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Can you help an 81 year old with his O2 complaint?
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mikthefinn
Posts: 1 Newbie
in Mobiles
I am 81 years old and for the last year or so I have funded a mobile phone through O2 for my grand daughter who is 14 years old. As an special christmas surprise I decided to order an iphone 4s for her. I shopped around to check deals and then phoned O2 at the end of November to discuss what they could offer. Having explained what other offers I had considered I was put through to the retentions department. I explained that the phone was for a christmas gift and that the current contract was an unlimited calls deal on a simplicity sim only contract, I further explained that I had taken this contract so that I would not be hit with any ludicrous bills should my grand daughter go over her contractual allowance. The adviser looked at the call history and advised me that a contract with 600 cross network minutes and unlimited O2 to O2 calls would be more than sufficient for our needs, I did question this and for a small additional cost decided to take a contract with 900 cross network minutes as a further precaution. The adviser explained that I should ask my grand daughter to download an O2 app onto her new phone so that she could monitor the use of her new phone once she opened it on christmas day. I duly ordered the phone which was delivered early in December and then sat in wrapping paper under our tree until christmas day.
AT NO POINT WAS I TOLD THAT THE NEW CALL PLAN WOULD COME INTO EFFECT IMMEDIATELY AS I ASSUMED THAT THIS WOULD BE DONE WHEN THE NEW PHONE WAS ACTIVATED. THE ADVISER KNEW THAT THIS WAS A CHRISTMAS GIFT AND WOULD NOT BE USED FOR SOME WEEKS.
On the 15th December my grand daughter called me in a panic. She had received a text from O2 telling her that she was £229 above her tariff charge for the month and as she had been used to an unlimited calls package she couldn’t understand why this was the case. I reassured her that there must be some issue with O2 and that I would call them. I was hugely surprised as again I didn’t know that the new contract had come into force and I couldn’t tell her that I’d ordered her a new phone for christmas. I called O2 Customer Services immediately and spoke to an adviser. The young man I spoke to who was very offhand and didn’t seem to think £229 was much of a problem, he looked at the account and explained that the unlimited O2 to O2 calls part of the call plan had not been added to the plan and that this was the likely reason that there were additional charges. He explained that he would get the O2 to O2 element added to the call plan and would have the bill revised. He said that this may take some 5-7 days. I challenged this as I thought that this was a long time to take to sort things out and I was concerned that the bill could escalate and that if it wasn’t sorted out O2 may try taking this amount from my bank account. I was reassured that it shouldn’t be a problem and the adviser suggested that if I was really concerned that I should cancel my direct debit whilst the problem was resolved!
I was confident that the problem had been dealt with and that my grand daughter could now continue using her phone without running up any further liabilities but sadly a few days later around the 20th December a further text arrives telling her that she is £417 over her tariff, the poor girl was beside herself with worry and I was furious after having spent over half an hour on the phone trying to sort it out and having been reassured that it would be done. I phoned O2 customer services again and spent over an hour on the phone talking things through with an adviser who told me that he couldn’t find any record of the previous call and that the O2 to O2 element of the plan had been added but would not come into effect until the next billing date. With some cajoling he said he would fill in a new form to get the bill revised but he couldn’t give me the information there and then as to how the bill had been arrived at. I was really concerned about the charges but was reassured once more that once the bill was revised all would be well. This adviser promised me that he would sort things out and that I should check my account online in 4/5 days time to make sure all was in order.
Christmas day came and my grand daughter was thrilled with her new phone and after she had opened her gift it reminded me to check the account online which I did on the 28th December. To my absolute horror the bill had escalated to a massive £738 so once again I am on the phone calling O2 customer services to be told that they have indeed revised my bill and applied a credit for some £52 + VAT for O2 to O2 calls charged in error leaving some £690 still to pay! I spent a further 90 minutes explaining what had happened and the adviser was really sympathetic and was obviously struggling with the awkwardness of the case and repeatedly said that this was a real difficult one. The adviser obviously referred the case to a variety of supervisors and eventually had to arrange to phone me back the following day promising me that he would do his best to resolve the matter. I received a call back the following day from the same young man who had now adopted a whole new tone of voice to tell me that following a review of the case the bill stands and O2 consider that I had been sold the new contract correctly and had been given appropriate information to monitor the use of the phone. In a nutshell the whole debacle is apparently entirely my fault.
There are loads of issues in here I know including the fact that my grand daughter made many more calls on her phone than usual but I feel that I have not had good advice at the outset, that I have been poorly informed and supported during the calls I made to customer services and to be effectively told to just pay the bill is an insult after having made such a repeated effort to get some effective customer service.
At 81 years of age I can really do without the stress of dealing with this never mind the thought of trying to find £700 to pay the bill next month. My grand daughters new phone is now back in it’s box as it will not be used until this matter is resolved.
Any advice, constructive comments or other information which may help me will be gratefully received.
AT NO POINT WAS I TOLD THAT THE NEW CALL PLAN WOULD COME INTO EFFECT IMMEDIATELY AS I ASSUMED THAT THIS WOULD BE DONE WHEN THE NEW PHONE WAS ACTIVATED. THE ADVISER KNEW THAT THIS WAS A CHRISTMAS GIFT AND WOULD NOT BE USED FOR SOME WEEKS.
On the 15th December my grand daughter called me in a panic. She had received a text from O2 telling her that she was £229 above her tariff charge for the month and as she had been used to an unlimited calls package she couldn’t understand why this was the case. I reassured her that there must be some issue with O2 and that I would call them. I was hugely surprised as again I didn’t know that the new contract had come into force and I couldn’t tell her that I’d ordered her a new phone for christmas. I called O2 Customer Services immediately and spoke to an adviser. The young man I spoke to who was very offhand and didn’t seem to think £229 was much of a problem, he looked at the account and explained that the unlimited O2 to O2 calls part of the call plan had not been added to the plan and that this was the likely reason that there were additional charges. He explained that he would get the O2 to O2 element added to the call plan and would have the bill revised. He said that this may take some 5-7 days. I challenged this as I thought that this was a long time to take to sort things out and I was concerned that the bill could escalate and that if it wasn’t sorted out O2 may try taking this amount from my bank account. I was reassured that it shouldn’t be a problem and the adviser suggested that if I was really concerned that I should cancel my direct debit whilst the problem was resolved!
I was confident that the problem had been dealt with and that my grand daughter could now continue using her phone without running up any further liabilities but sadly a few days later around the 20th December a further text arrives telling her that she is £417 over her tariff, the poor girl was beside herself with worry and I was furious after having spent over half an hour on the phone trying to sort it out and having been reassured that it would be done. I phoned O2 customer services again and spent over an hour on the phone talking things through with an adviser who told me that he couldn’t find any record of the previous call and that the O2 to O2 element of the plan had been added but would not come into effect until the next billing date. With some cajoling he said he would fill in a new form to get the bill revised but he couldn’t give me the information there and then as to how the bill had been arrived at. I was really concerned about the charges but was reassured once more that once the bill was revised all would be well. This adviser promised me that he would sort things out and that I should check my account online in 4/5 days time to make sure all was in order.
Christmas day came and my grand daughter was thrilled with her new phone and after she had opened her gift it reminded me to check the account online which I did on the 28th December. To my absolute horror the bill had escalated to a massive £738 so once again I am on the phone calling O2 customer services to be told that they have indeed revised my bill and applied a credit for some £52 + VAT for O2 to O2 calls charged in error leaving some £690 still to pay! I spent a further 90 minutes explaining what had happened and the adviser was really sympathetic and was obviously struggling with the awkwardness of the case and repeatedly said that this was a real difficult one. The adviser obviously referred the case to a variety of supervisors and eventually had to arrange to phone me back the following day promising me that he would do his best to resolve the matter. I received a call back the following day from the same young man who had now adopted a whole new tone of voice to tell me that following a review of the case the bill stands and O2 consider that I had been sold the new contract correctly and had been given appropriate information to monitor the use of the phone. In a nutshell the whole debacle is apparently entirely my fault.
There are loads of issues in here I know including the fact that my grand daughter made many more calls on her phone than usual but I feel that I have not had good advice at the outset, that I have been poorly informed and supported during the calls I made to customer services and to be effectively told to just pay the bill is an insult after having made such a repeated effort to get some effective customer service.
At 81 years of age I can really do without the stress of dealing with this never mind the thought of trying to find £700 to pay the bill next month. My grand daughters new phone is now back in it’s box as it will not be used until this matter is resolved.
Any advice, constructive comments or other information which may help me will be gratefully received.
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Comments
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A few questions:
- what are the charges for? Ringing landlines, ringing other networks, ringing O2 phones, premium lines, premium text charges, texts, downloading apps or what? It's possible to get a bill for hundreds of pounds whatever contract you are on, if you try hard enough.
- what is the fair use limit on the O2 to O2 calls? Or are you 100% sure there isn't one?
- you say the new phone is back in its box, but the sim is the important thing, I hope it is out of reach of your granddaughter too.0 -
I have previously had problems with mis-selling from o2, during my complaint I requested a transcript of all previous calls - although they state these are all recorded it seems they weren't able to find any of mine with the incorrect information given by their staff. This included the call where I agreed to their conditions so they cancelled contract and all monies/debt was wiped. Perhaps I was just lucky but it may be worthwhile for you to ask for a copy of all calls to assist when taking your complaint further. Good Luck!0
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The iPhone is probably consuming lots background data, has your gd been on youtube, facebook etc?whats the monthly data allowance on the phone?
Don't know how you would switch it off on an iphone as mines an Android.
Data is extra on the simplicity sim contracts e.g £6 for 500mb.
http://shop.o2.co.uk/tariffs/simplicity/1_monthThat gum you like is coming back in style.0 -
The iPhone is probably consuming lots background data, has your gd been on youtube, facebook etc?whats the monthly data allowance on the phone?
Don't know how you would switch it off on an iphone as mines an Android.
The OP stated that the bill occured prior to the iphone being operated, so assuming she only had a basic phone prior to 25 December then data shouldn't have caused an issue.
OP can you confirm previous phone?0 -
Sorry should have read the OP more closely, so calls outside the calling plan??
pictures, overseas calls?That gum you like is coming back in style.0 -
As you explained when initially contacting O2 that you wanted to ensure that you "would not be hit with any ludicrous bills should my grand daughter go over her contractual allowance" and were advised that the new tariff was better, seems like a clear case of bad advice / mis-selling to me. In the meantime, I would suggest that you contact the telecoms Ombudsman (OTELO) - http://www.telecomsadvice.org.uk/infosheets/ofcom_telecommunications_internet_complaints_ombudsman_otelo_cisas.html
I would also suggest that you consider cancelling your Direct Debit as a precaution before any money is taken out.0 -
As you explained when initially contacting O2 that you wanted to ensure that you "would not be hit with any ludicrous bills should my grand daughter go over her contractual allowance" and were advised that the new tariff was better, seems like a clear case of bad advice / mis-selling to me. In the meantime, I would suggest that you contact the telecoms Ombudsman (OTELO) - http://www.telecomsadvice.org.uk/infosheets/ofcom_telecommunications_internet_complaints_ombudsman_otelo_cisas.html
I would also suggest that you consider cancelling your Direct Debit as a precaution before any money is taken out.
Last point - think carefully as it will mark your credit record if you follow this advice.
Looking back at the original post, it seems that the problem lay with the revised plan reducing her minutes/texts.
She had an unlimited plan but you wrote "On the 15th December my grand daughter called me in a panic. She had received a text from O2 telling her that she was £229 above her tariff charge for the month and as she had been used to an unlimited calls package she couldn’t understand why this was the case. ".
Now, this was before she had her Iphone, so the data issue should not apply. So what has pushed the pre-Christmas use up?
Either she has been hitting the unlimited voice/text pretty hard or there are overseas calls/premium calls/picture calls causing the problem. You need to get the usage information from O2 before we can help.
But I suspect you will have an ongoing issue that will get worse without some intervention.
If it is that she is using loads of minutes - over 600/900 - then your kind gesture of the new contract has actually curtailed her use of the phone and you can look forward to big bills unless she cuts down its use.
Data. For goodness sake, do check that you have put data on the contract - and loads of it - or you ain't seen nothing yet. Iphones eat data and out of bundle data costs are horrendous. I would suggest mothballing the Iphone till that is sorted out.
You also need to get her to learn what consumes data - watching films for example - and also she needs to have it connected to her home wi-fi whenever possible, both for speed and data preservation.
I would also get some guidance from some experienced people to ensure that this does not become a monthly occurrence.0 -
What I find confusing is why you would change a tariff prior to switching handsets? O2 would provide a mini-SIM with the replacement iPhone, and arrange for the number to be transferred. The most appropriate tariff (bearing in mind this is a data-intensive iphoine) will be advised. From the description, the issue is with an inappropriate tariff - but the onus remains with the customer to ensure their use is in line with the benefits of the tariff. What appears at first instance to be mis-selling, isn't - as I don;t think the changes in tariff had been adequately communicated to the user.
Out of bundle calls remain the responsibility of the user, but there may be the possibility for negotiation due to the upgrade hgowever this will only be achieved by seeking their assistance, not demanding redress because of the mistaken belief they screwed up. For what it is worth, as the user is under-age and removed from the tariff 'sharp end', I'd suggest you are leaving yourself wide open to paying out large amounts due to unexpected issues. None have anything to do with misuse by the user, as theft, premium texts and sundrt scams can hit the bill payer. Then there's insurance - at £500-600 to replace if lost or stolen, never mind the cost of unauthorised calls, this needs to be covered to protect your investment.0 -
I have just read the OP story and it seem's as if he didn't have any data plane put in place just mins
The OP also doesn't say when he took the contract out so he would have had line rental from day one
He also stated that his granddaughter got text messages before she got the new phone
It sounds like she had already run a bill up before she even got the new phone or are these's bills from the old phone and new phone combined.Nobody is Perfect. I am Nobody, therefore I am Perfect.
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The way I interpreted it was :
OP upgraded to an iPhone 4S but downgraded the tariff to less allowance. O2 usually issue a micro sim which the customer has to activate via their website. OP assumed that as he wasn't activating the sim or phone until Christmas the tariff would remain the same until then so thus, didn't inform his granddaughter of the tariff change. O2 didn't inform the OP that his tariff would be active as of immediate effect so granddaughter continued to use her old phone as normal and unknowingly ran up a bill. On top of this, the unlimited O2-O2 calls bolt on was not activated correctly so the bill very well could have been normal if these are the type of calls that the granddaughter utilities mostly.
Is this correct OP? If so, I would ask O2 for am itemised bill to find out if the calls were cross network or to other O2 numbers.Have I helped? Feel free to click the 'Thanks' button. I like to feel useful (and smug).
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