Help, Phone blocked wrongly 6 months ago

lumpaywk

So this is a bit messy but please bear with me. 6 months ago i lost my phone and started a claim that required me to get a block put on the handset. It was then returned to me and the claim was cancelled. I also phoned O2 who said the bar had been lifted.
The phone worked perfect except i had no signal so i phoned up to check and they said that the block was no longer on the phone so i put it down to the fact it had been dropped and maybe the aerial was busted.
I was then told about checkmend at work and just out of curiosity checked my phone to find out it still had a bar on it.
If this checks out and they did not lift the bar as i was told they had do i have a legal standing to claim back my payments from the last 6 months as I have not used the sim due to not having a phone and so was unable to use it.
It would be good if i could as i really want to get the nokia sea ray once it is released and the cash would be enough to buy out the rest of my contract.

Techhead_2

On O2 a blocked phone still shows a signal but you can't make calls or texts. When you report a handset stolen the SIM is also blocked, did you get a new SIM or reactivate the old one? What did O2 say when you originally told them about the no signal issue?

As for Checkmend did it tell you the handset WAS reported lost / stolen (in the past) or is reported stolen (currently)?

lumpaywk

Thanks for the reply. I was sent a new sim when i reported it lost and it worked in another phone. When i said it didn't work they talked me through some settings and a factory reset but it didn't work so i put it down to the fact it fell off of my car roof.

The report said that it was not blocked on a uk network but was on the sier list of internationally blocked handsets. I sent them an email and they confirmed it was placed by O2 and only they could get it lifted and that it was currently on there, however, they could not comment further.

I have sent O2 the report and they are yet to get back to me.

Techhead_2

You were probably correct that the phone was damaged. The block was removed. So its not something that will let you out of the contract.

lumpaywk

I want to bump this again as it has been confirmed that i was right the phone was blocked by O2 and it was not lifted from CIER list only there own network. Does this change things for me as i now have proof they blocked my phone?

I have sent an email to there complaints department after cs tried to palm me off with £30 credit asking for the 6 months to be reimbersed or my contract canceled. Does anyone know where i legally stand with this request. All i really want is out as i hate O2 but thats a diff story.

Techhead_2

You've misunderstood. When you block a handset it is blocked in this country and then a short tine later will be added to the international list. Once its added to the international list it us very difficult to take it off, but can be dine in the UK.

This is because in some (many?) countries it is not legally possible to unblock an IMEI. (Those where handset registration is compulsory)

So O2 can unblock the handset in this country but because 'too much' time had passed before you found the handset the block can't be removed in all countries.

Anyway, its a bit irrelevant as the handset was broken anyway. So I would take their goodwill gesture.

Buzby

Due to the fact they provided a replacement SIM to allow the paid for services to be accessed (irrespective of what happened to the handset) the contract has not been broken and they are due their monthly payment as normal.

grumbler

Buzby wrote: »

Due to the fact they provided a replacement SIM to allow the paid for services to be accessed (irrespective of what happened to the handset) the contract has not been broken and they are due their monthly payment as normal.

Yes, but if they have made a mistake with unblocking, they have to refund the damages their mistake caused to the customer. I cannot imagine how these costs can be less than the monthly fee multiplied by the number of months (or the cost of a new identical replacement handset).

Rusty!

What damages? The phone appears to have been broken by dropping it, and would appear to be unusable regardless of IMEI blacklist status (as was unblocked for UK use).

I cannot imagine there being any costs to bare here.

grumbler

TBH, I have looked briefly only into the posts #1 and #5 and was replying to Buzby's comment: "irrespective of what happened to the handset".
Also, I said "if", not "as".

lumpaywk

Cleaning out my shortcuts i realised i never let you know what happened. Just in case someone else comes here with a simaler issue. The phone wrongly blocked by O2 and it took 4 times for them to finally unblock it -so worth checking checkmend if your having a simaler issue-. I talked to O2 complaints and they refunded be the full 6 months line rental rounded up. This in turn gave me enough cash to buy out the rest of the contract. I was willing to upgrade but O2 decided to cancel the early upgrade path to anyone under £36 a month and unlike others do not give a discount on buy outs but i had enough back anyways but that fact and that bar vodafone they are the most expensive network mean i will never go back. Got my Lumia 800 on preorder and will be with me on the 17th (1 day after release but the saving by ordering online makes it worth it)