Should I pay for a service I don't have to keep my credit score?

Sleepysophie

I've had issues with my credit score over the years but for the last 2 or 3 I have got it back to where I want it. 

The problem is, I cancelled my son's contract to O2 in January. Its a 2 year contract and came to an end in Feb 24 but I knew I had to give 30 days notice. I was on the phone for ages getting this sorted as the customer service person tried to sell me another contract, which I kept politely refusing. My son is an adult now so pays for his own phone and contract. The phone was broken irreparably since Oct 23 and so it had been killing me that I was paying for it all that time without being able to use it, but I knew as soon as I could end it, I would. 

Eventually they accepted I wished to cancel and not take up any of their offers and I thought that would be the end of it. However, I was charged in Feb and in March. I thought the Feb payment might have been like a retrospective bill to take me up to the end date and I admit I didn't action anything in March but just thought that surely MUST be the last one? but then, I received an email to say my DD for April was due. So I cancelled the DD. 

I set up a case on Resolver, because I actually thought that might be more desirable than hanging on the phone for ages and I sent proof of the call I had made in January and something from my 02 account online that said "Cancelled" against the date I had called. But I haven't had an answer to my Resolver claim and its now been 24 days. 

I also have been receiving reminders and warnings from 02 about payments. I can't reply to the emails as its a no-reply address. I don't know if they are texting the actual phone number on the account as (like explained earlier) the phone is out of order. 

So I am just wondering whether I should just pay it £75.00 (approx.) with a £6 late fee - or should I ignore it until Resolver come back to me? 
I am just so worried that they will damage my credit score if I don't pay it and I will have to spend months putting that right again.. 

cymruchris

Your score doesn't mean anything - don't fret about it.

Focus on keeping a positive history.

When you cancelled - did they send you any emails to say 'all cancelled sorry to see you go' or anything like that?

Have you spoken to them since?

You probably need to speak to them and ask them what's going on, and why are they still taking payment, and take it from there. You need to find out why before deciding next steps.

Sleepysophie

@cymruchris thank you. I know I need to do this but after the last time I called and the length of time it took to get through as well as the length of time I was on the phone to them, once I did get through to them has left me feeling really nauseous about calling again. 
I have bitten the bullet and I am now on hold to them. Hoping for a good outcome. I have checked my email and there is nothing confirming the cancellation so I feel even more sick now. I bet they don't record calls when its beneficial to the customer! I have the date and the time I called because they had to send me a passcode to my email to confirm my identity and I have that. 
There is literally no other reason for me to call them other than to cancel the contract given it was unusable and we no longer needed it. 
So depressing. 

cymruchris

Sleepysophie said:

@cymruchris thank you. I know I need to do this but after the last time I called and the length of time it took to get through as well as the length of time I was on the phone to them, once I did get through to them has left me feeling really nauseous about calling again. 
I have bitten the bullet and I am now on hold to them. Hoping for a good outcome. I have checked my email and there is nothing confirming the cancellation so I feel even more sick now. I bet they don't record calls when its beneficial to the customer! I have the date and the time I called because they had to send me a passcode to my email to confirm my identity and I have that. 
There is literally no other reason for me to call them other than to cancel the contract given it was unusable and we no longer needed it. 
So depressing. 

It is - but this time - no matter what they say - make sure you get the cancellation in writing from them by email. Hopefully they'll have a record of your previous call, will apologise, and put things right.

400ixl

You could use the chat facility to achieve the same thing and it can be less painful and quicker than calling. You can also have the transcript as well then.

Sleepysophie

I'm still waiting for them to answer the phone. I'm currently at 49minutes 51 seconds listening to the same one line of Jazz music followed by an apology for the wait - on loop. I am just wondering where they get the data from for average wait times and thought I would Google this whilst I was waiting and I found a Which? article from May 2022 stating average wait time for O2 is 3 minutes 59 Seconds. I appear to be extremely unlucky or the information is incorrect. I do wonder how this information is calculated? If 3 mins 59 is the average wait there must be tens of thousands of people getting their calls answered in super quick time to average out the wait lengths I have experienced    

Sleepysophie

Update - after 1hour 40 minutes and 43 seconds (!) including wait time, the Customer Service person has accepted I did cancel on 18th Jan 24 but it was not closed down properly their side. I have been promised a refund by cheque within 10 working days and he confirmed the account has been canceled now.  I am a little worried I still haven't received an email to that effect but he did give me a ticket number relating to the refund which he said I could quote if I needed to call back .........................but why would I ever wish to call back? ............here's hoping I don't EVER need to call ever ever again.  

Sleepysophie

400ixl said:

You could use the chat facility to achieve the same thing and it can be less painful and quicker than calling. You can also have the transcript as well then.

For whatever reason I was unable to use any other way of contact other than phoning as the mobile number is not in my possession so they needed to speak to me to "clarify details" - The phone was dropped in a hot tub Oct 23 and hasn't been used since then. The SIM is also damaged. 

cymruchris

Sleepysophie said:

Update - after 1hour 40 minutes and 43 seconds (!) including wait time, the Customer Service person has accepted I did cancel on 18th Jan 24 but it was not closed down properly their side. I have been promised a refund by cheque within 10 working days and he confirmed the account has been canceled now.  I am a little worried I still haven't received an email to that effect but he did give me a ticket number relating to the refund which he said I could quote if I needed to call back .........................but why would I ever wish to call back? ............here's hoping I don't EVER need to call ever ever again.  

Positive outcome - but quite a faff to get there. Let them have their ten working days and if it doesn't arrive - get back on the phone with that ticket number! At least they've acknowledged it was closed and there wasn't an argument.

steven141

That’s good that you managed to get it sorted out. I had a nightmare with them recently as well. I cancelled and will never go back. They are a terrible company now. I don’t know what happened the customer service used to be excellent with O2. 

Sleepysophie

@steven141 agreed. I will never take a contract with them again.