SUCCESS - Finally got my money back! (well... not quite!)
I spoke to Three on Thursday again, this time through the webchat. I asked if they could offer any cheaper deals for my current plan, as I have been with them for over 6 years.
They told me to call Three customer services, and request to speak to the renewals/cancellations team. I ended up speaking to a lovely indian woman (who actually spoke very good English) named Shweta M**** (surname removed as per forum rules).
She immediately realized that my plan with Three was due to terminate on the 5th September. She didn't want me to leave Three, and I made it clear that I didn't want to leave either because of the unlimited data, and the fact that
zero roaming charges were incurred during my recent vacation to Fuerteventura.
I normally pay £20 a month for unlimited data, texts and 200 minutes. She said that this plan has already been discounted, as it costs £26 per month at retail
(I have verified this myself), therefore it could not be discounted any further. With the TAPVIDS £4.50 charge, this month's bill would be for £24.50.
She requested the permission of her manager to place a credit of £5 on my account. That would take this month's bill to £19.50 payable, and the next month's bill to £20.50. This effectively cancels out the TAPVIDS charge. She offered this as an
exceptional circumstance, on the basis that I have been with Three for over 6 years, and I didn't want to leave Three, just as much as Three didn't want me to leave them.
It's a no-brainer really. Lose £4.50, or lose a customer who has stuck with you for 6 years. She filled out the form, as each member of the cancellation team
"can only offer this kind of credit to one customer every 2 weeks", so I'm glad that she chose me. Her manager was able to approve this action while I was still on the phone call with her. I'll be watching my bill closely to ensure that this has been applied.
She closed the complaint with my permission, and assured me that the credit has been applied to my account. Next, I requested for my phone number to be changed, as txtNation/TAPVIDS will have my number on record.
She informed me that a £10.21 charge is payable in order to have your phone number changed, but she also agreed to waive this charge. It will be debited from, and credited to my next bill because this is
"the only way that they can do this".
Happy with the outcome, I informed her that I plan to stay with Three for the foreseeable future. She then cancelled the termination notice on my account.
I must say, Shweta M**** was very helpful, and a pleasure to work with. I wish I could have said the same for the rest of Three's customer services. I guess it's not about how much you complain, it's about which team member you speak to. Shweta M**** admitted to me that she has been conned out of
the equivalent of £750 via a similar direct-to-bill scam running in India right now, so she could empathize with me. At that point, I felt a bit guilty persuing a £4.50 charge, but she also reassured me by saying,
"It's not about the amount taken, it's about how it was taken!".
Shweta M**** deserves a pay-rise.
Remember that txtNation/TAPVIDS will still get the £4.50. It's just that
Three is picking up the charge so I don't have to pay it.
This isn't how it's meant to be. I will continue to persue txtNation/TAPVIDS independently from Three, because they aren't entitled to that money, I am.
I will continue to add content to my Payforit SCAM! website.
Last night I went clubbing with a few mates, to get over the post-vacation blues and to celebrate the end of this matter. I learned that one of my closest mates had been scammed in the same manner via Payforit, and was charged £9 per week. He didn't notice this for two months, so he ended up paying a total of £72 before he was able to stop the charges. That made my blood boil. Although he did tell me that he was visiting one of the most well-known adult content websites at the time, so I guess he deserved it
. I never visit adult content websites, pornography is hideously overrated anyway.
In the meantime, I will drop my complaint against Three with Ombudsman Services, however I will continue to uphold my complaint against txtNation/TAPVIDS with PhonepayPlus. If you look through the history of txtNation on PhonepayPlus, you can see that
txtNation have previously been fined 4 times by PhonepayPlus (external link, PhonepayPlus). It says it all really, I'll be so happy if I'm the one who gets them fined a 5th time
.
As mentioned, a VPN tunnel to a fixed-line broadband connection is the only sure-fire way to prevent the Payforit scam from working. My Raspberry Pi has arrived, but I can't do much with it, as I've just realized that I actually don't have a USB keyboard
!!
Yes, we only use PS/2 keyboards, we've never had a need for a USB keyboard until now. I think our oldest keyboard is from the 90s and it's an AT type, hooked up through an AT to PS/2 adapter. Still works wonderfully though
.
But if anybody in the Bedfordshire area has a spare USB keyboard lying around, please let me know!
I will continue to keep you all posted on any further developments relating to this topic.
- Capt. Jack Sparrow.
. 
