Bad customer care after fraud

[Anonymous]

Hi All I'd like to know what you think about the £60, £70 or £80 goodwill gesture O2 are offering me after my online account was defrauded (the different amounts are what were offered to me in one phone call by O2's Complaint Review Service, today).

My account was hacked into last November, my address changed and an iPhone ordered in my name. As part of this ‘deal’ I stopped receiving paper bills so did not know until end of December 2009 when £155.81 was taken out of my bank account (instead of the usual £20 or so on Simplicity), that something was amiss.

I called customer services immediately. They told me I had changed my address online and I said I certainly had not and was still living at the same address where I had been for the past decade. They would not divulge any more information as to where the iPhone had gone etc but said they would put the case on to the fraud team. The fraud team investigated and concluded that I had been a victim of fraud.

In addition, the person had ordered a £15 per month insurance – which continued to be taken out of my account after the fraud had been detected. As my current mobile phone is more than five years old, I was baffled that no one would have noticed why I would suddenly be ordering insurance for such an old phone. Again, I had to chase this up to get it cancelled rather than anyone at O2 realising that this has been part of the fraud activity.

Since January, I have asked for my money to be refunded back into my bank account (it was credited back to my O2 account). I normally pay by direct debit and my monthly bills are approximately £20, so in effect I was paying for 7 months in advance). I was told this would happen at the time of the next bill and nothing did. I then called back in February when I noticed my bill was nearly £40 (this was because of the insurance charge, and of which I had no idea). The first thing I was told was, well your last bill was £155 so you don’t normally pay around £20, it must be call charges. I then had to go through the whole scenario again of how this was not my usual phone activity but fraud. It was then discovered that my bill was around £40 because of the insurance and the insurance was then stopped. I was promised the remainder of my money back at the time of the next bill and again, this did not happen. I called several times to ask for my money back and finally wrote an email to various O2 email addresses.

Today, I received a call and was told well you would have had to pay that money to us anyway so your account has just stayed in credit. I was very upset and angry about this and then the person also said that 9 out of ten fraud cases are family members or where you have shared your online details. This did nothing to placate me. They are now offering to refund me the £30 remaining in credit but the guy says it will take ten days, by which time my next bill of £20 will be due!! Then he offered me the gesture of one of the amounts mentioned above. I'm really unhappy with this. I've been with O2 since they were BT Cellnet and was actually thinking of upgrading. I'm not happy with the service, the aftercare or the fact that their security is lax and now thinking about switching to another provider. Just wondering what experiences others have had.

Many thanks.

[Anonymous]

I would suggest writing a letter of complaint. The email service I found pretty lousy, so I suggest writing a letter.
Don't meen to sound harsh though, but the details of your account were likely to have been obtained some how through you, either online scams, or people getting the bills you threw away. People who commit fraud do not get these details randomly and o2 have a pretty strong data protection system.

[Anonymous]

I agree that its more than likely a weakness in your own security.
I also think it a little strange that you tried to sort this yourself rather than involve the police.
It must have been upsetting for you, but all the more reason to do it the 'correct' way as you would then have had access to helpful resources and a speedier resolution.

As to O2's offer, it seems to me to be acceptable. If you disagree, then you need to make the suggestion, to them, of what you want.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, I've never thrown my bills away - still have them from years back, apart from those I have shredded. I have wondered if it's either an inside job or because I had a job search account with the Guardian newspaper and that entire system was hacked. The Guardian said they didn't know how many accounts had been breached and stuff. It was pretty poor response from them. I think hundreds of people were affected. My main gripe with O2 was the fact I kept asking them for my money back and their ineffective response and now that guy saying it's the same money I would have used to pay my bills anyway!!

[perksie]

Sorry to disagree with the others here but O2 have already admitted there was a breach and the account was used fraudulently, so the only question is how the money should have been repaid.

It should not have been allocated as credit but repaid directly into the bank account as requested.

I have been through a not dissimilar case where a large amount of money was spent on a credit card which had never left my possession and the pin wasn't known to anyone but me, this was refunded to me within seven days and a new card issued.

After following all the correct procedures I feel that Moonless has been poorly treated here.

I would have engaged a solicitor for this, and included their fees in the amount reclaimed from O2.

I feel that the assumption that the customer is always wrong should be avoided when giving advice and a more balanced view taken.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't settle for anything less than full refund of the amounts paid, plus a goodwill gesture. You've been treated shamefully.

I would also add, it's not always your own fault if your logon details are leaked.

I've had personal experience where an online shop that I had previously used (airsideshop.com) had their database hacked. This included the email address and password of all their customers. In that particular case, if you had used the same password for your email, or used your email address as a logon ID for other shops, it would have been very easy for the hackers to break in to other accounts. Thankfully in that instance, the shop contacted the affected customers immediately to notify them, so that they could change passwords and protect themselves... but I'm sure that similar things happen elsewhere online, and you may not be so lucky as to have an honest shop that would tell all of their customers about it.

[Anonymous]

I think you may have missed the point of the thread. It isn't about whether O2 should have refunded the money into the bank or not. ( I agree they should)
The thread is asking whether the compensation being offered (for the refund issue) is reasonable.

There was also a comment that O2 had been hacked, when its far more likely that the OP has a computer issue or its an acquaintance. Even if they believe otherwise its surely worth checking. This is where reporting the identity fraud to the correct authorities is important. As you will get the support you need. Rather than trying to sort everything out yourself.

[Anonymous]

O2 are right, the majority of cases like this turn out to be family or friends. The majority of murders are domestic related. Almost all nuisance phone callers are known to their victims.


So what?


It appears to me that moonless has had the run-around, the CRS has lost its credibility in his eyes and once again O2, as a brand name, has taken another reputation hit.

moonless, you can run to another network in order to punish O2, but the reality is you won't be hurting them. Do what it best for you and don't react with a kneejerk.


O2 are good at crediting accounts but shockingly bad at returning money. O2 forums have witnessed this all too often.


I sympathise with you, but I think sometimes mountains are often made out of molehills when frustration clouds rational thought. Don't worry about getting the remainder of the cash back, leave it on your account; it is hardly worth it now and should have been dealt with when the "fraud" was discovered.

The good will gesture you have been offered more than adequately covers any interest for your "advanced" payment.


Keep it real!!

[Anonymous]

Accept the offer and ask at the same time for your upgrade !

Put it behind you and move on..

Life's too short.