O2 Adventure

Squire_Fulwood

Helping a friend out I ended up paying his phone bill. He needed his phone service back in a hurry so with my permission his bill was paid with my plastic but the lady at O2 said, “Oh dear, it’s taken it twice, you will have to phone your bank”.

I phoned my bank and told them the circumstances and they said quite reasonably that they had no way of knowing that it was an overpayment and O2 should be involved. They gave me an authorisation number and the time of the transaction and told me to pass these to O2 who should then fax them to the bank. This way the bank would know that O2 agreed to the repayment.

I phoned O2 who would have none of it and kept reading me the same lines from their script. “We cannot divulge a customer’s transaction information because it would be against the Data Protection Act” etc. Pointing out that all they had to do was fax the bank with an authorisation number provided by the same bank got me nowhere. “Just a moment I will speak with my supervisor” which meant I was on hold for a time. “You have to phone your bank and get them to do an indemnity claim”

You should understand that the conversation went on for some time with the previous paragraph being repeated again and again and resulted in me getting a bit heated and saying to O2, “Whatever I say you are not going to do it are you?” “We cannot divulge ...................etc etc.

Being game for a laugh I phoned the bank again and said that O2 were not going to do as they were asked and did they have any more suggestions. I told the bank that O2 said they must do an indemnity claim and the bank told me that the procedure only applied to Direct Debits. Since I had used a card different rules applied. I asked who I should phone next and the bank was lost for ideas. They said that maybe O2 won’t claim the spare overpayment or maybe hell will freeze over.

So far I have enjoyed today no end. My friend has had this months and next month’s bill paid and O2 are richer as a result and from the sound of it intend to stay that way. Don’t you just love ‘em.

Oh and did I mention the “Press one for this and press two for that and .................arrrgh.

BlueAngelCV

Can your friend not contact O2 for the details to send to the bank?

Techhead_2

Exactly, the friend can easily sort this.

As it happens, it looks like its merely an authorisation hold rather than the card actually being charged twice so, as the bank says, it will sort itself anyway in a couple of days.

Squire_Fulwood

Yes I am waiting until the actual transfer of funds happens (or not) and if it gets paid twice the friend will be paying his phone bill to me instead of O2. I think the thing I learned from this is that talking to O2 is like talking to a revolving door and about as useful. They were not willing to help in any way and kept reading a script until I gave up.

Squire_Fulwood

For the information of anyone still interested the payment to o2 was taken twice. I asked my friend ti contact o2 and ask them for a refund. He did this and told me that they suggested that I phone my bank and get them to sort it out.

If you have not read this thread before then I suggest that you read #1 to find out what happened when I phoned my bank.

So far the story is o2 charged twice for a phone bill and will do nothing to put matters to rights. Nice of them isn't it.

nomoneytoday

Easy way to fix. Your friend has a credit on their bill, they pay you this credit. Done

If_it_can_go_wrong

nomoneytoday wrote: »

Easy way to fix. Your friend has a credit on their bill, they pay you this credit. Done

But that does assume that the friend wants, needs, or can afford the extra credit. It would be a much easier fix if companies were forced to accept responsibility for their mistakes and sort it out when errors like this occur.

Proc

It sounds like it's gone into holding. Give it a few days.

I don't know if it's my card or the places I go but this has been happening a lot to me lately. Normally at Tesco petrol station; I fill up and they say my card has declined. I laugh and say no...try again. They try again and it goes through.

I check my online banking and sure enough 2 lots of £100 to Tesco. Just wait a few days then it's back again. I'm wondering if something similar happened with OP.

Squire_Fulwood

Proc wrote: »

It sounds like it's gone into holding. Give it a few days.

I check my online banking and sure enough 2 lots of £100 to Tesco. Just wait a few days then it's back again. I'm wondering if something similar happened with OP.

Something similar has not happened with OP. O2 took the money twice and my account has been debited twice. O2 will not communicate or help in any way although it would be reasonable to say it was their error that started this.

Nomonytoday: I will be getting the money back from my friend in due course. Being a family man he can't just stump up phone bill money months in advance. Fortunately I can but that does not absolve a company from being just about as unhelpful as they can be after they made a mistake.

Squire_Fulwood

nomoneytoday wrote: »

Easy way to fix. Your friend has a credit on their bill, they pay you this credit. Done

Sorry Nomoneytoday I think I misunderstood your post. Yes my friend has a credit on his bill and he has asked for a refund. They told him I must phone my bank (see #1). If I speak to o2 they will not co-operate due to the Data Protection Act???

So, my friend is powerless because it is not his plastic and I am powerless due to o2 worrying about the Data Protection Act.

Basically o2 is not going to co-operate in any way shape or form.