My latest problems with O2 began on 13 April 2013; I wanted to change service providers. I had difficulty accessing a service via my phone that would enable me to get the PAC and unlock my mobile phone. I had no choice but to go back to the O2 shop. In the O2 shop in McArthur Glen, Bridgend, the salesgirl, Kaine, told me that if I phoned the number she gave me, I would have no difficulty accessing the service. The phone number she gave me consisted of only 3 numbers! I was deeply sceptical and phoned it in her presence in the shop and unsurprisingly, it did not work at all. I told her this and she then gave me another phone number to try, and that did not work either. She asked a passing colleague of hers about this and he gave her the correct number, which I then dialled and got a PAC. I tell you this part of this long story because I want O2 to understand that the public can see through stupid little ruses like giving customers the wrong number in an attempt to get rid of them.
Somebody called "Jennifer" told me over the phone that I had to pay £15 in order to have my phone unlocked, so I did this by topping up my phone credit. "Jennifer" said that my phone would be unlocked in the next week or so and that I would receive a text message informing me of this. 2 weeks passed and nothing happened.
On 29 April 2013, I phoned O2 and spoke to somebody called "James" who checked and confirmed that £15 payment had been taken by O2. He was unable to tell me why my phone had not been unlocked. He took my mobile phone number, land line number, e mail address and IMEI and told me that he would inform me when he had got my phone unlocked. He said that he would re-send an "Escalation" form. I have not heard from him or any other operatives since.
On 2 May 2013, I phoned O2 again and spoke to somebody called "Jack" who went through much the same procedure with much the same result - he said he would send another "Escalation" form and that my phone would be unlocked in about a week. I pointed out that, for unknown reasons, the credit which I had paid for unlocking my phone had been put back on my phone and asked why; he did not know the reason and could not find out. I pointed out clearly that I was going abroad 4-12 May 2013 and that I really wanted things sorted out immediately. I made sure he understood that the PAC was going to expire on 12 May 2013, meaning that I would have to get another PAC upon my return.
Again, nothing happened and nobody contacted me.
I returned to the UK in the late afternoon of 12 May 2013. No message from O2 to say that my phone had been unlocked. O2 service had closed for the day, so I phoned on 13 May 2013 and spoke to "Moishe". We went through much the same process yet again and "Moishe" said that he would send another "Escalation" form. I told him that this had already been done twice and nothing had resulted from this, so there was little point in doing this useless process again. He could not tell me why my phone had not been unlocked. He did not know why £15 had been re-credited to me. He put me through to the "Retentions Team" who eventually gave me another PAC (this will expire on 11 June).
I sent an e mail to O2 on 15 May and have not had any reply. I also tried phoning them again 20 May and hung on for 29 mins but the supposed "Helpline" closed at 20.00 and I did not get to speak to anybody.
O2 have been completely useless at doing what it had repeatedly said you would do. It is more than a month since I started this process and its incompetence is costing me time and money. The cynical might say that this is a deliberate ploy on the part of O2 to make changing service providers as difficult and costly as possible, and I am beginning to believe this. O2 have not communicated at all with me to tell me what has gone wrong in spite of my repeated attempts by phone and e mail to rectify the situation.
In addition, I am paying for a service with my new mobile service provider that I cannot actually make use of. I am writing to warn all potential O2 customers of the very poor service from O2 - please think seriously before you commit to any O2 product.
S Ho
