O2 working on local mast causing problems

the_devil_made_me_do_it

About 3 days ago O2 decided to carry out some work on a local mast. They didn't bother informing customers about this, it was only until my phone wasn't sending/receiving txts, can't make or receive phone calls and not being able to use the internet on my phone.


Contacted O2 today asking when the mast would be back up and running & they couldn't tell me. I asked how they intended to compensate customers and they said they won't be compensating customers.


Anyone else experienced these problems elsewhere in the country and did O2 offer a time scale or compensation for not being able to use the phone?


Main problem with me is I am waiting for a few important phone calls and I can't get a message to the people telling them I can't use my phone. I explained this to O2 and they weren't interested.

forgotmyname

Normally your in range of 2 or 3 masts if not more.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

forgotmyname wrote: »

Normally your in range of 2 or 3 masts if not more.

It's the part of town where I live which is affected as far as I know. O2 just said it's the postcode area.

Retrogamer

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

About 3 days ago O2 decided to carry out some work on a local mast. They didn't bother informing customers about this

How would they know what customer's were currently/frequently in range of the mast to notify them? Even if they did somehow (not sure how) sending an sms to a customer with no service to let them know they have no service seems a bit of a waste of time since they won't get it.

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

Contacted O2 today asking when the mast would be back up and running & they couldn't tell me. I asked how they intended to compensate customers and they said they won't be compensating customers.

With any mobile provider a lot of the time, it's ASAP but timescales might not be available for lots of reasons

Have to order parts, that the part supplier says are out of stock and parts supplier can't give a date of when back in stock

Waiting on the land / building owner to give consent to allow them in to repair the mast

Waiting on a third party such as BT to get back to them on timescales for fixing cable faults (cables lead up to the mast)

Engineers struggling to determine the cause of the fault before they're able to fix it.

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

Anyone else experienced these problems elsewhere in the country and did O2 offer a time scale or compensation for not being able to use the phone?

Yes on the problems elsewhere. All mobile providers have faults frequently. No on the timescales (unless it was a planned outage)

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

Main problem with me is I am waiting for a few important phone calls and I can't get a message to the people telling them I can't use my phone. I explained this to O2 and they weren't interested.

Pay phones, landline phones, email, social media etc?
They should have apologised to you but beyond that not sure what powers they have. I know my mobile provider wouldn't do much more than say sorry.

gjchester

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

Main problem with me is I am waiting for a few important phone calls and I can't get a message to the people telling them I can't use my phone. I explained this to O2 and they weren't interested.

Unfortunatly its the nature of radio. The mast could be fine and you miss calls for all sorts of reasons such as a local black spot due to shielding from wire or concrete in walls.

You could call your voicemail from a land line and change the outgoing message.

gcn504

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

About 3 days ago O2 decided to carry out some work on a local mast. They didn't bother informing customers about this, it was only until my phone wasn't sending/receiving txts, can't make or receive phone calls and not being able to use the internet on my phone.

1) You can check the status of the fault in the affected area here:

http://status.o2.co.uk/

Main problem with me is I am waiting for a few important phone calls and I can't get a message to the people telling them I can't use my phone. I explained this to O2 and they weren't interested.

2) Have you downloaded O2's TuGo app - it allows you to make and receive calls over WiFi (and you can use multiple devices to do so, phones, ipads, laptops etc).

http://www.o2.co.uk/apps/tu-go

System

If you have inclusive minutes (and need to receive calls) you could look into forwarding all your calls to a PAYG sim from another network or even landline.

Not ideal, but would fix your immediate problem, in the short term.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

gcn504...I didn't know about the app. I am a total novice when it comes certain aspects of technology.

Heng Leng..I don't have a PAYG sim from another network and for some reason I am unable to forward calls to a landline. Have tried before and it doesn't allow me to do it.

The phone call I was waiting for is health related. I give out my mobile number as it's easier for people to contact me even when I'm out of the house. I haven't got a direct line for the health professional and their receptionists are useless when it comes to passing on messages.

System

Either EE or Vodafone would probably be one of the better bets

Basically all the networks will send you a free prepay sim and will generally all work immediately for incoming calls without a top-up.

19lottie82

I had an issue identical to yours with O2 recently. They gave me a date by which the problems would be resolved by, and they weren't. They recommended the Tugo app but tbh it was as much use as a chocolate teapot.

I complained in writing and they agreed to let me cancel my 2 contracts (half way thru 24 month min term) penalty free as long as I returned the phones, which was my suggestion.

19lottie82

Ps the problems had been ongoing for about 2 months before they agreed to the cancellation. Prior to this they gave me a £30 bill credit.