topic Re: Ongoing O2 Complaint in Discussions & Feedback

Ongoing O2 Complaint

Dave202412E — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 13:22:39 GMT

Hello everyone

I have had an ongoing known issue with O2 where a mast has been down in the area where I live and work, they have confirmed the issue when I originally phoned and complained.

The mast has been down for over 9 months now and it has meant traffic congestion on the closest available mast available, throughout the duration of this time I have been in the scenario that if I cant connect I am left in the situation where it will show I have a network connection and mobile data available but that's not the case and the phone is unusable.

I was given a £20 credit when I first complained but have kept the complaint open as the issue is still ongoing.

In the months that this has been going on they have contacted me only on 2 occasions with offers of £30 and then £50 but I have declined these as I pay £54 a month and have had issues for 9 months now.

My email complaint never received any response apart from the automated one that comes but as I say they have contacted me twice only in that whole time.

I asked for a letter of deadlock and was told this would be arranged, I chased them up about this 2 weeks later and was told I would have to email the complaints team and the previous agent had miss advised, I stated that they never reply to emails from my experience and insisted that the letter be raised, Im now a further 2 weeks down the line and absolutely no sign of the letter.

I had raised the case through a third party called resolver and they say I can now escalate this but the deadlock letter will better assist me.

I'm not sure what to do now as Ideally I would like fair compensation and/or the ability to be released from my contract without further penalty to go to another operator with better service.

Re: Ongoing O2 Complaint

Bambino — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 13:43:04 GMT

@Dave202412E Sorry to say, but I don't think there is anything we as customers can advise you of further. You seem to have done all the right things. There's nothing else you can do except keep pursuing O2 for a resolution. I think your only other option would be to seek legal advice, and that may prompt them into responding, but that would be your choice.

Just as an aside, as this mast problem has been ongoing for some time, do you use WiFi calling to get around the issue? WiFi and 4G Calling: Everything You Need To Know (o2.co.uk)

Re: Ongoing O2 Complaint

Dave202412E — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 10:37:50 GMT

Thanks for the reply, I should have put in the OP that its more a concern of going to ombudsman without the deadlock letter.

Also I have the WIFI calling setting activated on my phone but it doesn't seem to have made a difference which is strange.

Re: Ongoing O2 Complaint

Enlli — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 11:23:58 GMT

Set WiFi Calling to WiFi Prefered and see if that solves the WiFi problem

Re: Ongoing O2 Complaint

Enlli — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 11:40:45 GMT

If a mast has been down for 9 months then there is a good possibility its has been decommissioned. That could be for one of many reasons. Refusal of lease renewal by landlords / site owners are top of that agenda.

If that is the case then there is the long drawn out process of finding a suitable location, applying for planning permission, then the building and commissioning of the new site.

Councils and NIMBYS are a big factor in the UK being 25th out of 27 European nations for mobile coverage.

Re: Ongoing O2 Complaint

Bambino — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 13:03:48 GMT

@Dave202412E wrote:
Thanks for the reply, I should have put in the OP that its more a concern of going to ombudsman without the deadlock letter.

Also I have the WIFI calling setting activated on my phone but it doesn't seem to have made a difference which is strange.

@Dave202412E WiFi calling needs to be activated on O2's end as well as yours. You need to call and ask them to do that if you haven't done so before.

Re: Ongoing O2 Complaint

pgn — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 22:16:58 GMT

Apparently, with O2's 360 billing migration now officially completely done, WiFi Calling is (supposed to be) fully enabled by default on the O2 side, @Bambino.

Re: Ongoing O2 Complaint

Bambino — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 02:16:01 GMT

@pgn wrote:
Apparently, with O2's 360 billing migration now officially completely done, WiFi Calling is (supposed to be) fully enabled by default on the O2 side, @Bambino.

What's supposed to be and what is, I'm sure, are two different things, @pgn 😉

Re: Ongoing O2 Complaint

pgn — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 06:13:40 GMT

@Bambino wrote:
What's supposed to be and what is, I'm sure, are two different things, @pgn 😉

Ah yes, true that - especially where O2 is involved, @Bambino - what Support see and what Support say often diverge greatly 😖😉

Re: Ongoing O2 Complaint

pgn — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 15:40:24 GMT

@pgn wrote:
Apparently, with O2's 360 billing migration now officially completely done, WiFi Calling is (supposed to be) fully enabled by default on the O2 side, @Bambino.

I have taken the initiative here to pose exactly the question surrounding WiFi Calling here.

Hopefully a response will be forthcoming next week 🤞

Re: Ongoing O2 Complaint

MI5 — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 15:50:18 GMT

Marjo told us ages ago it was on by default on 360 accounts.

There is no longer an option to turn it on in MyO2.

Re: Ongoing O2 Complaint

Oxonian — Sat, 19 Oct 2024 18:31:07 GMT

@Dave202412E wrote:
Thanks for the reply, I should have put in the OP that its more a concern of going to ombudsman without the deadlock letter.

Is there any particular reason @Dave202412E as to why you are concerned about going to the Ombudsman without a deadlock letter - or a "final position letter" as O2 term it ?

Certainly, O2 themselves acknowledge that you can do this :-

Customer+Complaints+code+250924+V0.2.comp.pdf (o2.co.uk)

https://www.o2.co.uk/documents/456036/3782743/Customer+Complaints+code+250924+V0.2.comp.pdf

In particular :-

What happens next?
If you’re not happy after we’ve responded to your complaint, or if your complaint isn’t resolved after eight weeks, you may wish to refer your complaint to an Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is a free service, which will independently review your complaint. They investigate complaints fairly by listening to both sides of the story and looking at the facts. Their decision is binding on O2, but not on you as a customer.

You just need to ensure that a full eight weeks have elapsed following submission of your complaint.

Please let us know if we can help further. 👍