Furious with o2 - terrible treatment

shudd1967

need to vent - very very angry!!!:mad:

I have a sony k850i (don;t get one, terrible phones, im not only one i know with problems with phone). Its gone wrong and I can only hear people if the phone is on speakerphone! not exactly private. So i rang o2 this morning to report the fault and get a new phone. the other problem I have is that it keeps freezing when texting. It used to happen about monthly but in last week its gone to daily to every other text message.

I was amazed to find that not only do I have to send the phone back at my expense, not even a bag supplied but they do not send a new one until they recieve mine back. If i use the freepost address it takes longer so I could be without a phone/service for days even weeks! To make matters worse I get a refurbished phone! I don't want that! i want a new phone - how very dare they!

I asked about my insurance, I have had insurance from them for over 2 years and never claimed, the lady stated still sent a refub phone, never brand new whether stolen lost of fallen apart or whatever! That made my blood boil, as I knwo i asked the question when I first took insurance as I had heard people being sent second hand phones and was told it would be a new phone, when I took out the new 18 month contract last Oct I asked again before renewing the insurance and again it was confirmed a new phone is sent!

So not only will I be without a phone, I have to pay to send it back, no refund for loss of service, i get a refurbished one, not new and I have been missold insurance obviously.

i have sent off an email to their complaints dept this morning, should be interesting to see when and if they reply.

Any tips to help me? really I am so hacked off with them I want out but have a year to run and cannot not afford to have 2 contracts and why should they have my money anyway. I presume the wrong information given when selling insurance comes under the financial services act?

Anyone been in a similar position who can give me advice or any advice would be appreciated!

fatboyonadiet

Might be worth sending it to Sony instead?

Also if you get no joy maybe write to their CEO?

fatboyonadiet

Some details here;

http://www.connectotel.com/marcus/ceoemail.html

shudd1967

Fatboyonadiet

Thankyou! have just forwarded my email to the CEO at o2! thats a fab list, thank you so much for that. I will go as far as I can with 02 first before going to Sony.

Will keep you updated!

stephanie88_2

What insurance is it you have? If it's the £6 standard insurance then it is definitely a refurb replacement. However if you've got the £7.50 premier insurance you are entitled to a brand new replacement. Just to let you know.

shudd1967

Its the £6 insurance I have got, but I did ask the question when I was discussing it! I have gone through all of my O2 stuff and do not have the full terms and conditions for the insurance - got the letter from when i renewed the last contract to say that insurance details would be posted on but not got them and would of filed them if I had them!

Pound

Are you claiming under your right to return faulty goods (ie. Sales of Goods Act) or under your insurance?

If it's under the insurance then they can choose their own conditions and would be within their rights to ask you to pay to return it and give you a refurbished phone if that's in the terms. It's your responsibility to read the terms, and if you didn't like them you could have gone somewhere else.

If you're returning the phone under the SoGA O2 should at least reimburse you for the cost of postage. You shouldn't be out of pocket because of the fault. They have to put you in the position you were in before it was faulty. So if you have an 11 month old phone they're entitled to swap your faulty phone with a working 11 month old phone. You would be doing well out of them to get a brand new phone.

glitterstar

I've had to send lots of phones back to o2 withing the last year, i never took out insurance, and always got a refurbished phone, even when i told them that i wanted to switch models only a few months after taking out my contract. It does start to get expensive everytime you send a phone back, but i've never been without a phone any longer than 2-3 days, once i even got the replacement before i sent my phone back! Also they do say refurbished, but most the time the phones haven't been used or only been used very lightly. Also another thing to do is ask for some sort of compensation, i've had my line rental free for one month (£35), £50 credited to my bill in one go and £10 credited to my bill every time i phoned to complain. I wouldnt put the phone down till they offered me something for all the hassle i had to go through.

bigup7

any update on this shudd?

aylesby

I have had all those problems with my K850i bought from Dial- a- phone on an o2 contract in January 2008.
Consistently used o2 shops to send the phone back. The shop in my university city just processes paper and claim it’s a good phone and they have never seen or heard of my problems so I must be unlucky. The local shop to my home town know all about the problems and immediately ask o2 for permission to exchange. The choice is not great but I now have an N82 over a Viewty, Smart phone, K850i or N85.
It is disappointing that repaired units are returned refurbished ones and in poor condition. This leaves you open to the claim of failing to look after your mobile properly next time you bring it back. That’s a city manager for you.
No one tells you to save all the till receipts from your repairs and keep the original box as this is what o2 will want to asses before they can offer an exchange. Copies of these receipts are only available locally. It surprises me that o2 customer services have no idea what is happening at shop level.

shudd1967

Sorry for delay in replying been on hols with no internet!!!

O2 were brilliant. In the end. I emailed the CEO and within 48 hours everything was sorted, a brand new phone sent out with a £10 off my bill for the remainder of the contract and an apology in writing. It appears the insurance I had, that I took out a few years back and kept renewing means I always get a brand new phone. They were very apologetic but it does seem that other things I have read and heard they will always try and get out of the new phone.

I will say though a couple of months ago I bought my daughter a new PAYG phone fromn Orange- it didn't work and I spent 9 1/2 hours on the phone to them sorting it out! They were appalling and as a result we have changed my partners contract from Orange to O2. I even emailed the CEO there (from the link above) and they were worse than useless!


The Sony Phone - my new one is now fine, battery life is not as good as my old one to be honest but it doesn't jam or freeze anymore.