Three UK Scraps Legacy Mobile Tariffs – Forces Pricey Upgrade

Customers of Three UK are livid this week after the mobile operator began warning them that their old, cheaper and more flexible legacy tariffs would be coming to an end. In some cases the outcome represents a massive price hike, which has resulted in the operator’s #MakeItRight slogan being mocked.

It’s understood that hundreds of thousands of Three UK’s subscribers are being impacted by the move and all have been given just 30 days notice. In some cases customers have been advised that they will be automatically upgraded from their old £15-£17 per month tariff and on to an equivalent one that is around twice the price.

Many of the old packages relate to Three UK’s once hugely popular and far cheaper “all-you-can-eat” (unlimited calls, texts and data) The One Plan, which was withdrawn a couple of years ago (here and here). The equivalent tariff today costs £30 per month on a 12 month contract term.

In fairness the writing has been on the wall since Three UK first withdrew the service from sale, but their approach is unlikely to win much favour.

A Three UK Spokesperson said:

“In March 2014, we introduced new price plans giving customers more options in the size of their data and voice bundles, as well as limits and alerts to prevent bill shock. We have a lot of tariffs that we no longer sell and moving customers to one of the new plans will ensure they can enjoy the benefits of these plans.”

Sadly there’s not a lot that related customers can do, except for either swapping to a different operator or choosing one of Three’s other tariffs. However we would advise that affected subscribers complain to Ofcom because the regulator doesn’t generally approve of expensive automatic upgrades and has tackled both BT and Sky Broadband over similar issues in the recent past.