O2 Loss Of Service

TheBigBad

I have two o2 contracts. One number ending 909, the other 498.

Below is a copy and paste of an email I have sent to the complaints review team today, the letter references a transcript of an online chat session which I wont paste as it lasted 3 hours and is epically long. I am really looking to see where I stand, any opinions or suggestions would be much appreciated. Apologies as this letter is fairly long:


Dear Sir or Madam


I am writing to request a review of the outcome of a complaint/issue reported to your customer services team and escalated to a team manager as per the process detailed on your website.


I have two contracts with o2, relating to telephone numbers xxxxxxxx909 and xxxxxxxx498.


On or around October 5th 2013, both numbers were suddenly unable to make or receive calls or send or receive text messages when at or near my home. I called customer services and was advised to remove the sim card and then put it back in. This fixed the problem sometimes but not most of the time.


On October 14th I called again to escalate the matter as even if this sim removal and replacement had worked 100% of the time, it is not a satisfactory nor a practical solution to the problem. At this point the issue was escalated to your network team and I was given the reference number xxxx093.


Roughly 5-7 days later I was contacted by a member of the network team who advised me that he had found a problem with a 3G transmitter at the mast that served my area and that he had reset it and believes the problem should be now be fixed. I was not at home at this time so could not verify this. Upon my return home it become apparent that the problem still existed and had not been fixed. I called again and had the ticket re-opened.


Again, 5-7 days later I was contacted by a member of the network team who requested that I log all calls I tried to make one day and provide you with time, date, telephone number and outcome for each call. I did this but have heard nothing since.

So today I started a live chat which you will see below. This chat lasted almost 3 hours! During the live chat I also called your network team who informed me that they were still working on the problem and that there were multiple cases in the area with the same issue but that there was no timescale as to when this may be resolved. Obviously this is of no use to me. It has been 27 days since I first reported this issue and you are no closer to resolving the matter.


xxxxxxxx909 is a sim only deal and is outside of the 12 month contract I originally entered into with o2. I have been given a PAC code for this along with a credit for the service interruption.


My problem is with xxxxxxxx498. This is a sim only deal that is still within the 12 month contract. I am told that if I terminate I will incur early termination charges. I think this is outrageous. My reason for termination is very simply the fact that o2 cannot provide me with the most basic and fundamental part of any mobile phone contract, the ability to make and receive calls! Being a sim only deal, you have not given me a "free" phone which is subsidized by the monthly rental charge so your liability on this contract is surely zero. Which suggests that given your failings to deliver this basic service that any early termination charges would in fact be punitive and not a true reflection of your losses.


As you can see from the chat, I was put through to Evan in your retentions team. Evan suggested that he had a solution that worked 99% of the time. However his solution seemed to involve my taking out two new contracts which he referred to as "upgrades" even though they would both put me in a position where I am materially worse off than I am right now. Once it become apparent that I would not be entering into any new contracts Evan seemed to lose all interest in resolving my issues.


I was then passed back to customer services and ultimate escalated to a team manager. During this section of the chat I was advised to contact your network team by telephone.


Ultimately we seemed to be at an impasse. O2 cannot provide me with the services that I am paying for but if I wish to leave then I have to pay early termination charges which I see as being grossly unfair. Basically you want me to pay for your services whether you are able to provide them or not!


As I see it, we have two options here as I believe this issue and the (lack of) resolution has broken down our relationship to the point where we cannot continue to do business. I have lost faith in your ability to deliver the services agreed and in your ability to resolve any issues that may arise. My solutions are as follows:


1. Termination of xxxxxxxx498 without any early termination charges and also a credit for the service interruption from October 5th up until the day this account is closed.

2. Termination of xxxxxxxx498 with early termination charges. This would then require me to recover these charges plus my losses via the small claims court which would be a waste of everybodys time and would ultimately end in my being awarded the the termination charges plus additional losses anyway.


Obviously option 1 is the best solution for all concerned.


I await your response.

[Deleted User]

I think you will find all networks have small print in their terms of service saying that they cannot guarantee service all the time due to technical problems that might arise and other problems inherent in radio transmission technology beyond their control.
They have admitted a technical fault local to you and no doubt will get it fixed, hopefully sooner than later for your purposes.

Therefore I don't think you can just back out of a contract because the local fault is inconvenient but I understand your annoyance all the same.

In your position (with two phones) I would be inclined to cancel one of the contracts when it ends and take out one with another network provider so that in future you should have at least one network working all the time.

gjchester

TheBigBad wrote: »

As I see it, we have two options here as I believe this issue and the (lack of) resolution has broken down our relationship to the point where we cannot continue to do business. I have lost faith in your ability to deliver the services agreed and in your ability to resolve any issues that may arise. My solutions are as follows:

Unfortunately your not in a great position. No network guarantees a service to be fault free, they can't as Warhead has said due to the nature of radio waves. You say it's not working at home, but it is working elsewhere (say work), so contractually they are supplying the service.

The O2 T&C pages says this, and while you may have signed a older contract these (or similar) terms will be in the contract you signed.

3. The Services we supply and what you can expect of us – Our services aren’t available everywhere in the UK. They’re not fault free, and speed and quality, for example, can be affected by things like the thickness of the walls of the building you’re in, atmospheric conditions, technical issues with the network and the number of people near you trying to access the services at the same time. Details are in paragraph 2 of the Agreement.

If a mast has failed it could be they take a while to repair it, and you should get something back for the inconvenience but you'd be unlikely to get a fee free cancellation. remember the issue may not be the mast itself, it could be power to it, or cabling that needs to be replaced and that takes time to organise and perform.


You should try and get at least your line rental back, but that is probably as much as you'll get.