Are O2 incompetant?

[Anonymous]

Hi all, i returned a phone i ordered before Christmas within the cooling off period, i then telephoned to cancel the contract and check that the phone was recieved ok.

Was told that phone had been recieved and that the contract would be cancelled, was also told to cancel the direct debit just incase they went in to collect any money as it was close to the bill date.

now the money was taken by 02 several days later, but it was then returned as obvioisly they realised their mistake and even though i cancelled the direct debit i didnt do it in time.

Forward till today and i have been sent an email from mycare  saying that they have tried to get a payment of £5.67 and that they couldnt get it so my account is now in arrears??

Has anyone else had a situation like this? i am totally fed up as this will go down on my file as an unpaid amount through no fault of my own, i cancelled the contract within the cooling off period, phone never used, told all done on the phone, now being chased for money i dont owe!

Wish i had never got involved with such a shoddy company, and yes i will be complaining on the phone in the morning.

[MI5]

Use the official complaints link too http://www.o2.co.uk/how-to-complain

[jonsie]

The bill would have been auto-generated and it appers that no one has the sense or ability to override the system. I'm afraid only customer service can resolve it for you so it looks like a phone call is your only option.

If you want to make a complaint via email, the address is in the link below.

How to complain

[Curr946]

Even though you cancel, you still have to pay pro rata for the time the your account was active. Seems to me yoi owe the fiver, id call up and clear this before you end out with a default on your credit file.

[MI5]

You only have to pay for any usage, not active account time.
If you made any calls or sent texts, data etc they will charge for that but if phone was never used there are no charges owed.

[Bambino]

@Anonymous If you used the phone before you sent it back, that's what you have been charged for. Whoever told you to cancel your direct debit before the account was closed gave you the wrong information. If you want to make a formal complaint about that, use the link that @MI5 and @jonsie have provided.

[Anonymous]

Phone was never used, not even taken from its packaging, have telephoned customer service today, who said that there should have been no charge as the phone has been disconected back in December, he is not sure why this has happened and at the moment i am waiting for a call back from them as was left on hold whilst he tried to contact someone from billing, i told him i was paying for a call when this was through no fault of my own........funny thing is when i gave my postcode the man tried to argue that that wasnt my postcode, i told him i know where i live!......

I would never ever join O2 for this reason alone, a simple task which should have been completed and then no issues.

now i will have an unpaid report on my credit file.

And i was told to cancel the direct debit as no money was due, i didn't do this in time and they actually took the payment, but then realised that it was their mistake and refunded, i thought this was the end of the issue until of course i received an email stating that the account is in arrears.

Now i have just had a phone call from customer service which has confirmed that there is NO active account and that there should have never been a request for any money, they confirmed that this was a mistake on their part but they are still unsure as to why this has happened, to resolve the issue they are going to credit the non existent account with the money owed and that should be the end of the story.

I of course live in the real world and i have asked that this information is sent to me via email so i have proof that O2 are responsible for this mistake, i am then going to file a complaint as this is totally unnecessary and as O2 have said i have done everything i should have done, the error is all their fault.

Like i said just confirms to me what an awful company this is, if they cant sort out something as simple as this god knows what would have happened had i taken out a contract with them.

[jonsie]

An awful experience, time wasted and getting stressed for a simple return of a product and cancellation. Hopefully it's sorted now and an end to it.

[Bambino]

@Anonymous Even if it is sorted, you should file a formal complaint so you have it as a matter of record.

[jonsie]

Only feedback and complaints will make o2 take any notice and try to stop errors like this happening time and again. I totally agree with @Bambino