Anyone have a mobile with Three?

DH and I are taking a little "pre-move" trip next week to the U.K., hoping to pick up a pay-as-you-go mobile, among setting up some other things (temp housing, banking, DH's work office, etc).

I've been researching online and see that compared to other pay as you go plans, Three offers some fairly attractive international long distance payg rates (like 3p/minute to the USA)

I know that service varies greatly depending on what part of the country you reside/work, but in general, has anyone had fairly good success with Three, at least on the customer service level?

This won't be a long term decision. The phone is to tide us over until we're more secure with housing and have regular access to internet & Skype for calls to the USA. But for the first couple of months of transition, it would be nice to have an actual phone to rely upon.

I know that service varies greatly depending on what part of the country you reside/work, but in general, has anyone had fairly good success with Three, at least on the customer service level?

I don't know about success, but my wife had Three a few years back and said their customer service was awful.  She still speaks ill of them every chance she gets.

I've had Orange PAYG for 3 years now and have been impressed.  On the Camel plan you can call the US for 7p/min, which isn't great, but they've been so good otherwise I'm sticking with them.

my husband and I both have 3 mobiles. We originally were on pay as you go for the free skype but moved to contracts after about a year.
Overall, we've been happy with them, as they seem to have fairly decent deals and free skype (we have the internet add ons now tho, so that's not a big deal)

Their customer service is appalling. it is an indian call centre and 2 of the 3 times I've had to ring ring them I got so frustrated at not being listened to I nearly hung up. both of these times was to do with internet usage and both times I was promised a call back after they investigated, and neither time got my call back. The other time had to do with unlocking a handset so it could be used in the states and that was fine (and they didn't charge us for unlocking it.)

Like I said, overall we've been happy, it's just ringing the call centre I don't like and to be fair, I've only had to do that 3 times in about as many years.

On a side note, we also have their mobile internet dongle. we are less happy with it, but compared to the t-mobile one I have through work it is brilliant.

I hated 3 with a passion...bad service, bad customer service.  Horrible.  I'm with o2 and love them!

Thanks for the info.

Looks like I'll be back to researching a bit more!!

I should know there's always a catch for cheap pricing.

3 is fine on pay as you go because it's unlikely you'll have to ring the call centre, that's where the issue is.  they have really worked to improve service in the last couple of years and my 'black zone' on the way to work doesn't exist anymore (Yay!)

We used to be on t-mobile and hated it (I'm on it for work and still hate the service, calls get dropped, no signal, etc).

My suggestion is to get a sim free phone and try different providers (sim cards are ridiculously cheap and often free if you get them online and have them posted to you) and see what works where you are living. I think a lot of companies are doing the free skype but I may have made that up
 

I'm on PAYG with Three and have only called customer service once. I talked to a scottish guy and he was pretty friendly, but could only help so much since it was a rather obscure problem. Usually I just walk into the nearest Three shop and talk to them if I have an issue (again, only once or twice), but that's possibly easier for me living in London. I wouldn't say Three is my favourite, but I've had very few problems with them over the past few years and the rates are pretty good.

We may try heading into a Carphone Warehouse to help us with our selection. Can they be trusted with providing honest advice about which phone networks work best?

Dealing with mobile dealers in the US has made me a bit jaded, I'm afraid. We've been on T-Mobile in the States for years, and have had some ups and downs.

All in my household are on three...(me, hubby and daughter) we are on contract but we are very, very happy with them. We have had good customer service, find they are the best price, good coverage.
So of course...you get conflicting views-- never easy is it?