O2 - Complaint Advice

Martin_o03

Hello all, I'm looking for some advice on an ongoing complaint with O2. I have a contract phone which I pay monthly by direct debit both airtime and handset cost. I paid a deposit towards the phone (which I've received back) and £40 up front.

1. The first issue was when I called to query my deposit I was told that I owed £40 (which turned out to be the upfront cost I had paid) They could find no record of it and were defiant I had not paid it, after about 2 hours on the call and me having to send photos of my bank statement they admitted the mistake.

2. The main issue, I decided to call and make an early payment 2 weeks before my normal direct debit - so I paid my handset and airtime bills early. I was told on the call that this would be ok given when I was paying and that if that months direct debit was missed it wouldn't effect me because the payment had been made.

About 3 weeks later I start receiving emails saying my account is overdue and to phone and pay, followed by letters notifying me that my service had been cut and then a default letter threatening a default if it wasn't paid. Now, had I actually missed it it would have been my first missed payment and it was only 3 weeks after the bill date, I've never known a default letter to be sent so quickly and after just one missed payment?

I called them and the advisor was adamant that I had missed a payment (this went on for over an hour before he accepted I had paid) He explained that there is an anomaly in their system which means if you pay early it confuses things and the only way he could restore my services was if I paid that months bill AGAIN, so I paid 60 quid again. If I didn't have that money my services would have remained cut, despite having paid. How is that fair or acceptable to treat customers? Surely their system should over-ride service disconnections and default letters if payment has been made early?

No apology or empathy with regards to default letters being sent out, nothing. He offered me 35quid as a gesture of goodwill off my airtime bill, I refused and asked for a formal complaint to be raised which he confirmed and advised of a call back within 5 days.

2 weeks pass and nothing, I call and I'm told that there is no record of a formal complaint, nothing at all on my record, they raise another and a manager call back. 

The manager calls back, shows a complete lack of knowledge of the situation, again repeats that I missed a payment with me having to explain everything again. Not an ounce of empathy for my services being cut and a default letter being sent (he says this is normal procedure) and offers me 50quid off my airtime bill. He refuses and passes it onto the complaints team... now waiting for a call from them.

To be honest I just want to clear the handset balance now and get away from them. Does anyone have any experience of the complaints team with O2? Thus far they are offering me miserly 50quid off my airtime which. Am I overreacting? Is it worth pursuing? Any experiences? Thank you!

PHK

I think there may be a misunderstanding here.

From your first post you are paying for the handset (a credit agreement) and the airtime (an airtime contract). I don’t know if this is still called 02 Refresh. Anyway both amounts show on your bill and are taken in one lump. 

There’s a crucial difference though. With an airtime contract there is an amount to be taken each month, if you make a manual payment far enough in advance that the direct debit hasn’t been generated then there will be zero to pay for that month. 

However, for a credit account there is a minimum payment each month. If you make an additional payment then it will reduce the total amount owing but you’ll still need to make the minimum payment until the total is cleared. Which will happen sooner if you make additional payments. 

It isn’t clear why your direct debit didn’t get paid (and hence the minimum payment). If it was because you’d cancelled the direct debit or challenged it then O2 could be correct in saying you missed a payment. In which case I would take the £50 as, I guess, an apology that the first advisor wasn’t clear about what would happen. 

If it was because O2 didn’t take the direct debit then they would be required to put you back in the situation you were before your error. They should also make a payment for trouble and upset. This seems to be limited to some long phone calls so £50 is about right according to the Financial Ombudsman Service website. (You haven’t mentioned if the default is on your credit file. If it is then O2 should remove it and pay you for any effect it’s had on eg mortgage, loan or bank)

I haven’t used O2s complaint service for several years but I found them to be fair.