Why can't I have one of 3 Mobile's free iPhones?A reader called Caoimhe has applied three times to 3 Mobile for an iPhone in recent weeks but keeps getting knocked back. The deal she was after offers a free handset and all you can eat data. She says the staff "were super helpful and I had all the necessary documents, but on both occasions I was denied".
She said that the first time she was given no reason why she was being excluded from the deal and the second time says she was told that “it was because they have to deny a certain number per day. If this is true, it’s a pretty poor offer”. She also applied online but her application was also denied.
“I called their sales line today and was put through four different departments before I was told by their finance department they couldn’t give me a reason why I was denied. They said I could write to the company to appeal,” she says.
“The reason it is so annoying is that if there is something amiss, I would like to be able to rectify it and re-apply. For example, I could provide evidence of my full-time, permanent employment. Basically what I want to know is, am I not entitled to a reason? And if the ‘only so many iPhones allowed a day’ thing is true, are they allowed do that? It seems unfair. Rant over,” she says. “I just really want an iPhone, and it was a great deal.”
We spoke to 3 Mobile and a spokeswoman said the company has a process it uses to determine an applicant’s suitability for a particular account. She stresses that data protection legislation means she can’t discuss our reader’s application – which, in this instance we think is fair enough – but accepts that the appeals process could have been handled better in this case. She says that the company has reviewed our reader’s application and, if she still wants, she can have the iPhone 4 and the All You Can Eat data plan, which, incidentally, we think is very good value.
Wrong ticket incurs Iarnod Éireann fine
Paul Murphy recently travelled from Heuston Station in Dublin. However, he used a return ticket in the wrong direction and now has to pay the fare and a €100 fine. “It was an honest mistake as I find the rail tickets hard to decipher and I was rushing. My gripe is that the ticket machine at Heuston did not prevent me from accessing the platform,” he says.
He says Iarnrod Éireann justified the fine by saying “the validators recognise only that there is a valid journey left on the ticket but do not read the direction of the journey” and now he has no choice but to pay or face the courts.
“I find this excuse both bizarre and unfair. Even if one has an invalid ticket, the “validators” still allow one to use the rail service. It’s almost a form of entrapment and not fair to the consumer. I would just like to bring this system to your attention.”
Why won’t Amazon UK send me a Kindle?
Gerard O’Brien sent us an e-mail wondering if we could find out why it is not possible to get Amazon to deliver laptops or Kindles to the Republic of Ireland from its UK site. Anyone who tries to buy a Kindle e-reader gets referred to the US site.
“As you know, buying from the US site will incur excise and Vat charges and higher delivery charges and it makes the purchased product much more expensive,” he writes. He has also tried the German site – Amazon.de – and similarly gets referred to the US site.
We contacted the company and received this less than illuminating response: “Irish customers should visit Amazon.com to purchase a Kindle. This is currently the best way to get Kindles to customers in Ireland. In the future we hope to distribute Kindles from all of our fulfilment centres, but we haven’t announced a timeline for that at this stage.”
We did press the company as to why it did not sell the Kindle into the Republic via its European sites but had not received a response by the time we went to print.
