No coverage for a week Belfast - customer service a joke

[Anonymous]

I am not usually the type to rant on forums or make complaints however I have been so enraged by the state of o2 customer service that I had to
post this.
I live in Belfast BT6 - a pretty central area of a city. I have no landline. I have had no mobile reception for a week and a half and neither has anyone that enters my house. I have heard my neighbours go outside their houses and say to their callers they cannot hear them. I have to go about half a mile away before I can get reception and then it is fine.
I checked o2 coverage online - it says 100%. I emailed o2 customer service to explain that it is not 100% as although I do have a couple of bars reception the 3g is non existant and noone who rings me can hear a thing I say.- they email back and tell me to turn the phone on and off. take the sim out and (and i quote) "If you have another O2 Pay Monthly mobile phone, compare the signal on both your phones (iPhone and your old O2 Pay Monthly phone). This will give you a better picture of the network coverage in your area."
I did all of the above except for the last part as quite frankly I dont own another o2 pay monthly phone as I pay enough for the one Ive got and am supposed to be able to use it. None of the above worked.
I phone o2 customer service as per advice of email if the "steps" didnt work. I held for approx 10 mins. The girl can barely hear me as the reception is so bad - not her fault.I was asked the same questions as in the email - that was fine, I can understand that. I answer them and the girl tells me she will put me through to network support. After approx another 5 mins she comes back and asks me some more questions apparantly from network support - how far do i have to go to get reception, is anyone else having same problem. I answer these as best I can considering bad reception but she gets the answers and goes back to network support. Another period of holding she comes back and says network support will not speak to me unless I go to an area with better reception (hilarious) or find a landline.I remind her that I dont have a landline however she says that netowrk support will not speak to me unless I do. Well forgive me for not having a landline, I have managed quite well for over two years without one.
I did not realise that in order to be an o2 customer and have access to their so called "support" it was a requirement.
I ask if network support have an email address or direct number but I am told no. Just to add injury to insult the girl asks me if I have broadband, and if so o2 can do me a great deal. Really? Thanks o2. I get off the phone a little annoyed as I ponder what to do. I email cusotmer support again. A helpful sole writes back very promptly to suggest I ring o2 from my mobile to solve the problem. I write back to inform him that he seems to be missing the point. As inconvenient as it is I get in the car and drive ten miles to my parents house to use their landline. I get there and phone o2, After 17 minutes on hold I get through to the closure dept as there is no option for bad coverage. I get put through to customer service which I am told will only take a second- 17 minutes later I get through. She says she will put me through to network services. Great - put on hold again - a further 8 minutes later - wow my parents phone bill is going to have a nice 25 minute call to an 0844 number - the girl comes back "with a few questions from network support" The same questions are asked, the same answers are given. I remind her that I have specifically gone to a house with a landline in order to speak to network services. I have also gone to the trouble of finding out two other mobile numbers (as I was asked to do in the original call) so that they can check these too. I get put on hold. After a furhter 5 mins she comes back to tell me that network services can't speak to me as I am not in the right postcode area. I say I dont care and I want to speak to them direct. She says they are not allowed to speak to me. I reiterate to her that if I go into my postcode area there is no reception. She says I should go into my neighbours house who I do not know from Adam and use their landline. I tell her I do not fancy going into a strangers house and using a strangers phone for a period of 30 minutes at an extortionate rate. She says she cant help me. I tell her I would like to be put through to customer complaints. She tells me there is not a complaints department. I say that a company the size of o2 has a complaints department. She tells me there is not one available and I will have to write to them. I take the PO BOX address and ask for their email and fax number. She says they dont have one. I tell her I want to leave o2. SHe tells me I have to write to customer complaints.
What do I do? I will write a very strongly worded letter to customer complaints (it will prob consist of this post) but to be quite honest it gets my goat that a. i have to spend time writing this post, b i have to spend yet more time writing a letter c I have to waste my paper, ink and an envelope on this company and d I have to pay for postage. It also gets my goat that I have been paying for a service for over a week and a half which I have not been receiving. I will be claiming all of this back plus the money spent on the phone calls.
I am flabbergasted that a company thats whole branding of blue serene bubbles of water which I assume is designed to come across as fluid and easy is anything but.
In fact they have done everything in their power to not sort my problem. At this moment I could scream however I wont as I will waste no more energy on o2 tonight.
Rant over

[adamtemp64]

http://tinyurl.com/3y2znvj
has all the info for the complaints review service

[Anonymous]

I'm afraid I don't really see the problem. They have taken you through fault finding and then passed you to network services. They need to investigate and to do so will need you to type things into your handset. You can't do that if you are using it and there is no point doing the tests in another area.
The reason she suggested getting a pay monthly customer to phone is that it is free for them to phone.
So there seem to be perfectly valid reasons for all you have been asked to do.
Its fair enough that you don't have a landline. Which is probably why she mentioned your neighbours, as you say they have been having problems as well.
I see them offering lots of solutions, and I can understand that its not your fault you are unable to do them. Why not try again, explain that you aren't able to do this but its affecting other people and would they be able to get someone to investigate.
Its best if you talk about the signal outside of your house, as they can't control the signal inside.
If you get nowhere, then use the Complaint Review Service mentioned above. Keep it concise and to the point. A summary of your complaint, then what has happened in list form and finally tell them what you want to happen.
If you still don't get anywhere then drop back to the forum as there is always a next step you can take!

[Anonymous]

I'm afraid I don't really see the problem. They have taken you through fault finding and then passed you to network services. They need to investigate and to do so will need you to type things into your handset. You can't do that if you are using it and there is no point doing the tests in another area.
The reason she suggested getting a pay monthly customer to phone is that it is free for them to phone.
So there seem to be perfectly valid reasons for all you have been asked to do.
Its fair enough that you don't have a landline. Which is probably why she mentioned your neighbours, as you say they have been having problems as well.
I see them offering lots of solutions, and I can understand that its not your fault you are unable to do them. Why not try again, explain that you aren't able to do this but its affecting other people and would they be able to get someone to investigate.
Its best if you talk about the signal outside of your house, as they can't control the signal inside.
If you get nowhere, then use the Complaint Review Service mentioned above. Keep it concise and to the point. A summary of your complaint, then what has happened in list form and finally tell them what you want to happen.
If you still don't get anywhere then drop back to the forum as there is always a next step you can take!

The problem is that they did not pass me through to network services and would not pass me through to network services - I could only get as far as customer services. Noone told me that the landline I used had to be in the area affected. There is no point in getting another pay monthly customer to phone from their pay monthly phone in this area as they have no reception either. None of us have reception.
I understand that they will not talk to me if I have no reception as they obviously cannot hear. The point is that they have absolutely no systems in place to deal with an issue like this. If there is no reception in the area it is their fault - they should provide at the very least an email system to be able to email network systems directly so that a network complaint can be logged. Whether I had a landline or not - being required to telephone an 0844 number and being put on hold for an unreasonable amount of time is not acceptable. They should offer a free method of contacting them and reporting a problem. The free number you can phone from your mobile is not acceptable as there is no reception!

I find it unbelieveable that after being on the phone to them for almost an hour yesterday the network problem has not even been logged onto their systems. Noone has taken any note of it, nor would they despite being asked repeatedly.
Not acceptable o2. Will be making one more call - from a landline in another area - and that will be to cancel my contract.

[Anonymous]

Network services, the department you want to speak to, need you to be in the area where you are having the issue so they can do some tests with you. Obviously as you can't make calls you'll need to be on a land line or a mobile from another network. If they can't do this then the folk who take care of the cell sites won't take the case up because the proper diagnosis won't have been done with the customer.

[Anonymous]

The point about a pay monthly customer is that its free for them to call.
This is going to sound harsh and I don't mean it as a telling off, just that they are trying to help you. They are saying these things (and asking you to do things) for a reason even if its not explained well to you or you haven't understood.
I know that when things aren't working its easy to feel that people aren't doing their best to help. Sometimes you just have to trust them and do what they say. Even if it means a little expense or you don't understand why.
When its all sorted you can always call them and ask for that expense to be credited to you.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your response
I understand that you are trying to be helpful. However the point about someone else phoning from their pay monthly phone isn't going to help us. None of us have any reception so they will not take our calls.
If we phone from ourside the affected area they wont speak to us as they cant do the relevant tests. The only option is to ask one of our neighbours to use their landline and it is likely we will be on hold for a significant time. We dont know any of our neighbours on that level and I am happy to give them the money for the call but Im not happy with having to put them out. I have written a letter to o2 today and if necessary I will have no problem in cancelling my contract and going with another provider. Thanks for your suggestions, apologies it it appears I have not taken them on board. Please believe me I have and understand fully what you are saying. However setting the reception issue aside Im not happy with the lengths I have had to go to to speak to a customer service agent. Perhaps Im just old fashioned like that
Anyhow thanks for your help
Kind regards
louise

[Anonymous]

I find it hard to understand where you are coming from, to me it seems to be illogical (eg the neighbours, who have no reception, surely they wish to contact O2), but wish you all the best anyway.

[Anonymous]

I find it hard to understand where you are coming from, to me it seems to be illogical (eg the neighbours, who have no reception, surely they wish to contact O2), but wish you all the best anyway.

[Anonymous]

Thank God! someone else having this problem!
I'm in the BT6 area myself, I have full signal and can hear the other party perfectly clearly... but they are complaining that I'm breaking up and that its a bad line.
I'm not the only one having this problem either... i've heard of a few others in the area having the exact same problem. I know its not the sim card or the phone, I work up in the Titanic Quarter and my phone works perfectly... but when I get home to the BT6 area the call quality goes to turd again. I'm using an iPhone 4 and other people who are having the same problem are using Nokias.
I've phoned O2 so many times this week already and no-one seems to give a rats... you get the idea. Tried tonight and got passed around 5 people before we gave up. I'm gonna cancel my contract if this isn't sorted soon.