£50 compensation for O2 Pay upfront for life package holders

Galstonian

I'm currently on Alltime 50 Upfront For Life and have the original docs but they do not state that you can choose to change which option (50/200). In fact my contract does not contain any price plan details instead it simply refers to "The Price List". It was the standard BT Cellnet three part application form and the Tariff Plan section had "Phone 4 Life - No line Rental, BT Pay Up Front" written on it.

I was given a photocopy of the tariff price details as there were no leaflets left. These are largely the same details that I now see on my bill (under "Your Calling Plan" it lists inclusive minutes and prices) though my bill shows MMS at 25p and Mobile Internet over GSM at 10p. It also states that inclusive calls include calls from the UK to fixed line numbers other BT Cellnet mobiles and Callback access and retrieval. I believe I did get notification of a change to T&C saying 901 was chargable. It carries on with "tariff extras" and details three different optional WAP, SMS and Cross Network bundles (500 Wap minutes for £4.99, 50 SMS for £2.99 and 20 X-net minutes for £4.99).

I asked for details of MMS settings for my phone when I saw they were mentioned on my bill but was told this not available with this tariff - which poses the question why put it there? Has anyone used MMS with this tariff? If so please let me know how.

With every year that passes since I bought this in 2002 the customer service reps get more and more confused by it, some have even denied that I have this contract and told me that I must have something else. It doesn't surprise me that 02 are not telling the truth but I'm not convinced that is quite the same as them lying - they simply do not know what the truth is in this case.

haveagoade

I'm not saying the ordinary CS are lying they dont know half of whats going on.
BUT my complaint went all the way to someone who WAS suposed to know what they were taking about and said to myself and OTELO the anytime 50 DOES NOT EXIST ANYMORE.

There are many incarnations of this deal but mine seems to be the one O2 wish to stiffle and not honour the T&C's

I've already sutisfied OTELO that I'm entitled to Swap between the 50 and 200 mins plans by providing them with a copy of the T&C's booklet.
If you can find this booklet and its relevent to your PUFFL then claim your RIGHTS or seek compensation.

The wording on my T&C's was extremely clear.......it said "dont worry about chosing which plan is best suitable for you, you may change between the plans once a month for life, and for life is defined as for as long as you remain conected to PUFFL.

This is why OTELO need to sort this mess out with O2....before long it'll be impossible to speak to anyone in O2 who knows anything about PUFFL.

Galstonian

I have to admit to only scanning a lot of this thread (all 6 pages) but that is the first time I think I've seen the most pertinent information for being able to claim.

It is not whether or not other customers have active PUFFL 50 or 200 tariffs, it is the fact that they (BT now O2) contracted to give you (haveagoade, possibly others as well) an option and they have reneged on that deal.

Quite why they are not allowing you to switch if there are other customers actively using both plans is a bit of a mystery, perhaps they see too much effort in allowing this option or perhaps their systems are designed in such a way that switching to a legacy tariff is not supported but that is really their problem.

I think I may have accidentally given the T&C of the contract away with the phone (which I subsequently sold) so I guess I'll never know the truth as I'm almost certain 02 will not be able to tell me what they are.

Kontiki

I bought 2 PUFF phones about 3 years ago for £139.99 each in Birmingham, I selected the 50 mins anytime. Both my wife & I are light users & very rareley go over the 50 mins I decided to stop the itemised billing of 99p per phone as I worked out any call charges we have in the year over the 50 mins would be covered by the itemised billing charge. I rang them to tell them to stop the itemised billing but it took about 3 months & about 4 calls to get them to stop charging for the itemised billing, they still send me an itemised bill for each phone but now don't charge me?? I am saving £23.76 a year & still get exactly the same as before. Anybody still paying for itemised billing should get them to cancel the 99p charge & see if they still get the itemised bill, you can always restart the itemised billing if you don't get it for free.

andy88_2

Thanks Kontiki. I'm still trying to get a copy of Nov or Dec bill - the one after the 3 months at once, but I could try that idea.

Kontiki

What prompted me to stop the itemised billing was when they sent me a bill but no itemised part for either phone, I think it was around November. After ringing them they said there had been a problem with the billing & they would send it next month & refund the charge, as both phones had used less than the free 50 mins I told them I didn't require the itemised part. After a few phone calls over the following months I finally got the charge cancelled & am now in credit on both phones for nearly £3. I haven't bothered getting the cash back as we use text messaging when abroad so this will cover me for a year or so.

I always ask who I am talking to & how I can contact them if there is a problem, I also make a note of this as well as the date & time if I have to call them again.

chalktalk

I've been on the 200 off peak minutes PUFFL deal and cancelled itemised billing as soon as I bought it - and was getting a bill for £0.00 every month for the last 3 years, but have not had a bill since November. The phone still works fine and I have been using it - the direct debit remains live on my account but nothing has been claimed.

I remember trying to call CS once in the past and was told to "try it and see" to find out how much 0845 calls wouldcost from my phone so I haven't bothered to call since, and I won't unless my SIM card stops working.

I use the pre-dial service on 0783 436 9367 (an 02 number) to get free calls with my free minutes.
http://www.pre-dial.com/frame_destlisto.htm

BarGin

Slightly off topic but has anyone been able to use GPRS on a PUFL tariff?

BarGin

thefirs

I have been happily using the PUFFL accounts to call 0844/0845/0870 numbers since I got two of them some years ago, but this is all now coming to an end (see http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=530981). The free landline minutes have otherwise been peripheral to my requirements for quite a while, as I have other cashback contracts giving me the freedom to call X-net numbers within inclusive minutes, and I can't be fussed switching between handsets for different types of call these days.

The time seems to have come to draw a line under the PUFFLs, but I should naturally like to exit with the aplomb of some compensation. I find I haven't kept any of the stuff that came with the the contracts explaining the rights to change packages, though I clearly remember the small print when purchasing.

Does anyone still have copies of the T&Cs, or even promotional material that featured this facility? From contributions in this thread and elsewhere, I would expect anyone at CS to have no material that might substantiate my claim, and the wordings will have to be quoted, if not copies of their original material.

puddings_2

It's good to see that there are still other people out there with the old cellnet PUFFL tariffs

I also find it increasingly difficult to get any sense out of O2 customer services about these plans.

I'm trying to switch from altime50 to the text50 option. It's like banging my head against a wall. If O2 offered me £50 compensation I'd be laughing my cotton socks off, it was a dodgy sim card that I bought back in 2001, that only cost me £39 hee hee!