O2 poor customer service, asking for £900!!

[Anonymous]

Strange, been with O2 for many years, and want to upgrade to a Iphone4, they send me a Iphone3, and set up on a new contract, when the phone come and found it to be a Iphone3 I sent it back, and kept the proof of sending.
Could not order another phone until they got the old one back, and this took so long, called them many times, but in the end they said the phone was there and its all ok.
Tried to get the Iphone4, but for some reason the tel sales wanted more than the online prices, another £5 per mth for the same deal, they said its the same, but checked the online deal and it was better, so in the end told O2 i will leave and moved to Tesco for £10 per mth and kept my old number.
Problems did not go away, as O2 sent me a bill for the complete term, so again i called them and they said there is a issue with the billing and phone coming back, they have the phone and it was sent within time to stop the contract, so will be ok, and will not get more bills, she did tell me to stop the D/D at the bank as they might take all the money!! so i did.
All was ok for a mth, until today, got a letter from a company wanting the £860 now or will take to court, went on the O2 web and spoke to the customer service chart line there, Ken, would not tell me his full name!! and said i need to pay the contract bill, told him the complete story and said will pass on!! so sent a email to the customer service, saying the same.
Good job i have the proof of sending, and times and dates of any communication to O2, as if this is how they treat their old O2 customers by trying to take £860 from them!
Poor service.

[Anonymous]

Forget what they have said online.
Call cs and * stay calm * .
Ask them to check the phone return and confirm it to you. Then when they are satisfied the bill they are looking at is incorrect (remember the person you are speaking to has never seen your account before) ask them to transfer you to debt assistance, this team can then apply a credit to your bill to cover the amount of the bill and also recall your file from the debt collectors, customer service themselves have no power to do this so if you follow what I have said and the info you have posted is accurate, this should all be resolved today.
Good luck.
Regarding the price difference on o2, it sounds like you were being quoted for an 18 month plan but looking a 24 months online, as these are £5 cheaper, but they are available to everyone.

[Anonymous]

Hi, Thanks for the reply
I did get commfirmation from O2 that the phone got there ok, and the bill would be changed to show zero, but this never happened, as i am not with O2 no more i can not call them from my mobile FREE, last time i called them the bill was on the system and she knew what was going on, why is one department not understanding what the other is doing! it should not be my job to make sure O2 completes reports and paperwork to show the phone was sent back and to revise my bill, but if i had that chance i am sure this would have been done well the first time.
John

Forget what they have said online.
Call cs and * stay calm * .
Ask them to check the phone return and confirm it to you. Then when they are satisfied the bill they are looking at is incorrect (remember the person you are speaking to has never seen your account before) ask them to transfer you to debt assistance, this team can then apply a credit to your bill to cover the amount of the bill and also recall your file from the debt collectors, customer service themselves have no power to do this so if you follow what I have said and the info you have posted is accurate, this should all be resolved today.
Good luck.
Regarding the price difference on o2, it sounds like you were being quoted for an 18 month plan but looking a 24 months online, as these are £5 cheaper, but they are available to everyone.

[Anonymous]

I appreciate that you did most of what I said before, but it seems that you never actually got to speak to the debt assistance dept and that's where it all fell down. I'm sure the advisor did what they said they would, but you can't beat speaking directly to the organ grinder, so to speak. Those guys will make all the adjustments needed while they are speaking to you, and not simply email a request, which is all that cs can do in these situations.
You are right that it shouldn't be necessary, but sadly, it obviously is in this case. Regarding the call charges, given a choice between a debt collector chasing nearly £900 off me, or a 4p a minute phone call from a landline, I wouldn't hesitate if it meant resolving the matter once and for all, but of course only you can decide what feels the right thing for you to do.

[Anonymous]

Same thing happened to me a few years back with 02,
and at that time i had to phone up the atual company dealing with the case,
didnt know about sayno to 0870 so had to pay the premier rate at that time,
02 never appologise or did anything to help had to do everything by myself and pay to call the company to put everything straight...
Best thing is to phone the company who sent you the letter and tell them directly what happened,
the letter will then stop coming,
no point in calling or emailing 02, there are tooooo slow,
and most of the replys are copy and paste...

[Anonymous]

forgot to mention,
if you are getting a cheaper deal from tesco buy the iphone from there,
my mate pick one up for me on discount,
tesco use 02 network so you wont have any issues using a 02 sim...

[Anonymous]

forgot to mention,
if you are getting a cheaper deal from tesco buy the iphone from there,
my mate pick one up for me on discount,
tesco use 02 network so you wont have any issues using a 02 sim...

Hi,
Yes i did call the company that sent me the demand, and they said will contact O2 and tell them, but if O2 still say this is outstanding will come back to me for the money, i just got the sim deal with Tesco, 500 mins, unlim texts and internet for £10, one mth contract, seems ok.

[Anonymous]

Did you follow my advice from earlier?

[perksie]

Did you follow the advice by beaufighter and speak to the debt assistance department, as this is the only way to resolve this quickly?