Top up voucher not honoured

mrsyardbroom

I've just bought a new o2 phone from Argos and I was surprised to find that they wouldn't sell me the phone unless I paid £10 for a top up voucher. The phone was a pay and go.
I haven't used a mobile much and o2 told me that I could use a pay and go phone to connect to the internet if I wanted to without having to have a monthly contract. It sounded like a good idea but it was so expensive that I quickly switched to monthly contract. A day later I tried to use the top up voucher bought in Argos I but found that it couldn't be redeemed. I contacted o2 who said the voucher was only for pay and go and I should contact Argos to see if I could put it towards something else. I immediately contacted Argos and asked for a refund but after a couple of days they got back to me and said it was nothing to do with them, they had only sold me the voucher and that I should get a refund from o2.
Who is right? Any ideas on who I should be asking for a refund or should I just wave bye bye to my £10? It seems like a nice little earner for someone.

grumbler

mrsyardbroom wrote: »

...
Who is right?

Everyone except you.

Any ideas on who I should be asking for a refund or should I just wave bye bye to my £10?

Wave bye bye.

It seems like a nice little earner for someone.

Well, all PAYG phones are subsidised by providers and get sold with a compulsory topup (unless it's PAYG 'upgrade') at discounted prices. Argos give a clear information on this on their website, e.g. http://shop.ee.co.uk/mobile-phones/pay-as-you-go/nokia-106-payg/details

The same phone 'sim-free' is likely to cost much more.

'Fast Track' is a known loophole to avoid paying for topup at Argos, but not all stores offer this facility.

BTW, O2 isn't the cheapest provider for mobile data. Although your phone is locked to O2, most likely you can get a better deal at Tesco Mobile or Giffgaff that use O2 signal and that your phone will work with.

Silk

grumbler wrote: »

'Fast Track' is a known loophole to avoid paying for topup at Argos, but not all stores offer this facility.

It doesn't seem to work anymore, the payment machine sends you to the till.

juno

You might be able to argue this with O2, if you switched the PAYG number directly to the contract. Iknow that with Vodafone, any unused PAYG credit can be transferred and credited to your contract account - and since Vodafone are probably one of the worst networks, I'm sure if they do this then everyone else must do. It might just end up not worth the hassle, though.

You might be able to sell the voucher, because anyone on O2 PAYG can use it. If you know a friend who's with them you might be able to get most of the value.

mrsyardbroom

To add insult to injury the phone I bought a few days ago is now £10 cheaper in Argos!
I quite like o2 and I'd prefer to stay with them. The Tesco mobile website is a nightmare!

System

1- Order a free o2 simcard via one of cashback sites such as Quidco.

2- When it arrives top it up using the voucher.

3- Look out for the charity of your choice that takes text message donations e.g. Mary's Meals and donate the value of the topup.

4 -You will probably get money back from Quidco and have donated £10 to charity & possible GiftAid

5 - Keep Calm and Carry on :T

[Deleted User]

grumbler wrote: »

you can get a better deal at Tesco Mobile or Giffgaff that use O2 signal and that your phone will work with

But beware, Giffgaff throttle data so slowly that it's unusable.

d123

billbennett wrote: »

But beware, Giffgaff throttle data so slowly that it's unusable.

Giffgaff has shown improvement the last few times I tested them, I think getting rid of the small number of abusers and limiting the heavy users has actually benefitted network speeds for the average user.