Frustrated and don't know what to do next

[Anonymous]

Hello People

Having spent yet another 30 minutes on the phone to O2 Business Customer services today I still feel like I am getting no where and wonder what my next move should be so having discovered the forum today I am hoping that someone here may have some advice.

Okay here is my story ~ Sorry for the length

I sent the email below to O2 2 weeks ago, I had an acknowledgement on the 23rd saying they will respond in 72 hours but nothing since. I have since telephoned 3 times and been on the phone for more than 2 hours. I also emailed direct to the credit referrals team and again no reply. ( I have checked the email address's and they are correct)

Today I was told the only thing they can do is email the credit referrals team and nothing more.


Dear O2

I have a major problem with my business account and mobile phone. This all started back in July 2008 when I rang up for a new phone as my previous one was old and it needed upgrading. The young girl I spoke to was delightful and very helpful. She told me that as I had been a customer for over 14 years she was able to offer me some great discounts. As you can imagine I was delighted. The deal she offered me was a 2 year fixed price deal with a new phone. I was to have 800 free minutes a month and unlimited text all for just £15 as she had applied a loyalty discount. Plus I would get loyalty treats by calling a free phone number. Obviously I accepted the offer and was delighted that my long service with you was being recognised. I remember feeling like a real special and loyal customer both during and after the call when I thought back on it. I have always championed O2 to clients and friends over the years and this made it worth while.

Anyway my new phone arrived and I switched over my sim card and all was fine. As I pay by Direct Debit and I download my bills electronically when I do my accounts up to date (which can sometimes be not that often) I did not realise there was a problem for about 6 months after the change. Then at the beginning of December 2008 I noticed on my bank account that the Direct Debit taken out was far in excess of the £15 I had agreed to. I thought this was strange so I downloaded all my bills and to my horror discovered that they were all for considerable sums and the price I was being charged was not the £15 a month I had been promised.

I immediately telephoned customer services from my notes I think this call was on 2nd December 2008 and I initially spoke to someone called XXXX. To cut a long story short I ended up speaking to quite a few different people over many phone calls in the following 2 months. My issues were never resolved and then unfortunately I became very ill and have not been well enough to continue with the saga of resolving this until now.

When I initially telephoned back in December 2008 I was told that I had not been given that offer of £15 a month and that no loyalty discount was available no matter how many years I had been a customer. They said the deal I had agreed to was for 200 minutes a month plus an extra 100 minutes for an extra £16.50. I insisted that I had been given this offer and pointed out that under no circumstances would I have accepted the deal they had listed on my account as it was worse than the one I was on previously and with the market now more competitive I could have done far better else where. Part of what then took so long was that I was waiting for a supervisor to listen to the initial telephone call when I was made the offer to prove that I was correct. I can not remember now if that was ever done as after waiting several weeks things moved on when I found a letter from O2 confirming the deal I had been offered. I called again to inform them of this and had to fax my letter to someone called XXXX on the business team. His extension number according to my notes was 25441.

I was eventually told that what had happened was that the deal I had been offered was not a business customer deal it was one for a consumer. Apparently the only way to resolve this would be for me to ring up and open a new sim only consumer account as if I was a new customer. O2 would then transfer the deal I had been offered plus my history to this account. I was not at all happy with this however having spent two months already trying to resolve this and with all this extra money going out of my account I felt I had no choice.

So I did as instructed. When applying for the new account the person I spoke to needed me to give them my credit card details which again I was not happy about as they were going to initially charge me and then refund it. To my shock when they tried to create me a new account it came back that I could not have a new account as I had a bad credit rating. This left me at stale mate as they were still insisting that there was nothing they could do even though it was their fault unless I opened a new account. Then to my absolute horror they told me that the reason I had a bad credit rating was because O2 had logged as bad credit against my name a debt of £216.92 for a company called XXXX Ltd.

I know of this former company who went into liquidation. I am an accountant by trade and I helped them set up their company. I recommended O2 for their mobiles and when processing their paperwork I used to download their invoices and I was the contact name on the account. I told this to customer services who looked into this for me. They went back and looked at the XXXX Ltd contract and confirmed that when their contract was set up O2 did a credit check on them not me. I was therefore not liable and this debt should not be recorded against me. However to get this removed I was going to have to sign up to a credit checking company, get a copy of my credit rating and email it to the debt assistance department at O2. I managed to get a copy of my report which I have attached for your information the part you want is between pages 8 & 9. However it was at this point that I became ill and did not get chance to send it to the debt assistance department.

So as at today I am still in the same situation however having given it more thought and read through the terms of business sent to me with the contract renewal which clearly covers business customers too I am now not prepared to open a new account with you. It was O2’s mistake not mine and I must therefore ask that you correct it by doing the following.

My credit status be restored immediately and the default lodged against me is removed. I would like written confirmation that this has happened.

My business account is updated with the terms of the agreement I signed up to.

My bank account is credited with all of the money that has been taken in error since the new contract began.

You put a proposal forward for my consideration as to how O2 is to compensate me for all of the hassle; the time I have wasted dealing with your errors, not to mention the bad credit rating I have wrongly had and the loss of access to my funds over £900 according to my calculations which you still currently have.

I have not attached a copy of the agreement as I faxed it in before however if you would like another copy please let me know.

I look forward to your reply


End of Email

Having gone from fantastic loyal customer to a problem no-one can deal with makes me want to leave O2 and go to small claims to recover my money.

Any advice welcome

Thanks

[adamtemp64]

Progress to the complaint review service would be my advise all info can be found on these forums or on the o2 website.

[Anonymous]

Yes you would need to go through the complaints review service but I would include a copy of the contract in the first instance to stop more time being wasted.

Also I don't know much about the business systems but know a lot about the consumer side of things and would imagine the only way to resolve it is to migrate your account over to a consumer, meaning they need to do exactly what they have told you before but you are now refusing them to do.

I guess this all goes to show errors do happen hence why you should check your bills, but then I guess you already know that being an accountant.

[Anonymous]

Yes, definitely the Complaint Review Service. But do it by post and include copies of all documentation. Its a complex case so you should allow them some time to investigate. If you don't get the result you want, you can then go to the independent arbitrator.

[Anonymous]

Thanks people I will give them 2 more days to resolve the issue and having found the details of the complaints review service I will as advised write to them and this time will try and keep it as brief and relevant as possible. I know I have the tendancy to waffle !!!

Thanks again

Helen

[Anonymous]

Actually I thought your complaint was very well written. It was clear and easy to understand and you stuck to the facts and included suggestions of what you would like O2 to do.

You should see some of the complaints that get posted on here full of accusations, embellishment, supposition, over-reaction and bile. I think its obvious you have had a really bad time and despite being ill, have approached this in a sensible way. I really wish you the best with this and hope that everything is sorted for you very soon.

[Anonymous]

Actually I thought your complaint was very well written. It was clear and easy to understand and you stuck to the facts and included suggestions of what you would like O2 to do.
You should see some of the complaints that get posted on here full of accusations, embellishment, supposition, over-reaction and bile. I think its obvious you have had a really bad time and despite being ill, have approached this in a sensible way. I really wish you the best with this and hope that everything is sorted for you very soon.

I agree, people seem to exaggerate and come out with a load of cock and bull when writing complaints, forgetting the complaints dept have access to your account and have heard it all before

Good luck, I do think you have a strong case.