O2 and iemi bar nightmare

[Anonymous]

Hi, I have been trying to get O2 to remove a imei bar from my Nokia 5800. It all started in May 2010. Basically I used a work sim card in my own personal phone (a phone that I purchased brand new only 6 months before).
Anyway, I left the company in May 2010 and asked my boss if he would like me to send the company O2 sim card back (office in Chelmsford and I'm in Andover). He said no he could just bar the outgoing and incoming calls. When I tried to put my simplicity sim card into my phone it keep coming up with 'sim registration failed'. When I contacted O2 they advised that my phone had been barred. They tried to put me throught to busuiness as they were the ones who barred it. They kept asking to pass security for the business number (as this was the number it had been barred with). obviously I could not pass the security as I was now an ex-employee, and even if I had still been an employee I would not pass security checks as I don't have access. Anyway they have refused to remove this bar. My old boss has even requested the bar to be removed. I have written in to complain. No responce. Have phoned them around 100 times but getting nowhere. Thought I was finally getting somewhere last week, the female seemed really helpful and knew what she was talking about. Told me it was no problem and acknowledged that O2 had made a mistake. Actuall confessed that it was a mistake. She filled in the forms to request the phone to be un-barred. It will be done in 72 hours she explained, she even put a £10 credit on my account for the hassle. GREAT!!! I thought, job done. NO how wrong could I be. 72 hours came and went. Still no phone working.
Has anybody got any ideas how I can get this sorted?
Have looked at the legal route but was advised it can be quite expensive. I was told I will get the money back, as O2 have already admitted it was a mistake.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm Ok, the IMEI is the equipment identification, if this has been reported as lost/stolen then its going to be barred by all the networks, and getting it removed has never been an easy thing to do 😞
On the other hand if your going on about the MSISDN (your mobile number), the barring that is on that for incoming and outgoing calls is easy to sort out.
Reading this again, looks like you should be going back to your old company and they should be buying you a new phone, if they (or any part of said company) said they had not received the phone back, then they may have had the lot barred, in which case you can seek compensation from them (which would be easier)
Tony