I'd like to get back on my previous €20 prepay plan please.

[Kit_00692]

So I topped up online on the 17th and have ended up on a new plan and you've charged me €20 just for changing the plan and the credit I had before has also vanished so I have zero credit now. I don't think I've used any of the plan benefits as of now and I'd like you to return me to my previous plan. It may not be a contract as such but I'm asking within the 14 cooling off period as it was all done online.

Obviously I'd like my €20 back please and previous plans top up benefits.

[Kit_00692]

Just been back on my3 and found the switch plans page and it says "Top Up Required" underneath the plans. It DOES NOT say you will be charged €20 for switching to this plan. I was topping up by €20 anyway so as far as I was concerned "top up required" was perfectly fine. To explain a "Top Up" is adding something in this case money to an account, a Charge or Fee is the opposite and is not a Top Up as the money never reaches the account. So that wording is highly inaccurate and misleading.
Would anyone from Three like to help ?

[Three_Niall]

Hey @Kit_00692 🙂 I'd be happy to explain the above for you. On Prepay the only way to change the plan that you are on would be to request this through the My3 app or by contacting customer care and a new plan would not be selected by the amount of the top-up.

If you are on the 3 Prepay 20 plan, the €20 credit is deducted from the balance and is used to activate the plan and you can view the allowances of the current Prepay plans here. When you switch to the 3 Prepay 20 plan and you accept the terms and conditions it is stated that "Any change back to a legacy plan will no longer be available" so unfortunately you would be unable to move back to the older prepay plan.  

 

[Kit_00692]

Thank you Niall.
If you'd like to comment on my last post. The switch plans page should say the COST of switching plans not say the very misleading "Top Up Required". To explain.....
So if I want to reactivate my prepay 20 benefits for another 28 days then three will tell me that a €20 Top Up is Required. Please explain to me in detail what Top Up Required means under those circumstances. Then explain why it is different to your "Top Up Required" in the switch plans page.
One you get to keep your €20 and one you don't as it is actually a charge and not a Top Up.
As valued customer please credit me with my €20 please, I see no reason why you had to charge me for switching.
I've sent my details via PM
Thank you.

[Three_Niall]

Thanks @Kit_00692 , I'd love to explain this to you. So the reason that the word cost is not mentioned is because there isn't a charge for changing your plan and the €20 that you are paying is a top-up that is applied to your account to activate the allowances of your plan. On the 3 Prepay 20 plan when you top up by €20 your plan is activated from the date you top up and is automatically deducted from the balance.

When you're switching to the 3 Prepay 20 plan you are required to Top Up by €20 to activate the plan. On your My3 account, you can view your top-up by going to "View History" beside "Your Balance" on the home screen. On the next screen scroll down to "My Top Up Details" and you will be able to see that the top-up has been applied to your account.

On the 3 Prepay 20 plan you will need to Top up every 28 days by €20 in one transaction to activate the plan. For example, if you top up by €15 your plan won't be activated. Alternatively, if you top up by €25 then the top-up is applied to your account with €20 being deducted from the balance to activate the plan and €5 remaining on the accounts balance. 

 

[Kit_00692]

Thank you Niall, that wasn't at all clear when I was reading about this plan. But I still think that page should state the Cost of the plan benefits not just Top Up Required. I see that it says COST on the contract summary and also Top Required every 28 days. If it cost €20 for plan benefits every 28 days then why not just say that on the switch web page. Top Up required is ambiguous when you are switching plans.

[Kit_00692]

Also regarding what you said 
"When you switch to the 3 Prepay 20 plan and you accept the terms and conditions it is stated that "Any change back to a legacy plan will no longer be available".
I looked into that to see if I had received anything from Three stating that and I did not.
I received the email below with all the important information in it regarding switching plans. But there is nothing about what said above. Surely that should have been stated in the contract summary or email.

Your contract summary.
Hi there, Please find your contract summary for order ########## attached. This provides all the main information about the services you'll receive from Three if you go ahead with this order. You'll get your contract with all the details of your new Three price plan when your order is completed. It is important to know that by being provided with this contract summary does not mean that you are obliged to enter into a contract with Three.

Thanks for choosing Three.

Also attached was the contract summary pdf
Neither of these say anything about what you said, nothing about can't change back to legacy plans and legacy plans will no longer be available. There is nothing even remotely similar to that on the contract summary or email.
Anyway that was the email information Three sent me and the one I looked at and agreed to (might not of understood it though) then it should have stated 'no return to legacy plans etc' but it does not. Any reason why Three don't put that information in the email they send out ? Do they just hide that in a small print vault somewhere.
Anyway I can't say that I actually agreed to that as it wasn't in the info from Three that I was sent.

[Three_Niall]

I completely understand @Kit_00692, the cost of the 3 Prepay 20 plan is €20 and that would be correct, however in order to be able to activate your plan a top-up is required to activate the plan and this is why it is listed as "Top Up Required" as it is advising that a top up will be required to activate the new allowances. The only way that you can apply the minimum amount to your account is by topping up by €20, similar to your previous plan where the cost to activate the plan would have been €20 but you would have topped up to pay that cost but the allowances would have been different and this is why the credit was applied to the balance.

On the My3 app or web page, depending on which you used, a pop-up would have appeared after you selected to switch plan. On this pop-up labelled Terms and Conditions it states : 

"Please note that this plan charges a full drawdown of the plan trigger amount and also note that once you have changed to this new plan you can only switch between the 3 Prepay 15, 3 Prepay 20 and 3 Prepay 30. Any change back to a Legacy plan will no longer be available." 

Before you can move onto the next screen you are required to tick a box that confirms that says "I confirm that I have read and agree to the Terms, the key terms above and the contents of the Agreement for this transaction." and this is for transparency to make sure that  you are aware that this will happen and that you accept these changes rather than hiding them as described we make sure with this top up that we have explained the situation before you make the decision to move off the plan.

[Kit_00692]

Thanks Niall,
I do recall being sent the info which I read. I thought those were the terms and conditions but I don't recall any small print popping up on screen that I had to scroll through. I know webpages work differently on different phones and web browsers. Some sites don't want to work at all and it is only recently that I've been able to sign in and get my3 to work consistently. 

Also can you explain the following to me please, according to the contract summary I've agreed to a 12 month contract !
"DURATION, RENEWAL AND TERMINATION
Contract Minimum Term 12 Months"
I presumed this was just prepay no ongoing minimum contract and that was just for those that bought a phone etc. Am I wrong ?

[Three_Niall]

@Kit_00692 This is a pop-up that appears at the very bottom of the Review Order page when you are looking to switch your plan you need to Tick the Box to accept these terms and conditions and unless this box is ticked showing that you agree to the plan then the option continue order is greyed out and you can't proceed. The reason for this is to make sure that customers are aware of the changes to their plans before they continue. 

With the prepay plans these are pay-as-you-go and they wouldn't have a minimum term etc. If you can pop through to me here on PM with a screenshot I'd be happy to check this further however I can confirm that the 3 Prepay plans wouldn't have a minimum term contract.