Dear O2 'Customer Services' team
It aggreaves me to have to write a message like this as I have been a loyal customer of O2 since 2007 and, until the last 6 months, have found your service to be faultless. It saddens me deeply that this is no longer the case and three recent disheartening interactions that I have had with members of your team have left me feeling appalled and dismayed at what your team employees seem to think is acceptable treatment of your customers.
I would like to bring your attention to two recent incidents that have sadly caused me to come to the decision to not renew my contract with you this coming November and to seek mobile services elsewhere for the first time in nearly a decade.
Recently I was surprised and alarmed to see that I had a phone bill totalling over £100 with you. Since my contract usually comes to between £40-50 per month, already an incredibly high tariff (which until recently I didn't mind as I had felt I was paying for quality), I called your payments team to enquire if a mistake had been made on my bill.
I was abruptly (read: rudely) told that no error had been made on O2's part and the extortionate amount had been caused by 2 phone calls made to my family, who reside in Marbella, Spain, that month. They were fairly short phone calls and I was shocked that they had cost so much.
I do not earn much money and budget my earnings very carefully. Since I have about £60 a week to live off after rent and bills, with nothing left over for savings, you can appreciate that to find an extra £50 (aka double my contracted phone bill) out of nowhere was a big ask.
When I enquired about a possible payment plan, or even a bill reduction on account of the fact that this is an unusual behaviour and I have been such a loyal customer (I know that was a big ask but given my tight finances I thought there might be something you could do), I was given a flat no and told I could purchase an add-on that would allow overseas calling for an extra £10 a month.
Having explained that I already spend around £50 with you on a monthly basis and that, as I had explained, It is not common practice for me to call abroad, I declined and asked again about the payment plan. I was put on hold for about half an hour and eventually told that, yes, a payment plan would be possible but that it would involve my outgoing calls being barred. I said that this would be inconvenient but not a disaster and asked if I would still have 3 & 4G usage, which I need for my work. I was told yes, that these would not be affected by the payment plan.
When it came to setting up the payment plan, however, I heard as I was read the terms and conditions that I would not have use of my 3 and 4G. When I informed the women setting up the plan that I had understood that I would still have use of there, she simply informed me 'no, you won't.' There was nothing by way of apology and I was spoken to like I was an idiot for believing that these services would still be accessible, despite the fact that I had been told by a member of your staff that this would be the case. I ended up simply delaying the payment for a month to give me some time to try and fine the extra money, which has been incredibly difficult and stressful. This could have easily been avoided had I at least been given the correct information and which wouldn't have been quite so dismaying had I at least been given an apology for the false information.
The last straw with dealing with you came when my phone was cut off yesterday (3rd August). I had assumed it was a signal problem but became aware that it must have been something your end when I was able to receive calls but not make them. I had tried to call the FREE 202 number that morning (around 11.30 am) to pay my phone bill, only to find it blocked. When I did manage to get hold of someone on your payment team (my company kindly allowed me to use the office phone at the risk of missing important incoming calls), an incredibly abrasive man answered who made it clear from the off that he simply did not care about the problems I’ve been having with your company.
I told him I had tried to call the free number to pay the bill and asked why this had been barred. He told me a bar had been put on at 9.30 am because the bill was five days overdue. I explained that my bill is due on the 1st, so it was not five days overdue, and asked how was I supposed to pay my bill if the Freephone 202 number had been blocked? At which point he hung up on me.
I was not rude or aggressive. I did not swear or threaten your employee. I was incredulous of course, because blocking the payment number seems counterproductive when trying to get someone to pay their bill, but sadly I was not able to find out his reasoning on account of him ending our conversation rather suddenly. He had also neglected to give me his name.
When I finally got hold of a member of your team again who graciously agreed to take my money (isn’t it interesting that when I dialled your number for the ‘I’m thinking of leaving’ department I was on hold for 40 minutes, but when you want to take a payment I’m on hold for just five? Is this because the number of people leaving are so numerous or do you really just not care?) she made it very clear that she also did not care about the numerous problems I’ve encountered with your company and informed me that the systems were down so she would be unable to gather any information for me regarding why the block had been put on two days early.
(This is interesting because when I had asked your previous employee why I had been given the wrong information about the 02 payment plan she had said that she would not be able to look up any information because your systems were down. It really is very concerning that you have such faulty systems that make it impossible for customers to pinpoint why they are experiencing such difficulties with your company.)
When I told her about the numerous problems I have encountered there was simply a pause, and then she asked ‘how will you be paying?’. No word of apology or 'I'm sorry to hear that.' You might train your staff to at least pretend to care and to make customers feel valued.
I would, in conclusion, like answers to the following questions:
1. Why did your representative inform me that my phone had been cut off because the payment was five days overdue, including the Freephone 202 number that rendered me unable to call you to actually pay my bill, when actually it was 3 days past the payment date and I had tried to call that morning (so let's say 2.5 days overdue for arguments sake) only to find that I was unable to do so?
2. Why was I unceremoniously hung up on by a member of your staff when I asked him the above questions? I find this especially frustrating as I was not rude, did not raise my voice at him, swear at him or act in an aggressive manner, I simply asked a question that I do not believe warranted him to hang up on me.
3. Why is my bill such an extortionate amount for making a couple of phone calls that were not particularly long (and in a time of crisis), and why, when I say to your representative that these calls were the result of a family emergency and were not the norm, do I get offered an add-on to make overseas calls, yet another thing that will cost me money, rather than a payment plan offer? Or even a word of condolence or concern regarding my family situation?
4. Why, when I do finally get to speak to someone about a payment plan, do I get the offer of making two separate payments within the same month? I, like many of your customers, get paid on a monthly basis. Being able to make two extortionate payments within the same pay month is not optional.
5. Why is your representative so clueless that, when I finally do speak to someone about establishing a reasonable payment plan, do I get told that I will have all of my functions such as 3g, 4g, texts ect. and that the only restriction will be that I will be unable to make outgoing calls, only to find that when it actually comes to setting up the payment plan this is completely wrong and that they payment plan will be restrictive to everything? I need 3g and 4g for work so this option was entirely unacceptable and something that I definitely established with your employee before calling at a later date to set up the plan only to find this information was false.
6. Why do you call it a payment plan at all when actually it transpires that I will just be paying the bill one month later, as I have had to in this case? As I have explained about my tight budget I have now lost an entire weeks' worth of income because of being given the wrong information by your 'advisers'.
7. Why was I not apologised to when a) I was given such utterly wrong information, b) when I was hung up on by your representative, and c) when you blocked my phone for no apparent reason, blocking it within the grace period and leaving me unable to pay my phone bill?
One way that I think you can apologise for your atrocious service is to release me from my contract, free of charge. I have been consistently misled, misinformed and outright lied to by your staff and I feel that I have given you enough of my time and money. I would like out. I highly doubt you will do this of course, but at least I can take comfort in the knowledge that it is only another three months that I must be bound to your wretched network and then I will never have to speak to any of your rude, incompetent staff ever again.
I eagerly anticipate your swift response. Do feel free to call me, i'm sure you'll be able to find my number if your systems ever start working.
Yours disappointedly
LD
