The Alternative Take Versus Kevin Russell of Three

Okay, so I snapped. I've been with three for 17 months, and I just upgraded and the service got worse. I'm pissed off cos I get delayed text messages, no reception ever, ANYWHERE, and the phone I got sucks reaaaaallly badly. The Irish guy in the shop pretty much hypnotised me to sign a new contract and I naively and duly delivered. I'll write a letter I thought; worked the last time.






Here it is:


Kevin Russell
Chief Executive of Three
Star House
20 Grenfell Road
Maidenhead
Berkshire SL6 1EH

8th April 2009

Dear Mr Russell,

I am writing this letter to you after two months of increasingly poor service from Three. I recently upgraded my phone, and this seems to have made the service even worse. Shouldn’t you be treating your current and extending customers with slightly better service? Your ineptitude of providing decent coverage in my area drives me absolutely mad. I live 60 miles from London, one of the most important capitals in the world and I cannot even get enough reception to make a simple phone call, and when I do stand on a high enough hill to make a phone call or connect to the internet the coverage seems to change with the wind. Is this really what should be happening? I applaud and thank you for neglecting the South of England. Half the year I also live in the North of Scotland, and there the reception is sparse at best.

Even more annoyingly, I go to London very frequently and I was standing in East London – just down from Liverpool Street Station, and what a surprise. No reception. Frankly it is ridiculous.

Despite the negatives there are some positives. I do agree that Three has done some brilliant wrangling to get contracts written up with Skype and MSN, however I do feel that what should be of tantamount importance to a Mobile Phone company is providing adequate coverage in order for their customers to make a call. Maybe instead of multi-million pound deals with major corporations you should be aiming to provide the best quality service to your customers – which, you don’t.

I would like to cancel my contract with you with immediate effect and receive a full refund of my past two monthly payments to you because during those two months the coverage I have received and ability of my phone to make a call has been appalling. I’m tired of wondering around with my phone above my head to try and send a text message. Frequently I have had to wait over a day to receive certain text messages, and this leaves me considerably out of step. They should be instant, that’s the point.

If I was paying £10 a month for the service I receive from you I wouldn’t be sending this letter. But for £21 a month or £252 a year I expect much better service.

I would appreciate a reply in writing.

Yours sincerely,


The Alternative Take

I will of course keep you updated on my progress. Sad thing is, Kevin Russell looks like a real nice guy. Bet he's got an iPhone on 02 though. Next up; Megabus.