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About Three Pay

Looking for help with Three Pay? We’ve got everything you need to know.

What is Three Pay?

It’s a digital payment method that lets you pay for services like subscriptions, games, apps, and other digital content, through your monthly bill.

Any payments made using Three Pay are charged by the company providing the content or service you’ve requested – not Three.

Note:  From 19 November 2021, Spend Caps will not stop purchases made using Three Pay.

It’s easy to use – you don’t need a credit or debit card. It uses your mobile number to connect the payment to your bill.

To use, select Three Pay or Pay by Mobile and follow the on-screen instructions. To confirm your purchase, you’ll get a PIN by text. This is to make sure it’s the account holder making the purchase. For some services, this’ll happen while you’re creating an account. You may then be able to add credit to your account later, but this will depend on the service or merchant.

Once your purchase has been completed, you’ll get a text receipt. It’ll show the price, the service you’ve paid for, and a helpline number. If it’s a subscription, there may also be a 5-digit code that you can use to end the service.

This is how Three Pay charges will look on your monthly bill:

GBPAA.AA, BB, Services purchased details, Customer Helpline details

AA – the price paid

BB – a code that we use to identify the trusted service provider

Services purchased – more details about the purchase

Customer Helpline details – This is a phone number or website for the merchant or payment intermediary. If you’ve got any questions about the purchase or have any problems, these are the contact details you should use

Remember: If you see a 5-digit shortcode on your bill this’ll be a premium text message, like a competition entry. For more info about the charge and who to contact for help, visit on shortcode support page.

If you’ve had issues with a purchase, get in touch with the merchant or payment intermediary. A helpline number for them will be shown on your bill or subscription receipt. 

As the content didn’t come from us, we won’t be able to help. You need to contact the merchant or payment intermediary.

We’d also recommend getting in touch with them if you don’t remember making the purchase or need more information. They have 10 days to respond to your query and will be able to help you further and handle any refund requests.

If they don’t respond or you’re unhappy with their response, get in touch

We have also listed the details of some common merchants and their payment  intermediaries here.

If your transaction fails, you’ll be shown a message on-screen. No payment will be taken from your monthly bill. 

There are a few reasons why this can happen:

  • You’ve got insufficient credit available

  • There’s an error with the service or network

  • You’re trying to view restricted content and you’re under 18

There’s also a limit on how much you can spend using Three Pay each month. It’s set by the European Legislation and cannot be amended. It’s £40 per transaction and £240 a month. If the transaction takes you over this limit, it will fail.

Get in touch for more information.

If you’ve signed up for a subscription service, you’ll get regular text receipts with instructions on how to stop it. Usually, this is done by contacting the merchant directly or by signing into your account with them.

If you don’t want to use Three Pay for your subscription anymore, you should contact the merchant directly or log into your account with them.

Remember: If you leave Three, you’ll need to update your payment method with the merchant to keep your subscription active.

Three Pay purchases will not be prevented by a Spend Cap. If you want to stop them, you should do this through the merchant or payment intermediaries. They can help you set up PIN codes or parental controls to authorise payments.

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