Imei bar/ blacklisted device

[Blacklisted1]

A handset I bought from o2 was imei barred and blacklisted in January 2023 by o2. 

This was not something I requested but may have been done by mistake. I have paid for the handset and have p.o.p from ee. 

I have spoken to 5 advisers in customer service.

The first gave me lots of reassurances and promises and hung up.

The second sounded as though she knew what to do and processed 2 forms/requests to have it unbarred within 24 hours.

The third had no idea what to do and kept giving false information and then said I would receive a call from resolutions within a week. 

The fourth simply hung up. 

The fifth said as no advisers has access to ABS system anymore after migration to 360 I had to come online like this and make the request here. 

As someone who worked in CS on the legacy system I can see why no one knows as it is a poorly trained subject in my experience. 

I have lodged 2 complaints and have still not heard from the resolutions team. 

Most of the advisers stated that o2 can't bar a device that was bought elsewhere which I know to be untrue and they ALL after more prompting confirmed this was true. 

An IMEI bar is not a suitable restriction for a lost sim card and no where in ant knowledge base process does it advise this to be done. 

Can someone who understands the systems please get back to me and remove this bar. 

I need the phone for work as I am without a working phone. 

[Bambino]

@Blacklisted1 This is a customer community. No one here can access the information you need. If you don't have a working phone, download Skype: Guide: A Guide to Skype 

You then need to persevere with O2 to lift the IMEI bar.

Using Skype, call O2 for free on 0800 032 1402
When it comes to the reason you are calling, stay silent for 15 seconds and you will be taken to the keypad options.
Press 2 for Everything Else
Press 5 for More Options
Press 7 for Anything Else which will put you though to someone.
Say 'Upgrade', 'Lost/Stolen', or 'Fraud' if the suggestion above doesn't get you through.
Best time to call is 8 am.
You can also reach O2 via social media:
Facebook (https://o2uk.co/O2CFB), Twitter (now X) (https://o2uk.co/O2CTW), or Instagram (https://o2uk.co/O2CIG)

How to find help & contact O2: A Guide - O2 Community

[Oxonian]

We understand @Blacklisted1 that it is currently taking O2 up to eight weeks to investigate and respond to complaints. 

You say that you have lodged two complaints. Whilst it is acceptable to remind O2 that you have submitted a complaint and await a reply, we have been told that if a second substantive complaint is submitted, O2 will treat that as superseding the original complaint. This effectively restarts the clock at zero and is to be avoided. 

Hence, your eight week period before you can escalate to the Ombudsman probably begins from when you submitted your second complaint.    

[Blacklisted1]

I understand the complaints process(I have worked for o2 recently and left due to their lack of training and poor customer service practices.) The real issue is that no one I speak to understands the issue (due to poor training and management, yet they have the ability to easily impose an imei bar in carex.)

All I need is someone who can remove my imei bar. Usually this would be done by sending a process wizard or knowledgebase form to back office and the imei would be removed from the blacklist.(within 24hrs) it has been 14 days.

Ironically the only reason I ever opened the sim only was because I was told it was free as an employee in legacy customer services. Wrong again or at least no one is trained to apply that discount as I was not. I am frustrated as a device I bought from someone else for hundreds of pounds that I now need as a matter of urgency is a brick and I am losing money due to not being able to use it for work. My current phone is on its last legs and I see no reason why this can't be a front line cjstomer service solve. 

Although as an employee I was advised never to arrange callbacks updates or any other form of communication to "difficult customer who were simply trying to solve an issue with incompetent staff. 

[jonsie]

Customer service has changed so much from when I worked for O2 at the Bury call centre

Yes it was always about the numbers ie. calls per hour

But we were well trained and customer focused

You had a monthly meeting with your Line Manager and you had to listen to three random calls with the manager

Hence no customers were fobbed off as they are today

You took ownership of any problem and followed it through to resolution

You sat together as a team and the line manager was there overseeing things and would speak to a customer if necessary

If you promised a call back then you called the customer back and left full notes on the account

Then they started outsourcing calls and things started going down the pan as far as customer service was concerned

The number of times I took a call and agency staff had left no notes and didn't even try to resolve issues.

Customers shouldn't have to go through their issues repeatedly especially when initial calls have been handled by temps in South Africa or The Phillipines or god knows where

You can't train these staff because they probably won't show up for work again so what is the point?

EE customer service is far better and that is why my main number is now with them. That and the fact that their coverage is far superior to O2 in the North of England

I could go on and write a book about O2 and the multitude of fraud cases

Libel law stops me doing that....

[pgn]

The thankless task of Customer Support agencies...

[gmarkj]

Out of interest @Blacklisted1 have you gone back to the person/company you brought the phone from to find out why it is blacklisted/barred?

Just curious as you say you brought it from o2 but then say you have proof of purchase from EE.

[Blacklisted1]

Sorry yeah that was a typo I couldn't edit it was bought from ee they told me o2 have barred it on 20/01/2023 for lost stolen/fraud.

I had used an o2 sim in it at the time

[madasaf1sh]

@Blacklisted1 

I will ignore the abuse you seemed to level against me, and ask you a question… 

Does an EE, Voda or Three sim work in the phone still, just as on off chance the bar has been passed through to all UK MNO’s

What you have said now makes a lot more sense and context, in that case Proof of Purchase shouldn’t be required it should be simple remove bar.. 

It might be worth if you haven’t going down the Twitter route and speaking to the UK based team, as lots of people including me have found them to more responsive than the OffShore call centres..  

[Blacklisted1]

I just came here for assistance and advice not to be talked to like trash and belittled. Fair enough I lost my temper as I'm sure every o2 customer has but my frustration is caused by not being able to have simple basic actions completed when I have been in the position to carry them out myself in the past and understand how simple the are.

We all have our bad moments so I apologise if my irritation affected you, but I thought a community was to assist not be smug and condescending to someone who is just looking for any advice. I'm a grown up tho and shouldn't be taking my frustration out on the wrong people. 

I've learned from my mistake, I won't be a customer o2 will see ever again and can't see any reason why anyone would defend their willfull lack of care for customers. I was actively told to hang up on customers if it was taking too long and never did because its against what I believe in so I left as its not the way I operate. I was the guy constantly asked why I was making outbound calls. And you can bet I had an excellent satisfaction rating.

I appreciate you ignoring my rants. 

It is block listed, no other sim works at all it says not registered on network with all sims I've attached the various checker pics for more info. 

I'm on with Facebook now as a last ditch effort. I need the phone for work so this adds to my rage. 

P.s they're not all offshore. I'm Scottish and was remote for capita.