Ranting about 3's Customer Service

bear with me... this will be quick...

i am fed up with 3 (for all who are not in the UK, 3 is a phone network that is really cheap but has bad reception - jieyang can attest to that). the other day i was texting rachel when suddenly the phone died. like KONKED out. tried for days to revive it but did not work. so i figured, i can get it fixed while i am in Belgium so when i come back, hey presto i have a working phone line again. josh was nice to lend me his SIM card for his old pay-as-you-go Vodaphone line. anyway, i called them on tues and they said they'd come to my brother's place (because the phone is registered under him) to pick up the phone for repair - which is the only way to do it really. "before 5.30pm". LIKE REAL! i waited till 6pm, deciding to give some grace period and then when at 6pm they were still not showing up, i called customer service and asked why they had not come. first of all, i made the silly mistake of saying that the phone was registered under my brother and i was calling on his behalf. which is the truth. but the man on the other end of the line went, oh i cant discuss this with you because you are not the account holder. FINE. strike one. i was merely asking why they had not shown up. he said he can give me general information and that PERHAPS because it was the day after a bank holiday they had more phones to pick up then usual so "just be patient... they might come shortly or maybe tomorrow". TOMORROW?? i was leaving for Belgium the next day. so i asked him if they were coming tomorrow if they were not coming today and he was all "no i cant discuss this with you". BUT I WAS ASKING A GENERAL QUESTION BECAUSE YOU CANT EXPECT ME TO WAIT AT HOME ALL DAY!

anyway on the train to Belgium i called 3 again and, learning from my past mistake, i pretended to be my brother on the phone (which isnt difficult because they have no idea if "Qiwen" is a male or female name and i think i have more patience to deal with 3 than my brother) and managed to get them to put down today as a collection date. so guess what? i waited the WHOLE day for them to come. my brother even called this morning to confirm they were coming. but nnnooooo... they didnt. so i made one very angry phone call to 3 at 6pm again. customer service took ages to get on the phone with me and then they told me, oh yes i see that your phone was scheduled to be picked up today... let me put you through to the Repairs department to see why they havent come. on hold again... then Repairs told me, all i can say is i am sorry but i have no idea why they didnt come today... let me put you down for tomorrow and i'll pass you back to customer service so that they can contact Parcels for you to arrange a specific time (because i had complained that i waited for 2 whole days and always a no-show and i couldnt be asked to wait again). back on hold again and this time when i got back to customer service i was told that the Parcels side cant give specific times of pick-ups. all they can say is between 9am and 5pm. like WWHHHAAAT???!!!??? i managed to get the guy to arrange for a pick up tomorrow from London and to return the phone to Coventry. and if all things DO finally go through, i should get my phone on friday.

plus i got smart. i asked for the customer service officer's name for reference. and i think i shall do what my brother suggested. write in to complain and maybe they will waive 2 weeks off my bill because i have not been able to use my phone due to their inefficiency. i can forgive that the connection isnt that great (i.e. i get cut off in the middle of the call) but for them to NOT SHOW TWICE is terrible.

so much for that short rant. but much needed to get it out of my system.