When a phone upgrade becomes a downgrade | Pricewatch reader queries

In March, a reader called Philip upgraded his phone from an iPhone 4 to an iPhone 5C through the Three Mobile website. It was delivered the next day.

“When I received it,” he says, “I was instructed to go the nearest Three store to change my sim card to a nano sim, which I did. I waited a few hours for this card to be activated. When it was, I experienced difficulty making and receiving calls.

“Outgoing calls took an unusually long time to connect, and sometimes didn’t at all. Incoming calls were unreliable, with some ringing off, others going to voicemail, and others receiving an engaged tone.”

Philip spoke with the technical team and was told the best action was to revisit the Three store and get them to investigate. He did that and was told he would have to send the phone to Apple for repairers. The waiting time for the repair was 10 working days.

“On day 10 I returned to get the ‘repaired’ phone [a replacement] and inserted the sim, and reconnected the iPhone and went on my way. A few days later it transpired that my phone was not receiving calls, and I returned again to the Three store for help. They said it was the phone that was at fault as the sim was perfect.

“I felt it was unlikely that the problem was just the phone, as it was improbable in my view that two iPhone 5Cs would have the same fault. I asked the staff for other solutions but no one had any idea and, incredibly, there was no escalation procedure or mechanism in the store.

“When I asked to see a manager, the answer I received was ‘No! You cannot speak to my manager. I cannot contact him and you cannot speak with him and I will not contact him and get him to contact you’.”

Philip was at this point “somewhat frustrated” and could see no credible resolution other than cancelling his Three contract. He was told that if he did that, he would be in breach of his two-year contract and would incur a “significant penalty.”

The phone was sent for “repair” again. Twelve days later he was sent an email asking for the Find My Phone function to be turned off as Three could not work on it. Eventually he returned to pick up his “repaired” phone “and with some trepidation inserted my sim card and was sent home to activate the phone again.

“Predictably, the fault was still there and I returned to the Three store. They felt the problem was the sim and gave me a new one. Four hours later it was activated and, incredibly, that evening I received two calls. But this didn’t last long as by late evening the same fault had ‘reappeared’.”

Philip contacted us because he is “desperate and can’t find anybody here in Ireland who wants to or can resolve this issue. I have purchased an iPhone from Three Ireland online and I have not received a satisfactory product or service and I demand that somebody does something.”

We contacted Three and received the following statement: “We regret that this customer has had this experience and that it has taken us a little longer than usual to rectify. We have been in touch with the customer and have recommended a new handset for him. The customer is happy with that resolution. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”