02 sending Apple products not requested and issuing CCJs after admitting it was their mistake

[lvjp]

In August 2023 my 72yo mother made the mistake of joining 02 for a monthly sim only plan for a mobile phone she already owned. A week later 02 sent her an Apple watch that she did not ask for. She returned it immediately.

02 then threatened her with debt collectors & legal action if she didn't pay for the watch. She is 72 year old, has had most of her lungs removed, can barely walk & clearly doesn't want a fancy fitness watch!

02 then disconnected her phone as she wouldn't pay for the watch & left her, as a physically vulnerable person, with no telephone service at all. They then issued a CCJ against her for non payment of the contract & the watch, even though they chose to disconnect her with no warning & send her unsolicited products. She now has a black mark on her otherwise perfect credit rating.

02 then refused to talk to her at all. Everytime she contacted them they would greet her, take her details & as soon as they looked at the account they would hang up. This went on for months.

Finally, in January 2024, 02 admitted it was all their mistake & offered her £100 in compensation, which she has refused. We are now dealing with the ombudsman about these issues & I hope 02 get hammered to be honest.

In January 2024 I signed her up with a different provider & everything was going fine, until this week.

Suddenly, in February 2024, she received in the post a brand new contract with 02 that, again, she did not ask for, want or need. And then this morning the morons delivered her a brand new iphone that she did not ask for & does not want. This is now beyond a joke & I am livid.

It seems 02 are trying to take advantage of someone they consider to be vulnerable. As she did not sign for the phone (they just posted it through her letterbox) I have told her to f**k them off as it was unsolicited and if they try to bill her they are committing a criminal offence.

So be warned people. 02 are not only totally incompetent they are also untrustworthy liars with appalling customer service. Do not sign up with them as they will try to rip you off.

[Bambino]

@lvjp Sounds like an appalling situation. O2 has been dropping the ball in so many areas of late. As customers we can only sympathise and give you this link to lodge a formal complaint. How much good it will do you in light of the circumstances is debatable, but that's pretty much all we can do: How to Complain | Help | O2

Good luck.

[lvjp]

Thank you  for your sympathies. I trust the ombudsman more than 02 at this point so we'll see what happens.

[gmarkj]

If your mother has not been agreeing to these phones then someone might be committing fraud @lvjp 

Are you taking calls about it from "o2" or are you calling them to return it - if the former you should verify the address is not the scammers.

[lvjp]

It is 100% confirmed that this is O2. They sent her an Apple watch & then tried to take £100s of pound out of her account via the direct debit that had been set up with them for the mobile phone. She has not been accepting calls from them, she has been ringing the number on this bloody website. Plus the ombudsman has been in touch with them and O2 have confirmed with them that they sent the Apple watch and admitted their mistake in disconnecting her. 

Not everything is 3rd party fraud. You have to accept that O2 DO send items out unsolicited in an attempt to force people into debts they did not want. There are plenty of other posts about the same thing on this forum & I bet most of them are also true stories. They are a disgrace. And people like you who go around perpetually saying it's scammers & trying to defend unscrupulous companies make things worse. That's what O2 count on; people like you who couldn't possibly believe they'd do something like that when i fact they ARE the scammers here.

[gmarkj]

Just wanted to confirm that's the case @lvjp given how large an issue phone scams are these days - I work with 3 people who have had scams run on them in the last 3 months.

I don't have to accept that they send out items unsolicited - it is NOT an acceptable practice and if someone at o2 is doing it then they rightly need to be held accountable.

o2 confirming they sent the watch out doesn't really mean anything. They need to provide evidence of the contract for the watch being agreed to both verbally and digitally signed.

At no point did I defend o2; I actually said:

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@gmarkj wrote:

If your mother has not been agreeing to these phones then someone might be committing fraud @lvjp 

Are you taking calls about it from "o2" or are you calling them to return it - if the former you should verify the address is not the scammers.

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So.

If o2 are sending out devices without a contract, someone is committing fraud. Ask them to provide the evidence for the contract. If they can't then contact a lawyer and take them to the cleaners.