What is going on with O2's customer service?

BreakinEven

I've been with o2 for years and have always found customer service to be great and had no intention of leaving when my contract is up in June, ok my current handset is not good but hey that was my poor decision last time round and I've lived with it for 18 months, however in the last couple of weeks:

Received a letter from o2 to say I am now able to upgrade (OH had nothing - got contracts on the same day last time - but fine). Try to look online, not due yet. Phone upgrades - not due yet. Explain letter, o2 can see letter on account. Not due but will try to overide. Aren't forthcoming with any offers so I said I'd look at what I wanted and call back.

Had a look around, got a fair idea of what I want. Call retentions to try and haggle a better deal. definately not due yet, Upgrades have sent the letter in error and can't be overridden. Call us back in a few weeks.

Went in o2 store on sat to have a play with a few handsets, have a chat with advisor and mention internet browsing currently costs me a fortune. Advisor looks at my tarrif and assures me ther is no way it could be costing me more than £1 per day. If that isn't happening let customer services know an they'd find out why. I'm not so sure but try it out knowing I haven't used it at all that month I log on a few times over Sat & Sun. By Monday evening this is tracking at £16 additional charges on my bill :mad:

Phone o2 customer services to query this and explain about instore advice and they offer to either bar internet or sell me a bolt on for £7.50. No Thank you, I'd like the difference refunding. Not going to happen. Apparently I'm on an old tarrif and web daily can't be added.

Call again a few hours later to try my luck with another advisor. Same response but with the helpful addition of "stores can't access the same information as us so he wouldn't have known that he was telling you wrong". Ok, but by following your employee's advice I've now got additional charges. "Well your contracts up in a few weeks, make sure you get the web bolt on at £7.50. Call then and we'll try and sort a better deal for you".

Think I was maybe being a bit thick, without telling him I'd got charges phoned o2 etc I asked OH to remind me what had been said by the instore advisor. He immediately said it wouldn't cost more than £1 per day. So it wasn't just me.

Is it worth esculating this complaint? Any mobile companies have good customer service?

I'm thinking that when I am able to upgrade (2 weeks) phoning retentions and asking for my PAC code and telling them why (I am sick of being messed about, unhelpful customer service, poor advice in store, no recognition of customer loyalty - this is the only complain I have made in the last 6 years) and unless they offer an amazing deal, move on?

aux

Hi BreakinEven,

im having a bit of difficulty understanding your issue.

I think its that you have £16 of additonal charges for internet use but should only be charged a max of £1 day for internet/gprs use?

firstly are you sure the £16 is due to intenet charges? 'other charges' can refer to other things as well. are you checking the bill online? if you click on the other charges bit it should tell you what its for.

as far as i know all modern o2 tariffs have this £1 web daily cap that means you won't be charged more than a pound a day for internet use.

on the bill online it should give you the dates of the internet charges and the costs. you sohuld be able to see yourself if you was charged more than a pound a day and escalate from there to a manager if necesarry..

not much help but hope it is some use.

iwanttosave_2

Firstly I can assure you that stores can see what advisors see, granted they can only see a dumbed down version but they can see your tariff, although the advisor more than likely wouldn't know this because they don't deal with retail stores.

If you want to chase any credits you need to take it up with the store, they are the ones that have mis-advised you. You will need to wait until the bill is produced and take it instore.

Now as above poster said, are you sure its not 16x£1? I doubt it but double check. More than likely you're on a tariff that will have inclusive browse and download rather than web daily, this isn't the £1 a day. The advisor you spoke to was correct if you're on an older tariff, to have web daily you need to be on whats called a Q108 tariff. You can request to be brought forward on to one of these tariffs if you want to but bear in mind the newer tariff might not beat what you're currently one. What tariff are you currently on? If its £35 or more you can move it forward and have web browsing as a free bolt-on.

As for the upgrade letter. If it was sent in error then there isn't much you can do about that but some advisors will offer it. On the bottom of the letter there will be a paragraph saying "if you want to hear more about this please call 0800..." are you calling that number? Thats the one you are more likely to get it honoured by.

iceburn

actually the stores cant always see the details as was the case for ours in April when tried to upgrade. We were on a very old system.

iwanttosave_2

iceburn wrote: »

actually the stores cant always see the details as was the case for ours in April when tried to upgrade. We were on a very old system.

Thats the DISE billing system, and if they look in the right place they can.

redux

Apart from solving this, read the O2 Retentions thread as well - for your new deal you ought be be able to get a tariff with free internet add-on included and a new phone for £20 a month.

iceburn

iwanttosave wrote: »

Thats the DISE billing system, and if they look in the right place they can.

No trust me they can't, they did and since than the whole traffic has gone mad, we are getting billed for all calls. The account have now been passed high up to sort it out and billing has been frozen until it is sorted out. When it is sorted out wont do an upgrade instore not worth the hassle again!!! But to Breakineven, it seem you had a similar effect to us in March, which as we are speaking is still being sorted out. But what Iwanttosave is saying is sort of correct, expect dont have to wait until bill is produced. You need to go instore and get them to phone their "internal customer service" who will than move your tariff from the new one to the old one. Cause they have different tariff versions of the same tariff, hence why for example you might have for example 600 minutes and unlimited sms whilst other person will have 600 minutes and 300 sms. Even through the customer service on the phone can see you are on the wrong tariff they cant change it...

Once the shop help desk has move you back to the original tariff you were on. (it does help to have an "OLD BILL" with you so you can confirm prices, what is included etc.) (that is what Iwantyousave is on about with Q108). U wont know that code but the opeators can tell you the codes. and to AUX I think business traffics dont have the £1 daily cap..

But have to say if my problem is not sorted out soon, 8 out of contract which havent taken a phone for 6 years will be transfering to Vodafone.

iwanttosave_2

I am their "internal customer service" so I can assure you they can see customers details on DISE.

And to have credits produced it does have to be on a produced bill as the credit team wont raise credits for recent charges, they have to be produced, this is why the customer has to wait for the bill to be produced.

iceburn

and trust me from your manager from "internal customer service" they cant see it all. As you said yourself

"Firstly I can assure you that stores can see what advisors see, granted they can only see a dumbed down version but they can see your tariff, although the advisor more than likely wouldn't know this because they don't deal with retail stores."

The fact it is dumb down version mean they cant see everything and the fact that they could not see everything cause the huge problem on our main account with numbers being remove, change billing date, change line rental charge, change length of contract, etc. etc.. list is quite long and is being look into and this month bill cause it got so mess up has been put on hold ie wont be claim from bank until it is sorted out. And about credits well funny I got a bill couple months ago to prove you otherwise.. And to Breakineven, techically you were not advised incorrectly by one of the O2 employees. Cause O2 stores in most cases if not all are actually "FRANCHISE". They are not directly own by O2, hence why you get variety of service depending what store you goto. Like post offices they have some that are directly managed, some that are franchises, and others that are sub offices / office in charge.