WARNING: O2 sell faulty phones & won't replace them

trainspotter1

If you buy a phone from O2 and it's faulty (after 28 days of purchase), they will not replace it or refund your money until it has been sent off for repair 3 times. After all that, there's still no guarantee you'll get a replacement phone that works.

I bought my husband a payg O2 phone for his birthday in September. The camera didn't work and it didn't connect to the internet. He spent several days emailing & talking to CS who told him to reset etc etc, It didn't work.

He finally had to take the phone into an O2 shop. They told him they couldn't change it for another - he'd have to send it off for repair. In the meantime, he had to pay a £25 deposit for a crappy old courtesy phone that probably cost about a fiver.

It came back 2 weeks later, supposedly fixed.

A week after that, the same thing started happening - camera not working and internet access intermittent and slowing down. We took it to the O2 store where they said it would have to be sent off for repair 3 times before they would do anything else.

If they couldn't fix it the first time? What makes them think they're going to fix it the next two times? And it must cost them more money to keep sending it off than it would to return to the manufacturer for an exchange.

I've paid money for an item that does not work and have got the hassle of taking it back 3 times and being without it for at least 6 weeks while they tr to repair it. What a joke!

I think their customer services dept are living in the stone age if they think this will do anything to retain/increase business. They're like a bunch of cowboy builders who keep making excuses when things go wrong.

I've been a contract customer with them for over 10 years and they'll be losing my custom. I'll also be telling everyone what to expect from them, ie zero customer service.

Hey O2, instead of texting me on a hot day to tell me that your store will give me a free ice cream - how about you give me a phone that works?

diable

I don't think they will miss you either.

trainspotter1

No, they won't miss me. But I thought I'd point out their laughable 'policy' so you know where you stand if you buy a phone from them.

marvin

Really in the wrong board should be in the vent section but..... The time I had trouble with a reconditioned phone bought without sim I did not encounter the problems you did no charges made (but then we were able to replace with an old phone ourselves) eventually got a replacement reconditioned phone. All done under the guarentee despite the fact it was only 4 days inside the guarentee when it went faulty.

So not always bad sometimes good.

trainspotter1

Aah, I didn't realise there was a 'vent' section. That sounds like a scary place to be. Thanks, I'll post there instead.

JJ_Egan

Vent section you go there when you dont want help just to scream loudly .
10 vents and you pass to the brickwall section .


I would have by passed the lot and gone straight to Trading Standards for advice .

jje

Guys_Dad

trainspotter1 wrote: »

No, they won't miss me. But I thought I'd point out their laughable 'policy' so you know where you stand if you buy a phone from them.

I understand your frustration, but is there ANY network that would act differently? Seems to me from reading here for some time that they are all very similar.

trainspotter1

Hi JJ, after one vent, I think I'll go to the 'have a drink & forget about it' section.

Guys Dad, you're probably right. I'll shop around and go for the company with the best customer service rep (if there is such a thing).

Techhead_2

The problem you'll find is that O2 regularly get awarded best Customer Service.

The three repair attempts (after 28 days) before exchanging for a different handset is pretty common for mobile providers. (In fact O2's twenty eight day exchange/refund is longer than many other networks).

I get where you are coming from, but I think your expectations are a little too high.

tazdevil01985

Techhead wrote: »

The problem you'll find is that O2 regularly get awarded best Customer Service.

The three repair attempts (after 28 days) before exchanging for a different handset is pretty common for mobile providers. (In fact O2's twenty eight day exchange/refund is longer than many other networks).

I get where you are coming from, but I think your expectations are a little too high.

Or just go to Orange and have insurance - next day 3 time windows replacement best service that I am aware about for faulty/damaged phones

Wintermute

tazdevil01985 wrote: »

Or just go to Orange and have insurance - next day 3 time windows replacement best service that I am aware about for faulty/damaged phones

My sister's with Orange, the phone they gave her on her 24 month contract was terrible, she's had it replaced about 4 times now and the one time she managed to get through to retentions the person she was speaking to didn't even appear to be looking at the correct account as he was talking about a different tariff than the one she's on and claiming her bills were about £30 higher than they actually were.
Unfortunately I've got to phone Orange tomorrow