Three confirms whether mobile customers hit by network going down will get compensation
THOUSANDS of Three Mobile customers have been urged to contact the network to claim compensation following a huge service outage.
Customers of the mobile giant were unable to make calls on Thursday with thousands affected.
DownDetector, a website that monitors outages, showed more than 10,000 people reported problems from around 1pm.
The network, which has over 10million UK customers, is also investigating reports that 999 calls were unable to connect as Storm Eowyn hit the UK.
Customers who have been impacted by the outage need to contact Three Mobile directly to claim compensation, either by calling or using their online live chat service.
When the network went down in 2019, customers were offered £20 in compensation.
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Consumer expert Martyn James said: If you've been left without mobile phone coverage as a result of an error by your phone company you can indeed ask for compensation.
"The amount you can ask for depends on the seriousness of the situation.
"So if it's simply the inconvenience you are unhappy with, then you can expect a largely symbolic gesture.
"But if you lost out financially as a direct result of the phone system being down, then you should explain the situation to the company and negotiate a suitable settlement, depending on what happened."
Today, the network has said that services have “almost” returned to normal.
It is investigating another problem with calls connected via WiFI, which it is investigating urgently.
It is also facing additional impact to its services due to the weather.
A Three Spokesperson said: “We have already deployed extra engineering resources and planning for these areas, so we can bring sites that are impacted back online as soon as it is safe to do so.
“ A normal volume of 999 calls were connected yesterday and our monitoring confirms the service is working fully this morning.
“We continue to investigate the small number of reports that we received about 999 call failures.
"We apologise sincerely for the inconvenience caused by the issues on our voice network yesterday.”
Earlier this month, we reported on how regulator Ofcom wants to bring in new rules so customers can get compensation more quickly.
You will need evidence of any complaint.
If the supplier doesn't resolve the issue within eight weeks or your unhappy with what they say, then you can take it to one of two Alternative Dispute Resolution ADR schemes.
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If you're with Three then you can complain to the Communications Ombudsman.
They can help you resolve it and will give a judgement on whether you're due compensation or a refund.