3BB New customers be aware

[Whistler]

Undisclosed hookup fee of 2,000 additional Baht!

 

I went to sign up for new 3BB DSL(phone line)  Internet. The woman at the counter said they "Only bring service to the outside of the building" and to check with our condo if they charged for hookup within the building. It's a pretty new building with telephone already installed and the condo manager said they don't charge any additional fee or have required technicians. I went back to 3BB and paid for a year in advance plus 800 for the modem, and was told there was not any refund once paid.

 

When 3BB arrived the technician hooked up the internet to the outside of the building, and another worker then asked for 2,000 baht to complete the hookup to my room. When I argued that 3BB never said anything about a hookup fee she said she was a "contractor" and that everyone has to pay them for the last link to the room.

 

I called 3BB  and argued that it was unfair to charge an undisclosed hookup fee, and that having a subcontractor that follows their technician around charging an undisclosed fee was just a way to avoid disclosure of the fee when I paid the non-refundable year in advance. After much discussion about what a jerk I am for not being more generous, the fee was reduced to 1000 baht and took 15 minutes to complete. The "contractor" bragged that they had gotten the full 2,000 baht out of four other tenants in my building today alone.

 

3BB would probably loose business to a competitor if they revealed the 2,000 baht hookup fee in advanced, and I find this very deceptive and sleazy.

 

Beware of the potential of hidden fee - and bargain if they surprise you with it. 

 

 

[KittenKong]

This is a scam. They saw you coming. Welcome to Thailand.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

How is it a "hidden fee" when you mention in your OP that...

"The woman at the counter said they "Only bring service to the outside of the building' "

 

You can argue whether the Thai ISPs are proper in their not uncommon policy of only bringing service to a single connection point in multi-unit, multi-story buildings such as condos. But that's often their policy.

 

3BB told you that's their policy. And then, you were free to negotiate with the 3BB subcontractors to do the extra work at an extra price, or hire someone else yourself to do the inside the building wiring connections.

 

Edited January 11, 2017 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[stevenl]

How is it a "hidden fee" when you mention in your OP that...

"The woman at the counter said they "Only bring service to the outside of the building' "

 

You can argue whether the Thai ISPs are proper in their not uncommon policy of only bringing service to a single connection point in multi-unit, multi-story buildings such as condos. But that's often their policy.
 
3BB told you that's their policy. And then, you were free to negotiate with the 3BB subcontractors to do the extra work at an extra price, or hire someone else yourself to do the inside the building wiring connections.
 

Where was the condo manager, the one who said there was no additional fee to hook you up, during this?

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[TallGuyJohninBKK]

44 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Where was the condo manager, the one who said there was no additional fee to hook you up, during this?

Sent from my ROBBY using Thaivisa Connect mobile app
 

 

I think you need to read the OP's post more carefully. He was recounting two different things from two people:

 

1. The counter person at 3BB telling him they only run the connection to the outside of the building, which was correct in terms of what 3BB the ISP company offers as its service.

 

2. His condo manager telling him the condo building "don't charge any additional fee or have required technicians."

 

That's NOT the condo manager telling him they'll complete his installation for free. Rather, it's pretty clearly telling him his building won't do the work, doesn't have anyone who can do the work for him, and thus they (the building) won't charge him anything for the work being done. In other words, he's on his own to deal with the in-building part of the installation.

[KittenKong]

9 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

That's NOT the condo manager telling him they'll complete his installation for free. Rather, it's pretty clearly telling him his building won't do the work, doesn't have anyone who can do the work for him, and thus they (the building) won't charge him anything for the work being done. In other words, he's on his own to deal with the in-building part of the installation.

 

That's a very odd building. All buildings I have known do have someone around to do this sort of job, not least because you cant just let any clown mess about with common property. In my building the ISP brings the line to the entrance to the building and our technician connects it to the internal cable. If the internal cable is faulty then our technician runs a new one or repairs it and there may or may not be a small fee for this.

 

If it is really the case that this building has no technicians then the OP could have refused the expensive 3rd party contractor and found another electrician to do the job. A couple of hundred Baht should easily cover the cost of any such work.

[chrisinth]

10 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I think you need to read the OP's post more carefully. He was recounting two different things from two people:

 

1. The counter person at 3BB telling him they only run the connection to the outside of the building, which was correct in terms of what 3BB the ISP company offers as its service.

 

2. His condo manager telling him the condo building "don't charge any additional fee or have required technicians."

 

That's NOT the condo manager telling him they'll complete his installation for free. Rather, it's pretty clearly telling him his building won't do the work, doesn't have anyone who can do the work for him, and thus they (the building) won't charge him anything for the work being done. In other words, he's on his own to deal with the in-building part of the installation.

 

When 3BB provide a connection package, they also provide the router (in most cases). If the line is not connected to the router then the installation is not complete.

 

What does happen however is that you normally have two different sections of 3BB at work, the people providing the line to the doorstep and then the IT guys setting up the connection. If in the case of installing in a condo I would imagine if it was a substantial length of cable run (from the kerb to the router) then you might expect a surcharge of some sort. Additional charges for connections to a normal house usually don't happen.

[Henryford]

Did you expect a FREE cable to your condo? 

[keeniau96]

I had 3BB do a new service fiber optic, replacing TOT WiFi. the 3BB agent very clearly explained that they would bring their cable to the pole outside my property and would provide the router inside my house, but needed outside contractor to provide cable from the pole to house and up to router. They arranged a qualified contractor (who actually was very good), cost 2500 baht for the 40m of cable across my property, up to 2d floor and through the wall to router, to tech working about 2 hours. A 3BB service tech then arrived, did the FO router connection and checked the overall connectivity and speed. 3BB waived their installation fee (listed as 2k baht) as part of the contract promotion. Overall it was very smooth and has been good for more than 1 year now. Note this is in Phuket pretty much in the exact center of the island. Recently I had a cable break (no service at all) right at the 2d floor terrace due to rat chewing through the FO cable, 3BB techs came right away, diagnosed the cause (very inconvenient location) and patched this for no charge.

[KittenKong]

6 hours ago, Henryford said:

Did you expect a FREE cable to your condo? 

 

The supply of the cable to where you live is free or, more accurately, included in whatever you pay the ISP. The OP already had internal phone cable to his condo, as do most condos. So what did be pay 2000B for? Someone to connect the two? That's not worth 2000B.

 

I had an entirely new fibre optic cable installed in my condo for free by my ISP when I signed up to fibre. My cable TV installation was without charge also. So why should a phone cable be different?

[YeahSiam]

I can understand why the OP might have been peeved about the undisclosed installation fee but he pretty much painted himself into a corner by paying for a year's subscription upfront.

If he'd gone for monthly payments  like any sane person, he could've just told the 3BB technician and the contractor to piss off, kept the modem and signed up with someone else.

[transam]

Think when we signed up to pay monthly with 3bb  the house connection from THEIR pole was 700bht....Not sure but something like that...

[KittenKong]

16 hours ago, YeahSiam said:

I can understand why the OP might have been peeved about the undisclosed installation fee but he pretty much painted himself into a corner by paying for a year's subscription upfront.

If he'd gone for monthly payments  like any sane person, he could've just told the 3BB technician and the contractor to piss off, kept the modem and signed up with someone else.

 

Farangs have to pay the first year up-front with 3BB. I did it also. After the first year you can pay monthly.

[Langsuan Man]

Since we are warning members about 3BB, here is another warning

 

If you do want to cancel your service after your year of involuntary servitude is over, then you must inform them BEFORE your year is up.   I cancelled on the first day of the billing cycle and they forced me to pay for that month, even though the month was only 8 hours old 

 

IMHO, 3BB is the True Visions of the Internet 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

19 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

 

Farangs have to pay the first year up-front with 3BB. I did it also. After the first year you can pay monthly.

 

Yes, that is their policy... But if you put the account under the name of a Thai wife or GF or any Thai person for that matter, then you can start out just monthly from day 1. That doesn't impact who can or does pay the bill or manage the account. Our account is in my wife's name, but she's never actually talked to 3BB once our account was established. All of dealings with them since have gone thru me, and no problem with that.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 minutes ago, Langsuan Man said:

Since we are warning members about 3BB, here is another warning

 

If you do want to cancel your service after your year of involuntary servitude is over, then you must inform them BEFORE your year is up.   I cancelled on the first day of the billing cycle and they forced me to pay for that month, even though the month was only 8 hours old 

 

IMHO, 3BB is the True Visions of the Internet 

 

Afraid I'd disagree entirely about that. TV provides a crap product at excessive prices. 3BB internet, especially their fiber to home, provides a good quality product at a very competitive price. In fact, it's their competition along with that from AIS fiber that recently has forced True Online to substantially reduce what was their excessively high internet pricing along with bumping up the speeds offered by their plans.

 

As for the billing issue, yeah, that seems a bit bureaucratic. I'm surprised you couldn't talk thru some solution to that.

 

[Langsuan Man]

Just now, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

As for the billing issue, yeah, that seems a bit bureaucratic. I'm surprised you couldn't talk thru some solution to that.

 

Try dealing with them in Pattaya and you will understand why no solution was available