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

[Anonymous]

Hi there
It is so good to hear from you! I am literally about to crack up!
Thanks
Louise

[Anonymous]

Where are the people you are calling? are they on o2's network or another network?
Are people just suffering the problem in that postcode?
Is this on 2G, 3G or both?
Tony

[Anonymous]

Ok, this is in hand, there are numerous reported cases in several BT postcodes, it can take a little time as things have to be monitored for 24+hrs to see if the issue is still there, they try one thing first to see if it clears it, then another, then it will go up a stage to a different tech group who will then try something else, its normally down to a few issues, cell site, echo canceller, bsc reparent, so hopefully its one of the above and will be sorted soon
Tony

[Anonymous]

I have been having trouble getting a signal in my house for ages now. I have tried a new sim and the problem still persists. I can get a signal if I go outside. This isn't too bad during the day but it is at night as I overlook farmers fields its a bit dark out there. 02 cannot understand why when there is a mast close by. This is extremely annoying. Sometimes I can get a signal upstairs and then I get texts at 3am in the morning. Terrible service.

[Anonymous]

If there is a signal outside but not inside then surely the problem is with the construction of your house. If you have marginal reception because of this and choose a handset with poor aerial then there is little that anyone can do.
O2 and Vodafone have persuaded Ofcom to increase the maximum allowable broadcast power. So when that happens, you might see a difference, depending on what the problem with your property is.

[Anonymous]

im experiencing the exact same problem and still non la wiser !! people cant hear me when they ring my mobile and phone keeps breaking up. im living in la BT6 area and have to go outside my house to get a reception but even that presents la same. i believe a number of people has been reporting this problem over the past 2 weeks but are being fobbed off and their SIMS are being blamed !! does anyone know are we any closer to having this problem resolved because like many im at the end of my tether :robotindifferent:

[Anonymous]

Hi Jeanette
I have managed to get nowhere. I emailed customer complaints, got an acknowledgement then an automated text message survey about how my treatment had been so far. That was last week and i havent heard a thing. 😞 I am at a loss as to what to do, they still havent even logged that I have a network problem 😞

[Anonymous]

hi
fingers crossed looks like the 02 network problem at this end (BT6) has been sorted. phonecalls 2 day seem to b clear an same goes for people phoning family members using the 02 network within this area. i hope the ongoing 02 problem has been resolved for everyone not just myself as i know how difficult and frustrating this has been