O2 Customer Service (lack of) & DSAR handling

MrFrugalFever

Hi all,

Apologies if not quite in the right category within the forum!

Firstly, I am going to be honest and say I am being difficult and arbitrary with O2 purely on the basis that they have been absolutely shocking in the last 10 months with regards to complaints handling and customer service.

I am seeking some opinion/advice.

O2 refuse to provide me with a final letter of response and have yet so far avoided providing me with any form of official address to my complaint, they ignore my emails, close my complaints down without resolution and provide nothing but waffle on the phone when speaking to their so called 'experts' in their customer service centre.

I am unhappy with their handling and as such wanted to pursue further, with this in mind, I formally requested a DSAR clearly stating dates and information I required.

I had received (shockingly) a response from the SAR team asking me to supply the following;

Before we can progress further, we need you to provide the information requested below: 

Proof of ID: A copy of ONE of the following recent official (dated within the last 3 months) documents showing your name and current address, examples:    Utility bill  OR  Council tax bill OR  Bank or credit card statement OR  Driving licence

 

You can send us an email attaching a scan or digital photo of the document.  Exception - If the user is a minor aged 13 years or over we will accept a document showing name & age rather than address (e.g. passport, birth certificate)

In your reply, please also confirm the following; 

1. Who is the O2 Account Holder? 
2. Who was the user of the phone during the period specified in the request? 
3. If you have requested call recordings, we need you to confirm whether you are the person on the call(s).  

So I had responded back to this as per their request providing them with a downloaded O2 Utility bill statement in which I had to login to my account to retrieve. I was then told it wasn't accepted and I would need to send them a photograph of a paper statement. They don't send paper statements, so I sent them a screenshot instead.

They are refusing to provide me with my requested information on the grounds that they cannot accept the proof of ID.

I have reminded them of the fact that I have complied with their request (above) and it is my legal right as the account holder, to have said information.

Where do I go from here if they do not provide me with the information I have requested? ICO? Am I being far too difficult?

They've wound me up so much to the point that I am considering seeking legal advice on their lack of complaint handling, unresolved complaint and refusal of granting my DSAR request.

Thanks,

cymruchris

Whatever the complaint is - take them to the communications ombudsman - you don't need a deadlock letter - you just need 8 weeks to have passed from when you first made them aware of your issue.

I've just taken O2 to the ombudsman who have found in my favour this week - they have instructed O2 to refund every single penny paid since I commenced my contract and a payment of £100 compensation - they have 28 days to comply - so I'm waiting to see what happens next. (My complaint related to a repeatedly failed port and a total lack of customer care)

It's quite an easy online portal to complete - just make sure you have all your facts/dates to hand when completing the online form.

https://www.commsombudsman.org/

MrFrugalFever

Thanks CymruChris, I had a sneaky suspicion I wasn't going to be alone on here with others experiencing their ever decreasing levels of customer service. A real shame as i've been with them since 2008 and really haven't had much to complain about at all. I remember the old days when they had a UK call centre, a retentions department and used to care.

I haven't got anything official from them and reading the info about the Ombudsman it says I need to have some form of final response after 8 weeks and then they can step in. Well I raised a complaint in December 2023 and never heard anything to emailed in to them after searching for the official complaints email in January 2024 for a follow up. Heard nothing, so then emailed again in February 4 weeks later. Heard nothing, then chased up with call in July and was told my 3 previous complaints (all relating to the same complaint) had been closed down as resolved when clearly it wasn't. Ended up speaking to a 'complaints supervisor' who then proceeded to lie to me on the phone at which point I threw toys out pram and request a DSAR and will be making them work for it.

I really don't see why large companies like this think they can get away with such shoddyness!

cymruchris

It’s a final deadlock letter OR 8 weeks since you raised the complaint - you don’t need to get that deadlock letter - just fill out the online form with all the details. O2 will write a half hearted apology and offer a paltry offer as part of the process - you turn that down and let the ombudsman adjudicate. 

JSmithy45AD

Your phone bill isn't a utility bill though, why not just send them what they requested rather than telling them how they should operate. That never gets you anywhere.

MrFrugalFever

JSmithy45AD said:

Your phone bill isn't a utility bill though, why not just send them what they requested rather than telling them how they should operate. That never gets you anywhere.

Because their complete and utter lack of customer service doesn't command any form of yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir. I will send them another form of identification because I want to make them work for their misgivings but imagine if I was a very elderly customer who did not possess a drivers licence or passport or smartphone. 

I find all this data request and checking process absurd, it's gone too far.

iniltous

TBH , asking for ‘proof’  that you are who you claim to be , doesn’t seem unreasonable to me , after all , if you were not the account holder and not allowed access to that person’s data , and they didn’t try to establish that you were , the authorities would take a dim view of them handing out personal ‘data’ to anyone who simply claims to be authorised to have access to it ….offering to use the ‘paperwork’ associated with the service being complained about is hardly an independent verification of your identity ,
I do accept it can be frustrating getting a company to accept you are who you claim to be , I once had a company ask exactly how much my last bill was ( why would anyone know that ) and then ask for the answer to the security question, without telling me ( reminding me ) what the security question was ( a question asked many years previously ) , eventually that representative accepted that these were ridiculous and asked me something that was reasonable, DOB , postcode etc .

JSmithy45AD

MrFrugalFever said:

JSmithy45AD said:

Your phone bill isn't a utility bill though, why not just send them what they requested rather than telling them how they should operate. That never gets you anywhere.

Because their complete and utter lack of customer service doesn't command any form of yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir. I will send them another form of identification because I want to make them work for their misgivings but imagine if I was a very elderly customer who did not possess a drivers licence or passport or smartphone. 

I find all this data request and checking process absurd, it's gone too far.

They want to make sure it is your account and they've been told only certain forms of identity are admissible. If you want to "make a point" then it's only you that'll suffer.