Solved

Network problems July 2022 to present day still ongoing

  • 18 September 2022
  • 14 replies
  • 2925 views
B
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge

Signed up last November on a 24 month contract. Prices were increased after 1 month. Which I wasn't happy about.

Now since July 2022 to present the 4G data / calling is non existant , lucky to get 3G.

ID mobile are one of the most unreliable networks anyone can join. Because its cheap doesnt mean its good.

Finally used the live chat feature today to report it.

1) They will either blame the settings on your device.

2) Blame your post code by saying they've checked coverage in your area and is good.

3) Then blame the customer by saying you didnt answer your phone when we rang you.........of course because there is no phone signal! Hence the complaint.

There is no direct human contact phone number. There is no app complaint form.

If the calls / data is non existant how do you get in touch? 

ID mobile refuse to acknowledge people travel around different locations from where the sim card address is! 

Cheap piggy back networking with a cheap sim is not a option to take seriously.

My question is, what legal rights do i have to cancel the remaining contract? 

Have the monthly bill reduced for the remainder of the contract because of poor unavailable services? 

I paid for 4G/3G unlimited data, calls, texts. And at best of time, i can just about get 3G !

Any advice would be helpful. 

As for ID staff members chirping it, don't bother, I'm fed up of text book , pre scripted answers that are for your benefit more than the customers

If I hadn't of raised this issue , ID mobile wouldn't have said anything, they're keeping quiet about it.

icon

Best answer by bcuplover 27 September 2022, 16:25

View original
This topic has been closed for comments

14 replies

Tom
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Hi @bcuplover 

 

I’m sorry to hear you’re having issues with coverage on your contract, if you’re still having issues and would like us to contact you about this to investigate please let us know so we can reach out.

 

Tom

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
B
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge

Already in talks with the ID complaints team for the past week.

 

Kash
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +7

@bcuplover,

Have the Complaints Team been in touch with you since? 

If you require any assistance from our side, please let us know. However our Complaints Team would usually call within 72 hours and email or SMS you if are unable to answer.

 

 

Kash

I hope I was able to help you with your question. If my answer resolved your issue, then please mark my answer as ‘Most Helpful’ using the button below the message with the answer.
B
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge

The issue has been forwarded to the Ombudsman for the second time! 

ID mobile have been found at fault. 

andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

The issue has been forwarded to the Ombudsman for the second time! 

ID mobile have been found at fault. 

Okay @bcuplover, so the Ombudsman ruled in your favour but has your mobile network reception suddenly improved?

Have you been able to cancel your contract with iD Mobile without an early termination fee @bcuplover? 

 

B
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge

@andewhite

 

• Just to clarify there is no second time Ombudsman review or allowed.• 

 

In the Ombudsman portal, ID mobile offered £120 credit onto my account (reduction in line rental of £10 per remaining months of contract) but no early contract cancelation. I'd have preferred the latter option.

I declined the offer. And gave the Ombudsman authority to review the information and make a decision. Expecting them to suggest early cancelation be considered for my choice selection of remedy.

The Ombudsman did decide in my favour on three counts based on their own findings looking at the evidence submitted by me and info that ID mobile added.However their decision did not include early cancelation, which I was dissapointed about.

Even though evidence proved there was, is a problem with network coverage strength in certain areas and for other mitigating factors. And the visible offer of money to be added to my account was an admission of a fault in itself by ID mobile. The Ombudsman decision did not include the original £120 credit that was initially offered by ID mobile! And there was no option for me to retake it over the Obudsmans decision either.

Originally pre Ombudsman, when asked by ID mobile, how can we fix this, make it right. I made a customer suggestion. Oddly enough, before going to the Ombudsman, the ID mobile complaints team immediately rejected all customer suggestions and any form of resolution in their 'deadlock letter'. 

We get to the Ombudsman and they reverse their opinion!

The Ombudsman decision as mentioned in the third paragraph was not satisfactory and therefore declined by me with an appeal against that decision. And for them to review and suggest something suitable. They stuck with their decision. Case closed.

End of story for that particular topic area of complaint. (Network coverage quality etc), they wouldn't look at it again. Nor get a second case worker opinion.

At this point the quality of network has not improved. I have not been compensated for the poor service I continue to have to pay for and originally raised the issue of.

I contacted ID mobile customer services yet again three days ago to reinstate the complaint and they sent out yet another replacement sim card. Third one, I might add! 

I then contact the ID complaints section again and they now conveniently tell me, they cannot and will not accept anymore complaints regarding the network coverage quality because the customer is only allowed to complain once. And allow it to go to the Omnudsman only once!

So basically the flaw in the system for the customer is , which is apparent that it protects ID mobile is. If you complain about one topic, one area and see it through to the Ombudsman and decline all offers because they are clearly not good enough. 

Then you have no rights to further complain about that particular topic, you must continue to pay the contract off even though the services are rubbish an no amount of new replacement sim cards will fix.

I was advised maybe to write to head office, but when asked what the address was, the telephonist in the complaints department didnt know it!

OFCOM are advisory only. Ombudsman are impartial decision makers. 

And according to Ofgem, there advice to me was, it costs nothing for a mobile network company to let a customer go early from a contract. It actually saves them money!

The only last possible route is to get in touch with trading standards or a solicitor who specialises in consumer law. Who can maybe enforce some level of compensation in light of the Ombudsman decisions and public admission of a fault with their network services by the ID mobile network company.

Having made ID mobile aware that all proposals by them and in the Ombudsman portal were not acceptable.

ID mobile are blatantly telling me I have no customer rights. They know their poor service is causing customer frustration. 

And they clearly have no idea of how the Ombudsman portal works against the customer if the right decision cannot be put on the table.

ID mobile shouldn't be in business. They don't know how to deal with customers fairly.

And certainly doing they're very best to keep their customers very unhappy.

The only possible good thing to come from my experience is that by me going to the Ombudsman and the ID mobile network investigated by them. This is publically recorded and monitored. The more customers that go to the Ombudsman, the more likely someone high up will take note and question why are so many customers complaints not getting dealt with internally at the ID complaints department.

 

 

andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

Thanks for sharing @bcuplover.

On regulation, the UK Mobile network operators are regulated by OFCOM, not Ofgem. 

Every UK mobile network operator includes caveats in their terms & conditions, which make it very difficult to use bad reception as a reason to cancel your contract.

Mobile networks by their nature cannot guarantee good reception everywhere all the time, unless of course there’s billions and billions to spend on installing the network infrastructure to make this possible.

 

 

 

B
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge

@andewhite 

 

Yes just spoke to OFCOM and they tell me they get powers from Parliament to regulate the Ombudsman and phone network companies. They collect data and statistics, customer analysis. 

And have the power to deal accordingly with companies and organisations.

They don't get involved in individual customer cases. They're more of a monitoring service. Watching for spike increases of irregularity in the way companies behave.

 

B
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge

@andewhite

As an example. Here's the results of a network monitoring app. Meteor. This is a regular occurence at many different area locations. Data internet idle, i.e no apps working in background. 3g/4g network selection in network settings on mobile device.

 

 

andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

Yeah @bcuplover, doesn’t look great but I live in a location with no mobile network signal indoors.

I rely on using my provider’s Wi-Fi Calling service to call and text.

Why aren’t you using an Auto value in network selection on your device?

 

B
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge

@andewhite 

 

The screenshot above is an example whilst out and about. Not at registered sim address.

If defeats the purpose of paying for a sim card, if your then having to rely upon WiFi supplementary signal help to make a phone call or get on the internet whilst at home.

However you may live in such an isolated area, you personally need it.

For one, I don't have WiFi at home. Based on the mobile network public advertisements to entice customers through the sales door. The sim card should provide what I need. Without having to spend more money on other services.

The coverage checker websites are always saying how well covered the UK is.

When your generally out and about the sim network should be sufficiently strong and reliable enough to allow customers to make an uninterrupted call and access sim data. 

The device is already set to auto switch between network signal strengths........…

 

 

andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

Thanks @bcuplover, the coverage checkers provided by the UK mobile network operators are based on computer models, which in-turn make a number of assumptions.

The modelled coverage and real-world coverage may be quite different - there’s no guarantee the model will always reflect the real-world at any given location.

If you don’t mind sharing, what handset are you using with your iD Mobile SIM card?

 

B
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge

@andewhite 

Mobile network companies immediately resort to the coverage website checkers whenever a customer complains or a a potential customer does a product prepurchase check in their area code.

There was a independant service not so long back called 'Yboo' that did the same thing.

I don't know how true your statement is, or where you got the info from, but If the model is based on computer guesswork, then that says a lot about the validity of the information the customer services and other departments give paying customers.

Revealing what handset I have doesn't cure anything.

I get the impression, you actually work for ID mobile.

Many thanks for your input. But I've shared more than enough detail on this issue.

andewhite
Rank
Userlevel 8
Badge +9

Well @bcuplover, despite impressions I’m not employed by iD Mobile, nor connected with iD in another way. FYI, I left the iD network because they couldn’t fix various issues I was having with my services.

The handset is relevant because iD have an approved handsets list (for their network), and your handset might not be listed.

See for yourself online at https://www.idmobile.co.uk/help-and-advice/approved-handsets.

Good luck for the remainder of your iD contract @bcuplover.
🍀🤞

 

Terms & Conditions
Why iD Mobile?