02 wont honour my cancellation

hopeneeded

hello, I would like some advice please.

I cancelled a contract with o2 for £32 per month on the 18th April after the 18month contract had expired. In the conversation when i cancelled the contract, I was offer and accepted the offer of a PUK code so that I could transfer my number to my new Orange Handset.

On the 28th April I flew to France for 7weeks of work, only to come back to bills from O2 saying my direct debits werent going through. In my error I had cancelled my direct debits for o2 before leaving, forgetting that I would owe my last months bill in May. I phoned 02 today offering to pay that month of £32 (I didnt use the phone since) but they said I owe up to June as well as my contract had not been cancelled! When i offered them the name of the person, date and time of when I cancelled, they said it was irrelevant because I had accepted a puk code and if I do not action it then the contract stays open! They did not say this on the phone nor can I see in my original contract which I still have. Either way, the Puk code arrived after I left for France (10 days after thecancellation) so I couldnt action it.

Are 02 correct when they say this?

I have just paid the £64 after 02 said they would refer to a debt agency if I did not pay. I have also work my credit rating to good after 5 years of paying off debt and paying bills on time. O2 have confrimed now that they have terminated my contract as a 'bad debt' and credit agencies informed.

Any advice would be really welcome.

steve

Proc

First things first, a PUK code is completely useless for number transfers. A PUK code is something you enter to unlock a SIM card after you have entered the PIN incorrectly 3 times.

You needed a PAC (Port Authority Code). They're generally valid for 28 days, and need to be given to the new network in order to cancel your current contract. I know that you are saying that O2 didn't tell you this, but every time I've requested a PAC I've been read a long list of blurb that explains everything. My guess is that you switched-off during this.

I think it's obvious that you need to use your PAC in order to cancel. Otherwise you'd have massive complications.

Chimpofdoom

Edit: proc beat me to the punch :-( hehe

hopeneeded wrote: »

hello, I would like some advice please.

I cancelled a contract with o2 for £32 per month on the 18th April after the 18month contract had expired. In the conversation when i cancelled the contract, I was offer and accepted the offer of a PUK code so that I could transfer my number to my new Orange Handset.

On the 28th April I flew to France for 7weeks of work, only to come back to bills from O2 saying my direct debits werent going through. In my error I had cancelled my direct debits for o2 before leaving, forgetting that I would owe my last months bill in May. I phoned 02 today offering to pay that month of £32 (I didnt use the phone since) but they said I owe up to June as well as my contract had not been cancelled! When i offered them the name of the person, date and time of when I cancelled, they said it was irrelevant because I had accepted a puk code and if I do not action it then the contract stays open! They did not say this on the phone nor can I see in my original contract which I still have. Either way, the Puk code arrived after I left for France (10 days after thecancellation) so I couldnt action it.

Are 02 correct when they say this?

I have just paid the £64 after 02 said they would refer to a debt agency if I did not pay. I have also work my credit rating to good after 5 years of paying off debt and paying bills on time. O2 have confrimed now that they have terminated my contract as a 'bad debt' and credit agencies informed.

Any advice would be really welcome.

steve

Well firstly if they gave you a PUK code, they gave you the wrong one (PUK codes are used to unlock your sim card should you lock your sim card/phone), you need a PAC code, so assuming that is what you actually got...

Your PAC number is only valid for 30 days after you have requested it from your service provider (in this case o2). It must be submitted to the new network within that period

You might get refused a PAC code for one of the following reasons:

• your number is disconnected - i.e. you must not cancel your existing contract before requesting a PAC number
• you have not yet fulfilled your obligations under your existing minimum term contract

o2 normally send your PAC code through the post (3 working days).

So to answer your question, yes O2 are correct, you asked for the PAC code, you have to action it within 30 days or the contract then continues as a rolling contract.

Although I'm a bit confused if you've paid off your contract, why they have informed a debt agency, are you sure that's what they said?

hopeneeded

hi I flew back saturday and I rang this morning. They said I has to pay the £64 accrued since my "cancellation" and not just the £32 which I thought I owed or they would refer it to a debt collection agency. I paid the £64 this morning via debit card but they have already informed credit score agencies that my payments were in arrears.

C.Lightowler

a friend of mine had this problem about 2 years and like you, didn't realise that not using the PUK code would mean that the contract stayed open. She had to pay the full amount they claimed was due too

balmk

Because they gave you a PAC code, the account has to be left running. This is because only active numbers can be ported to another network. Had you given the PAC code to Orange, your O2 account would have closed down on successful completion of the port.

wealdroam

And as only active numbers can be ported, I imagine you would have been furious if O2 had terminated your account as you requested.

You would've lost your number... that's [one of the reasons] why they do it the way they do.