Robbed by O2

Cybersilly

Hi everyone,
I am writing in the hopes that someone can give me some sound advice on how to get my money back and some compensation for the loss of time and the inconvenience I have been subjected to by O2.

:mad: The problem;
I ordered 3 iPhones for my business on dec 23rd 2009 via O2's website, O2 eventually got round to fulfilling the order on 6th January 2010, no explanation - in fact no one answered the phones at all in between the xmas and new year periods when the should normally have been back at work. They took payment via Debit Card of £707 out of my Business partners account, as per the order requirements on the webpage. 5 days later we get our iPhones, lovely we thought, didn't do any work for three days - to busy playing with them and browsing the App Store.

A week later we receive our first invoice - £737.75 errr hang on we have already paid for the phones, what gives?

I call O2 to question the error, their answer; 'Sorry but it takes 14 days for a payment to be allocated to an account you will have to call back'.

6 days later (now past their 14 day requirement) 'Hi, why are you trying to take extra money? We have already paid for the phones'. O2 - 'We need the bank account details and the day of the transaction, sorry can't help with out it'.

I get the details and call back - 'Hi, here are the details you asked for, we have paid for the phones - DO NOT TAKE £707 out of our account' - O2 - 'We will put a trace on it and call you back within three days'

4 days later (21 January) I get a second invoice for the same month it has not been reduced by 707 pounds it has increased by 20 quid!! what? I call back;

Me: 'Hi whats the deal with the new invoice I should be getting 707 pounds back not paying you more!'.

O2 said 'Oh thats for transferring your numbers over'.

Me: 'err, you didn't specify a charge when you asked me for the PAC codes'.

Them: 'Ok, sorry about that, I'll just sort that out for you now, no problem.'

Me: 'What about my £707 as I have explained during my previous calls we have paid for the phones, you have had the information you need to trace it, you didn't call back when you were supposed to, DO NOT TAKE ANY MONEY OUT OF MY ACCOUNT!!'

Them: 'I see on your account that we have found it, it has been paid, we have also taken the first months payment too'.

Me: 'That's ok then, problem sorted'.

Five days later I go to my bank as I notice at the cash point that my balance is significantly lower than it should be. The bank prints me off a statement - O2 have taken £707 plus the monthly charge, on the day that I last spoke to them and they said they had found the first payment - the incompetant idiot I was speaking to was looking at THAT payment as it was the same day and not the initial payment.

Back on the phone, 'Why have you taken money out of my account, when I asked you not to? no answer, where is the initial payment? 'We need the Debit Card details to put a trace on it', my fuming reply 'That is NOT what you asked for and that still doesn't excuse you from taking more money.'

I have telephoned them twice more since, been on the phone for more than 4 hours in total, they have in my opinion robbed my of a large amount of money, that as a start up business I can ill aford to have un-available, I need that cash to operate. They are refusing to pay it back until they are ready.

So here is the million dollar question, what can I do about this? they owe me, not only the cash but for my wasted time, inconvenience, aggravation and deduction of usable funds for my business.

I apologise for the length, but if you can believe it I have paraphrased and summarised the whole situation, I am sure you can imagine how peeved I am, should have gone to Vodafone

Thanks for your time and any advice or help you can give.

Kind regards,
Cybersilly

OneADay

I would post on o2's own forum (nothing like some public vengence) - they will quickly pick up your problem then and try to solve it (a bit quicker).
http://forum.o2.co.uk/

Maybe there is some sort of fraud investigation going on - and they possibly do not want to alarm you in the process.

Cybersilly

Thanks OneADay, I'll do that.

Also, just had my first call back!!! Their response: Get the Debit Card company to do a charge back. To me that sounds like they can't be bothered to do the work they are paid for and find the cash themselves.

OneADay

Well at least they have acknowledged that you are entitled to the money back and direct debit guarantee is protecting you.

But still worth moaning to them about your time being wasted and how you were not able to tie your laces or eat the muffin because you had to talk to them on the phone for so long - bound to get a bit of compensation as a goodwill gesture I suspect.

System

I would email the following :-

[EMAIL="chairmansoffice@o2.com;"]chairmansoffice@o2.com; [/EMAIL] [EMAIL="david.nicholas@o2.com"]david.nicholas@o2.com[/EMAIL]; simon.lloyd@o2.com; richard.poston@o2.com; feedback@o2.com; matthew.key@o2.com; ronan.dunne@o2.com; [EMAIL="pez@o2.com"]pez@o2.com[/EMAIL]

Good luck, think you'll get a quick response.. o2 have been really sloppy with talking money out of my account and I wasn't impressed at how long it took for me to get it back..

Jon_01

Cybersilly wrote: »

Thanks OneADay, I'll do that.

Also, just had my first call back!!! Their response: Get the Debit Card company to do a charge back. To me that sounds like they can't be bothered to do the work they are paid for and find the cash themselves.

To be honest, that is the fastest way to get the $£$ back. You didn't authorise the transaction so going to the bank is the best route...

Cybersilly

Thank you all for the replies,

and thank you Summer01 I have just sent my complaint in to the O2 Complaint Review Service and CC'd all the email addresses you provided, hopefully I may get somewhere.
But if not I now have the number for OTELO, the Telecommunications Ombudsman, whom I'm sure will get me somewhere if all else fails.

System

You're welcome, good luck - let us know how you get on..

Cybersilly

Good news, your advice and email addresses worked wonders Summer01
I have just had a call from a senior manager at O2's Customer Services apologising profusely for the error and my having to go to the trouble of including the 'Executive Management Team' in my email complaint.

They have found the problem (an error in the ordering service - they set up two accounts, one with £707 credit in it, the other no credit hence the additional charge for handsets) and are now in the process of refunding the debit card.

They are also giving me a free 32gb iPhone (as I was about to order another when I noticed the cash missing from my account) which is equivalent to £270 - result.

Thank you very much for you info and advice, fantastic

boxer691

Theres a guy who monitors this site for Carphone Warehouse and 02 ask him, I'm sure he will help you. I wouldnt touch 02 or CPW to be honest

Colliefrog

I am not a he and I don't work for either CPW or O2!!!!