Breaking Contract when no longer have coverage - anyone had any success?

[The[cookie]Doctor]

DF gets absolutely zero coverage where we have moved to.

Three has ordered investigations, and on Friday a gentleman said, yes, NO COVERAGE in your area.

Lady called today (who was supposed to have done more than that other guy) and said we see there are coverage flucations and this would call your calls to drop.

She went on about doing the manual network selection and selecting roaming, so I went off. Pretty much like this;

"Look, lady. Firstly; We did this one week ago. With no success. My partner had to stand across the road to even locate a 'manually selectable' network, and the only one available was Optus. Not Roaming. There is NO coverage, not even Roaming coverage like you say there is. Secondly; You can hardly call it a mobile contract if I can only take calls in a solitary place near my house. Not that I can take calls anywhere.
We have been here two weeks and every day when DF gets to wsork he gets messages, either texts or calls gone straight to voicemail, because, you guessed it, NO COVERAGE. So, please, stop with the "fluctuations" bull****, and stop with the "this might help" bull**** because another guy on FRIDAY told us that there is, NO COVERAGE. I cancelled my own contract as it only had one month left and I knew I didn't get coverage here. Neither of us used our phones between x dates because we were on vacation, NO COVERAGE. My BIL cancelled his prepaid, you guessed it, NO COVERAGE"

After asking if there was anything else she could offer as a solution I asked if he would have to pay cxancellation fees if he cancels despite the facts they can no longer provide the service and she said yes.

So I just hung up. Threatened to call the TIO but haven't gotten that far yet, BECAUSE my head hurts and I can't comprehend a word of garbled too small font rubbish in their terms and conditions, so does anyone know jack about this?

Are we entitled to cancel and at least have the cost reduced? We moved for medical reasons and on a medical recommedation, and obviously had we known we were moving he would not have recontracted.

Anyway, can anyone help? It's kinda bloody useless to us considering it only works during his work hours, where he is obviously working and not taking mobile calls.

Oh, and false advertising claims? How hard are they to pass, is it worth it. I think it's a load of garbage if they can say there is talk and text conerage on the website, lure someone into contract and then not provide that service. But, they say that there is coverage... There isn't, goddamit. Look at his phone usage!

[briggsy's girl]

unfortunately, you've got bugger all leg to stand on babe - when you signed the contract, you were in an area of coverage so they provided you with service in that area. given you have moved to an area without coverage, they are under no obligation to do anything. most of them WILL help out - but only if you resign with them (T will help you to sign up from GSM to next G) - but there really is no obligaton at all.

as to coverage - they've stated there is roaming compatibility - that is also handset dependent. some handsets are more able to pick up signal than others. unfortunately, not much you can do i don't think

TIO will take ages, and there may be charges with them, and you may also end up dragging it out for ages. i would look at what phones/networks people locally have, wear the cost, and get a new phone.

[~clover~]

I was going to suggest another phone.

My dad is a shearer & he has a phone specifically for out in areas where its difficult to get coverage. I can't remember the name & its not the prettiest of phones, but it works pretty good.
I've also found Nokia's great & pick up better than any other phones I've seen.

Not sure what else you can do. Good luck though hun.

[briggsy's girl]

there is a Telstra "farmers phone" (think the model is F165) - ugly little sucker! but it works well pretty much everywhere DH goes - and he goes EVERYWHERE in that damn truck

[nic]

We had a similiar problem with another company and we just had to ride out the contract..left them as soon as we could.
Hope you can sort something out

Nic

[AliBaby]

hmmmm interesting one. I dont know what your righta are but I would go over your contract and see if there is any outs. I would also still call up the dept of fair trading as they might no some loop holes that you are not aware of to get you out. I agree with you that it is totally unfair.

[~clover~]

there is a Telstra "farmers phone" (think the model is F165) - ugly little sucker! but it works well pretty much everywhere DH goes - and he goes EVERYWHERE in that damn truck

Yep, that'd be the one. Very loud too. Well its max volume is 10 times as loud as mine on my Nokia.

[Ellee05]

Sorry Cookie Monster I don't think you'll have any luck if my experience is anything to go buy. We were also victims to this when we moved to WA except there was no coverage within at least 500km of us. We got no relief either. Having said that, not sure if I understood correctly but if on their website it says that they have coverage in your area you may have a bit of ammo for your fight.

Good luck! Keep us informed

[The[cookie]Doctor]

He actually has an N95-3G which is supposed to be the best for NextG coverage with Telstra followed by the TU500.

Seems crap that the coverage map says they have coverage here when it is clear that they don't. Also seems crap that they then rely on roaming when we can't even manually select that. Optus has better coverage out here than Telstra!

I am so mad, he said he'd be happy to pay something out but not the full $900. So if they refuse to offer some kind of compromise like they have done I will go to the TIO anyway, because even if it's just a complaint they get fined almost half that. sneaky sneaky.

Oh, and seeing as their map says that this area is coveredd by 3, and it is something we considered when we moved - surely their failure to provide the service gives us something. They told us on the phone and it's on their website.

[AliBaby]

So they have actually madse a false claim by saying that they had coverage there when they clearly dont. So in fact you signed a contract under false claims. I think you have soemthing to stand on here. Dont let it drop. Ring up Ray Hadley or something.

[The[cookie]Doctor]

Well no, where he signed the contract he had coverage... And we have moved to an area that is covered by the coverage areas. So, technically, as far as we were aware - by their publically viewable information - he should have been fine.

I think i am more peeved by the fact it means that their could be people signing up with them that cant even get coverage here.

[briggsy's girl]

The N95 doesn't have the best coverage by a long shot hun, and the 3g model is worse for coverage than the Next G model. given the expectation is for coverage in the area but not guaranteed due to black spots - i doubt you'll get far. but do what you can. you obviously don't want to have a contract with 3 on any phone - i can see why they won't let you out of the contract from a financial perspective

[ACJ]

When we were moving from Brisbane to Mackay, I rung our network operator (Virgin) cause we have everything in one account and they told me they didn't cover our area and that we could cancel ouur contract at not cost and send back the modem and our mobiles and would even be reimbursted for the postage.......Well we got here annd everything works fine....actually better then what we had better in brisbane. So we haven't sent it back!!

I know that doesn't help but thought I would put in my two cents worth.

[Danni]

Hunny, definitely lodge an online complaint with TIO. Takes about two minutes and it is not a lengthy process. They basically have 10 days to reach a mutual agreement with you.

Three has a high resolution centre here in Melbourne who are staffed by Australians and they are VERY keen to reach a mutual decision. Last time I barely had to state my case again before they gave me everything I wanted.

Good Luck!

P.S I had a similar case with Vodafone mobile broadband. It worked out for a while out in the burbs, then it got slow, then ok for a while, then slow again. I rang them and asked if they could find out the prob, and they cou;dn't be bothered so they cancelled my 22 months that I had left on the ontract with no charge! So it definitely is worth the try xxx

[krysalyss]

There is something you can do - whinge whinge whinge to them. Call them every single day and complain about your lack of coverage. Make sure you get through to the complaints people first. It is amazing how much companies come up with for squeaky wheels.

[The[cookie]Doctor]

Well it turns out the person I spoke to yesterday was useless because Anthony spoke to someone today (they called him) and he is out of contract at no charge, but he has to return the phone. Which he is happy to do. It wasn't the outcome I was expecting but much better than negotiating the other option we had come up with.

[Danni]

fantastic!!!