O2 phone can't receive Vodafone texts

A_Perfectionist

My O2 contract phone (Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray) cannot receive texts or calls from any Vodafone friends. I will try to keep this short as it vexes me so even to describe the issues with O2 completely ignoring me as I try to resolve this... but I am hoping someone can help me get out of O2's contract as I am so fed up with them doing nothing to help.

My Voda-friends' phones all show that they have successfully texted me, but their texts never arrive. Their numbers are not blocked. I have no apps managing my mail services which migh affect them. I've tried turning-off, removing the battery, taking out the SIM. I've swapped my SIM from my phone to my husband's (he is also on an O2 contract) and asked a Voda-friend to text us both, and this resulted in my phone (on his SIM) receving the text but his phone (with my SIM) not. I've even got a new SIM and my old number ported across - still nothing works. So it's not a problem with the handset, which did get a vod-text when it had husband's SIM in. It's not a problem with the SIM, as I've swapped that. It's not related to time of day, thickness of walls, location, etc. I am flummoxed as to the cause of the problem, and frankly I reckon O2 are too as they are completely ignoring my pleas for help.

So I've phoned O2, emailed them, written three letters, emailed them again, and communicated via their "live chat" website, each time with no successful ideas of how to solve the problem. My latest letters (posted, and re-emailed three times) say I am cancelling my contract as of 20 Feb, as under their T&Cs I am not "receiving a service generally accepted in the telecommunications world" or somesuch.

I have heard nothing in return apart from auto-reply emails. I will be cancelling as of 20 Feb, and cancelling the direct debit (contract was meant to be 24 months from Oct 2011), and if I hear nothing before then I will brace myself to phone them again to get an address to return the handset to.

My big worry is that due to their apparent uselessness at record-keeping and communication between departments, once I cancel I will then get pursued by debt collectors. Therefore I am unwilling to start up a new phone service (obviously not with O2) until I am confident that the present one has been closed.

Can anyone help with advice about how to extricate oneself from a contract where the service is not being provided? Or any advice to deal with O2 in a way which actually gets a response from a real person with an ability to read letters and emails?

I'd be really grateful for others' similar experiences - even writing about the issues here, on a neutral forum, raises my blood pressure! :mad:

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

Someone else had a similar problem...
http://forum.o2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=377017
I don't think it was resolved, though.

grumbler

Firstly, think twice before cancelling the DD unless you don't care about your credit history and debt collectors knocking on your door.

Get some Voda phone or sim card and go to any O2 shop with both phones/sims. Don't leave the shop until they demonstrate that your O2 sim can receive texts from Voda if placed into at least one phone. If they cannot demonstrate it, insist on escalating the problem to the adequate level/department that can solve it.

A_Perfectionist

Thank you for your advice/comments.

I had seen the O2 forum post on this, and have tried to reply to this directly but to get access to the forum you need to register and, guess what, when I tried to register I got no response from O2! Nor to my polite chasing request about forum access. (Am I invisible there? Typing in mysterious vanishing ink maybe?)

I may have to pursue it directly in an O2 shop - the thought fills me with dread - if I can bribe one of my voda-friends to accompany me to demonstrate the problem... seems like a lot of hassle though, considering they've (O2) done absolutely nothing to help me, and I'm doing all the running here.

Any other suggestions? Is cancelling the contract really such a doom-laden proposition? I can paper-trail everything I have done to try to get the problem solved - it's not as if I'm making unreasonable demands. All I want is a phone service which communicates properly!

grumbler

A_Perfectionist wrote: »

...if I can bribe one of my voda-friends to accompany me to demonstrate the problem...

Vodafone Free Sim
You'll have to top it up to be able to send texts though.

Any other suggestions? Is cancelling the contract really such a doom-laden proposition? I can paper-trail everything I have done to try to get the problem solved - it's not as if I'm making unreasonable demands. All I want is a phone service which communicates properly!

The only way I see to do this safely is to demand cancellation without fees. If they charge the early termination fee, you pay it then claim it back (plus some extra) through the small claims court (online).

robbies_gal

yes it is doom laden it doesnt matter weot the problem is cancelling your dd just wont help you at all

they'll still keep totting up the bill and inthe end your name witll be mud

Buzby

You need to be sure the problem is not related to your equipment or settings. Either way, the network would treat it as a fault, and this is no reasonable excuse to terminate, You will need to spend almost £100 to raise a SC action (fees and your time) and whilst the network may not defend, it really is a last ditch action. Put the SIM into a different andset and get your friends to try again. There may be a transient problem with intra-network messaging, but these outages are rare and identified pretty quickly (as all the SMC's are linked).

grumbler

Buzby wrote: »

...Put the SIM into a different andset and get your friends to try again. There may be a transient problem with intra-network messaging,

A_Perfectionist wrote: »

...I've swapped my SIM from my phone to my husband's (he is also on an O2 contract) and asked a Voda-friend to text us both, and this resulted in my phone (on his SIM) receving the text but his phone (with my SIM) not.

..........

thegoodman

Have you checked with more than one vodafone friend?
You might get into a loop where o2 say it is to do with vodafone and so on.
If you cancel than O2 will get you for non payment and mark the credit file.
If the fault is proved and it is to do with o2 you can ask for some refund

Techhead_2

Have you considered that it may be a Vodafone problem (given the problem only concerns Vodafone and the fault finding you've done)?

If it is, and its a routing issue, then the problem will follow your number to a different network.

What do your friend s hear when they call you ? Have you ever ported your number?

A_Perfectionist

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to this problem - much appreciated after several months of O2 just ignoring the issue?

The same issue of non-text-receipt happens with at least three people who I know are on Vodafone, and I suspect there may be more as there are quite a few people I would usually have had contact from but I've not heard from in ages. One of the three has described that it just sounds like my number is disconnected when she tries to ring me. Not sure about the others - haven't yet asked.

For each of these people, they have tried to text on several occasions at different times, I think over about the past 2-3 months. It's just very odd that it's only voda-friends, no other networks. However all of these voda-friends do not have issues reaching any other networks, including other O2 phones. For instance my husband is on an O2 contract and his link with one of my voda-friends is fine. So yes, it may be a vodafone problem... but it just seems unlikely.

And as you rightly pointed out, it's not an equipment fault as when I swapped SIMs with my husband's handset, my handset received a voda text whilst his (with my SIM) did not.

I suspect there is some glitch in how my account/tel number has been set up... and I have asked O2 (by letter and email) to try to set me up with a new number to try that, but no response (two weeks later).

Oh woe.