O2 Mis-sold me insurance - now I am stuck...

Borge14

Hi,

8 months ago I was on a rolling monthly sim only contract with O2. I was persuaded to take an 18 month contract on the basis of receiving a £150 credit to my account. I am not keen on long contracts and as such took out O2 insurance at the same time.

Having now broken my handset I have found that the insurance is not valid (because it is my own handset). O2 had admitted that it mis-sold me the insurance policy because the sales person was aware that I had my own handset. It has refunded the premiums but I am now left with 10 months on my contract and a handset which doesn't work properly.

Despite numerous phone calls and its admission of fault with regards to the insurance, O2 is unwilling to offer me any further assistance. I would simply stop my direct debit and let them pursue the remainder of the contract through the courts (as stupid as this may be), but I use the phone for business and need to retain the number.

Does anyone have any advice please?

Thanks,
George

happyhunter

O2 mis-sold you the insurance contract and happily refunded the premiums, so that part is sorted and un-related to your 18 months sim-only contract.

You broke your phone and not able to use the sim is your problem not O2.

Lets say you signed up to a Gym membership for 1 year, you lost your trainers after a month, you don't expect the Gym to allow you to cancel your membership for the remaining 11 months because you have no trainers. And you can't expect the Gym to provide you with trainers to ensure you can use the facilities.

Get a cheap PAYG phone.

DVardysShadow

What happyhunter says. O2 have done the decent thing and put you in exactly the same position you would have been in had you not bought the insurance

woody01

Borge14 wrote: »

Hi,

8 months ago I was on a rolling monthly sim only contract with O2. I was persuaded to take an 18 month contract on the basis of receiving a £150 credit to my account. I am not keen on long contracts and as such took out O2 insurance at the same time.

Having now broken my handset I have found that the insurance is not valid (because it is my own handset). O2 had admitted that it mis-sold me the insurance policy because the sales person was aware that I had my own handset. It has refunded the premiums but I am now left with 10 months on my contract and a handset which doesn't work properly.

Despite numerous phone calls and its admission of fault with regards to the insurance, O2 is unwilling to offer me any further assistance. I would simply stop my direct debit and let them pursue the remainder of the contract through the courts (as stupid as this may be), but I use the phone for business and need to retain the number.

Does anyone have any advice please?

Thanks,
George

True..they did sell the insurance incorrectly.

However, you have no argument as they made this right. Why would they insure a phone that wasn't part of the deal?
Surely you can see that.

ultrak3wl

Just get cheapest possible PAYG handset that can accept O2 SIMs? Finish up your 10 months then ditch the whole lot.

albyseinu

the 150 O2 gave you was potentially for a new handset purchased through O2, the insurance would have covered that, giving you the money back is fair play, but even if the refund was the cheaspest at 60 or the next one up of 754 then you could still use that to buy a new/refurb device

Borge14

Whilst I take on board most of these points, you need to consider the facts!

Firstly, it is nothing like buying a pair of trainers, losing them and expecting the gym to end your membership - what a ridiculous and ill thought out comparison!! O2 provides insurance to effectively protect account holders from being in a situation where they have a contract but no phone - effectively it is the contract that is being insured (something that Citizen's Advice suggested to me was the case). The two services go hand in hand and are sold by the same company. I don't know of too many gyms that sell trainers alongside membership, and I certainly don't know many that indemnify members against loss of any kind! If they did sell insurance for the trainers, I would expect them to honour it, or sell it in the appropriate way in the first place!

Secondly, and most importantly, the same O2 salesperson who sold me the contract also sold me insurance during the very same phone call. This means, either they were aware that they were mis-selling the insurance or they lacked the necessary training (i.e. they didn't know they were mis-selling the insurance). The fact that the insurance wasn’t valid because I had my own handset is by-the-by. This wasn’t mentioned during the sales call – either intentionally or by mistake. Either way it was O2’s fault and not mine. Refunding the insurance premiums is clearly the very least they should do in this situation – the insurance alone isn’t the issue here.

Luckily, having sent a very stroppy email to O2 saying I would cancel my contract in seven days, they have now agreed with me that simply refunding the insurance premiums is not enough. Whilst I am not entirely happy with their fairly miserly offer (£40 off my next bill), at least they have had the decency to recognise the link between the mis-sale of the insurance and their responsibility to me as a contract customer.

So, the moral of the story is, push, push and push again if you are mis-sold something!

Thanks,
George