Atrocious service

[Niculae]

So here goes.. I phoned up Tuesday morning and completed an upgrade on my account. Everything checked out and phone was supposed to be delivered on Wednesday.. Got a message weds morning saying the phone is out of stock.. Phoned o2 immediately to sort it out and and was told I had to cancel the whole upgrade just to change to a colour they had in stock. So cancelled it and was told to phone back in an hour and it would be sorted. Yea that was a lie. Then was told to phone back in 24 hours and it would be sorted.. Guess what had happened? That's right. Sod all.. The next person(that's putting it politely) I spoke to told me to go in store to create a duplicate account and that would get it sorted. I should have seen it coming.. After a 30min trip into the city centre I find out it can't be done on a sim only contract. Doubleyou tee eff?!. So phoned back and was told it would be sorted in another 24 hours.. So thought OK stop stressing let them sort it. Phoned back this morning to find out it going to be another 5 working days.. What the ******?!? Why was I lied to? Why did I have to repeatedly phone up and then make an unnecessary journey only to find out what was happening? Why couldn't they have just told me this days ago? This customer service experience will not be forgotten.

[Cleoriff]

@NiculaeSorry to hear about this. The best thing you can do is make a complaint

https://www.o2.co.uk/how-to-complain

[MI5]

This is sadly standard for the pathetic excuse known as o2 customer service since it was outsourced.
Mind you, none of the other networks are any better these days.
Sorry you had so much grief and a complaint is about all you can do which is unlikely to help in reality but will at least make you feel better

[jonsie]

The online ordering and cancellation policy is absolutely awful these days. Much better to go instore or to one of the independents. 

[Anonymous]

You’d think they’d get a better online system with all the complaints they get but alas doesn’t seem to have happened 

[Niculae]

I've been complaining all day but whether it be an English or Indian accent.. I'm sorry there is nothing we can do.. Tbh I want nothing more to do with o2 but I'm stuck with the lying ****** for another 6 months

[Anonymous]

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@MI5 wrote:
This is sadly standard for the pathetic excuse known as o2 customer service since it was outsourced.
Mind you, none of the other networks are any better these days.

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On balance O2 are far from being the worst. That award goes to Voda (Lost my number, connection, service and customer service records on one of their major database changes, only historic billing data remained...daily calls for two weeks to  'CEO's Office'  ( Customer Relations in Leicester, via reception in Newbury) and 6 weeks to sort...

Or possibly BT who insisted the fact that their systems showed no fault on a dead landline meant they

weren't:

 a) coming out to fix it, unless I agreed to indemnify to the tune of £150, despite there having been no incoming nor outgoing calls, or any other itemisable activity for the three months nor 

b) compensating me for this. and...

c) still charging line rental and service charges during the time it was dead. Tho...

d) the call with retentions when i grew of this madness was pretty straightforward... why are you leaving BT?.....😏

I'm told Talk Talk are appalling too.  

All these pale into insignificance compared with Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Ebay/Paypal where you are scrapping the underneath of the barrel if you ever have the misfortune of having to interact with their Customer Service.

O2 customer service staff in Johannasburg get paid c £400 a month.

[Cleoriff]

I can't comment on much of your post @Anonymous

I can, however, stand in defence of Amazon's customer service. 

I have been a customer for years and have had no complaints with the way they have dealt with me when I have contacted them

For one thing, in their contact us section they give you the option to speak by phone.If you select 'Call Me Now' they ring you immediately (at no cost to you).

I have never hung about in a queue with vile 'muzak' playing. I don't have to go through a multitude of options ie if you want this press 1, the other press 2, etc etc etc. 

If I have a complaint about an order, it is dealt with immediately.

An added bonus (as a Prime Customer)  they often add an extra months Prime free of charge to compensate for any inconvenience.

So I for one, can't fault their service and I have been a customer for more years than I care to remember  

[Anonymous]

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@Cleoriff wrote:

Amazon's customer service. 

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I think in general customer service improves depending on your direct impact on the profitability of the organisation, and/or how many c.s. interactions it expects (the lower the number the better the service).And/or the ease of resolving the issue at hand. This is speculation as I've had no personal experience but I expect that McLaren or Ferrari Supercar customers get pretty good service when they call.

Amazon is highly system driven and knows before you ask them to call what the issue is likely to be, lost or damaged delivery, not what you expected or whatever. Almost all the time they won't be taking the hit, in any case.

Amazon doesn't employ most of the people who work for it, doesn't own most of the buildings it uses, nor the systems equipment and infrastructure, telecoms or utilities. It doesnt own or lease any of the transportation or logistics resources it uses. So customer service staff who also aren't employed by Amazon will deal with the issue and then the systems in place pass on the cost of resolving it to the product supplier, the warehousing supplier, or the outsourced logistics and delivery supplier, by means of product replacement, cash fines and so on. Ultimately if the problem is slighly harder you can even email Jeff  Bezos himself and get a quicker resolution but one based on this practice.

Go outside of their teflon like ability to not take the hit and things start to get much more murky - I had a lengthy set of interactions with Amazon and Jeff's office and got nowhere... 

Here was the issue. Back in the day when Royal Mail delivered their Super Saver 3 - 4 day delivery items these were free delivery for Amazon supplied or fulfilled. AND It actually took them 3-4 days to get the items out of the few Amazon warehouse's here, over to the RM regional depot, out to the sorting offices and out for last mile delivery. Faster Courier delivery had to be paid for as it was far more expensive, as it went straight from depot to courier to customer.

Then they came up with Prime, and Amazon Logistics, opened a lot more Depots and effectively have aquired their own outsourced distribution and logistics network, geared around getting most peoples stuff to them next day. This means that they now build in an artificial wait of up to five days to fulfill free delivery non-prime customer orders by sitting on them for no good reason and just sending them into the now standard next day distribution stream 3 or 4 days after being placed.!!!! 😏

I call that poor customer service in the extreme and was very disappointed and frustrated in their unwillingness/inability/ outright refusal to engage about it.

[Cleoriff]

@Anonymous

I can only speak of my own personal experience, not yours. 

I shop online for everything and I mean everything. 

The only bad experience I had with Amazon was in relation to a mobile phone I bought for my son from a marketplace seller. It was brand new and developed a fault after 6 months. Unfortunately the seller had stopped trading with Amazon. I was unable to contact him as he was based in France. After receiving an official report re the phone fault Amazon refunded my money in full. £495. I call that good customer service. They didn't even want the phone back. 

So, as someone who shops online for everything, I am willing to pay for Prime subscription as I can extend that benefit to 3 other family members. As said, this is my personal experience with Amazon and I can't fault them.