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O2 Still not resolved this after nearly 12 months! [LONG POST WARNING]
Hi everyone! I read the forums a lot, but don't post often, however I'm a little stumped this time, so I thought I'd turn to the community for help. (Pretty please with a cherry on top 
)
I've been a customer with O2 since 05th July 2011, when I got an iPhone 4 not long after launch (I believe it was around a month and a half.)
Okay, so in July last year (27th to be exact), I made a payment using my prepaid card for £95.52. The payment cleared my account straight away as normal, and I thought all was well.
My balance after payment was £0.00, or so I thought, I stupidly didn't check!
However on the 1st August my account was disconnected, I telephoned O2 to be told that they hadn't received any payment, and as a result they'd disconnected my account. I had just made the payment a few days earlier, and could show them via my prepaid card's online system that the payment had been made, so I did.
O2 went away to search for the payment and came back on the 3rd August, still refusing to reconnect me, stating that the payment couldn't be found, and could I get the credit card company to send me a statement with the payment in, and then fax that to them. No problem. The statement arrived on the 9th August, I telephoned customer services, explained the problem again, as apparently they couldn't see my notes, or no notes had been left.
I faxed over the statement on the 10th to the number provided ([FONT=Verdana, Arial]0113 202 5875). I got a phone call back saying that they had received the fax and would pass it onto the relevant person to go and look for the payment. At this point, they reconnected the telephone line, so that I could use it again. It was a heavy month for phone calls, as I was also moving home at this time. (I moved into the new flat, where I am now, on the 15th August, 2012)
I didn't hear anything back, and still without service, I telephoned again on the 29th August 2012, requesting an update. I also paid £180.62 on the 5th October, which was the phone bill for the calls made between the 15th August and the 4th October 2012. This included me repaying the £95.52 which was outstanding in my balance from the lost payment which still hadn't been found.
I was hoping at this point, that the payment would be found, and then credited to the account, leveling everything out.
On the 5th October 2012, with my account being entirely up to date, I was told by customer services, and after making the payment covering the lost payment, and bringing the account back into good standing, I was clearly instructed to do a chargeback on the card for the lost £95.52, which I sanctioned on this date via email with the prepaid card provider. (Bringing balance to £0.00)
On the 13th November 2012, I paid £49.61, which was my line rental and the much smaller bill I had run up in October, until November. (Current balance after payment £0.00)
On the 27th November 2012, my line is disconnected, I telephone to find out why, to be told that my balance was -£95.52. That afternoon I receive an email informing me that the chargeback request had been successful.
I attempted to explain the situation with customer services, to be met mostly with disbelief, until they read my notes, which explained the situation clearly. They said that they would look into it and get back to me. At this point the phone remained disconnected. So from the 27th November, I had no service.
However I never received a call back. After calling back 5 or 6 times and clearly getting nowhere, I asked to be put through to a manager, and refused to go away until I spoke to one. I was eventually connected to someone who identified himself as Liam, but wouldn't give me more information than that, and that he was the shift manager for the team I had come into.
I explained the situation, and he said that I would have to write to head office in order to get the situation resolved, and that he would put a note on my account to say that I shouldn't be charged for this month (i.e. november) as I hadn't been able to use the service.
I subsequently wrote to O2 4 times, all 4 by recorded delivery, and each time received a standard form letter, saying that they would look into the matter, and would get back to me.
However, I've still not heard back.
I telephoned today, after seeing my credit report and realizing that they had not only defaulted the account, but also added charges on in February for £944, plus the 3 months line rental from november, december and january, as the account hadn't been paid. (As if I paid, I would have had to pay for an additional £95.52 on top of the cost of the line rental for those months, something which I was assured the letter to O2's customer services team would resolve.
I was at this point, I had opened a second mobile phone contract, with the Newly launched EE in Early January 2013, after moving a second mobile I had on a T-Mobile contract, in order to get an iPhone 5 on EE and take advantage of the 4G network speeds.
I checked my credit record today, in order to work out why I'd been denied something by my bank, which I thought was pretty low on the credit terms basis, to find that O2 was showing as default, and was showing an outstanding balance of £1145.22. I telephoned O2, to find that they had sold the balance onto another firm, who are still yet to be in contact as far as I'm aware.
O2 definitely have the right address, telephone numbers, etc.. So there is no reason that the debt collector "Buchanan Clark & Wells" haven't been in touch.
However, what I would like to do, is get the whole debt written off, and have the £95.52 either credited to the account, or shown as corrected, and then having the account closed down, as they have already classed this as defaulted, which it shouldn't be in this case (At least I don't think it should be.)
I should point out, I signed up for the telephone online, and it was moved to the O2 Unlimited package on 20th June 2012, so I hadn't been on it for long when these problems started, and whilst I would love to go back on the package, after the way this has all transpired, I don't think I can risk it.
What are my options, who do I write a letter to? I don't have complaint reference numbers, because the form letter responses don't have one on, and O2 now just tell me to call Buchanan Clark & Wells, who obviously are only interested in having the debt paid off, even through the debt was initially created by O2.
Help, what can I do?
[/FONT]
)I've been a customer with O2 since 05th July 2011, when I got an iPhone 4 not long after launch (I believe it was around a month and a half.)
Okay, so in July last year (27th to be exact), I made a payment using my prepaid card for £95.52. The payment cleared my account straight away as normal, and I thought all was well.
My balance after payment was £0.00, or so I thought, I stupidly didn't check!
However on the 1st August my account was disconnected, I telephoned O2 to be told that they hadn't received any payment, and as a result they'd disconnected my account. I had just made the payment a few days earlier, and could show them via my prepaid card's online system that the payment had been made, so I did.
O2 went away to search for the payment and came back on the 3rd August, still refusing to reconnect me, stating that the payment couldn't be found, and could I get the credit card company to send me a statement with the payment in, and then fax that to them. No problem. The statement arrived on the 9th August, I telephoned customer services, explained the problem again, as apparently they couldn't see my notes, or no notes had been left.
I faxed over the statement on the 10th to the number provided ([FONT=Verdana, Arial]0113 202 5875). I got a phone call back saying that they had received the fax and would pass it onto the relevant person to go and look for the payment. At this point, they reconnected the telephone line, so that I could use it again. It was a heavy month for phone calls, as I was also moving home at this time. (I moved into the new flat, where I am now, on the 15th August, 2012)
I didn't hear anything back, and still without service, I telephoned again on the 29th August 2012, requesting an update. I also paid £180.62 on the 5th October, which was the phone bill for the calls made between the 15th August and the 4th October 2012. This included me repaying the £95.52 which was outstanding in my balance from the lost payment which still hadn't been found.
I was hoping at this point, that the payment would be found, and then credited to the account, leveling everything out.
On the 5th October 2012, with my account being entirely up to date, I was told by customer services, and after making the payment covering the lost payment, and bringing the account back into good standing, I was clearly instructed to do a chargeback on the card for the lost £95.52, which I sanctioned on this date via email with the prepaid card provider. (Bringing balance to £0.00)
On the 13th November 2012, I paid £49.61, which was my line rental and the much smaller bill I had run up in October, until November. (Current balance after payment £0.00)
On the 27th November 2012, my line is disconnected, I telephone to find out why, to be told that my balance was -£95.52. That afternoon I receive an email informing me that the chargeback request had been successful.
I attempted to explain the situation with customer services, to be met mostly with disbelief, until they read my notes, which explained the situation clearly. They said that they would look into it and get back to me. At this point the phone remained disconnected. So from the 27th November, I had no service.
However I never received a call back. After calling back 5 or 6 times and clearly getting nowhere, I asked to be put through to a manager, and refused to go away until I spoke to one. I was eventually connected to someone who identified himself as Liam, but wouldn't give me more information than that, and that he was the shift manager for the team I had come into.
I explained the situation, and he said that I would have to write to head office in order to get the situation resolved, and that he would put a note on my account to say that I shouldn't be charged for this month (i.e. november) as I hadn't been able to use the service.
I subsequently wrote to O2 4 times, all 4 by recorded delivery, and each time received a standard form letter, saying that they would look into the matter, and would get back to me.
However, I've still not heard back.
I telephoned today, after seeing my credit report and realizing that they had not only defaulted the account, but also added charges on in February for £944, plus the 3 months line rental from november, december and january, as the account hadn't been paid. (As if I paid, I would have had to pay for an additional £95.52 on top of the cost of the line rental for those months, something which I was assured the letter to O2's customer services team would resolve.
I was at this point, I had opened a second mobile phone contract, with the Newly launched EE in Early January 2013, after moving a second mobile I had on a T-Mobile contract, in order to get an iPhone 5 on EE and take advantage of the 4G network speeds.
I checked my credit record today, in order to work out why I'd been denied something by my bank, which I thought was pretty low on the credit terms basis, to find that O2 was showing as default, and was showing an outstanding balance of £1145.22. I telephoned O2, to find that they had sold the balance onto another firm, who are still yet to be in contact as far as I'm aware.
O2 definitely have the right address, telephone numbers, etc.. So there is no reason that the debt collector "Buchanan Clark & Wells" haven't been in touch.
However, what I would like to do, is get the whole debt written off, and have the £95.52 either credited to the account, or shown as corrected, and then having the account closed down, as they have already classed this as defaulted, which it shouldn't be in this case (At least I don't think it should be.)
I should point out, I signed up for the telephone online, and it was moved to the O2 Unlimited package on 20th June 2012, so I hadn't been on it for long when these problems started, and whilst I would love to go back on the package, after the way this has all transpired, I don't think I can risk it.
What are my options, who do I write a letter to? I don't have complaint reference numbers, because the form letter responses don't have one on, and O2 now just tell me to call Buchanan Clark & Wells, who obviously are only interested in having the debt paid off, even through the debt was initially created by O2.
Help, what can I do?
[/FONT]
Your friendly wheelchair bound IT consultant.
Always looking for new ways to increase my income and reduce my outgoings!
Email: me@christophereast.com
Always looking for new ways to increase my income and reduce my outgoings!
Email: me@christophereast.com
0
Comments
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Not all pre-paid cards can be used to set up a continuous authority, you may want to check with your card provider if they accept them, it sounds like o2 assumed the card would be used to pay future bills and so kept trying to rebill it. As there was no money on it the payment failed and you were in default.
You don't say if the o2 contract as 12/18 or 24 months, you say you moved to EE in January , did you do anything to close or cancel the o2 account?
Even if it was disconnected due to lack of payment in November you would still be liable for the month rental until the minimum term had elapsed, or pay any termination fees due. It's likely it was still running and as their was no money on the card to pay the bills then you moved into default, o2 would have then passed the debt on.
At this moment looking at what you have put you missed payments (or more accurately payment form your card didn't get to the account for whatever reason, could be a fault on the payment system, money not allocated to your account or any another reason) and you defaulted. As such the defaults are probably right.
Who's fault is it your for not checking or o2's for not applying the payment, and why didn't the payment get applied is a the matter you need to resolve before you can decide who is at fault.
You may also want to remove your phone number from your signature file.0 -
Not all pre-paid cards can be used to set up a continuous authority, you may want to check with your card provider if they accept them, it sounds like o2 assumed the card would be used to pay future bills and so kept trying to rebill it. As there was no money on it the payment failed and you were in default.
The Prepaid card was never setup under a continuous authority, a direct debit remained setup the entire time.You don't say if the o2 contract as 12/18 or 24 months, you say you moved to EE in January , did you do anything to close or cancel the o2 account?
Even if it was disconnected due to lack of payment in November you would still be liable for the month rental until the minimum term had elapsed, or pay any termination fees due. It's likely it was still running and as their was no money on the card to pay the bills then you moved into default, o2 would have then passed the debt on.
The number was disconnected in November as a direct result of the payment being recalled from July, yet the payment made in July was never credited in the first place.
I didn't move to EE, I migrated from T-Mobile (An already existing contract, which I operated alongside the O2 contract, however it became the main mobile phone number, when O2 decided to disconnect the number on the same day as the visa recall went through. It shouldn't have effected the O2 phone at all.
As for payments being missed, the DD is still showing as being active in the O2 online account, and yet I cannot find a single O2 direct debit since September 2012, bearing in mind that this same direct debit had been in place for a little over a year and a half. I did ask O2 Customer services about this, and was informed that there was no reason for this, but it could be related to the 95.52 being recalled, and the investigation which apparently took place to find it, but the customer services agent did confirm that the direct debit was still active.At this moment looking at what you have put you missed payments (or more accurately payment form your card didn't get to the account for whatever reason, could be a fault on the payment system, money not allocated to your account or any another reason) and you defaulted. As such the defaults are probably right.
Who's fault is it your for not checking or o2's for not applying the payment, and why didn't the payment get applied is a the matter you need to resolve before you can decide who is at fault.
I emailed, telephoned, and wrote to O2 several times to try and resolve the initial matter, and was told by customer services not to pay the balance off until it was sorted, as if I did it was unlikely to ever be resolved. Stupidly I believed them.
However I do have recordings of all of the telephone calls, but I didn't say that I was recording it. It does clearly say that I shouldn't pay the balance of the account until they have resolved the issue of the 95.52 being debited when it shouldn't have been as it was never credited in the first place.
They have indeed confirmed that it was never credited, but they still haven't worked out what on earth happened afterwards.
(I am severely disabled, and listen to the calls normally to refresh my memory after the fact, as I suffer with memory loss, and recording the calls is one of the ways I use to make sure I get things right further down the line.)You may also want to remove your phone number from your signature file.
Will do...don't know when I did that.
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
I have spoken to Buchanan Clark & Wells, and they said that they had not written to me because they were not chasing the account because it was clear there was a problem with it. Apparently someone in their offices spotted it before they called me.
A bit of a rare win considering the reputation which Buchanan Clark & Wells has on this forum.
Still. What are my options? Do I continue to write to O2 and try and get them to sort things out, and attach a MP3 or CD or something with the recording on? Or do I go to Ofcom? Or what?Your friendly wheelchair bound IT consultant.
Always looking for new ways to increase my income and reduce my outgoings!
Email: me@christophereast.com0
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