Three Mobile customers can claim up to £20 compensation if they were hit by network blackout last Thursday – but only if they make an official complaint
- Network issues began on evening of October 16 and continued to the next day
- Customers were left unable to make calls, send text messages or get online
- Compensation is being considered by Three Mobile on an ‘individual’ basis
Three Mobile is reportedly offering up to £20 in compensation to customers after last week’s network outage — but only to those who complain.
Users of the firm’s network began reporting issues with signal problems and internet access in the late evening on October 16.
The problems carried over into the following day, with tens of thousands of customers left unable to make calls, send text messages or get online.
A view of mobile network Three’s branch at Oxford Street, London
After tweeting on the morning of October 17 admitting it was ‘experiencing technical difficulties’, Three Mobile then suggested users tried the age-old solution of turning their devices off and on again.
Now customers are able to request a refund by getting in contact with Three Mobile either by calling or using the online chat service.
A Three spokesperson said: ‘If you’d like to talk to us about compensation, please call us and we will consider each case on an individual basis.
‘Please be patient because we are experiencing high call volumes.’
Tech-tracking website Down Detector’s heat map showed people all over England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland reporting issues using the network on October 17
According to Down Detector, the issues with Three began at around 11pm on Wednesday October 16 and the majority of users who flagged the issue had mobile internet problems
Telecoms regulator Ofcom states that customers who are not provided with the service they were promised are entitled to claim compensation.
Customers who had successfully claimed £5 to £20 in compensation from the Three Mobile network took to Twitter to encourage others to speak up.
Huw Richards wrote: ‘They offered me £5 credit off my bill and I told them that it was a p*** take… After another 10 minutes they decided to offer me £10.’
One user by the name of @BolyDon claimed they had been unable to do their work as an Uber driver due to the two day outage and called for the company to offer compensation.
They wrote: ‘You have left me out of pocket this week as your network has been down, I’m an Uber driver so therefore I couldn’t go online to work and use my mobile data nor make or receive phone calls. You need to sort this out, you owe me compensation.’
Steve Nowottny of MoneySavingExpert.com said: ‘Last week’s outage caused significant disruption for a large number of Three users, so many will have been disappointed to learn that Three wasn’t offering automatic compensation.
Customers who had successfully claimed £5 to £20 in compensation from the Three Mobile network took to Twitter to encourage others to speak up
One user by the name of @BolyDon claimed they had been unable to do their work
‘Yet the good news if you’re a Three customer is that if you take the time to make a complaint, there’s a decent chance you’ll get somewhere.
‘We’re already seeing lots of success stories from unhappy customers who’ve complained — many have got a £5-£10 bill credit, while one customer has even managed to wangle £20 off their next bill.’
O2 offered customers similar compensation last year after an outage saw 32 million people without 4G for almost 24 hours – returning two days of subscription charges for its pay monthly deals.
