Firstly, I'd like to say I have been with O2 for at least 10 years and have overall been very happy. It is only in the last 2 years that I have come accross increasing problems such as this.
I 'upgraded' to an iPhone 3gs 32Gb just under 2 years ago. I bought the phone in an O2 shop as online were out of stock for quite a while. At the time of purchase when I was offered insurance I explained that I already had "O2 Insure Gold" for £5.99/month which I'd had for about 6 years and had used maybe twice for faulty handsets. The saleswoman said that was fine and never mentioned needing any other insurance.
A while ago, I dropped my phone and it started dropping calls, cutting out mid call, having to redial. Tried reinstalling a backup, reformatting, tried a replacement SIM all before resorting to making an insurance claim.
When I came to making the claim I was informed that despite the £25 excess stated in my policy, 'O2 Insure Gold' did not cover the iPhone and therefore the excess would be £150. I was not satisfied with this, and was steered to talking to the O2 shop which I did.
To their credit they explained the saleswoman who dealt with me had left after a month and not been a model employee, they arranged with O2 customer services that I switch to the new iPhone specific insurance "O2 Insure Premiere" for
£15/month, and that the shop would credit me with £25 and Customer Services would credit £50 which left me £25 to pay on the £100 excess, as per the amount agreed on my 'O2 Insure Gold' Policy. I was very happy with both parties for their assistance and agreed.
I then went to make a claim and was honest explaining the situation. The insurers explained that as the issue had occured whilst I was on the previous insurance, they would have to make the claim under that policies agreement, so the excess would still be £150. I went back to Customer Services who flatly said they would not be able to offer anything further and that I should go back to the shop, even though they were the ones that stated that I would be able to claim under the new insurance policy.
I expressed my unhappiness to Customer Services and the Shop, but have been told that there is nothing further that can be done. Plus, to add insult to injury, customer services did not cancel the Premier insurance when I asked them to, so I have been charged £30 for two months insurance that is invalid.
All the phonecalls back and forth for 3 weeks eat up over 180 of my minutes (as O2 customer services is no longer free).
And my phone is still broken.
I have copied this to O2 Complaints (
complaintreviewservice@o2.com) and the ombudsman (
enquiries@os-communications.org), and will post back with any further details. I have also cancelled my contract with them for this and a few other reasons piled up over the last few years.
All I hoped for was for O2 Insure to replace my phone with an excess of £25 as per my original agreement. I do not see why I should pay any more than this for an error made by O2, weather by the shop, or customer services. Customer Services were the ones who agreed with the shop for the original solution, but they obviously did not run it past the insurers, so should back up their promise to correct it.
