iPhone and O2 Freedom! need advice about where i stand legally!

juzsp

Hi

I purchased an iPhone at Christmas after checking out the deals on the O2 website. I was looking around to see what else I could have with my £45 a month, 18 month 600 anytime minutes contract. I found myself on the O2 freedom page where it said:

[FONT=&quot]Join or upgrade onto a 18/24 month or simplicity Pay Monthly tariff with 600 anytime minutes or more per month and choose either:[/FONT]

• O2 Text Freedom - unlimited texts to anyone
• O2 Calls Freedom - unlimited O2 to O2 calls

As I use my phone a lot and seeing as I was eligible for this service I was sold! After getting the phone and activating the contract I went into the local O2 store to activate the O2 freedom service. I was told however that O2 Freedom was not available for iPhone tariffs. I asked them to show me where it said that, they couldn’t show me! The argument went round and round in circles with them saying that it’s just not available and me asking them to either point me to where it says that or activate the service. After half an hour I decide that I would get better results form customer services so I rang them and had the same argument… and the same result!

I decided to make a complaint to O2, again asking them to either point me to the literature on their website or in their terms and conditions or activate the O2 Freedom service on my iPhone tariff.

I got a phone call a few days later from a Customer Relations Executive who told me that he was going to show me where it said that iPhone customers were not eligible for the O2 freedom service. I was a little suspicious as I had checked all the terms and conditions and all the website literature relating to both the iPhone and the O2 Freedom service. The rep directed me to the O2 freedom page and low and behold there it was clear as daylight:

† excluding iPhone tariffs

The rep tried to make out that I had missed the text that informed me that the iPhone was excluded form the O2 Freedom service.
The thing is, it wasn’t there the day before! However I had already saved pages to prove that it wasn’t there until the morning I received the call thank God!

The rep told me that it had been there from day one and until I told him that I had saved pages showing that it wasn’t! I have since been round and round in circles with O2 and not getting anywhere. I was annoyed before when they were admitting that it did look like that service was available be that it just wasn’t but when they tried to pull a fast one I was fuming!

I will stop rambling now and start asking questions.

1. Where do I stand legally?
2. How should I proceed form here?
3. Does the fact that the deliberately tried to deceive me add any weight to my argument/case?
4. Is it worth other iPhone customers that purchased before the website was updated making a complaint and trying to get (what I believe) Is rightfully theirs?

Any help in this matter would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks

[FONT=&quot]Justin[/FONT]

Quentin

It seems a trading standards matter - contact your local TS office and seek their help and advice.

juzsp

Thanks, i will look into that!

Has anyone else that bought an iPhone tried to activate O2 Freedom? did you manage to get anywhere?

asot

Not sure why you believe they have deliberately tried to deceive you? Could you give us some background on how you purchased it. Unless you look at tariffs directly without looking at the iPhone pages at all then the o2 and Apple websites indicate on their iPhone pages that you need an "iPhone tariff". Then on the iPhone box itself when you receive it, it also states you need to sign up to an 18 month iPhone contract with o2 or something similiar.

I would advise saving your time and returning the phone if you're not happy with taking out an iPhone specific tariff. Although I would love the iPhone tariff options to be more competitive I wouldn't advise legal action on the grounds you are mentioning.

juzsp

Hi Asot

My reason for believing that they deliberately tried to deceive me was that nowhere on any literature either on there website or terms and conditions did it say that I was not eligible for the O2 freedom service!

[FONT=&quot]O2 Freedom is not a tariff; it’s a service/extra available to qualifying tariffs. my iPhone tariff is an 18 month pay monthly tariff with 600 anytime minutes. Therefore i qualify![/FONT]

In fact, the wording on the O2 freedom page clearly states that if I sign up to an 18/24 month pay monthly contract with 600 anytime minutes or more I am eligible for the O2 freedom service!

http://www.o2.co.uk/mobilestariffs/tariffs/o2textfreedom

Now as you can see it clearly states that this service is not eligible for iphone customers however my point is that all through the complaining process, right up till the morning they phoned me, the text that states that iPhone are excluded was not there! Then when I did get the call they tried to say that it had been there from day 1.


Has anyone else had many problems with O2 before?

mkbean

They clearly didn't make the tariff clear enough for you, i think you would be entitled to return the phone for a refund and cancel your contract.

I don't think o2 are going to change their tariffs round for you....

juzsp

Thanks for your response mkbean,

Im trying to understand what your saying? Is it that they are acting within legal boundaries but as a gesture of goodwill they will probably be willing to cancel my contract or are you saying that although they are breaking the law the best I could hope for is for them to let me cancel my contract?

If it is the latter then why is that the best I could hope for? surely if they clearly say on their website that my contract specification (18 months and 600 anytime minutes) means im eligible for a service then legally Im entitled to it?

[FONT=&quot]And maybe im going over the top here but surely lying to me saying that the ‘excludes iPhone tariffs’ comment had been there since day 1 breaches some kind of law?[/FONT]

mkbean

I think it would be a goodwill gesture, i would imagine the t&c's of your contract are such that they are acting within it, maybe not fair but since noone ever reads the t&cs....

I have an iPhone myself bought early Jan when i looked into it it was fairly obvious that the normal "rules" didn't apply to the tariff in many ways, i'm not sure when they changed the page on you though.

The customer service person was clearly lying, but there's no specific law against that, they would just claim he was "mistaken".

Daniel.

juzsp

Thanks for the reply Daniel,



I had however read through all the terms and conditions. both the general statement and the airtime contract and have in fact saved a copy in case they decide to change them as well.

So buy your statement saying that:

"they are acting within it"

and the fact that nowhere did it say that, as an iPhone customer, i was not eligible for the service, they ARE in fact breaking the law?

I can understand your point that they would hold the stance that it was coincidence that the page was just updated before i received a call to point be to the page in order to shoot my complaint down in flames. And that it was just a mistake on the reps part in thinking that it had been there the whole time.

[FONT=&quot]Has anyone else experienced these kind of ‘Dirty Tactics’ when dealing with O2?[/FONT]

Quentin

As posted already, the ts + cs are probably being adhered to, but they aren't allowed to use misleading advertising to get sales.

A phone call to TS will get their advice on this (which is free) - and if a trading standards offence has been committed they will take it up.

The best you can hope for is o2 take back the phone, cancel the contract and give you your money back allowing you to start again, with perhaps some compensation for the hassle they have put you through.

juzsp

As mentioned in my post above, I have read through the T&C’s and nowhere does it state that iphone tariffs are not eligible for other services that O2 offer.
I shall defiantly be taking your advise and speaking with trading standards this afternoon.