O2 Forcing All Customers onto the New Price Rises

[Enlli]

O2 has confirmed to ISPreview that they’re also emailing existing mobile customers to forcibly move them to the new pricing policy, albeit with a right to exit their contract as a result. This is as opposed to the usual approach, where such changes only occur for new customers or via natural re-contracting at the end of a contract term. We don’t think VMO2 are going to win too many adoring fans with this one

Personally I hope for a mass exodus

[madasaf1sh]

Thanks @Dave-O2 

Another one, is that some of us still haven't recieved any emails from o2 as yet about the change, appreciate there are millions of emails to be sent.. 

But can they call upto cancel the airtime as well??

[jonsie]

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@Dave-O2 wrote:

Afternoon @madasaf1sh 

If on a standard contract (no device plan) and a customer has received the email/SMS discussed above, then they will be able to cancel without term fees, this will also be the case with SIM Only deals 👍

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But that doesn't answer the question about getting a contract from such as mobilephonesdirect where you pay a fixed amount ie the device and airtime are not separated

[AnyNameLeft]

A previous poster mentioned USwitch and their email saying 75p; dad had the same. Are the £1.80’s those who contracted with O2 direct and the 75ps affiliate sims perhaps?

Dad will be 68 shortly so above State Pension Age and the 75p is already double what the inflation plus rise was likely to have been. I would understand a notice being sent to vary the terms once a customer’s minimum term had expired but not before; customers would not be able to give O2 30 days notice to exit their contracts inside the minimum term because they had had a pay cut/been made redundant/lost their Winter Fuel Payment etc. The current practice leaves customers who in many cases have only recently agreed deals with just 30 days to work out what do to when April is 5 months away.

Ofcom only require customers to be moved to pounds and pence at the next contract point on or after 17 January 2025. No doubt had inflation still been high, customers would be required to see out their current deals: they agreed to them after all.

This is a totally indefensible implementation of Ofcom’s ruling that says one rule for O2 and another one for its customers. 

[Enlli]

Well I'm on USwitch and got the 75p email but it mentioned watch or broadband, neither of which I have. I understand it was a mistake and I will get another one mentioning £1.80

Nothing us plebs can do about it but vote with our feet and take up the offer to walk away free.

BTW I'm like your dad. I'm 77 and not on full state pension as I was self employed for some years.

[davematt7]

I too received an email today telling me my new £8 SIM only contract that I have just upgraded to is no longer going up in April by RPI+3.9%, instead will go up by £1.80. That us a 22.5% increase, way above what it would be under the terms I signed up to! This change was not supposed to be implemented until January on new contracts after that date. So I am Disgusted with O2 and disgusted with the regulator OFCOM. Why are all the regulators so incompetent that they change things and make it worse for lots of customers! 

[madasaf1sh]

Well you know what to do, and o2 have given you the option to cancel the airtime penalty free get a PAC Code and move..., and as per the terms and conditions they can do so.. 

O2 maybe the first to do this, in this way but the others will follow...

And OFCOM themselves are ambiguous as usual as this is what it says

Under new Ofcom rules announced today, any price rise written into a customer’s contract from January 2025 will need to be set out in pounds and pence, prominently and transparently, at the point of sale; and providers will need to be clear about when any changes to prices will occur.

And all it says is to be in place by the 17th January,

And if you read the technical document, o2 are acting in line with the regulation, as much as we all hate it

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/consultations/category-1-10-weeks/272754-con...

[Enlli]

So will all the people who take out a Black Friday deal also get an email letting them leave?

I've asked this on the Black Friday thread.

 

[Dave-O2]

Morning @madasaf1sh 

The 30-day window to cancel begins when notification is received.

[Dave-O2]

Morning @jonsie

These deals are classed as a standard contract, so the same applies 👍

[Vesper73]

I have just called o2 and asked about leaving I said I'm on a bundled contract rather than separate and how would it work. She looked at my account and said there would be no termination fees or nothing to pay, I obviously questioned this and many times but she assured me it was the case. And I have one year left too

I got the PAC code and will switch providers. I still think its too good to be true though ???