Another O2 complaint (help)

MissG_2

I am on a disocunted tariff with O2 and recently upgraded my account. The next bill i received was incorrect and i contacted them to advise them of this.

The guy at the other end of the phone cpnfirmed it was incorrect and he would sort it!!! I said what sould i do about the Dirct Debit and he said that i should cancel it with my bank and he would cancel it at their end.

This was done and no money was paid at this time, he did say yu have got to pay your bill within the next 11 days which i agreed to do. I completely forgot about it and i received a text confirming if i did not pay i would be restricted (you now the drill).

So i start the conquest of trying to contact them to pay the bill using the number included in the text which i would like to add was a 01928 number and not general customer service.

After several transfers i finally get through to someone who sounds extremley helpful and i suppose they was to a degree. I paid the bill which i received an auth code and was taken from my bank that day.

A couple of days later i was checking my internet banking which i rareley do and noticed surprise surprise incompetent O2 had taken the original bill which was incorrect.

There i am over my overdraft limit and all O2 want to do is apologise and offer pathetic excuses. I ask about a refund and i am told it will take 14 days, after advising this was not good enough and requesting an immediate refund i notice this brick wall being built in front of me and being made to feel its my fault they took too much money.

They keep quoting this stupid 14 days and when i state no BACS refund takes 14 days i am told it takes them this long to do this and i will just have to grim and bear it.

I thought ok, leave you lot to it. I will contact the bank and request an indemnity claim to be made and i will get the money sooner.

Jesus was i in for a shock there? Apparently my bank who does participate in the direct debit scheme does not complete indeminty claims and i have to write a nice letter asking them to give me my money back which they are earning interest off and i am being penialised by my bank for being over my overdraft limit.

I also need to send a copy of the letter to my bank to confirm i have attempted to request the money back. I though this was the whole point of the DD scheme.

Anyway the long of short of it all this started three weeks ago and after the whole saga with my bank i decided to request an early term without penalty as in O2's T and C's it confirms if they make a mistake they will rectify the problem within 7 days.

I contacted them and came up against this brick wall again, i explained the whole situation and was just told that the DD was not covered by the rest of the T & C's and the 7 day rule did not apply. They always seem to twist this to their favour.

Get this and this is the best of it, i thought i am not getting anywhere with the advisor i will speak to a manager. So off the person goes to find a manager, a couple of mnutes later and a voice appears at the end of the phone. I thought horray finally i will get somewhere, no this person i am talking to is a floorwalker!!!

After trying to get somwhere with a floorwalker andnot getting any satisfaction i request to speak with a manager and i am met with the response you cant there is none here.

So i am building a picture of there is just these few people or three teams in fact with no managers to watch over their antics and working patterns ensuring they are doing their job properly and servicing O2 accounts correctly.

I ask why there are no managers available and i am told well all three are off, 1 is on holiday in Ibiza, another is off work with a hangover and the other is having the camera down and she will contact me later.

So i request to speak with hte next in command, i am met with the response of htey dont speak with customers!!! I reply oh they are too good to speak with their wage payers and the response quickly changed. I am sorry no they will only speak with you after you have spoken with a line manager.

To conclude does anyone know if the 7 day mistake rule or 8.4 in the T & C's applies in this case?

Thanks for any help.

Regards

matrix999

My goodness, what a story!!

My bill was wrong when i recently upgraded but it was soryed out on the phone with no problems what so ever...

A few questions,

1. Are you an online or offline customer?
2. If you are offline are you a direct customer of O2? This means you bought the phone from an O2 shop and not somewhere like the Carphone Warehouse?

MissG_2

Hi Matrix,

In answer to your questions, i am a direct O2 customer who connected through an O2 store about three years ago and have had continuos service ever since.

I always upgrade with O2 direct of through one of their stores, i know the pitfalls of going through a 3rd party for service and try to avoid it at all costs.

From reading various threads on here, my story is starting to become more of the norm with O2, it would appear they have become too big and now they dont really care except when you dont pay your bill on time

matrix999

I have a number for the O2 Online Customer Complaints, this dept deals with customers who are experiencing problems and not getting any satisfaction, its 0113 388 6159.

I've been led to believe that this dept is more senior to the normal customer services dept and normally can resolve complaints very quickly

zolablue25

Hi MissG
Just thought I would chip in. I had an absolute nightmare with O2. They sent me a letter about 3 years ago saying that after my original 12 months contract I qualified for 20%discount on calls or rental but I had to phone up and register. I tried to do this with the number given, but was told I was a business customer and I was put through to someone else. This woman was extremely rude and unhelpful but fortunately I made a note of her name. She told me that I didn't qualify ven though their T&Cs clearly stated that I did. I emailed their customer service 4 times and received no reply (other than automated response) to any of them. I phoned a further 2 times and received promises but no actions. In the end I found the name and address of O2s chairman and sent him a letter outlining my story. I sent the letter in a small pink envelope marked 'Private & Confidential' and had my OH write the address so that a woman's handwriting appeared on it. Anyhow I eventually received a reply, an apology, a refund and I think it was £80 goodwill and expenses!

I still disconnected when the next decent deal came up! But it does show that if you are prepared to persevere you can get somewhere.

It's a shame that their service doesn't appear to be improving though!

matrix999

There will always be customers with good stories and horror stories no matter what company you are buying a product or service from.

I stand by my opinion that O2 are excellent !!!

I do hope that you get your problem sorted out!

MissG_2

I have always said and will continue to do so unless my opinion changes.

O2's network, charges, price plans and offers are fantastic value for money. You try and get somthing done from customer service and you might aswell talk to a brick wall.

They let themselves down, they have such fantastic products but such disgraceful customer service.

Get that sorted and the network will continue to excel.

A truly good company has both and from my experience O2 has a long way to go until they get both.

MissG_2

Result!!

O2 have released me from my contract with 9 1/2 months left subject to the return of my handset which i am not too happy about but see as a way out from the incompetence of O2.

Now what i need if anyones knows of anything is a great cash back deal with anyone but 3, i am sorry i have heard so many bad things about three and everytime i call someone on three the network is disgraceful.

I am probably wanting one of the other three major networks T-Mob, Voda or orange. I am after something pretty fancy,

Tri-band
Bluetooth
Video recording
Good battery

Thinking about it probably the D500 would do it, does anyone know of any good cash back deals on 400 x-net x-time mins. Not too bothered about texts.

Oh and one final thing,12 MONTH CONTRACT. I dont know how the net have managed to sneak 18 month contracts in but i aint signing for 18 months.

Thanks in advance

Regards

reelcrazy

Hi MissG

I have recently took out this contract:

http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/offerdetails.aspx?offercode=O2XNET356&ID=1

Although it is with O2, you will still be able to get it because it is through Dialaphone.

Even though they say you get 50 texts a month you actually get 100 (at least I do).

Rikki

Well Done MissG :T

MissG_2

reelcrazy wrote:

Hi MissG

I have recently took out this contract:

http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/offerdetails.aspx?offercode=O2XNET356&ID=1

Although it is with O2, you will still be able to get it because it is through Dialaphone.

Even though they say you get 50 texts a month you actually get 100 (at least I do).

Thanks reel crazy but i really need about 400 mins each month, i will give dial a fone a call and see what they can do.

regards