Demo Device - thanks O2!!!

[Anonymous]

 
I urgently need some assistance in relation to having received a demo BlackBerry Q10 handset from an O2 store in Hove last November, which has always been faulty for the simple reason that it isn't a proper handset. Until very recently I was unaware that the device given to me was a demo!

I have been going around in circles since November with no viable solution from any so-called experts, and I have found that certain senior members of staff connected with the Hove store – namely an area manager called Ash and someone who initially appeared efficient called Omar – have been extremely unhelpful and blanked me.

My handset, which the BlackBerry technical team have informed me is built for demo purposes and therefore will develop faults, has been sent away for repair a number of times and the strange problem that no one can resolve is down to fact that it is a demo device.

The BlackBerry technical team have informed me to “demand” that the network that gave me the demo handset replace it. However, this is where the O2 store in Hove has been stalling for time and been deliberately unco-operative. I have never experienced such poor customer service overall when it is clearly a human error by Omar in November 2011 to have given me a demo handset that will never function properly.

I have been informed by BlackBerry that however many factory resets and repairs take place that this demo device will never function as it is meant to.

This bad experience with O2 has been shocking, and the fact that the O2 store in Hove, Omar and the area manager Ash are not prepared to do anything despite the fact that they gave me a demo handset is extremely disappointing.

I simply need a reliable and unlocked high-end device that can deal with around a hundred emails a day, with BlackBerry seemingly the perfect handset for that. However, I don't specifically need another Q10 BlackBerry to replace this demo device, and need to resolve this dilemma asap.

Any advice as to what can be resolved as being given a non-functioning demo device by O2 after four or five repairs, and then for the various O2 staff to then be so unhelpful despite their initial human error is not good enough.

[Anonymous]

Shall post on here what is resolved, if anything.

Don't want O2 tarnished by a couple of awkward and inefficient people who have power but won't accept responsibility for providing a demo device.

Neither BlackBerry nor the O2 repair centre recognise the IMEI and have confirmed that it is a demo.

Will never trust an O2 franchise again (especially Hove), nor those two managers Omar and Ash. Grrrrrrr.....

[Anonymous]

I don't blame you it's nice you still have faith in O2 hopefully all will come good for you

[Anonymous]

I must say this is the first time I've come across this issue which possibly makes it a unique issue to which they are all probably scratching their heads !

I can't fathom why they simply don't take it off you and produce a new one from the stockroom. I can only assume no one wants to take the hit on the stock loss and probable write off.

The complaints route should hopefully help to bring this to fruition , however one would have hoped the Store Manager or indeed the Area Manager would have nipped this in the bud before the stage your currently at.

When they gave you the phone was it in a sealed box ?

Personally if a shop tried to hand me a mobile phone in a box where the seal was broken they'd be getting it straight back !

[Anonymous]

The Area Manager, various Store Managers and the temporary Area Manager have been hopeless!
They gave me a handset without any accessories and not in a box - which, on reflection, I should not have accepted. I had five repairs that didn't resolve anything so just getting hold of a handset that potentially worked was a joy that turned into a nightmare!
Customer Complaints haven't been helpful as no longer an O2 customer. But when they realise that it is a demo device that I've been given then hopefully they will be helpful!

[Anonymous]

A handset not in a box and devoid of the usual bundled items = issues. 😞

Was all this performed in the shop ?

[Anonymous]

Yes ... the O2 store in Hove (a franchise and a poor one at that!)

[Anonymous]

Sounds very very dodgy

[jonsie]

Hope you get a resolution for this. Quite frankly you should never have accepted the handset in the first place and indeed you should never have been offered it.

Was it at full price?

This all smacks of deceit and backhanders to me. If you get nowhere with your complaint to O2 then take it as high as you can maybe getting some legal advice.

[Anonymous]

Spoken to O2 Customer Complaints who offered me a range of refurbished BlackBerry models from 2010 that I could pick up for £30-£40 ... then said "if it's the same IMEI that I previously had the number for then I can't do anything about it!"

So Customer Complaints are shying away from any responsibility.

The area manager and the temporary store manager are ignoring my emails and refusing to help even though they are both FULLY AWARE that it is demo device that they gave me but shouldn't.

BlackBerry confirmed that it is a demo device so will never work properly. They reiterated that I should "demand" a replacement.

Left with no choice but to email O2 CEO Ronan Dunne, who hopefully will sort out and kick butt as O2 staff have been pitiful as usual in store in Hove and at Customer Complaints.

[Anonymous]

Please let us know what's said in the reply to your email.

What a mess.

Also think about using Citizens Advice.