your account will remain in place, so you will only be charged £15.00 for your price plan. I note you also currently have an X-Series Add-on active on your account for an additional £5.11 per month. If you would like to have this removed, please reply to this email and I will have this arranged.

I can also confirm that your monthly £10 discount will remain in place on your account, regardless of any future price plan changes. You will have to contact this office to make sure of this if you do decide to change your price plan.

In addition, if you do decide to upgrade your contract with a new phone at a later date, then the £10 monthly discount will be lost.

Again, thanks for contacting us and I hope that this email meets with your requirements.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Borland

Three Executive Office

This is my reply to this email, sent recently. It is worth noting that this email was only sent to me after i got "OTELLO" involved.

Dear Stuart;
I have decided to look for a phone contract which includes a new mobile phone, however since three are no longer prepared to offer me the "lifetime" discount agreed on 2 years ago, unless i do not receive a new phone in which case the discount will continue. I refer you to the email linked to this reply and specifically to the following quote.


" I can also confirm that your monthly £10 discount will remain in place on your account, regardless of any future price plan changes. You will have to contact this office to make sure of this if you do decide to change your price plan."

I have tried to negotiate a new deal with your retention staff however they are constrained by the deals on offer on your web site, and are unable to offer any deals outside of those offered to any new customer. I have tried numerous times and to be honest receive only insulting offers which can always be beaten on various internet sites with only the most rudimentary of searches.

The deals i have been offered range from the "One plan" on a 12 flexible contract deal for £10 a month (very good, but no phone, even when i offer to pay extra for the phone!!) It is incredible to me that three offer me the one plan at the price above and a new contract deal on a ned (for example) HTC Desire HD for £35 just £10 more than the normal sim only deal of £25 or my phone of choice the Samsung galaxy S2 for £40 a month at £15 above the one plan (so to me it could be as low as £25 in theory) or i could have the phone on the 900 text plan for £38....(in theory £23 to me)

I can in fact get the Samsung on the 900 text plan for £30 a month with the phone for free on a 24 month contract here.....

http://www.buymobilephones.net/mobil...adnetwork=goog

It is clear that both the company offering the deal and three will be making some profit from the deal so everyone is happy, your retention staff after requesting a pac code could only offer me the deals noted above.
i.e. for the privilege of remaining a loyal customer of three you expect me to pay a premium of £8 a month! As if!
All i asked of your retention staff was to offer me a better deal than that offered to a new customer can get coming to Three, for a valued customer (on both PAYG and Contract) you think such a concession would be possible. since i could get the phone of my choice and a tariff i could live with (minimum of 900 minutes a month) for £30 a month and theory you could offer me the phone at as little as £25 a month on the one plan (your costings not mine!) i requested a tariff of £25 on the text plan or £28 on the one plan, thus offering Three something back in terms of the theoretical maximum discount i have been offered, but in line with the £10 discount originally offered. Both were rejected.

So i am at an impass, i have a pac code for both my PAYG phone and my contract phone, so i need to decide what to do. i think that i will transfer my PAYG to orange on a deal for the Samsung for the same contract effectively as your 900 text plan for the same price indicated above (the same site ) £30 a month. and i will reduce my price plan with Three on my contract phone to the rolling 1 month 100 minutes plan (£10 a month) thus with the discount confirmed as given in you email my bill will be £0 and my number is retained on the Three network.

You are about to loose a loyal Double customer and you are even going to have to pay me to keep me on the network, poetic justice for trying to renege on your offer to me two years ago. I have told your retention staff that the had to midnight last night to make me an offer, i am giving you until the end of the following week (the first week in June) when i will move to Orange or T-mobile and i will expect you will amend my tariff to the plan listed above (before the 6/6/11) to keep my "loyal" custom.
Yours Dave Adams