- Author Karen Storey was allowed to overpay for her Three mobile phone
- When Storey discovered the problem, he contacted Three, who refused to refund her
- Now the mobile phone provider has refunded the money and apologized
A Three mobile customer has won £250 back from the company after being charged for eight months for a phone she had already paid off in full.
Karen Storey, 57, from Royal Leamington Spa, ended up paying too much for her phone after her contract ended.
Mobile phone contracts typically consist of two parts: payments for the handset and for the calls and data used.
Once the device is paid off, which typically takes two or three years, customers’ bills should drop as a result of them only paying for their airtime.
But that wasn’t the case for Storey, an author, who ended up paying the full amount for eight months.
Three in a row: mobile phone provider Three eventually withdrew and paid compensation
Storey overpaid her phone bill by £146 in 2022 before realizing what was happening.
She then raised the issue with Three in January 2023, but the company refused to do anything about it.
Storey was firmly told by Three that it had sent her an email in June 2022 detailing other contracts she could move to, but she was sticking with her existing deal.
Storey claims it read like a generic marketing email, and did not make it clear that her handset had been paid off and she would still be charged.
Three did not offer her compensation at the time. However, she was able to switch to a SIM-only deal in February 2023, to which she is committed for two years.
Then in December 2023, Storey read the news that Three, along with EE, O2 and Vodafone, is facing legal action over alleged overcharging of customers, which could see individuals receive an average of £1,800 in compensation.
The legal action, brought by consumer champion and former Citizens Advice director Justin Gutmann, alleges the networks overcharged customers for handsets after their contracts expired.
Storey then sent another email to Three’s customer service team.
“I was very happy with the news,” she said. “So much so that I gleefully emailed Three announcing that I was happy that customers like me would get our day in court after being mistreated by our mobile providers.”
This prompted Three to take action, but they only offered Storey £100 and then £150 as credit towards her mobile bills, instead of the refund she had repeatedly requested.
Fed-up Storey then contacted This is Money to confront Three about the issue.
The mobile provider then offered Storey £200 in cash, later increased to £250, plus an apology.
Three declined to comment.