Frustration with O2

[Rob76]

I received an email 15/01 stating my direct debit will be suspended followed by a duplicate 15/02 stating the same.

After many hours with customer service and the helpful staff at my local O2 store, it appears that the fraud department have put a flag on the account, denying access to any other customer service.

Emailing the fraud dept. brought no response and I gather from reading community replies that this is their normal action.

I have now received an email from billing stating 3 months payment will be taken 18/03. This seems very unfair as I have had no service for almost eight weeks and have been unable to access online banking due to lack of SMS verification.

This account has been running for many years and to my knowledge have not been scammed. I have raised a complaint via Resolver but wanted to rant a bit!

I am appalled by the non communication from the fraud dept., but understand the replies the community gurus have posted.

Needless to say, once this is resolved, I will be seeking another provider.

Regards all.

Rob

[Adornedatom1]

All the best with your resolver query. I’m also trying resolver (since O2s own channels are IMPOSSIBLE to deal with) but just receive automated replies promising to give me a genuine reply within 7 days (which is not true)

thankfully in a around 20 days Incan finally take it to the ombudsman.😮‍💨

[Oxonian]

@Rob76 

Whilst I have huge sympathy for your predicament, it is probably worth mentioning that O2 might be unable to give you an update whilst their fraud investigation is ongoing. They have to comply with both criminal law and Money Laundering Regulations and this could be jeopardised if they update you whilst their case is incomplete. It is also possible that your case has been subsumed into a wider investigation if the same fraudster has other "victims" in addition to you.

I would keep pushing O2 about this, at least so they do not forget about you !

It is worth bearing in mind that it is taking O2 about eight weeks to investigate and respond to complaints. During this period, you are likely to find that other O2 teams are unable or unwilling to engage with you. 

What I am not completely clear on is whether the O2 fraud and complaints' teams engage with each other. 

Please keep us informed of developments.

[Rob76]

@Oxonian, 

Thank you for your comments and I do appreciate the situation but as O2 made the original contact 15/01, it is coming up to 8 weeks without service. I sincerely hope that Resolver will help my case.

Regarding 'keep pushing', hard to do as customer care cannot get past the flag on the account and emails via Resolver just result in the generic response email, maybe pushing a resolution even further away.

I cannot see the point of a fraud email contact when it is obvious they will not acknowledge or reply.

Billing should not be involved until resolution and if they do take three months payments as they have told me, O2 will have broken a rolling contract i.e. providing no service and taking payment.

The key to all this is communication (or lack of), If O2 cannot cope, they shouldn't be in business.

AS requested I'll update as it hopefully progresses.

[Oxonian]

The lack of communication from O2 is distinctly unhelpful @Rob76. 

In fraud cases, I have often thought that a generic "...we won't be able to update you whilst our investigation is ongoing because..." would at least temper the expectations of customers.

Once your complaint gets to the eight week point, you can consider escalating your complaint to the Ombudsman. Please post again if do not hear from O2 and want guidance on this process. 👍

The only point that I would make is that in taking payment and not providing a service, O2 have not broken your rolling contract. The terms and conditions that you signed up to expressly state that O2 do not guarantee to provide you with a service. And as these T&Cs are replicated across all of the UK mobile network operators, the only way to avoid them is not to have a mobile 'phone at all !            

[Rob76]

@Oxonian 

I sincerely hope I won't have to a further eight weeks without service and the possibly having to claw monies back from O2!

Re not providing a service and taking money .......🤣

[Rob76]

Perhaps I should have written: Withdrawing a service and still taking payment!

[Oxonian]

@Rob76 

I wish you luck with this, but I do not think clawing money back from O2 will be an option. As I wrote above :-

The only point that I would make is that in taking payment and not providing a service, O2 have not broken your rolling contract. The terms and conditions that you signed up to expressly state that O2 do not guarantee to provide you with a service. 

I suppose that, on reflection, the T&Cs are covering O2 for the unavailability of service because of technical reasons or acts of God. If O2 actually withdrew your service, you might have a chance. 

Please let us know how this progresses and keep us informed of developments. 👍      

[Rob76]

Update:

As nothing has progressed since 9/3, I sent the following .pdf by email to Mr.Lutz, the CEO of Virgin Media. It will be interesting if it elicits a response.

Dear Mr Lutz,
I am writing to you to point out O2’s ongoing customer communication failures and
would ask you to address these issues.
On 15/01/2024 whilst abroad I received an email stating that O2 was cancelling my
pending direct debit. No explanation given.
On 15/02/2024 I received a duplicate of the above.
Returning to the UK, from 03/03 I spent many hours (that is a separate issue)
contacting customer care and my local (excellent) O2 store, but to no avail.
It appears that the Fraud department have put a flag on my account and as that
department seems to be a law unto itself no-one can help me.
On 03/03/2024 I received an email stating that 3 months payments would be taken on
18/3. This despite O2 withdrawing service.
On 15/03 I received an email stating that the pending direct debit would be cancelled
again.
I have emailed the complaints service and the fraud department but sadly, no replies.
On 05/03 I resorted to using Resolver to help, but despite O2 generic emails stating a
reply would be forthcoming within 7 working days, I have yet to receive a reply to
my 3 emails via this route.
I make no apology for the above lengthy written timeline, but without service for
almost 10 weeks (and without access to online banking and associated companies that
verify by SMS), I am exasperated, frustrated and frankly livid.
When can I expect the above to be resolved and ensure that I am not billed for the
period O2 withdrew service?
I cannot even obtain a PAC code to change provider and keep my mobile number.Since O2 is a communications company it is ironic that it cannot communicate with
it’s customers!
I have been with O2 for approximately 7 years.
I will be posting a copy of this letter, minus personal details, on the Community
notice board.
Yours sincerely

[Rob76]

Update:

Little has changed and emails sent via Resolver have been unanswered despite O2's generic reply that they would respond within seven working days.

I have emailed the CEO of Virgin Media precisely setting out the problem and hope his office responds at least with an acknowledgement.

Earlier today, I copied my message minus personal details into a forum post but it seems to have disappeared.

I will post it again unless someone advises otherwise.